What is the DC for the Air Elemental's Whirlwind ability?


Rules Questions

Sovereign Court

1 person marked this as FAQ candidate.

In looking at the Elemental page in Alien Archive, under Air Elemental Graft, it only says:

whirlwind (see page 158)

On page 158, it gives details about how whirlwind generally works, but then it lists a sample format like this:

Format: Offensive Abilities whirlwind (4d6+8 B, DC15, 1/day)

In the next paragraph, it explains that it's usually usable once per day, plus additional time per day for every 5CR the creature has. And it does damage equal to the creature's normal melee damage. Nowhere does it say what the DC should be, though.

What calculation should be used?


Lacking any other guidelines, I would refer to the Ability DC column of the Combatant Array - Main Statistics table on P. 129. That there is nothing to even vaguely point you toward it save inference is something of an unfortunate oversight, I think.


At the beginning of the universal monster rules (I admit I had to do some hunting to find where this was said).

Alien Archive wrote:


If an ability allows a saving throw, the save DC is determined by the array and CR of the creature using it (see page 126).

So since they're combatants, it'll use the Ability DC, like Hithesius said.

Edit: I should add, I knew what the answer was, I just wanted to find the actual rule citation so I knew my brain wasn't playing tricks on me. I've been building a lot of monsters using the Simplified Monster Creation from Pathfinder Unchained, which is similar, but just different enough to trip me up at times.


Hmm, so I was partially correct. There is, in fact, a point where it is explained. I believe this could still use additional clarity in presentation, but I'll consider myself corrected. Fortunately, it also means I know where that is for future reference.


Oh, I agree on the spot. The first place I looked was in the stat block explanation in the front of the book, then the elemental itself, and a couple more places... in fact, the beginning of Universal Monster Abilities was the last place I looked before giving up. I think it was badly placed, too.

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