New Monster: Storm Elemental
This content can now be found at its most updated version in The Elements and Beyond, a free 246-page compendium that you can download right here, filled with 23 subclasses, 8 spellcasting feats, 134 spells, 213 spell variants, 85 monsters, 30 magic items, 4 races plus 12 new subraces each with racial feats, and even more goodies for both players and DMs!
Links: PDF | D&D Beyond: Storm Elemental
“Can ya’ feel that? There’s a storm comin’ tonight. Hope no one gets hurt.”
Art Credit: https://www.deviantart.com/zsoltkosa/art/Air-Colossus-211509992
Not all elementals are composed of a single element, and some even have more than two! Tri-elementals, like this storm elemental previewed today, are as much defined by the one element they’re missing as the three they have, and are usually born when a dual elemental (in this case, probably a lightning elemental or fog elemental, both also appearing in The Elements & Beyond alongside the storm elemental) makes its way to a third elemental plane. Most elementals are harmed by extended exposure to the other elemental planes, but surviving in one can lead a dual elemental to grow stronger as it fuses with this new third element and is reborn as a more powerful tri-elemental.
The storm elemental shares many interesting design facets with the other tri-elementals. One way to think of the these elementals is as a combination of the dual elementals made from their three elements. For the storm elemental, that means primarily Lightning (air/fire) and Fog (air/water), with a little bit of the pressure-power of Steam (fire/water). They also gain new aspects that weren't present in any of the single or dual elementals made from those elements, and for the storm elemental that takes the form of its thunder abilities and immunity to thunder damage. The tri-elementals are also each weak in some way to the one element that is missing from their composition. The storm elemental is missing only earth, and so it has more difficulty damaging creatures in the earth. Its myriad damage resistances and immunities also makes earth the most effective element to attack it with, since it resists fire and is immune to cold damage (common for hydromancers), as well as to lightning and thunder damage (common for aeromancers). And of course it has the magic weapons trait, which the elementals in this compendium only gain if they are composed of three or four elements, giving them a potent advantage when fighting other weaker elementals.
Fights against storm elementals can be incredibly dangerous, especially when facing them in the wild rather than when summoned to a battlefield. Storm elementals are usually found, unsurprisingly, inside of powerful rainstorms like thunderstorms, hurricanes, and monsoons. Many are encountered on the open sea or in the sky when traveling by airship, and some can even be found near the mountaintop lairs of powerful storm giants or ancient blue dragons. Of course they can also be found in the elemental’s native home, the elemental planes themselves. When surrounded by dense fog, mist, or clouds, the storm elemental can benefit greatly from its massive electricity-based blindsight radius, striking enemies with its arc lightning to devastating effect before they even realize what’s hit them, and the open space gives it plenty of room to fly or swim away from its enemies.
Regardless of the environment, this elemental will challenge its opponents with its multiple ways of dealing area damage. To fight a storm elemental most effectively, a group should avoid grouping up for 4-target arc lightning strikes getting to close to the elemental if they aren’t melee combatants, but should also be careful not to let the elemental gather between all of them and suck them in with its vortex ability. As the elemental moves around, either fleeing from melee attackers, repositioning for better area effects, or chasing down weaker foes to electrocute them with its tempest form trait, the battlefield inevitably becomes a chaotic storm of frenzied motion, sound, and magic.
Since its CR 12, it’s too powerful to be summoned using even a 9th-level conjure elemental spell, but The Elements & Beyond contains a new method or two for summoning an elemental as powerful as CR 12, including a new 9th-level spell that requires a great deal of preparation beforehand to summon a new kind of monster. Whether you’re a DM throwing this monster at your players or a spellcaster conjuring it to fight at your side, this elemental is a literal storm of havoc on the battlefield.
Links: PDF | D&D Beyond: Storm Elemental
