In this Mystara campaign I am writing, the Ethereal and Elemental planes are still there beyond the Material Plane, and can be accessed by either powerful spells or interplanar wormholes. The four elements are of course Fire, Air, Water and Earth. This metaphysical map illustrates the inner planes as I am using them here. It is a modified version of
my old one posted back here.
My previous descriptions of the elemental planes still stand:
The Elemental Plane of Earth is nearly solid stone and earth, with only a few pockets of air, water and lava found. Finding an air (or maybe water) pocket is essential if a human visitor is to avoid being crushed and suffocated. However, if a pocket of air can be found, the plane is tolerable in temperature and not many dangerous inhabitants. A few valuable minerals can also be picked out by those with skill in prospecting and mining.
The Elemental Plane of Water is like a vast, dimly lit ocean without a surface. There are pockets of air and earth (but no fire pockets). Any visitor who can cope with breathing underwater should be able to stay on this plane for a while. Creatures of seas and oceans of the Material Plane are occasionally encountered here, adding weight to sages' theories of gates between the Elemental Plane of Water and deep abysses in the oceans of Kaelaross.
The Elemental Plane of Fire has two major problems - firstly the intolerable temperature will kill any mortal creature without some sort of protection. Anyone travelling to this plane must be able to tolerate hot flames, or their death will be a quick one, with cremation rather than burial. Secondly the Plane of Fire is home to some quite dangerous and volatile creatures - Fire salamanders and efreet. Being able to either negotiate or else fight off these creatures is necessary for any extended stay where encounters are inevitable. There are some pockets of clear air, while lumps of rock from the plane of earth either melt into pools of lava or else glow like burning coals.
The Elemental Plane of Air is in many ways the safest of the elemental planes. The biggest problem is the electrical storms. This plane has no gravity, so everything - clouds, natives and visitors, float around. There are occasional spheres of earth and fire that float around. Any water here tends to evaporate and turn into clouds within a matter of hours, and visitors are recommended to bring water as they are likely to get thirsty. The djinn are found here, but they can be tempermental and fickle in dealing with those who intrude on their domain.
Para-Elemental Planes
As well as bordering the ethereal plane, the elemental planes also touch or overlap with some of each other. This is closer to AD&D elemental planes than BECMI's version, so bear with me. Although I do not have the stats for para-elementals that might be summoned to the material plane, I believe they were given stats in AD&D 1st edition Monster Manual II.
Between Fire and Earth is the para-elemental plane of Magma. It is a land of volcanic eruption and lakes of lava. There are some metals found here - the more easily melted ones (gold and lead) are found in molten pools while the less volatile ones (iron and tungsten) are usually still solid though often glowing with heat. The Efreet’s City of Brass is on the border between the Plane of Fire and Plane of Magma.
Between Water and Air is the para-elemental plane of Ice and is an arctic wasteland of glaciers, crevasses, ice caves and constant snow. Ice-related creatures such as Frost Salamanders are now associated with the para-elemental plane of Ice not Earth (a change from the BECMI rules). Other cold-based creatures such as white dragons and frost giants are also capable of surviving here even if they are not truly native. The air is so cold as to freeze the lungs of an unprotected human but anyone who can survive the intense cold can
Between Water and Earth is the para-elemental plane of Ooze which is seems to be a vast and bottomless quagmire with few plants on the surface, filled with sticky, slimy mud and pools of acid. Many ooze creatures are found here, including black puddings, ochre jellies and green slimes.
Between Air and Fire is the para-elemental plane of Smoke. It is a very mysterious plane, and very few creatures live or visit here because of its poisonous fumes. Various levels of toxicity, from mildly irritating to silently lethal carbon monoxide. There are also frequent lightning storms suggesting a link to the quasi-element of Lightning. Sages have no idea what sort of native inhabitants if any are found here as any expedition by mages to investigate have either had difficulty seeing anything or else simply not returned.
Other quasi-elements may be found on the elemental planes although these quasi-elements do not have their own planes.
- Lightning is closely associated with air and also the paraelemental plane of smoke
- Acid is closely associated with Ooze but also to some extent with both Earth and Water
- Metal is closely associated with Magma and to some extent with Earth and Fire
Elementalist Mage
Elementalist Mages are magic users, nearly always human, who tap into the powers of these elemental planes. Many spells already use the elements in one form or another, from Fireballs to Ice Storms to conjuring elementals themselves to fight for and serve the caster. Elementalists take this one stage further and specialise in elemental magic.
This usually means ignoring spells that do not involve the elements - enchantments, illusions and mind-affecting spells are rarely learnt by elementalists. Most elementalists will take a general approach and treat all the elements equally, though some focus on just one element. Most famously there was an ancient rivalry between the Air Elementalists of Alphatia and the Fire Elementalists of Glantri.
In terms of game rules the Elementalist mages are magic users with the same saving throws, hit points and spell memorisation. They have access to a different spell list that accentuates spells that involve the elements and elemental planes, while ignoring spells that do not.
Specialists in one element will usually also use spells from one of the neighbouring para-elemental planes. So a Water Elementalist may use spells that involve Water (obviously!) and either acid or ice but not both. Focusing on just one element may seem overly restrictive but any creature targeted by an one-element elementalist will suffer -2 to saving throws against any spell the elementalist cast that belongs to their favoured element. So when a Fire elementalist casts a fireball spell, any creature in the area of effect who needs to make a saving throw suffers -2 penalty on their saves.
Elementalists who don’t specialise will happily use spells that draw from any of the elemental or para-elemental planes but saving throws against their spells are at normal difficulty. They are often known as pan-elementalists.
Specialist elementalists require plenty of spells in their selected element in order to function effectively. Low level spells that use either earth or water are really not found in the
standard spells of the magical colleges, i.e. the 12 spells per spell level listed in the B/X rules or 13 per spell level in the Rules Cyclopedia. Therefore elementalists tend to work best when they have access to lots of non-standard spells from magical research, i.e. places with large magical institutions and lots of mages such as Glantri and Alphatia.
BECMI Rules Cyclopedia and AD&D 1st Edition PHB Magic User spells by associated element
| Spell Name | Source | Level | Element |
| Affect Normal Fires | AD&D | 1 | Fire |
| Burning Hands | AD&D | 1 | Fire |
| Create Water | AD&D | 1 | Water |
| Dust Devil | AD&D | 2 | Air |
| Endure Cold/Heat | AD&D | 1 | Cold |
| Feather Fall | AD&D | 1 | Air |
| Light | B/X | 1 | Lightning |
| Magical Stone | AD&D | 1 | Earth |
| Predict Weather | BECMI | 1 | Air |
| Shocking Grasp | AD&D | 1 | Lightning |
| Continual Light | B/X | 2 | Lightning |
| Faerie Fire | BECMI | 2 | Lightning |
| Fog Cloud | AD&D | 2 | Air |
| Fools Gold | AD&D | 2 | Metal |
| Heat Metal | AD&D | 2 | Metal |
| Levitate | B/X | 2 | Air |
| Melf's Acid Arrow | AD&D | 2 | Acid |
| Resist Cold | AD&D | 2 | Cold |
| Resist Fire | AD&D | 2 | Fire |
| Stinking Cloud | AD&D | 2 | Air |
| Acid Ball | Blog Post | 3 | Acid |
| Fireball | B/X | 3 | Fire |
| Flame Arrow | AD&D | 3 | Fire |
| Fly | B/X | 3 | Air |
| Gust of Wind | AD&D | 3 | Air |
| Lightning Bolt | B/X | 3 | Lightning |
| Meld into Stone | AD&D | 3 | Earth |
| Protection from Normal Missiles | B/X | 3 | Air |
| Water Breathing | B/X | 3 | Water |
| Water Walk | AD&D | 3 | Water |
| Explosive Rune | AD&D | 4 | Fire |
| Ice Storm | B/X | 4 | Cold |
| Stoneskin | AD&D | 4 | Earth |
| Wall of Fire | B/X | 4 | Fire |
| Wall of Ice | B/X | 4 | Cold |
| Cloudkill | B/X | 5 | Air |
| Cone of Cold | AD&D | 5 | Cold |
| Conjure Air Elemental | B/X | 5 | Air |
| Conjure Earth Elemental | B/X | 5 | Earth |
| Conjure Fire Elemental | B/X | 5 | Fire |
| Conjure Water Elemental | B/X | 5 | Water |
| Rock-Eating Slime | Blog Post | 5 | Acid |
| Stoneshape | AD&D | 5 | Earth |
| Transmute Rock to Mud | B/X | 5 | Earth |
| Wall of Stone | B/X | 5 | Earth |
| Chain Lightning | AD&D | 6 | Lightning |
| Invisible Stalker | B/X | 6 | Air |
| Lower Water | BECMI | 6 | Water |
| Wall of Iron | BECMI | 6 | Metal |
| Weather Control | BECMI | 6 | Air |
| Delayed Blast Fireball | BECMI | 7 | Fire |
| Otiluke's Freezing Sphere | AD&D | 7 | Cold |
| Statue | BECMI | 7 | Earth |
| Explosive Cloud | BECMI | 8 | Fire |
| Imprisonment | AD&D | 9 | Earth |
| Meteor Swarm | BECMI | 9 | Fire |
Note that this list is by no means exhaustive and there are many other spells out there in official, third-party and fan-made sources that could fit into this table. For example my Slimy Spells of the Arvorians would suit a Water mage or an Earth mage. More spells could be added if the in-world description for the effects is given an elemental twist. For example Protection from Normal Missiles is generally considered to involve a magical barrier. But what if it is the air around the caster that solidifies and catches missiles that try to pass through it? This change in flavour would make it suitable for Air elementalists. Similarly there could be elemental variations on Magic Missile (Icy Missile, Flaming Missile, Stony Missile) with a bit of reskinning.
