Fire Elementals

http://www.santharia.com/alchemy/fire.htm

This topic surprised me, and I think Cupcake did it as a joke. The conversation went something like this. “fire elementals” “kk” “@_@” “I don’t wanna fight a fire elemental”. And, then I told her what I had in mind for the fire elemental, and I’ll share that with you all too. First, however, I want to discuss the Fire Elemental itself.

“A mass of ambulatory flame races across the ground, seeming to flicker and spark from a central humanoid-shaped conflagration. Like a living inferno, the fire-creature’s dance of burning heat and flame brings it ever closer.” That is a quote directly from the Monster Manual page 98 beginning of column number two, and it is absolutely the best description I’ve ever heard when it comes to fire elementals. These things are powerful living weapons, their very touch is enough to set most materials ablaze, and stopping one is like fighting a wild fire.

The fire elemental hails from the Elemental Plane of Fire, one of the four elemental planes, but this fact depends entirely on what campaign setting you’re playing in. In the World of Warcraft d20 setting there is only one elemental plane called The Elemental Plane, strangely enough. I’m not sure on a lot of other settings. I know Forgotten Realms uses the standard setup of the four elemental planes. And, I can tell you that it’s all mashed together in one plane, called The Maelstrom, in my campaign. Think of The Maelstrom like it’s the Hell from Dante’s inferno. You’ve got four separate but integrated levels: Earth on the bottom, air on the top, and water and fire constantly fighting over the middle ground.

And, now my brain’s stopped working…

You would probably expect something that’s composed entirely of fire to be evil (given our society’s depiction of Hell, the home of the source of all evil), but that’s not the case. Fire elementals, though their alignments can vary as much as a human, are typically neutral creatures. I mean, look at it this way. In reality a fire is a natural phenomenon that destroys everything it touches equally. It doesn’t discriminate. It doesn’t try to destroy this thing intentionally, and it’s not out to get anybody. It is an act of god. People demonize fire because it is a destructive force that sometimes we can control and sometimes we can’t, we blame the fire for the destruction, not whatever carelessness caused it. Except in cases of arson, then you hunt down the individual that did it, and feed them to the flames if you have my mindset. Lol. Even in cases of arson, though, it is the person that is evil; it’s the person’s actions that cause the destruction. Fire, much like a gun, is only a tool.

So, now, what are my intentions for Fire Elementals in my game?

Well, technically it’s not going to be in my game. Lol. It will take place in my world, but I won’t be the one running the game. Russell’s going to DM, and for the first time in 5 years I’ll be able to sit back and just be a player character. Lol. But, yeah, the character I plan on playing is a half-orc shaman named Doc’kalla and he’s going to have an affinity for fire and, if the DM allows it, he’s going to have a fire elemental (a small one) as his familiar.

Now… I just need to find a shaman class that allows me to do just that. Lol. Internet here I come!!!

Later Kids

Ryan

2-24-14