I'm designing an adventure that's essentially a dungeon crawl through an abandoned dwarven mine. I'd like to have a section centered around a forge whose heat is magically powered and still active many, many centuries after the mines were deserted. I'd like to have some fire-based creatures inhabiting the area, particularly some fire elementals. But then I got to thinking- what exactly would they be doing on a daily basis? What does any elemental do for that matter? When they're being used as servants, the answer is easy: they're master's bidding. But what about when they're free-willed, and particularly when they're inhabiting a relatively small spot on the Material Plane? I don't want these things just standing around waiting for the PCs to come turn them into XP.
If you check their stats, you'll see that while Int doesn't get that high, their Wisdom does. They might have sensed the magically-powered heat and come to its source. Now, they protect it from those who are 'not awakened' (a.k.a. not with the 'fire' subtype).
Did they come on their own or were they bound to the room by a summoner? If the latter, they're probably going insane from boredom, like a bird in a cage allowed to see only one room!
Free the elementals! Ban binding! It's planar cruelty!
<pickets>
Okay, even though that was not-so-serious, it does have a serious point. Elementals confined in a room for ages should either be mostly dormant to pass the time, engaging in day to day leisure, or doing *something* assuming they have free will to busy themselves over the years. Or go insane.
At any rate, even the weakest of the basic elementals have Int 4, so I figure they have some sort of cognizance that would have them seek out something to pass the time.
Oh, and if the former, that KC's got some good answers above.
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What if they are still bound to the forge? They are the reason that the forge is "magically" powered. The forge itself is the master and they can't be freed until the forge is destroyed?
Otherwise if they are free willed, the heat is created by a rift into the elemental plane of fire? They slip through the rift for a vacation spot? They could consume whatever exotic material they can that is left over in the mine and travel home when done.
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I'm designing an adventure that's essentially a dungeon crawl through an abandoned dwarven mine. I'd like to have a section centered around a forge whose heat is magically powered and still active many, many centuries after the mines were deserted. I'd like to have some fire-based creatures inhabiting the area, particularly some fire elementals. But then I got to thinking- what exactly would they be doing on a daily basis? What does any elemental do for that matter? When they're being used as servants, the answer is easy: they're master's bidding. But what about when they're free-willed, and particularly when they're inhabiting a relatively small spot on the Material Plane? I don't want these things just standing around waiting for the PCs to come turn them into XP.
Actually, just existing in their element is pretty much what elementals do. If they're around a magical forge, perhaps they were used to power the forge, and over time some of the bonds failed, releasing some but not all of the elementals. The others still exist within the forge, this becomes the reason why the elementals are still there, it's the source of heat and to a lesser extent, a familiarity with the bound elementals. If the adventurers can communicate with the others, perhaps they can release the others and gain bonus XP for problem solving.
Maybe they're searching for some minor magical item that was stolen from their home plane?
Or perhaps they're elemental exiles that were hired by the dwarves to heat their forges?
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If you check their stats, you'll see that while Int doesn't get that high, their Wisdom does. They might have sensed the magically-powered heat and come to its source. Now, they protect it from those who are 'not awakened' (a.k.a. not with the 'fire' subtype).
Love this idea!
Do you think they would notice if a creature had a different elemental subtype? or more than one? (like earth and fire subtype)
That could make for some cool role-playing...
The adventure is a work in process, and I'm currently torn between having an azer be the actual master of the forge with the elementals as servants, as opposed to the original idea of just having the elementals be free-willed and attracted to the forge because of its magical heat. I will probably go with the former so I don't have to answer the question I've posed; otherwise I won't be able to move on writing the adventure until I've resolved this, and I don't have that kind of time to waste!
Even if they were guarding the forge, they'd still need to be doing something while they waited, wouldn't they? I guess lying dormant or going insane strike me as the most satisfying ways to address this. I plan on using more elementals later, so the question is likely to enter my mind again!
I could see this kind of situation developing quite comedicly (sp?).
PCs enter into the forge, fire elementals explain their perdicament. Immortal + trapped in a small room + nothing to do = bad day, er... century (or two).
Personally, I'd be thankful. But that is also coming from my HDAD nezumi gray matter and frequent bordom. >.>;;
Were I an elemental, time and its passing might be totally different. Who knows, they may be able to shut out the passing of time entirely. If so, one could RP the elementals to simply be curious as to why the dwarves are gone or why the forge is suddenly in such poor condition...
Eons would pass like seconds to them.
Just a thought.
-Kurocyn
I've thought about this too, and I agree, I don't think that elementals, especially the typical neutral summoned elemental, perceive time the same way mortal beings do. They are, literally, elemental. What first got me to thinking about this was the idea of elementals trapped in golems to power them.
For the most part, while some golems can go wild, most of them just do what they were designed to do, and the elemental within them just continues to exist.
I think in a way, just taking in what is around them is part of what an elemental does. They have a completely alien mindset, and one that can deal with being without doing, if that makes any sense.
I think, at best, a curious elemental might start to test things related to its own sphere of understanding. The elemental may have tried to burn or consume anything in the room, but once it saw what burned, what didn't, and how the perishable objects burned, it would go back to its "long view" of the cosmos.
Moreso than other creatures, I think an elemental can kind of loose itself in the passage of time.
One of the interesting concepts of Planescape was that the outer planes had to do with philosophy and belief, but the inner planes were fact, almost a more "real" reality than the prime material plane. While creatures from the outer planes may need to measure time against some kind of accomplishment, elementals aren't prone to this kind of restlessness, because they are born of planes that just are . . . if that makes any sense.
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I'm not a big fan of elemental "society." In fact, I hate it; the reason we ask the question "what do they do?" is because they don't do anything... There's no lame ass Elemental Planes in my cosmology.
BUT, elementals are still cool when they're mindless automatons like golems or zombies.
I bet you can come up with a dozen great ideas to develop about why an Azer or Elder Salamander or somesuch is there. And, of course the Azer has a few fire elementals to do menial tasks such as guarding or cleaning.
Incidentally, that an Azer makes more sense 'cause it's a dwarven mine makes me suggest going with a Salamander or something non-dwarf instead. That kind of creative dungeon background will provide more flavor and less obviousness.
If you really wanted to push the envelope you could have your Elder Salamander summon, in addition to a fire elemental (which he really doesn't need), an air elemental and a few earth elementals. I mean, hey, what does a fire creature need with a fire elemental, right?
And when the PCs see parts of this chamber for the first time and the cliches and tropes are contradicting each other and they're in a Dwarven mine with a Salamander, etc., etc. (maybe even a giant block of ice with spider frescoes carved on them) the Players will be far more interested and perchance a little nervous.
-W. E. Ray
they're master's bidding
they're master's bidding
Gah! Thanks for catching that.
And when the PCs see parts of this chamber for the first time and the cliches and tropes are contradicting each other and they're in a Dwarven mine with a Salamander, etc., etc. (maybe even a giant block of ice with spider frescoes carved on them) the Players will be far more interested and perchance a little nervous.
I would prefer to use a salamander. I'll think about it. The cleric has the Fire domain, so I want to make sure there are enough creatures for him to rebuke/command and get use out of that choice. It would be really interesting if I could find a way to work some water elementals in there, actually. He could turn those, and it would certainly break up the cliched fire-themed-dungeon routine. That said, all but one of the players is new, so I've got a little more room to throw "stereotypical" designs at them, since they're still learning the tropes.
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Well if you're looking for a reason to throw in a water elemental or two you could present another group, smaller or nearly defeated, of monsters that haved carved a niche in the dwarven mines (Kuo Toa & their water elementals). After all, dungeons with factions of monsters fighting against each other is a trope of D&D. 1980's "Dark Tower" had two factions; 1984's "Temple of Elemental Evil" had four. In Dungeon 138 Mike Shel did a remake of his "Mud Sorcerer's Tomb" if you don't have some of the older ones to pillage for ideas.
But I'd be a little leary of throwing a too complicated dungeon at newbs. You can decide if they're ready for a "moving" dungeon.
Of course, in a BBEG fight between PCs and your Salamander, if another group jumped in the fracas around round 4 or 5, that would be quite memorable.
-W. E. Ray
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For tropes, have an Azer be there for personal (dwarf-like) reasons and give him an earth elemental bodyguard. But the cool thing is his Salamander ally -- with class levels (ooh, the potential backstory). Together they have a handful of fire elemental goobs. Oh yeah, and as a "trouble-shooter" that goes throughout the mines taking care of problems they can have an air elemental.
Anyway, have fun playing with it; let us know.
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The idea of hybrid elementals is stuck in my head. I just keep picturing the party encountering earth elementals, only to have them burst into flames at the start of combat. Blue (cold) fire elementals, Ice elementals, the works. The forge's magic could be corrupted or damaged, opening up portals to all of the elemental planes and splicing the elementals together as they come through.
An idea that occured to me when I read in a previous post that they have good Wisdom scores and not so good Intelligence:
The elementals worship the magic forge. It is their God and their Alter. They make offerings and protect it from blasphemers. The usual cleric stuff.
You could even give some of the elementals cleric levels. Domains of Fire and Artifice, or really almost any second domain.
-Jack
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The idea of hybrid elementals is stuck in my head. I just keep picturing the party encountering earth elementals, only to have them burst into flames at the start of combat. Blue (cold) fire elementals, Ice elementals, the works. The forge's magic could be corrupted or damaged, opening up portals to all of the elemental planes and splicing the elementals together as they come through.
"Damn, I say, GoshDamn I love this idea." Consider it stolen!
As Knight Errant and Xaaon have noted - elementals don't do anything in particular in most cases. Historically in D&D products they seem attracted to their element and are happy simply to subsist in it. We get many references of things like Mephits 'playing' in the fire or water or whatever but they seem content to 'play' in such environments for all eternity.
Your pretty much free to decide for yourself why Elementals behave this way as there really is not official explanation - they just seem to do so.
An idea that occured to me when I read in a previous post that they have good Wisdom scores and not so good Intelligence:
The elementals worship the magic forge. It is their God and their Alter. They make offerings and protect it from blasphemers. The usual cleric stuff.
You could even give some of the elementals cleric levels. Domains of Fire and Artifice, or really almost any second domain.
-Jack
I was thinking this exactly. So fire elementals USUALLY don't do anything, but THESE ONES worship and protect their forge as if it was a god. Mess with that forge and you've stirred up a hornets nest! It's simple; It's brilliant.
Ultradan
An idea that occured to me when I read in a previous post that they have good Wisdom scores and not so good Intelligence:
The elementals worship the magic forge. It is their God and their Alter. They make offerings and protect it from blasphemers. The usual cleric stuff.
You could even give some of the elementals cleric levels. Domains of Fire and Artifice, or really almost any second domain.
-Jack
I was thinking this exactly. So fire elementals USUALLY don't do anything, but THESE ONES worship and protect their forge as if it was a god. Mess with that forge and you've stirred up a hornets nest! It's simple; It's brilliant.
Ultradan
Thank You!
-Jack
Hmm...elementals.
I have to imagine that elementals, of all the various creatures that are native to their planes are the most fundamental--their existence is very closely associated with their element. That said, there's a whole chain of elemental forms, from tiny ones that are little more than blobs of their element with eyes that drift around mindlessly to the great elder elementals whose age and size has befitted them with godlike power and presence.
Here the rules and the flavor diverge somewhat. The rules paint them as still Int 6 and pretty similar to their smaller kin, but storylines have painted them as entities like Ogremoch and Kossuth who are powerful forces even in the material planes. Hard to do that when there are orcs smarter than you. My take on it maybe is that elementals are big on instinct. They love their element and hate all others. If they had their way, the corrupted planes--like the material, would be reduced to just fire or just air, or whatever. They hate.
At lesser levels of development, this is more a desire to stay in their element and shun the others--like moths. In the elder elementals, it's a huge urge to purify whatever they can so only their element remains. Now mind you, it's not hatred of life in an evil sense...it's more like how we hate tornados and floods and forest fires and would try to prevent or get rid of them if it was in our power. Not evil, just neutral. So you have these creatures who hate the impure planes and would want to destroy them if they could, to return them back to a state of homogenous equilibrium--like when your house is a total mess and it drives you crazy and you just NEED to fix it.
Being in a big earthen mine for fire elementals would be infuriating. They would sense the fire below in the mantle and want to get at it. They would want to make fire using the forge provided them and purge the earth, or at least melt it to lava (though that's harder) and would be pretty obsessive about both--burning everything they could burn to purify it and resenting everything that resists their desires to burn it.
That's kind of my take.
That is pretty cool, Grimcleaver; I have to admit.
There's one problem, though: no one could ever take Ogremoch seriously with his illustration. In fact, he looks like he has an INT of 6. I mean, it's still considerably smarter than Bush but- pretty damn dumb.
-W. E. Ray
Touche.