Air/Earth Fundamental

Fundamentals are among the weakest beings of the elemental planes. Each looks like nothing more than two batlike wings with no head or body between them, and they never stop flying, not even for a moment's rest. How or why they reach the Prime Material Plane is a mystery. They may be swept along by accident when a stronger elemental crosses over or is summoned, or sent deliberately by greater elementals for purposes of their own. As outsiders, they matter little to the ecology of any region.

Fundamentals gather in flocks and dive on their targets together. No one is sure how they sense prey, though body heat is one guess. They attack solely by diving into a target body-first, which deals 1d6 damage and does them no harm. Only magic or magical weapons can hurt them, and mind-affecting spells such as charm and sleep have no effect. For spells like protection from evil, treat them as enchanted creatures.

An air fundamental's wings span about a foot and are so thin they seem transparent, shading toward pearly white or pale blue near the middle. The faint whispering hum of those vibrating wings is the only sound it makes. Its coloring imposes a -2 penalty to opponents' surprise rolls. Flocks appear on the Prime in very windy places and on jagged peaks, sometimes escorting more powerful elementals. A dead air fundamental's body can help make a potion of flying, but on the Prime the corpse swiftly returns to its home plane of elemental air, unless someone seals it in a blessed vessel no more than two rounds after death.

The largest of the four kinds, earth fundamentals have wings of deep black and brown up to 2 1/2 feet across, and they are distinctly solid. They dive like air fundamentals but often skim close to the ground to bowl targets over; a natural 20 on the attack roll forces the victim to save vs. paralyzation or be knocked down. Their immunities match those of the air kind. Flocks gather wherever earth seems especially concentrated, such as deep caves and tar pits. They feed on soil, metal and gems, and sometimes on the armor of an ill-fated adventuring party. Kept in a blessed vessel, an earth fundamental's essence is useful for recharging a wand of metal and mineral detection.