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Maglubiyet
2015-03-30, 10:31 PM
How can you see the air? It should be invisible! Are there any good images or videos someone could link to?

EDIT: This thread is to brainstorm ideas about the biology and appearance of air elementals in fantasy games. If they are made out of "air" how can they be seen, how can they cause harm, and how can they be injured?

GorinichSerpant
2015-03-30, 10:48 PM
One way is a make them look like tornados with "eyes" and "arms". Another is to make a tornado in the shape of a man. Logically you would probably tell where the elemental is by looking at the consistently swirling particles.

warty goblin
2015-03-30, 11:16 PM
An air elemental is basically a swirl of air right? Which means the air will have different densities, and distort light slightly; like a heat shimmer. So it should be nearly invisible unless it's moving fast around a lot of dust, and extremely hard to fight, but you can see them.

Actually, related question, how do you hit an air elemental? And how does hitting it do anything to it?

Beta Centauri
2015-03-30, 11:26 PM
How can you see the air? It should be invisible! But it's not, so you can. Either don't worry about it, or make something up. I don't see a lot of point in proceeding from an assumption which is not the case in the rules.


Actually, related question, how do you hit an air elemental? And how does hitting it do anything to it? The same way you hit anything else. And the reason why hitting it hurts it is probably related to the reason why it's able to act on its own in the first place.

Here's mine: how do normal creatures harm gigantic creatures with weapons or even with spells that are scaled to Medium size? I can understand spells that don't involve real damage and simply kill, but spells that burn or freeze or poison seem like they'd never do any harm, no matter how many were used.

I'm considering not using any really big creatures until I get this figured out. Even assuming that hit points aren't just physical damage doesn't really help me.

Gavran
2015-03-30, 11:50 PM
But it's not, so you can. Either don't worry about it, or make something up. I don't see a lot of point in proceeding from an assumption which is not the case in the rules.

Worth pointing out this is the RPG forum and there is no one "the rules." I think the point of the thread is to make something up, collaboratively.



Here's mine: how do normal creatures harm gigantic creatures with weapons or even with spells that are scaled to Medium size? I can understand spells that don't involve real damage and simply kill, but spells that burn or freeze or poison seem like they'd never do any harm, no matter how many were used.

I'm considering not using any really big creatures until I get this figured out. Even assuming that hit points aren't just physical damage doesn't really help me.

What exactly is the difference between Medium and Gigantic? If humans are gigantic and ants are medium, then yeah, I get you. There are lots of insects with poison dangerous to humans, but physical damage? Preposterous. But go half our size and there are lots of animals that can mess up a human in a fight (boar, wild dogs, small big cats.) And the sorts of weapons PCs use are generally more lethal than tooth and claw. Can't really think of anything that does much physical harm around the 1/4 human size though. Badgers maybe?

Lord Raziere
2015-03-30, 11:56 PM
How can you see the air? It should be invisible! Are there any good images or videos someone could link to?

Tornadoes with arms and legs? Mist or Fog in shape of a man? a living cloud? maybe look into some gaseous chemical elements that look visible? seems pretty easy to visualize for me.

Beta Centauri
2015-03-31, 12:12 AM
Worth pointing out this is the RPG forum and there is no one "the rules." True, but whatever "rules" the poster was using apparently don't refer to them as being invisible, or the question wouldn't have come up.


I think the point of the thread is to make something up, collaboratively. I wish then that that had been made more clear.


And the sorts of weapons PCs use are generally more lethal than tooth and claw. Can't really think of anything that does much physical harm around the 1/4 human size though. Badgers maybe? Seems like there was someone who got messed up by an otter or ferret recently, because they let it too near their face. But that's going to be rare, I'd think.

Gavran
2015-03-31, 12:36 AM
Yeah, something cat sized can definitely hurt you but not I think in the context of "battle between two mighty forces."

Beta Centauri
2015-03-31, 12:50 AM
Yeah, something cat sized can definitely hurt you but not I think in the context of "battle between two mighty forces." Maybe if the cat sized thing was just as intelligent as you, and trained and equipped specifically to fight you. And there were five of them.

Karl Aegis
2015-03-31, 12:56 AM
What do you mean by "invisible"? Technically, I can't see my black television because no light reflects off it into my eye, but I know it is there because it is opaque. Did you mean transparent? You can still notice transparent things because of the way they diffract light. Unless, of course, you are blind or run into glass doors quite frequently.

Yora
2015-03-31, 01:11 AM
I like the design from Baldur's Gate II, where air elementals are a large human-like shape surrounded fog that waves in a strong wind. Looks a bit like you'd imagine a liquid nitrogen elemental. :smallamused:

goto124
2015-03-31, 01:30 AM
A distortion in the air may be difficult to spot.

It probably can be heard, and it stirs up nearby debris such as pebbles, dead leaves, and sand.

Real life has birds that fly into windows (ouch). Now, if there's a PC who does that...

Dhavaer
2015-03-31, 02:03 AM
What exactly is the difference between Medium and Gigantic? If humans are gigantic and ants are medium, then yeah, I get you. There are lots of insects with poison dangerous to humans, but physical damage? Preposterous. But go half our size and there are lots of animals that can mess up a human in a fight (boar, wild dogs, small big cats.) And the sorts of weapons PCs use are generally more lethal than tooth and claw. Can't really think of anything that does much physical harm around the 1/4 human size though. Badgers maybe?

In D&D, each size category increase is a doubling, so the largest possible Gargantuan creature (nearest word to gigantic) is eight times the size of the largest possible Medium creature.

Feddlefew
2015-03-31, 02:26 AM
I would imagine an air elemental would pick up debris from it's suroundings- things like leaves, small twigs, dust, stones, bits of trash, paperwork, and so on. So what they would look like would really depend on their surroundings.

Lvl45DM!
2015-03-31, 04:34 AM
In D&D, each size category increase is a doubling, so the largest possible Gargantuan creature (nearest word to gigantic) is eight times the size of the largest possible Medium creature.

...56 feet doesnt seem like that much.

Yora
2015-03-31, 05:05 AM
I think it's the 3rd edition Player's Handbook or Dungeon Master's Guide that said, and I quote, "a dagger in the eye is still a dagger in the eye".

Ashtagon
2015-03-31, 05:59 AM
Possible images...


http://static.panoramio.com/photos/large/61211291.jpg

http://img.izifunny.com/pics/20120307/640/acrylic-glass-statues-scare-tourists-5-pics_5.jpg


http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/warriorsofmyth/images/6/69/MTG-AES-1-1-.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20121214232246

http://guides.gamepressure.com/mightandmagicheroesvipiratesofthesavagesea/gfx/word/1651888968.jpg


http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130503195012/warriorsofmyth/images/f/fe/Air_elemental_HUGE.jpg

http://www.santharia.com/pictures/quellion/quellion_pics/air_elemental.jpg

TheCountAlucard
2015-03-31, 06:28 AM
As others have said, just because it's made of "air" (for given definitions of "air" anyway) doesn't mean it's invisible. Likewise the suggestion that a being made of air would be invulnerable to the cuts made with a sword doesn't necessarily follow, either.

You're (largely!) made of water, after all, but the (largely!) water that makes up what-is-you is still arranged into layers of varied but delicate tissues that allow you to do things. If an elemental still exists inside an antimagic field, then it follows that it's held together non-magically. Even if it's not arranged in the same patterns of muscle and blood and skin and bone that we are, sticking a sword in there is probably disruptive to all that.

Maglubiyet
2015-03-31, 07:48 AM
Thanks for the replies, guys. I've seen most of those images, CountAlucard, and I still am confused by the "biology". I know in certain games air elementals are not invisible or intangible -- I'm trying to figure out why (other than it wouldn't be easy to game). Yes, the thread was supposed to be called "what would it look like".

If it's a being of smoke or cloud, is that part of its makeup or is the particulate matter/vapor just debris that it's picked up? If it's visible just because of the debris floating in it, like a tornado, does that mean it wouldn't be if you encountered it high in the sky or on its native plane?

In a lot of pictures, other elementals appear to be pure (whatever that means when we're talking about artificial categories). Only air elementals are shown as a mix of other "elements", with earth or water mixed in. I like the comparison to us being mostly water -- maybe air elementals are mostly air with some kind of magical/ectoplastic/phlogistonical connective tissues.

The gases in atmospheric air are mostly colorless, but there are some gases that are visible. Could be an elemental is composed of a variety of different elements and molecules that are mostly in a gaseous state, some of which have color.

Feddlefew
2015-03-31, 07:52 AM
I'm pretty certain they're like tornadoes- you can only see them because they pick up stuff, like water vapor and dust. So even though only the air is being animated by the elemental, you still see it because it's picked up stuff in its vortex.

Lord Torath
2015-03-31, 08:53 AM
Here's mine: how do normal creatures harm gigantic creatures with weapons or even with spells that are scaled to Medium size? I can understand spells that don't involve real damage and simply kill, but spells that burn or freeze or poison seem like they'd never do any harm, no matter how many were used.

I'm considering not using any really big creatures until I get this figured out. Even assuming that hit points aren't just physical damage doesn't really help me.When you says "creatures," do you mean mostly unintelligent animals, or do you mean intelligent humanoids? Most creatures do not attack creatures that are larger than they are, unless they have a way of rapidly taking them down. Mostly, this is because most injuries other than minor scratches are fatal, either because the creature is now unable to hunt, or it can no longer defend itself against others. Wolverines and badgers use this threat of injury to scare off bigger predators. Yes, the bear could probably kill the wolverine, but not without getting some deep scratches itself, which can become infected.

Also, predators generally use "called shots" to take down large prey. Wolves go for hamstrings and then throats. Big cats go for a neck strangle hold. Crocodiles and the like drag their prey into the water to drown it.

Something to keep in mind: Unless the PCs are involved, monsters do not need to follow the normal combat rules. The lioness can break the giraffe's neck with her jaws and swinging momentum.

Does that help?

Flickerdart
2015-03-31, 09:20 AM
Air elementals are solid the same reason fire elementals are solid. It's possible that there's an "elemental air" and "elemental fire" that makes up these creatures - denser and more delicate than regular unstructured fire and air that just sort of hangs around.

Millennium
2015-03-31, 09:22 AM
Strictly speaking, you can't see an air elemental, because, as you say, it is made of air. But the air is not stagnant: it blows about all throughout the creatures body, and carries with it small debris like dust, leaves, grass, and so on. If it happens to be standing in or near things like smoke and fog, it blows these about as well. These things, you can see, and the patterns of their motion give the air elemental a distinct shape to onlookers.

An air elemental could make itself invisible, if it could first cleanse itself of all debris and then be careful to only move through areas where there is no debris to accumulate. The first is easy: ordinary cloth is good enough to filter out anything big enough to be visible. But the second turns out to be quite difficult, because you have to keep a considerable distance away from other objects. The moment you touch something, you're likely to pick up at least a little debris, and while you might still be quite hard to see at first, you're no longer truly invisible. There's an additional drawback, in that an air elemental doing this could not carry anything. As a result, air elementals don't usually bother to do this; it's their equivalent of a parlor trick, rather than something worth basing a fighting style around.

Yora
2015-03-31, 09:30 AM
Air elementals are solid the same reason fire elementals are solid. It's possible that there's an "elemental air" and "elemental fire" that makes up these creatures - denser and more delicate than regular unstructured fire and air that just sort of hangs around.

I usually go with nonsolid fire and air elementals. After all, stabbing water or dirt with a sword wouldn't injure such elementals either so all of them are only vulnerable to magic.

Maglubiyet
2015-03-31, 09:37 AM
An air elemental could make itself invisible, if it could first cleanse itself of all debris and then be careful to only move through areas where there is no debris to accumulate. The first is easy: ordinary cloth is good enough to filter out anything big enough to be visible. But the second turns out to be quite difficult, because you have to keep a considerable distance away from other objects. The moment you touch something, you're likely to pick up at least a little debris, and while you might still be quite hard to see at first, you're no longer truly invisible.

Well, presumably all they'd need to do to avoid debris would be to stay 10 to 20 feet off the ground. The sky could be filled with them. There could be thousands of air elementals high overhead at any given time and no one would ever know it.

Flickerdart
2015-03-31, 09:45 AM
I usually go with nonsolid fire and air elementals. After all, stabbing water or dirt with a sword wouldn't injure such elementals either so all of them are only vulnerable to magic.
Water and dirt can be disrupted fairly easily - you can lop off chunks of dirt with a spade, so when facing an Earth elemental it would be vulnerable to dismemberment. Water can be partitioned in a similar fashion - there's nothing magic about a bucket, and the only reason water in a lake "reforms" is because of gravity. It's rather trivial to split a stream with some dirt or rocks. The only reason such elementals would be able to reform is if the magic holding them together had this as a built-in feature.

The reason air elementals are tricky is because air is a gas and will reform, because it can flow around obstacles. But an air elemental doesn't behave like gas, since it's a discrete being that doesn't spread out to fill the space available to it. It's possible that such a being has the same weakness as water and dirt - matter interposed through it will break it apart.

And then, making elementals vulnerable to weapons is as simple as deciding that physical trauma causes stress on the magic keeping them together, and sufficient trauma overpowers the effect and causes them to fall apart. No reason to screw over non-casters.

Maglubiyet
2015-03-31, 10:06 AM
I like this one.

http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2010/036/1/5/Air_elemental_by_javi_ure.jpg
by javi-ure on DeviantArt

Thrudd
2015-03-31, 10:08 AM
A related question that would help answer what it looks like: what is an air elemental supposed to do to a solid creature? If it is composed entirely of air, what does it do? In order to act on a body, it must create some force, and in the process generates movement and displacement. Elementals seem to mostly attack with their "bodies". An air elemental, in order to attack something, would need to do something like alter the pressure in it's body to become something like a tornado that can exert a great enough force to actually push around large physical objects. So when inactive, they might be mostly invisible, when they move you may detect them as a slight displacement of air, like a wind. It's possible they would take some time to work up enough pressure to attack, like a funnel cloud forming, so their attack would not automatically be a total surprise. However, you could easily walk into a whole army of them and not know it.

Knaight
2015-03-31, 10:35 AM
I generally assume that air elementals consist of air with a far higher gas pressure than the atmosphere (a few hundred bars or so instead)*. The index of refraction is going to be different, dust particles and similar are going to get pushed out, and it creates a situation where the air elemental is obviously not at equilibrium with the atmosphere, and striking them causes them to interact with it and possibly drop pressure. So if one hacks an arm off, the arm gets disconnected, expands a bit (being at a few hundred bar), then reconnects at lower pressure, with the expanded gas lost.


*Assuming that I don't specifically bring in and distinguish between isobaric and isochoric air elementals with different shape shifting capabilities. By default they are usually of a particular size, so isochoric air elementals of varying pressure and temperature work pretty well.

Surpriser
2015-03-31, 10:56 AM
In the end, the precise biology (elementology?) or elementals of all types is not described in most systems. So it's up to you as the DM to come up with a reason for why elementals work the way they do.
Note that this changes from system to system:
Elementals in D&D behave mostly like other corporeal creatures (with the exception of things like Whirlwind form or Earth Glide). Since they are vulnerable to physical damage, it would make sense that they would have some sort of tangible body composition ("semi-solid air"), although their form might be quite changeable depending on the surroundings (an air elemental might look like a cloud when higher up in the air and become dust- or ash-like near the ground).
Other systems have different manifestations of elementals.

Beta Centauri
2015-03-31, 11:37 AM
Does that help? Not really, I'm afraid. I like that you recognize that the combat rules don't need to be used outside of PC-involved combat (and not always then) but that's really my primary concern. Thanks anyway.

Seerow
2015-03-31, 11:46 AM
...56 feet doesnt seem like that much.

56 feet is to you as you are to a 7inch tall creature. Which is to say much bigger than a typical insect, but still much smaller than anything we'd typically consider threatening, but still conceivable that something of that size with the skill and intent to harm could do so.

M Placeholder
2015-03-31, 12:42 PM
Don't know about an Air Elemental, but as for an Air Elemental Beast? Im inclined to go with Tom Baxa

http://www.lomion.de/cmm/img/elebair.gif

Yes, its an 8 foot tall skull with Antlers. I know it makes no sense, but its BttWF awesome. Is that whats not important?

:smallsmile:

Maglubiyet
2015-03-31, 01:37 PM
In the end, the precise biology (elementology?) or elementals of all types is not described in most systems. So it's up to you as the DM to come up with a reason for why elementals work the way they do.

That's kind of the point of this thread. I'll edit the OP to reflect that this is a brainstorming session on the logic and appearance of air elementals.

TheCountAlucard
2015-03-31, 02:39 PM
Well, since you're being system-agnostic about it, I'll go ahead and tell you how my system of choice does it.

In the Exalted setting, elementals are physically-material spirits composed of one of the five elements (Air, Earth, Fire, Water, Wood), and their very existence expresses the nature of the element in question.

Elementals also vary wildly in appearance, from the wood-spiders that grow dense in the eastern forests, to the nymphs that drown sailors in the farthest west. Thunderbirds and gemlords, need-fires and sobeksis, all are elementals. As their connection to the nature of their element deepens and grows more powerful, they often change form, and the most powerful ones assume the shapes of dragons (such as the apocalyptically-powerful Kukla, an earth dragon whose miles-long body slumbers in an undersea volcano).

In short, they're not invulnerable to your efforts to hack at them with a blade (though they still make very dangerous foes, often above mortal skill in combat and capable of perilous elemental magics), because even though they're spirits, they have a physical body (much like a god who takes on a material form).

As for visibility, well, some elementals are invisible in their native element! A nymph can disappear in a pool of water, a stick person can appear to be just part of a tree, et cetera., but most of them aren't. An ifrit standing in a bonfire will look like a man with glowing skin standing in a bonfire, and a huraka might appear tiny next to the clouds it ferries around, but it is assuredly not invisible.

Eloel
2015-03-31, 05:20 PM
I like this one.

http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2010/036/1/5/Air_elemental_by_javi_ure.jpg
by javi-ure on DeviantArt


Why is that a mammal?

Maglubiyet
2015-03-31, 05:24 PM
Why is that a mammal?

Air milk? :amused: That's what we're trying to establish here. Maybe they bleed air blood too.


Thanks, CountAlucard, I've never played Exalted -- that's a cool background.

Shalist
2015-03-31, 08:06 PM
Regarding what elementals look like (that is the fluff, rather than the mechanics), here's some art from the wizard's gallery (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/arch/ag&page=2) (which contains most of the artwork from official WoTC books):

Elementite (baby elemental) swarms (planar handbook):
http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/planar_gallery/82547.jpg

Elemental monoliths (Complete arcane; also has smaller, evil elementals known as grues)
http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/ca_gallery/85485.jpg http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/ca_gallery/85484.jpg http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/ca_gallery/85486.jpg

And elemental primals (epic handbook):

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/EPIC_Gallery/Gallery5a/44189_C5_PrimalFireEl50100.jpg http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/EPIC_Gallery/Gallery5a/44175_C5_PrimalAirElemental.jpg http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20121005151644/sfery/images/5/5e/PrimalEarthElemental.jpg http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/EPIC_Gallery/Gallery5a/44169_C5_PrimalWaterE500CC.jpg

Envyus
2015-03-31, 09:09 PM
I really like the Elementals for 5e

http://i.imgur.com/2VsYwgV.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/3vhqCDO.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/6R7HhKN.png
http://i.imgur.com/M14WROW.jpg

Ashtagon
2015-04-01, 12:15 AM
Why is that a mammal?

Hey, if it's good enough for dragonborn, it's good enough for air elementals.

Milo v3
2015-04-01, 08:26 PM
I like Pathfinders take on elemental appearance, it's a humanoid or animal or monster made out of an element and it's implied they can change what creature it looks like.

So you could have an earth elemental that looks like a rock man, or it could look like a wolf made of stone, a giant scorpion made from sand, etc.

Seerow
2015-04-01, 09:54 PM
I like Pathfinders take on elemental appearance, it's a humanoid or animal or monster made out of an element and it's implied they can change what creature it looks like.

So you could have an earth elemental that looks like a rock man, or it could look like a wolf made of stone, a giant scorpion made from sand, etc.

This take makes me feel more like elemental should be a template, with the cooler features scaling by hit dice. So instead of having a 24hd elder earth elemental, you end up with something like an earth elemental gargantuan scorpion or something.

Lord Raziere
2015-04-01, 10:05 PM
Hey, if it's good enough for dragonborn, it's good enough for air elementals.

Yeah, I'm starting to think that any fictional sentient and sapient alien race needs some anthropomorphism for them to be playable or interactive at all beyond being treated like animals. most stories are human based, so if you want play something other than human they have to have some traits of humanity for them to work.

besides, maybe the air elemental can control their air-shape and just likes that form their own reasons? or maybe they knew a woman who was their friend and the air elemental liked her enough to imitate her form, even if they have no conception of reproduction...beauty is in the eye of the beholder after all.

goto124
2015-04-01, 10:37 PM
I imagine a wood elemental who got introduced to human reproduction by a bunch of his/her/its friends. He can snip, graft and carve his wooden body to perfection, all details included :D

Yora
2015-04-02, 05:36 AM
This take makes me feel more like elemental should be a template, with the cooler features scaling by hit dice. So instead of having a 24hd elder earth elemental, you end up with something like an earth elemental gargantuan scorpion or something.

The manual of the planes for D&D 3rd edition did just that.

Maglubiyet
2015-04-21, 10:11 PM
What about this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SvPe1TrbHw) as a medium air elemental?

And here's (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8smdJe5Who) a large air elemental. Clearly the person striking it is wielding an Elemental Bane weapon. Probably around a 12th-level fighter with his three attacks per round.

tomandtish
2015-04-22, 11:38 PM
Air elementals? They look like this....






:smallwink:

The Evil DM
2015-04-24, 04:56 PM
I am a little late to this thread and I can say my comments may be somewhat oblique.

I have always taken the position that elementals are spirits summoned from the elemental planes. As a spirit they are non-corporeal and effectively invisible. But these spirits manifest with psionic powers of elemental kinesis. Fire Elementals have Pyrokinesis. Water elementals have Hydrokinesis, and so on.

Thus the form is not so much the form of the elemental itself, but animated material that the spirit is controlling. When the earth elemental is moving through the ground, the earth form it was using is not actually burrowing, the spirit has disembodied itself from the earth, moves and then animates a new body when it emerges again.

As elementals get more powerful I give them more power to control their elements. Essentially minor to medium forms of elemental magic appropriate to their type.

Thus as far as they look. They appear, when using an animated material form, as simply that animated molecules of various sorts. Earth elementals have the most obvious form.

Animated air is not completely invisible. It can have dust and other debris picked up. If an air elemental wants to do damage with its whirlwind abilities, it needs material to use as shrapnel. That is where the real damage comes from not the air itself. So the debris is what is visible.

Water elementals are probably the most insidious. If you are on a boat they can disappear into the waves and capsize you. Once underwater they are effectively invisible.

Fire elementals move from flame to flame as needed and can burst a flame into a humanoid form but if it runs out of combustibles the flame has limited life.

Grek
2015-04-24, 09:28 PM
Gases glow when exposed to electricity. If air elementals can control the gas concentrations of the air inside them, and have strong bioelectricity, they can potentially turn into clouds of colourful neon lighting. Coloration is based on gas content, and Wikipedia has a handy dandy list (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gas-discharge_lamp#Color) of available colours by gas content.

Hawkstar
2015-04-28, 08:31 AM
Why is that a mammal?
It's not. It's a humanoid. Breasts (of that shape) are a feature of human anatomy not found in any other animal. And, they're clearly simply the shape of breasts, not actual mammaries (Note the lack of teats and mammary glands).

Psyren
2015-04-28, 07:03 PM
In D&D and Pathfinder at least, they are always portrayed as being smoky/cloudy. The ones that have the fine control required to be "clear air" are, I assume, the Invisible Stalkers.

Monster Manual: "This creature appears to be an amorphous, shifting cloud surrounded by fast-moving currents of air. Darker bits of twirling vapor form the suggestion of two eyes and a mouth, but this could be a trick of the swirling air."

Bestiary: "This cloud-like creature has dark hollows reminiscent of eyes and a mouth, and a howling wind whips it into ominous shapes."
...
"Although all air elementals of a similar size have identical statistics, the exact appearance of an air elemental can vary wildly between individuals. One might be an animated vortex of wind and smoke, while another might be a smoky bird-like creature with glowing eyes and wind for wings."

Basically, both the fluff and crunch say "you can see it." I can't, however, speak for how other systems besides these two treat them.

TheCountAlucard
2015-04-28, 09:44 PM
You'd think if they were intended to be invisible they'd get some massive racial bonus to Hide, neh?