Bump - I realize it's been a year, but I would lie to see what others think of this as well. Also how would the size of the elemental affect this??
This requires some creative GM'ing as by the rules a fire elemental has no more impact on webs than a similarly strength and sized fly.
It is not unreasonable to treat fire elementals as flaming weapons, allowing them to move through webs at full speed, but it is very much open to interpretation by the GM. There are no rules to support it.
Fire elementals have the 'burn' ability. Their attacks would destroy webs just as easily as a flaming weapon. That said, they would have to actually use attacks to destroy the web rather than just move through the web.
My initial thinking was the same as far as attacking squares or moving into them one at a time as move actions (one move action per square), but an elemental is all flame rather than just a flaming sword. It isn't exactly the same so it does seem it should be more effective.
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If the elemental chose to attack the web, I would assume due to the burn ability it would catch fire and act like a flaming weapon.
If the elemental just stepped into the square however, it seems to me like the web would just catch fire and would fit into this category:
"Any fire can set the webs alight and burn away one 5-foot square in 1 round."
In this case the web you stepped into would be burned away in one round.
I don't think you would be able to just charge through any amount of web though, as you aren't attacking it, and it isn't attacking you.
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I see in the Fire Elemental description this -
This creature looks like a living, mobile bonfire, tongues of flame reaching out in search of things to burn.
But - I don't see any entry that says attacks like Unarmed Strikes take damage on contact with the Elemental.
Maybe I missed it.
Based upon that the Elemental would have to make some kind of heat based attack to burn the web, barring some ability like Fire Shield.
Going strictly by the rules a fire elemental only does fire damage with the burn ability, and that only activates on a successful attack. You could go up and hug a fire elemental and not get burned.
That makes sense because it is not 100% fire. It's slam attacks do normal bludgeoning damage so there is some solidity. I think that is good because it stops the monster from being shut down by elemental protection and resistance spells.
Nope, I thought so too. But fire damage from the 'burn' ability triggers upon contact, such as the fire elemental being hit by a natural attack. I quoted the relevant passage in my previous post.
I did miss that even though I was looking for it, but that does change the fact that both cases require an attack to take place, not just contact. Otherwise elementals in buildings with wooden floors would not be a thing, and they are a thing.
If it was just contact then weapons would also be damage when they hit a fire elemental just like some monsters such as the babau damage weapons.So it can't be a case of contact=damage.
I already know about natural weapons. I am saying that by the rules(not how it might play out in real life) the fire only works when an attack is in play.
As for grapples, those are attacks so every succesful grapple check vs the elemental means the grappler takes burn damage. However just standing shoulder to shoulder to him would not work.
Personally I would have no problem with the fire elemental just walking through the web, but the rules don't work on contact alone.
According to the burn ability, it triggers when natural weapons or an unarmed attack hit. A grapple is neither of those.
An attack roll represents your attempt to strike your opponent on your turn in a round. When you make an attack roll, you roll a d20 and add your attack bonus. (Other modifiers may also apply to this roll.) If your result equals or beats the target's Armor Class, you hit and deal damage.
When you attempt to perform a combat maneuver, make an attack roll.....
A hit is just a successful attack roll
Since you need a successful hit to get by a miss chance, if a combat manuever is not a hit then someone trying to grapple will never get to overcome miss chance. That would apply to trips, disarms, sunders, and so on.
Concealment Miss Chance: Concealment gives the subject of a successful attack a 20% chance that the attacker missed because of the concealment. Make the attack normally—if the attacker hits, the defender must make a miss chance d% roll to avoid being struck. Multiple concealment conditions do not stack.
Basically combat maneuvers are just special attack rolls.
edit: I misread your comment. Strictly by the rules you are correct. You can safely grapple a fire elemental.
According to the burn ability, it triggers when natural weapons or an unarmed attack hit. A grapple is neither of those.
So what we have so far is that burn is only triggered when attacking, or when being attacked via natural or unarmed methods. In this case, moving into a square is also neither of those, so the elemental wouldn't just be able to charge through webbing (as walking into the webbing would not trigger the burn ability, since it is neither attacking or being attacked by the web).
It seems that according to the rules for burn, the only way an elemental can move through the web is to attack it as normal.
Basically burn is a rider effect that triggers in a successful hit.