It's all in the subject. As far as I can tell RAW, he's still grappled.
This came up in play a few weeks ago where he was flying around as a crow hitting enemies with chain lightning when a winged lion slammed into him and initiated a grapple. He tried to wild shape into an air elemental to escape the grapple, and everyone at the table hit the rules to see how it should play out. I ruled that since an air elemental can grapple, it can itself be grappled. The player protested (mildly, as he's a good sport) on the grounds of the ridiculous imagery it conjured. It would have been even more awkward had he been grappled by something without wings. You could end up with, say, a monk doing a flying leap onto the crow, crow turns into swirling mass of air, and somehow the monk manages to hang on.
I did allow the wild shape to occur without a concentration check as it is a supernatural power. Was that correct?
Now the druid is using his air elemental form to carry party members to safety across hazards, which I am inclined to allow. It would be unfair of me to allow an enemy to hang onto him but not an ally.
Have we played it according to the rules, and if so, how would you describe it in a way that doesn't sound ridiculous?
You got it right. Elementals are not immaterial like a ghost or shadow, even if they are made of fire or air. I know it defies that common sense thought we all have but the game is not reality and this is one of those areas where the laws of real physics do not apply.
Elementals, including air elementals, are not insubstantial. They have a contiguous, cohesive form. They are not immune being grappled.
Air Elementals (and wild shaping druids) can take a whirlwind form. Interestingly, RAW even this can be grappled as far as I can see, although a whirwind shaped elemental is probably ok with you trying that tactic.
I agree with Starmight; elementals do have a corporeal body, and can be grappled.
Heck, even the elemental subtype list them as being material enough to grab weapons if they are humanoid shaped, and it doesn't rule out armor (they aren't usually proficient with it though).
Just....just pretend it is that scene in Disney's Hercules where he swings around the tornado titan.
Just....just pretend it is that scene in Disney's Hercules where he swings around the tornado titan.
That...actually helps, thanks!
I had never seen this before, and just now checked it out. It is, of course, utterly preposterous, but it also gives me something I can point to.