Help with gaining an elemental companion

[Aetis]

One of my players wants to play "little boy protected by a giant earth elemental" character.

He doesn't care what he sacrifices. He just wants a big earth elemental next to him all the time, not a flimsy one you get from Druid's Elemental Companion.

Is there a way to make this happen somehow in low levels? (like lv 5?) We play edition 3.5.

Thanks in advance.

[Lans]

bonded summoner can do that, summoner refluff, binder, druid with elemental companion acf

[Naez]

Does it have to be an elemental? You could just have a grey render 'adopt' him. That could lead to some rather interesting scenarios.

[LTwerewolf]

Duskblade, familiar, improved familiar.

[Troacctid]

At level 5? No. You could get a little one, but not a big one. Big ones aren't available until higher levels.

You could approximate it by being a Paladin and using the alternative mount rules to call a mount with the Mineral Warrior template, though. (A "Stony Pony," if you will.)

[Mr Adventurer]

Usually it's best to make the little character the familiar or companion.

Earth Elemental Warblade with Leadership. Still not level 5 though...

[Rebel7284]

- At level 6 you can take leadership for a Mineral Warrior Half Ogre Cohort.
- An interesting way could be to be a Cleric with the Earth Domain and rebuke an elemental. May be out of your level range though.
- Also, there is paying a wizard to planar bind you an elemental and ordering it to protect you for a while.
- Also, you can take a medium Earth Elemental and find a way to enlarge it.

[Zaq]

I'm not super familiar with it (having never actually played PF), but maybe backport the PF Summoner? As I understand it, their whole deal is having a permanent (or at least semipermanent) and customizable companion following them around. I don't know if you can explicitly make it an elemental (again, never actually played PF), but clever refluffing can lead to wondrous things, especially if the GM is willing to work with the player, which seems to be the case here.

[Flickerdart]

Stony Pony
Well done.

Sadly, as far as true earth elementals go, a 5th level paladin can only get a small one (medium at level 6 and large at level 8). At level 5, the Stone Spike and Thoqqua are both available, and are medium-sized [Earth] Elementals.

[Grod_The_Giant]

I'm not super familiar with it (having never actually played PF), but maybe backport the PF Summoner? As I understand it, their whole deal is having a permanent (or at least semipermanent) and customizable companion following them around. I don't know if you can explicitly make it an elemental (again, never actually played PF), but clever refluffing can lead to wondrous things, especially if the GM is willing to work with the player, which seems to be the case here.
This is probably the best bet. It's dead easy to backport things from Pathfinder (despite what some people claim, it is the same game as 3.5, just with a couple houserules), and the entire point of the class is to be a little dude with a big bruiser buddy. Large size isn't available until level 8, but you can be a Small-sized character with a Strength-enhanced biped Eidolon, which should cover the "hulking and bigger than me" part just fine for the moment.

[Fouredged Sword]

Pure 3.5 solution (mostly SRD infact)

Cleric with the earth domain and a willingness to abuse HD rules.

I find the best way to do an elemental companion is actually a cleric. It takes some jumping through hoops, but a cleric can maintain a rebuke on a single elemental of their HD. At level 5 you can rebuke a medium earth elemental after giving it 3 temporary negative levels (fell drain is good for this). Once commanded it will remain in your command until it's HD is more then the cleric's.

At level 8 you can upgrade to a large earth elemental. The best way to get your hands on an elemental is to use a scroll of the appropriate planer binding. (lesser for medium, standard for large, greater for huge). Again, call an elemental with HD=< your cleric level, then apply negative levels until it's HD=< half your cleric level, then rebuke it into your control.

Nothing is stopping you from also doing the same trick with any other elemental domains at the same time, in case you want an air or fire elemental at the same time.

[ATHATH]

The Elemental Archon gets up to three Mephits as renewable companions.

[Aetis]

I'm not super familiar with it (having never actually played PF), but maybe backport the PF Summoner? As I understand it, their whole deal is having a permanent (or at least semipermanent) and customizable companion following them around. I don't know if you can explicitly make it an elemental (again, never actually played PF), but clever refluffing can lead to wondrous things, especially if the GM is willing to work with the player, which seems to be the case here.

I have yet to consider backporting from PF, and this idea is interesting.

I am going to read up on this. This sounds like closest to what I'm looking for.

EDIT: Is there an official (or semi-official/"traditionally" accepted/etc) way to backport PF into 3.5?

[LTwerewolf]

Pathfinder conversion guide
(http://paizo.com/products/btpy89m6?Pathfinder-Roleplaying-Game-Conversion-Guide)
Use that and go backwards.

[Aetis]

Finished.

Here is my 3.5 Summoner (https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bzh4mvrKfkkAdUgzRnRzS0dTYlE/view?usp=sharing) in google drive pdf.

I didn't want to deal with the customization the class offers to its eidolon, so I locked it into an elemental that gains 1 hit dice every level, since that is what my player was looking for anyways.

btw, he is going to lose his **** when he sees this.

[Grod_The_Giant]

I have yet to consider backporting from PF, and this idea is interesting.

I am going to read up on this. This sounds like closest to what I'm looking for.

EDIT: Is there an official (or semi-official/"traditionally" accepted/etc) way to backport PF into 3.5?
There's an official 3.5 to Pathfinder guide (http://paizo.com/products/btpy89m6?Pathfinder-Roleplaying-Game-Conversion-Guide), but for the most part you just have to fiddle with skill lists and CMD/CMB. You can edit spell lists to use only 3.5 spells, or you can just add the new spells to the game along with the class-- either way works.

Here, I'll look at the Summoner real quick. (And I'll use the Unchained Summoner, because it's marginally more balanced).

Hit Die: You could-- maybe should-- downgrade this to a d6, both because of Pathfinder generally using higher HD and because the summoner is hella strong, but you don't need to.
Class Skills: Craft (Int), Handle Animal (Cha), Knowledge (all) (Int), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Speak Language (Int), Spellcraft (Int), and Use Magic Device (Cha).

And... that's about it for the class itself. For the spells,

Spell List:
0-Level: Acid splash, arcane mark, daze, detect magic, guidance, light, mage hand, mending, message, open/close, read magic, resistance.

1st-Level:
Core: alarm, daze monster, endure elements, enlarge person, expeditious retreat, feather fall, grease, identify, jump, life conduit* mage armor, magic fang, magic mouth, mount, obscuring mist, protection from chaos/evil/good/law, , reduce person, rejuvenate eidolon (lesser)*, shield, summon monster I, unfetter*, unseen servant, ventriloquism.
SpC: Benign Transposition, Corrosive Grasp, Ice Dagger, Repair Light Damage, Incite, Blood Wind, Resist Planar Alignment

2nd-Level:
Core: Alter self, barkskin, bear's endurance, blur, bull's strength, cat's grace, detect thoughts, eagle's splendor, evolution surge (lesser)*, fog cloud, fox's cunning, glitterdust, invisibility, levitate, misdirection, owl's wisdom, phantom steed, protection from arrows, resist energy, restore eidolon (lesser)*, see invisibility, spider climb, summon eidolon*, summon monster II, summon swarm,
SpC: Razorfangs, Cloud of Bewilderment, Baleful Transposition, Mindless Rage, Scintillating Scales, Ray of Sickness, Snake's Swiftness
PHB 2: Dimension Hop

3rd-Level:
Core: devolution*, dispel magic, displacement, evolution surge*, fly, haste, heroism, invisibility sphere, life conduit (improved)*, magic circle against chaos/evil/good/law, magic fang (greater), minor creation, nondetection, protection from energy, rage, rejuvenate eidolon*, restore eidolon*, shield companion*, slow, spider climb (communal), stinking cloud, summon monster IV, tongues, water breathing, wind wall.
SpC: Greater Mage Armor, Steeldance, Regal Procession, Bands of Steel, Servant Horde, Mass Mage Armor, Vipergout, Giant's Wrath, Mass Resist Energy, Avoid Planar Effects
PHB 2: Dimension step

4th-Level:
Core: black tentacles, charm monster, dimension door, dimensional anchor, evolution surge (greater)*, fire shield, invisibility (greater), locate creature, major creation, mass enlarge person, mass reduce person, polymorph, purified calling*, solid fog, stoneskin, summon monster V, transmogrify*, wall of fire, wall of ice.
SpC: Mass Snake's Swiftness, Wall of Sand, Wall of Water, Stone Sphere, Ethereal Mount, Sharptooth, Raise from the Deep, Wall of Chaos/Evil/Good/Law

5th-Level
Core: baleful polymorph, cloudkill, contact other plane, dismissal, dispel magic (greater), hold monster, insect plague, life conduit (greater)*, mage's faithful hound, magic jar, overland flight, planar adaptation, planar binding (lesser), rejuvenate eidolon (greater)*, sending, summon monster VI, teleport, wall of stone,
SpC: Lesser Ironguard, Virtriolic Sphere, Mass Fly, Call Zelekhut, Greater Enlarge Person, Greater Reduce Person, Wall of Limbs, Planar Tolerance, Greater Dimension Door
PHB 2: Dimension Shuffle

6th-Level
Core: acid fog, banishment, bear's endurance (mass), bull's strength (mass), cat's grace (mass), creeping doom, eagle's splendor (mass), ethereal jaunt, fox's cunning (mass), heroism (greater), invisibility (mass), owl's wisdom (mass), planar binding, plane shift, repulsion, sequester, spell turning, summon monster VII, teleport (greater), true seeing, wall of iron,
SpC: Acid Storm, Freezing Fog, Gemjump, Ooze Puppet, Subvert Planar Essence, Probe Thoughts


*I'd port these Summoner-specific spells wholesale.

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EDIT: Swordsage'd. Your version looks fine, albiet slightly weaker than normal-- you're not just lacking customization, you're also getting significantly crappier HD (the BAB averages out, but Eidolons gain 6+Int skill points and their own list of class skills) and none of the animal companion-type bonuses normal Eidolons do. Then again, the Summoner is quite a strong class as it is, so I don't think you're losing out on too much.