Elementals and the Philosopher's Stone

Jeff Swycaffer

 

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Dragon	-	-	-	Dragon  27

The ancient Greeks believed that all matter was composed of the four elements: air, earth, fire, and water.
These are the basis for the four elementals of D&D: supernatural beings representing their respective substances.
Earth elementals are slow, earthlike creatures of durability
and strength. Fire elementals are themselves of fire,
leaping mass of blazing flame. Water elementals and air
elementals are similar in their embodiment of waterlike an
airlike qualities.

The great discovery by a mad philosopher—
that there are no less than twelve new types of
elementals—does not upset the ancient
Greek philosophy. The new types, indeed, complete the philosophy and give it
a wholeness never before seen.

To visualize the placement of the elementals
in the scheme of reality, imagine a globe. The equator is divided into eight segments: air, cold, water,
moisture, earth, heat, fire, and dry. Thus the circle is complete, with dryness adjacent to air. This is reasonable, as
the alchemists of the 1200s depicted the elements in this
fashion. Here water is both cold and moist, and both air
and fire are dry.

This is merely the plane of the equator, however. At
the south pole, evil. Good and evil are the poles of the
physical world, and no one element is more evil than
good, or vice versa.

At 45° north latitude are four qualities.
Midway between cold and good is
the quality pleasure. Joining moisture to
good in a similar manner is fertility. Above
heat is beginning, and above dry is light. In this
way, fire and air are near light, which is appropriate,
while earth is both fertile and the place of beginning.

At 45° south latitude, below cold is ending, below
moisture is darkness, below heat is pain, and below dryness is barren. In this way new axes are created, as pain is
directly opposite pleasure, and ending opposes beginning.
The evil qualities of fire
are now seen to be
pain and barren,
and darkness
mentals into streams
is a quality of
both earth and
water.

Each of these twelve new qualities has an associated
elemental, as shown on the list that follows. The “elementals” of evil are the demons of EIdritch Wizardry, D&D
Supplement III, and the Angels of Stephen H. Domeman
that appeared in The Dragon #17 are excellent as “elementals” of good.

Key: G = good, E = evil. The three numbers under
H.D. (hit dice) are for staff elementals, “device” elementals, and conjured elementals. The two asterisks under
movement for light and darkness elementals, indicates the elemental moves at the speed of light.
Under the damage column, several modifications apply. When attacking creatures
(not elementals) with qualities similar to
the elemental, this amount is halved. When
attacking creatures of an opposite quality, 5 is
added to the damage, and +3 to the probability to
hit. Many elementals have special attacks in addition to
this melee attack. Remember, only enchanted weapons
can hurt any elemental.

Each elemental has friends, enemies, and an opposite.
The friends and opposites of each elemental are listed;
their enemies are simply the friends of their opposites.
An elemental will attack its opposite 100% of the time.
Both attacker and defender will do 3 points extra damage per hit. An elemental can only be forced to attack a friend 25% of the time; both do half norma1 damage. An elemental will never attack
one of its own kind. Any elemental that is
attacked will defend itself, as above. Thus
a battle between several different elementals
could be a very confused issue.

Every elemental can merge itself with one or
more of the four primal elements, air, earth, fire, or
water, as listed in the friends column. A fertility elemental
may disappear into the earth, or into water. A light elemental may be carried in a fire.
Primal elementals, however, may merge only with their substance, i.e. water elementals,
into streams and lakes, etc.

A short description of each type elemental follows, except demons and angels.

AIR, EARTH, FIRE, WATER: As in D&D (book 2), Monsters and
Treasure.
 

#	Name	alignment	H.D.	movement	damage done by hit	A.C.	friends	opposite
1	Air Elemental	N	8, 12, 16	36	2-16	2	6, 8	2
2	Earth Elemental	N	8, 12, 16	6	4-32	2	5, 7	1
3	Fire Elemental	N	8, 12, 16	12	3-24	2	5, 8	4
4	Water Elemental	N	8, 12, 16	6/18	3-30	2	6, 7	3
5	Heat Elemental	N	8, 12, 16	9	2-12	9	2, 3, 12, 14	6
6	Cold Elemental	N	8, 12, 16	9	2-12	8	1, 4, 10, 16	5
7	Moisture Elemental	N	10, 11, 12	3	1-4	9	2, 4, 9, 15	8
8	Dryness Elemental	N	10, 11, 12	9	1-6	9	1, 3, 11, 13	7
9	Fertility Elemental	G	18, 19, 20	1	-	9	G, 2, 4, 7	13
10	Pleasure Elemental	G	3	9	-	9	G, 1, 4, 6	14
11	Light Elemental	G	10, 12 14	*	3-18	7	G, 1, 3, 8	15
12	Beginning Elemental	G	2	9	1-4	9	G, 2, 3, 5	16
13	Barren Elemental	E	7, 9, 11	9	-	9	E, 1, 3, 8	9
14	Pain Elemental	E	3	9	2-12	9	E, 2, 3, 5	10
15	Darkness Elemental	E	10, 12, 14	*	3-18	5	E, 2, 4, 7	11
16	Ending Elemental	E	2	9	1-6	9	E, 1, 4, 6	12

Other than the monsters for use in play in D&D, there is a final
advantage coming from this mish-mash of peculiar entities: The Philosopher’s Stone. The pattern is for a polyhedron with 18 square sides
and 8 triangular ones. If this pattern is copied onto thick paper or very
thin cardboard and cut, it can be folded and taped together to provide
not only an easy visual guide to enemies, friends, and opposites, but an
unusual party game.

It works quite well, and is quite infectious. One asks a question that
can be answered with a quality, and tosses the polyhedron as a die.
Examples: “What kind of life is there on Mars?” FERTILE, GOOD,
BEGIN, COLD, DRY, HOT, and MOIST are all positive answers, while
BARREN, EVIL, and END are also quite clear. “What does Sheila feel
about Harold?” If EVIL or COLD, too bad Harold. If HOT, PLEASURE, or GOOD,
well, congratulate the gent. I once asked: “Will Robin
marry and have 17 children?” The answer was FERTILE.
If any one of the triangular faces with the astrological symbols lands
face up (a rare occurrence) Do not ask that question again! The answer
is far beyond the power of the stone’s divination. Any answer resulting
from further rolls is subject to inaccuracy. (Quick, get Herb to dig out his
Tarot Cards).

A group of goofy high school students went wild over this game for
an afternoon of occult revelation. “What is the quality of Goff’s mind?”
EARTH. (Absolutely correct; Goff has a dirty mind). “Is Bill insane?”
Triangular face. (Even the gods can’t tell!)