Elemental bodies

[Veknironth]

Well, in Dragons and Gods pages 52 and 53, it states that an elemental that is not possessing a living creature forms a body with the surrounding elements (i.e. dirt, vines, air, water, etc.). I assume that the fire elemental just creatues magic flame. Now there are two ways I can envision this taking place.

The first is some manner of containment of the material from an outside source. This would be like a magic shell or such. This is especially true for a water elemental. That shell would offer the AR that elementals have, as well as the need for magic weapons to harm them. The elemental would be striking with the shell to do damage unless it's using spells. This would also allow them to use the standard physics of pushing against the ground to generate movement or force, without breaking Newton's Third Law. As with all simple physics problems, you have to ignore friction. But that would make them subject to physical barriers and things like Carpet of Adhesion.

However, could an elemental just let go of its body that is trapped, and just instantly reform it in another location? Like could it form itself on the other side of a window, since it's essentially an energy being that creates a body?

If an earth elemental forms itself from the dirt, does it leave behind a crater or hole?

The second version is something inside the elemental body gathering the material into the form. The functioning of this clear for elementals made of dirt, plant life, ice, or other solid matter. But how would that work for air, water, and/or fire? It would make sense that you'd need some special weapon to damage air, water, or fire. Anything else would just pass through it. And the damage done by their attacks would be an air blast/water blast/or heat. They would move via magic, without pushing against anything and wouldn't be subject to the effects of most physical barriers, like a vampire in mist form.

In this form, could someone simply run through its body? The air elemental would have winds buffeting the creature, and the water elemental would have tides that might prevent this. The winds inside would be too strong for someone to penetrate them and they'd be blown back. The water would have waves or rip tides that would push the creature back. But what about a fire elemental? What stops someone from simply leaping through them?

What are their senses like? Can they see in light ranges superior or inferior to humans? What about their hearing? Is is it better or worse than humans? Do they have a sense of smell? Does an air or fire elemental have tactile sensations?

-Vek
"I'm sure I'll have more questionsa as I mull this over."

[kiralon]

For me the elemental body is formed when it is summoned, using magic from the form of summoning, like the ruby for the fire elemental and sapphire for water etc, and as the elementals can physically hit i play the ones whose bodies are liquid or gas can decide as a free action to be solid or intangible. So you can run through them if they decide you can, but it is an all or nothing thing so they cannot capture you inside their bodies for example, but it acts just like the material you are in.
As to senses i play them as having an area sense, where everything in that area they can see, hear or smell, with the sense being blocked by certain amounts of dirt, wood, stone etc. For example my elementals cannot sense anything through a layer of gold, and some undead cannot sense anything through a layer of bone, or silver for other undead or some faeries. All my undead have the ability to sense life, so invisibility doesn't work well against them as they can sense your life force (but can't sense your sword so the combat bonuses for invisibility remain), but invisibility to undead works just fine.

[ShadowLogan]

However, could an elemental just let go of its body that is trapped, and just instantly reform it in another location? Like could it form itself on the other side of a window, since it's essentially an energy being that creates a body?

Yes, though while the text implies instant assembly, I think for game balance there should be some meaningful "construction time" to build/rebuild the body*. There are examples from Rifts I will cite for Megaversally precedent (Ecto-Traveler OCC in SB3 ectoplasm body on the physical plane, Dirari Ecto-man RCC's ectoplasm body takes 30seconds to switch between solid/vapor ectoplasm and 5seconds to dissipate, and the Phantom RCC from DB3 which is another energy being takes hours to assembly a new body but can leave it in 1 melee), though I will admit there could be examples that are clear cut that support the Elemental beings being able to "instant" it.

*This prevents the Elemental from simply shedding its body and instantly creating a new one in combat as a way to instant heal to full health.

[Prysus]

However, could an elemental just let go of its body that is trapped, and just instantly reform it in another location? Like could it form itself on the other side of a window, since it's essentially an energy being that creates a body?

Greetings and Salutations. I'd say no. The body is a physical anchor to the dimension. Without an anchor, they'd no longer be tied to this dimension and return to their native dimension. Now, on page 52, it states that they have 2D6 hours to form their body. However, I'm taking that as more of how long the elemental has to start. For this, I'm going to use a different metaphor to help with this concept.

Humans can only dive 50 feet underwater (per Rifts Underseas). However, they can go deeper in a submarine (or with certain spells in the game). So, let's use this in the concept of the Elemental. In this example, let's say you go 1,000 feet underwater in a submarine. Can you then go out an airlock and swim to another submarine? Or can you dive an additional 50 feet?

This concept would be the same for Elementals. The Elemental has so long to create an anchor, but once it's anchored then it's anchored. It can't cut that anchor and expect to stay in this dimension. That anchor keeps them from going over the edge of a waterfall. Cut that anchor, and over the falls you go.

If an earth elemental forms itself from the dirt, does it leave behind a crater or hole?

Realistically? Probably. I think the concept is that you'd just see nearby loose earth (top soil, rocks, leaves and twigs, etc.) swirl and pull together to form the body. With that said, some of the Elementals weigh tons. So if you think too much about it then yes, you'd probably have some craters. With that said, I'd probably just stick with the visual concept above and call anything else. If a player did the math and asked too many questions on the matter, I'd probably just call it magic (with the elemental essence effectively creating more, doubling/tripling/etc. the extra materials).

What are their senses like? Can they see in light ranges superior or inferior to humans? What about their hearing? Is is it better or worse than humans? Do they have a sense of smell? Does an air or fire elemental have tactile sensations?

I'm generally not a fan of granting additional abilities to things without good reason. Well, on page 53 it mentions they'll typically try to take a form similar to the mortals of that realm. So, for simplicity sake, I'd say that their vision and senses are magical, but reflect those of the dominate species of the world.

I'm not quite sure the best way to describe my other answers, so I'm leaving at just the above. Hope some of that helps. Farewell and safe journeys.

[Soldier of Od]

I agree with Prysus that the 2D6 hours the elemental energy being has to create a physical body is from the start of its arrival in another dimension. If the physical body is destroyed, the destruction will break its link to the material world and send it instantly to its own dimension. I would rule that this is the same if the elemental relinquishes or is forced to relinquish its physical body.

I'm not sure that even in energy form they are intangible, so they could not necessarily pass through a wall or anything to reform on the other side, even if they did not instantly disappear.

As the elementals can grab things and hit things, I would say their physical bodies have a form that would prevent anyone from simply walking through them or such.

I like the idea that they build their physical form from the substances around them - it works great for imagery and such. You can see the physical differences between an earth elemental summoned at the beach to one summoned in a forest, mountain, coal mine, desert, etc. One might even be able to trace back the location of the original summoning based on the type of rocks and earth the elemental is made of, locating the bad guys lair! I guess even if far from a large body of water, a water elemental can draw moisture from the environment around it (no, not from people!). It might be interesting for player characters to find an unexplained area of parched earth at the sight of a summoning!
However, it this is how it works, it could be used with the specific intention of damaging the environment around it, summoning an earth elemental to damage the castle walls that it forms its body out of, or to drain the moat/pond/pool of water, or to suck the air from a room and suffocate its inhabitants. Maybe that is okay. After all, if you can summon (and control) an elemental, you are already about to gain access to an incredible amount of power that could do all those things anyway.
It also makes it much more difficult for an individual to summon an elemental in secret or in a city or similar populated area. You wouldn't be able to summon a minor earth elemental in your hotel room without destroying the room! I'm okay with that. I like the idea of the person having to go and find a suitable location for the ritual. And it is maybe another reason why all those warlocks living in the Palladium World don't all have summoned elementals all of the time. Maybe warlock guild houses have specific summoning areas with pools of water and piles of earth ready for forming. When releasing your summoned elemental, you are expected to return it to the summoning area to drop off the materials for the next person to use!