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well i asume to balance the fact that 90%+ of encounters are where both and your target are standing on the ground so the earth mastry +1/+1 is enabled. you need a bit of let down to balance that.
Another reason is that an earth elemental already has better STR than the other elementals, so has a better chance to hit and does more damage. An air elemental get weapon finesse so has the same chance to hit as an earth elemental, but does less damage. The earth elemental also has cleave and power attack so can actually do a lot more damage than the other elements. If you think earth mastery is bad take a look at the water elemental.
Comparing all the elements earth still comes out ahead in combat. In most cases the medium earth elemental comes out ahead of other similar elementals. The air elemental is the only one who is stronger. An air elemental will be +9 to hit and doing 1d6+3 damage, while the earth elemental is +5 to hit and does 1d8+3 damage. Vs a fire elemental the earth comes out ahead the fire elemental is +7 to hit and does 1d6+1 damage plus burn, while the earth elemental is +10 to hit doing 1d8+8 damage. The water elemental is the one who really gets the shaft. The water elemental is +3 to hit and does 1d8 for damage, while the earth elemental is again at +5 to hit and does 1d8+3 damage. This is without factoring in power attack.
oh i was thinking of the wizard earth school, but that is supermacy. still +1 to attack\damage when both on ground.