[3.5] Make it fly!

[Uncle Pine]

"It" being a 32 ft. pile of stone weighting about 48,000 lb. In other words, a Huge Earth Elemental (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/elemental.htm#earthElemental).
I need a way to give it flight 24/24 without increasing its CR too much (I'd like to make it CR 8-9). Unfortunately, the winged template can't be applied on elementals. Same goes for celestial/fiendish. If only the elemental had more HD I could've given it Rising Phoenix, but this is not the case.
I know I could simply DM fiat the winged template to work and call it a day, but I'd like to know if there is another cheap template that grants a flight speed.

[Bullet06320]

winged boots
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/wondrousItems.htm#bootsWinged

5 levels of wizard for the fly spell, but bumps cr to 12

half-dragon template gives wings to large and larger sizes, but don't think it can be added to elementals, nice thought tho, lol

[Uncle Pine]

Elementals are "Treasure: None" and have Int 8 so they wouldn't be great wizards anyway, but guess what? They're living beings and thus eligible for the half-dragon template! As always, "mate it with a dragon" is the go-to answer for almost everything!

Damn, I forgot about the "corporeal" clause...

EDIT: See below.

[NiteCyper]

Have you checked the "Ways to get flight for mundanes (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?302281-Ways-to-get-flight-for-mundanes)" thread? The afflicted templates wouldn't work because lycanthropy can't apply, but the Unseelie Fey template "can be added to any living creature type" (Dragon Compendium, Volume I, p.222). Otherwise, maybe you can make it fly after you bastardize it with the Dustform Creature + Incarnate Construct (Savage Species, 120) combo.


Elementals are "Treasure: None" and have Int 8 so they wouldn't be great wizards anyway, but guess what? They're living beings and thus eligible for the half-dragon template! As always, "mate it with a dragon" is the go-to answer for almost everything!

Damn, I forgot about the "corporeal" clause...

Earth elementals aren't corporeal?

[Bullet06320]

Elementals are "Treasure: None" and have Int 8 so they wouldn't be great wizards anyway, but guess what? They're living beings and thus eligible for the half-dragon template! As always, "mate it with a dragon" is the go-to answer for almost everything!

Damn, I forgot about the "corporeal" clause...

I missed the casting stats there, there is that feat from bastards and bloodlines that let you switch your casting stat, to say con in this case, the true power of earth casting, lol

[Uncle Pine]

I corrected my previous post: as earth elementals are living creature and stone, dirt, gems etc. are definitely corporeal they're eligible for the half-dragon template. Unseelie Fey and Dustform + Incarnate Construct also work, but they share a common weakness: the resulting creature would be worse than the original creature. This is mainly due the fact that elemental is an awesome type to have and a horrible type to lose (plus, being disintegrated on a natural 20 definitely sucks).

I checked the "ways to get flight for mundanes" thread, but unfortunately most of the suggestion there are races with natural flight, equipment (elementals are "Treasure: None"), high level stances (for which huge elemental doesn't qualify even investing feats) or templates not applicable to an earth elemental.

EDIT: Also, while the Lost Tradition feat (used to key wizard casting to Str) would turn the Elemental into a Dragon Ball-like caster with crazily high saves on his spells, he still wouldn't have flight 24/24.

[Bullet06320]

thank you, I couldn't remember the name of the feat lost traditions off the top of my head

half dragon template and wizard class levels are the best I can come up with for you, I do like the idea of an earth elemental wizard tho, I may have to build one to satisfy my curiosity now

and treasure none is for standard members of that race, this is obviously not standard and so some leeway is allowed, if not expected

[ShurikVch]

How about some Incarnum?

Advance your elemental by 2 HD, give it Open Greater Chakra (Waist), switch two other feats to Shape Soulmeld (Manticore Belt) and Bonus Essentia. If you wish, may take instead Open Lesser Chakra (Shoulders) and Shape Soulmeld (Pegasus Cloak)

Also, Warp Touch (disease from Book of Vile Darkness) have many random effects (decided by d100), one of which is
91 Grow working wings; fly 30 ft. (clumsy).

[Bronk]

How about this... the elemental was earthgliding around a mountain top when it got sheared off by the epic "Proactiv's Move Mountain" spell, and now the elemental can float around just like the mountain did.

[Uncle Pine]

How about some Incarnum?

Advance your elemental by 2 HD, give it Open Greater Chakra (Waist), switch two other feats to Shape Soulmeld (Manticore Belt) and Bonus Essentia. If you wish, may take instead Open Lesser Chakra (Shoulders) and Shape Soulmeld (Pegasus Cloak)

Hm... If it works, I guess I'll have to finally force myself to learn how Incarnum works. I have the manual but I actually never read it thoroughly.

http://33.media.tumblr.com/ffffb0dad75ec023fc3f992232cef041/tumblr_naajhesE651rv231do1_1280.jpg
Thank you for your suggestion! :smallbiggrin:

[nedz]

6 levels of Warlock, being Nonassociated, gives you +3 CR for CR 10. Also shoots lasers, and a few other bennies.

[Oddman80]

Hm... If it works, I guess I'll have to finally force myself to learn how Incarnum works. I have the manual but I actually never read it thoroughly.

http://33.media.tumblr.com/ffffb0dad75ec023fc3f992232cef041/tumblr_naajhesE651rv231do1_1280.jpg
Thank you for your suggestion! :smallbiggrin:

Basic info to know from Magic of Incarnum:

Soulmeld = thing you can do that has no body slot and gives you a bonus
Bind to Chakra - boosts the power of the soulmeld, but takes up a body slot
Essentia = powerboosting fuel points that can be put into soulmelds/bound chakras for additional power effect - you get this from being a certain race, or from Incarnum class features


Well - if all you do is take the feat Open Lesser Chakra, you can just bind the "Pegasus Cloak" soulmeld to your shoulder chakra, and then you gain 10' fly speed with average maneuverability. There are no mechanics to learn. it basically is take feat = gain 10' fly speed, are affected by constant Feather Fall, and get a +2 bonus to Jump Checks (these last two coming form the soulmeld itself).


However...If your elemental does the above AND takes 2 levels of Totemist... well... then you can do all sorts of things :)
You still do all of the above (i.e., bind the "Pegasus Cloak" to your shoulders chakra) but you invest all of your essentia (which, at class level 2, would be 2 points) into the chakra bind and therefore get a fly speed of 30' instead and would still also be affected by constant Feather Fall, and get a +2 bonus to Jump Checks.

But you still can bind one more thing to your "totem chakra" and soulmeld 2 other things as well... I know this is where it gets tricky - But if you were to bind the "Threefold Mask of the Chimera" to your "Totem Chakra", a glowing set of chimera heads would eminate from you, and you would gain 3 natural attacks: a dragon head bite for 1d8+STR mod damage, a lion head bite for 1d6+STR mod damage, and a goat head bite for 1d6+STR mod damage. These wouldn't interfere with any of your slam attacks - they would just be added to them (at a -5 penaltay, as is standard for secondary natural attacks). This soulmeld also prevents you from being able to be flanked.... but i guess elemental traits already gave you that (oh well)

Now, onto the two remaining "soulmelds" that you are unable to bind. Here are some recommendations, but you can pick 2 of them.

Rage Claws - lets you continue fighting while disabled or dying
Ankheg Breastplate - grants +2 to Armor Class
Wormtail Belt - grants +2 to natural armor
Blink Shirt - allows yo uto teleport 10'-0" at will as a standard action (fyi - investing essentia in this instead could grant additional 10' of teleport distance per point invested... and if you chose to invest this in the totem chakra instead of the chimera mask, you could teleport instead at will as a move action)

[ShurikVch]

Well - if all you do is take the feat Open Lesser Chakra, you can just bind the "Pegasus Cloak" soulmeld to your shoulder chakra, and then you gain 10' fly speed with average maneuverability.

Little clarification:
This allows you to fly (average maneuverability) at a speed of 10 feet per point of essentia you investing your pegasus cloak. Usually, you can't invest more than 1 point of essentia at least until the 6th level.
But if, instead of dipping into some meldshaper class, you take feat Shape Soulmeld,
Your meldshaper level for this soulmeld is equal to one-half your character level. And feat Bonus Essentia will give you 2 points of essentia (assuming you taken it after the Shape Soulmeld). So flight speed will be 20'
(If you instead take the feat Open Greater Chakra, you can bind the "Manticore Belt" soulmeld to your waist chakra, then you gain the same fly speed - with clumsy maneuverability, but also gain the Flyby Attack feat)

[Uncle Pine]

I think I got the gist of it: even with 18 HD the Huge earth elemental would have 0 essentia and as such would only get a +2 enhancement bonus on its Jump checks if he shape the Pegasus Cloak via the Shape Soulmeld (Pegasus Cloak) feat even though its souldmeld would have an essentia capacity of 4. Without essentia, binding it to the shoulder chakra would give it no benefits (although it'd still get the +1 insight bonus on Reflexes thanks to the Open Lesser Chakra (shoulder) feat). However, if the Huge earth elemental takes Bonus Essentia on top of those feats it can invest 2 essentia in the Pegasus Cloak getting a +6 enhancement bonus on its Jump checks and a flight speed of 20 ft. (average).

If I'm right, I'll go this way. The elemental don't need a high flight speed for what I have in mind: it just needs to be able to float and hover in place while looking awesome (it'll need the Hover feat to do it though). I usually like feathered wings, but they'd really look out of place on an earth elemental. As such, I think I'll refluff them as a pair of luminous pauldrons that works like propellers: think about them as a couple of mini-jetpacks that shoot sunlight instead of flames.

[Bad Wolf]

Half-Celestial gives you flight at 60 ft with good maneuverability, for +3 to CR. Though that Elemental would have one messed up family tree...

[Uncle Pine]

Half-Celestial gives you flight at 60 ft with good maneuverability, for +3 to CR. Though that Elemental would have one messed up family tree...

Half-celestial, as the half-dragon and the unseelie fey templates, substitutes the elemental type with a worse type (in this case, outsider). While the half-celestial template is certainly WAY better than the other two, I need something with a CR lower than 10. Plus, a holy word from a CL 18 would single-handedly wipe all the villains in the campaign. :smallbiggrin:

[ranagrande]

Give it the Draconic template from Races of the Dragon. Switch out your first level feat for Dragon Wings and a later feat for Improved Dragon Wings.

CR +1 and you've got a flying Huge Elemental (Earth, Extraplanar, Dragonblood.)

[nedz]

Give it the Draconic template from Races of the Dragon. Switch out your first level feat for Dragon Wings and a later feat for Improved Dragon Wings.

CR +1 and you've got a flying Huge Elemental (Earth, Extraplanar, Dragonblood.)

You could do this with one level of DFA — just retrain your racial HD feats. Also: Breath Fire, OK not very effectively — but who would ever expect that ?

[Oddman80]

You could do this with one level of DFA — just retrain your racial HD feats. Also: Breath Fire, OK not very effectively — but who would ever expect that ?

Well,yeah - he is already making a anthropomorphic pile of rocks be able to fly... the unexpected should be this particular elemental's forte.
Fire Breathing isn't too far off its elemental nature - what with Volcano;s being a thing, and whatnot... I would love to see Uncle Pine fluff it to be spitting liquid hot magma... that would be fantastic.

Someone mentioned "Animal Devotion" as a way to gain flight. It also provides an option for a speed boost. if you were looking at the Greater Earth Elemental (CR9), it would get a speed boost of 25'
Also quite unexpected.

But on the subject of Devotion feats - i feel like you should totally give the elemental a modified version of Earth devotion. Treat it like double powered, due to the intrinsic earthen nature. so you would be able to manipulate up to 12 touching squares.... treat it sort of like Earth Bending. - Throw up protective stone walls, push enemies away, with a rippling square manipulation. or skewer then with stalactites for damage.

[nedz]

But on the subject of Devotion feats - i feel like you should totally give the elemental a modified version of Earth devotion. Treat it like double powered, due to the intrinsic earthen nature. so you would be able to manipulate up to 12 touching squares.... treat it sort of like Earth Bending. - Throw up protective stone walls, push enemies away, with a rippling square manipulation. or skewer then with stalactites for damage.

Like the Greathorn Minotaur's Earth Warp ability ?

There is another route to doing this, of course.

Slap the Half-Earth Elemental Template onto something which can already fly. Now this is a CR +3 template, so it shouldn't be hard to find a flying creature in the desired CR range.

The Earth Elemental Creature Template might be better. The CR adjustment is lower: +1 (or +2 if base CR is 8+). This one just needs a corporeal Aberration, Animal, Magical Beast, Plant, or Vermin base. This one even looks the part.

Both are inherited templates, and neither mention anything about not being able to fly.

[Uncle Pine]

These are all nice ideas, but I still prefer the "cloaked in an aura of sunlight powered by friendship the elemental's soul power" route. :smallbiggrin:

[Yahzi]

Isn't a flying earth elemental kind of against the spirit of elementals? If it's in the air, it's an air elemental. This is like asking how to make a fire elemental solid,

[Uncle Pine]

Isn't a flying earth elemental kind of against the spirit of elementals? If it's in the air, it's an air elemental. This is like asking how to make a fire elemental solid,

While I'd agree that it's kind of unusual, I wouldn't say that a flying earth elemental is against the spirit of elementals: earth elementals don't usually fly simply because they incur in hefty penalties against flying opponents and because they can't fly at all (d'uh). While it's explicitly stated that an earth elemental won't enter a pool of water if it can, no such statement is made about flying (although it could be just because earth elementals can't fly).
What I was trying to build was a Huge earth elemental that would only retain vaguely humanoid features (http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/MM35_gallery/MM35_PG98.jpg) while in combat and spent the rest of its time in a spherical form roughly resembling a sun (think about it as a giant Solrock (http://www.serebii.net/xy/pokemon/338.png) made of rocks, crystals and obsidian; this is 100% fluff as this form doesn't change the elemental's size, stats or anything).
I had a problem: the Sun floats. I needed a way to propel the elemental 24/24 and with the aid of fellow playgrounders I created a freaking Huge earth elemental that despite weighting more than 21 tons managed to lift itself through sheer force of will and spiritual power, thus conquering the skies while wearing an awesome cloak of sunlight. And I named it Sonny.
Is it unnatural for a gigantic pile of rubble to float into the sky? Where do you think you live on? The Earth! What's Earth? A gigantic pile of rubble floating into the universe. Sonny rejects your spirit of elementals and substitutes its own!

As a sidenote, you can make a fire elemental solid with the magma creature template.

[ShurikVch]

I had a problem: the Sun floats. I needed a way to propel the elemental 24/24 and with the aid of fellow playgrounders I created a freaking Huge earth elemental that despite weighting more than 21 tons managed to lift itself through sheer force of will and spiritual power, thus conquering the skies while wearing an awesome cloak of sunlight. And I named it Sonny.
Is it unnatural for a gigantic pile of rubble to float into the sky? Where do you think you live on? The Earth! What's Earth? A gigantic pile of rubble floating into the universe. Sonny rejects your spirit of elementals and substitutes its own!
Sonny is the spirit of the stony meteorite! :smallsmile:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/89/Bolide.jpg

[Oddman80]

Don't listen to the naysayers, Sonny.
Fly high, fly bright, and fly proud.

My one recommendation left to uncle pine, though, is when the party reaches this guy in your game, tell them its a Planet Elemental.
That will just really f*** with their heads. It will just be an earth elemental that can float, but all of their meta game knowledge will fly out the window until they realize what's going on.

[Uncle Pine]

My one recommendation left to uncle pine, though, is when the party reaches this guy in your game, tell them its a Planet Elemental.
That will just really f*** with their heads. It will just be an earth elemental that can float, but all of their meta game knowledge will fly out the window until they realize what's going on.

It'd be hilarious! Especially because we've never ever used Incarnum at the table*. :smallbiggrin:

EDIT: *Not that I'd use something I explicitly banned to my players. It's just that I always said "you can use whatever printed rule you can show me" and no one ever thought about Incarnum.