Zaydos
2013-11-12, 10:43 PM
So I have a player who wants to play an elemental. They had to go before telling me which type but this got me thinking about a few things.
1) What LA would each of the four types (and if you want bonus points for paraelementals and storm elementals) of elemental be at small size, assuming the Int penalty was dropped or reduced to 2.
2) Are there any types of elementals which you'd say it doesn't make sense to be able to wear armor (as that's potentially a factor which could reduce their LA; if a water elemental cannot wear armor it makes it weaker as it is also bad at being a caster and not a particularly good monk).
Looking them over:
Fire: +2 Dex, -2 Int (or no Int mod). +3 Natural Armor. Small size. Fire Subtype (immune to fire, vulnerable to cold). 2 bonus feats (Weapon Finesse, Improved Initiative). +20-ft movement speed. 2 RHD (+1 BAB, +3 Ref). Burn (1d4 fire damage in certain situations). Elemental traits are the last and perhaps biggest ability. Looking Fire Elementals over I'd probably be willing to allow them as LA +1 (with no Int mod) or +0 if it was decided they couldn't wear armor. Is this too low or too high?
Air: +6 Dex, -2 Int (or no Int mod). +3 Natural Armor. Fly 100-ft perfect. Small size. Air Mastery and Whirlwind (+1 AC against flyers and something that only affects Tiny creatures or provides concealment which is useful but makes taking actions difficult). 2 Bonus Feats. Elemental traits. 2 RHD. Looking them over Air Elementals are definitely a step up and I'd say +2 LA as while I'd definitely go for pixie first the 2 extra HD help and I feel it's a little too strong for +1 LA. Am I wrong? I think pixie is better, though, and so maybe I should just lower Fire to +0 and Air to +1.
Water: +4 Str, +2 Con, -2 Int (or no Int mod). +6 Natural Armor. Swim 90-ft (but 20-ft land speed). Penalties if not in water (bonuses if in water). Water only whirlwind. Elemental traits. I'd say this one depends upon the amount of water adventures that will be done, but I'm guessing that will be 33% or less and in that case... +0 is what I'd lean towards -1 if you can't wear armor. I mean +1 Fort save and some ability bonuses for -4 to hit and damage hurts.
Earth: +6 Str, -2 Dex, +2 Con, -2/+0 Int. +7 Natural Armor. 20-ft movement with Earth Glide! No AoO on Bull Rush. Earth Mastery. I'd say this is one of the better ones and Earth Glide is GOOD. As this is for an Inner Planes game it's less good, but still good. Is it better than flight? I don't know, it's different and harder to come by. I'd lean to +2 for Earth Elementals, but if you can't tell by now I'm worried about LAs.
And player just stated Fire or Smoke (so they are now the important ones).
So let's look at Smoke.
It's an air elemental with the Fire subtype (but it's not listed under special qualities :smallconfused: I'm going to say it gets Fire Immunity and Cold Vulnerability still), and claws that can deal damage over time until the target succeeds a Con based Fort save but no Air Mastery or Whirlwind and 90-ft (good) movement. So would +2 LA work well for this (with its 2 RHD)?
Depending upon what other people are playing I might fudge the LA a little.
1) What LA would each of the four types (and if you want bonus points for paraelementals and storm elementals) of elemental be at small size, assuming the Int penalty was dropped or reduced to 2.
2) Are there any types of elementals which you'd say it doesn't make sense to be able to wear armor (as that's potentially a factor which could reduce their LA; if a water elemental cannot wear armor it makes it weaker as it is also bad at being a caster and not a particularly good monk).
Looking them over:
Fire: +2 Dex, -2 Int (or no Int mod). +3 Natural Armor. Small size. Fire Subtype (immune to fire, vulnerable to cold). 2 bonus feats (Weapon Finesse, Improved Initiative). +20-ft movement speed. 2 RHD (+1 BAB, +3 Ref). Burn (1d4 fire damage in certain situations). Elemental traits are the last and perhaps biggest ability. Looking Fire Elementals over I'd probably be willing to allow them as LA +1 (with no Int mod) or +0 if it was decided they couldn't wear armor. Is this too low or too high?
Air: +6 Dex, -2 Int (or no Int mod). +3 Natural Armor. Fly 100-ft perfect. Small size. Air Mastery and Whirlwind (+1 AC against flyers and something that only affects Tiny creatures or provides concealment which is useful but makes taking actions difficult). 2 Bonus Feats. Elemental traits. 2 RHD. Looking them over Air Elementals are definitely a step up and I'd say +2 LA as while I'd definitely go for pixie first the 2 extra HD help and I feel it's a little too strong for +1 LA. Am I wrong? I think pixie is better, though, and so maybe I should just lower Fire to +0 and Air to +1.
Water: +4 Str, +2 Con, -2 Int (or no Int mod). +6 Natural Armor. Swim 90-ft (but 20-ft land speed). Penalties if not in water (bonuses if in water). Water only whirlwind. Elemental traits. I'd say this one depends upon the amount of water adventures that will be done, but I'm guessing that will be 33% or less and in that case... +0 is what I'd lean towards -1 if you can't wear armor. I mean +1 Fort save and some ability bonuses for -4 to hit and damage hurts.
Earth: +6 Str, -2 Dex, +2 Con, -2/+0 Int. +7 Natural Armor. 20-ft movement with Earth Glide! No AoO on Bull Rush. Earth Mastery. I'd say this is one of the better ones and Earth Glide is GOOD. As this is for an Inner Planes game it's less good, but still good. Is it better than flight? I don't know, it's different and harder to come by. I'd lean to +2 for Earth Elementals, but if you can't tell by now I'm worried about LAs.
And player just stated Fire or Smoke (so they are now the important ones).
So let's look at Smoke.
It's an air elemental with the Fire subtype (but it's not listed under special qualities :smallconfused: I'm going to say it gets Fire Immunity and Cold Vulnerability still), and claws that can deal damage over time until the target succeeds a Con based Fort save but no Air Mastery or Whirlwind and 90-ft (good) movement. So would +2 LA work well for this (with its 2 RHD)?
Depending upon what other people are playing I might fudge the LA a little.