# Looking for 'Elemental' Mythological Beasts



## half-dragon dragon (Jan 5, 2009)

For fleshing out a campaign idea I'm looking for mythological creatures that have some form of 'elemental' affiliation, and hoping I could get some help from all of you folks. The 'elements' in question are fire, earth, water, wind, storm, forest, and shadow. The only restrictions I'm placing on them is that they cannot be a dragon of some sort, and they cannot be too humanoid in form. Bonus points if the creature has reptilian, avian, or feline features as well. I'm looking for two of each element, except for water, and while I'm hoping to find mythological creatures, if there is some strong connection for a mundane animal, like fire and the salamander, I'll take it. What I have so far is as follows;

Fire: Phoenix & Salamander
Earth: Basilisk & ? (I would pick the cockatrice, but its a little too similar to the basilisk)
Water: Hydra
Wind: Roc & ?
Storm: Thunder bird (is there a better name for this) & ?
Forest: ?
Shadow: ?

So as you can see, I need a lot of help here. It doesn't matter where the creature comes from, I would just like them to be from real world myth. Thanks in advance for any ideas and suggestions.

EDIT: I should also mention that those above are subject to change if a better idea comes along.


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## humble minion (Jan 5, 2009)

A bit of brainstorming, though they might be a bit too humanoid for your purposes:

Wind (or Storm): Wendigo 
Earth: Nargun (Australian aboriginal myth - google it)


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## Baron Opal (Jan 5, 2009)

According to Aristotle (I think) there were four definitive elemental creatures:

Fire: Salamander
Water: Undine
Air: Sylph
Earth: Gnome

This terminology does present some problems if you already have gnomes as something else.

If you are willing to conflate the faerie with elementals, or the natural world, you can also have:

Forest: Dryads
Mountains: Oereads
Rivers/Lakes: Nyads

(I'm pretty certain I've misspelled the last two.)


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## frankthedm (Jan 5, 2009)

Dark*Sun had a good deal of elemental creatures. Several got fan updated to 3E

http://www.athas.org/products/ToA

_* Elemental Beast*
Elemental beasts are a species of elemental that, on their home planes, fulfill the roles of predators, scavengers and hunters of weaker beasts. They are perfectly in tune with their home element and are prized by the intelligent residents of those planes as guards, hunters and trackers, as they are able to detect elemental impurities and the presence of other elements with great ease and precision.
*
Fire Elemental Beast*
In motion this creature resembles nothing so much as a fireball – a streaking sphere of blazing flame. When it comes to a halt, however, you see that it is actually a panther-like beast composed entirely of flickering tongues of flame that ripple like muscles beneath hide. Coal-black eyes glare from beneath a flaring mane, there is a brief glimmer of bright fang, and then it is off again, trailing incandescent devastation in its wak_e.

[sblock=Table of contents]
DRAKE.................... 30
Air Drake .................. 30
Earth Drake ................. 31
Fire Drake................. 33
Magma Drake ................. 34
Rain Drake................ 35
Silt Drake .................. 35
Sun Drake ................. 36
Water Drake................. 36
EEL, FIRE ................... 44
ELEMENTAL BEAST................ 44
Air Elemental Beast .............. 45
Earth Elemental Beast.............. 46
Fire Elemental Beast............. 47
Water Elemental Beast............. 47
GOLEM.................... 59
Magma Golem................. 60
Rock Golem.................. 60
Salt Golem................. 61
Sample Half-Air Drake Mountain Stalker..... 66
Creating a Half-Drake ............. 66
HALF-ELEMENTALS – PARAELEMENTS ....... 67
Creating a Half-Elemental.......... 67
Sample Half-Magma Feylaar......... 68
Sample Half-Rain Crag Giant........... 69
Sample Half-Silt Dray.............. 69
Sample Half-Sun Dwarf ........... 70
INCARNATION, ELEMENTAL AND PARAELEMENTAL... 74
Creating an Elemental Incarnation......... 75
Sample Air Incarnation ............ 75
Creating an Air Incarnation .......... 75
Sample Earth Incarnation........... 76
Creating an Earth Incarnation ......... 76
Sample Fire Incarnation ............. 77
Creating a Fire Incarnation........... 77
Sample Magma Incarnation........... 77
Creating a Magma Incarnation ........ 78
Sample Rain Incarnation ............ 78
Creating a Rain Incarnation .......... 78
Sample Silt Incarnation............ 79
Creating a Silt Incarnation ............ 79
Sample Sun Incarnation........... 80
Creating a Sun Incarnation............ 80
Sample Water Incarnation .......... 80
Creating a Water Incarnation........... 81
LIZARD, FIRE ................ 85
PARAELEMENTAL, ATHASIAN ............ 95
Rain Paraelemental .............. 95
Silt Paraelemental.............. 98
Sun Paraelemental ............. 99
PARAELEMENTAL BEAST ........... 100
Magma Paraelemental Beast .......... 100
Rain Paraelemental Beast............ 101
Silt Paraelemental Beast........ 102
Sun Paraelemental Beast .... 102
[/sblock]


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## Twiggly the Gnome (Jan 5, 2009)

In angel-lore, the Phoenix is associated with the Kalkydra: a creature with the body of a lion, the head of a crocodile and rainbow plumed wings. While the Phoenix represents the Sun's light, the Kalkydra represents its heat - drawing the morning dew toward the sky.


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## Giltonio_Santos (Jan 5, 2009)

I don't understand your request clearly... Do you want creatures with powers related to the element in question (such as cockatrice's ability to turn people to stone) or a basic affinity seen in myths (let's say, for example, that an unicorn would be a good fit for forest)?


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## half-dragon dragon (Jan 5, 2009)

Sorry about any ambiguity, and I would say it can be either or. Mostly the criteria would be if the creature is associated in any way to the element, whether it be its habitat, its composed to some degree of the element, or has an ability tied to that element (like turning people to stone) is fine by me. 

Thanks to all of you who've replied so far, you've given me a few ideas already.


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## fba827 (Jan 5, 2009)

some random ones that come to mind (though some of these have already been said), but just listing them as they pop in my head...

Gargoyle - earth  (has avian features with the wings)
Bigfoot  (or a generic Apeman) -- forest or earth
Satyr - forest
Dryad - forest
Water Nymph/ Water Neriad (sp?) - water
loc ness monster (sp?) - water
sphinx - earth or air
phoenix - fire
medusa - earth
Charybdis - water
Scylla - water  (though could easily be a hydra)
Mermaid - water


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## Tonguez (Jan 5, 2009)

*Fire:* Phoenix & Salamander

*Earth:* Basilisk & *Galeb Dhur* (I love these guys)

*Water:* Hydra & *Kraken*

*Wind:* Roc & *Sirocco Fox *(* in Disneys Alladin series one of his adversaries is Sirocco - the burning desert wind in the form of a giant fox)

*Storm:* Thunder bird (his name in Lakota is Wakiyą) & Pikachu or a Ball Lightning Willowisp

*Forest*: *White Stag * & Topiary Plant (personally I'd just animate the whole *forest entity* like the Crawling Jungle

*Shadow:* Black Shuck (or similar *Hellhounds/Barghest*) & *Banshee*? or a bat-shaped Nightwing


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## SKyOdin (Jan 5, 2009)

There are always the Four Symbols of Chinese myth: The Blue Dragon of the East (associated with wood, sometimes with earth or water), The Red Phoenix of the South (associated with fire), the White Tiger of the West (associated with metal, and sometimes wind), and the Black Warrior of the North (a turtle with a snake for a tail, associated with water). These gods also appear in Japanese myth, where there are called Seiryu, Suzaku, Byakko, and Genbu, respectively. If you want elemental themed with animal features, they are the perfect fit.


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## Huw (Jan 5, 2009)

Some suggestions

Manticore: Air/Wind

Sphinx: Earth (not mythologically accurate, but fits with modern images)

Peryton: Shadow

Remorhaz: Storm


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## krissbeth (Jan 5, 2009)

Water: Siren


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## Hellzon (Jan 5, 2009)

I just have to mention bunyips for water.


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## Silver Fang (Nov 3, 2017)

Dark-Cerberus
Water-Leviathon


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## the_cowley (Nov 3, 2017)

Look at mythology. Norse has a lot of "Elvin" creatures associated with elements


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