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Archives of Nethys

Archives of Nethys

Pathfinder RPG (1st Edition) Pathfinder RPG (2nd Edition) Starfinder RPG

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Elemental, Mephit

Source Bestiary pg. 150
Mephits—sometimes known as elemental scamps—are little bipedal critters with bat-like wings who serve stronger elementals on the Elemental Planes or neophyte spellcasters who summon them to the Material Plane. All mephits have an inkling of magical power as well as a breath weapon.

Members

Air Mephit (Creature 1), Dust Mephit (Creature 1), Earth Mephit (Creature 1), Fire Mephit (Creature 1), Ice Mephit (Creature 1), Metal Scamp (Creature 1), Ooze Mephit (Creature 1), Steam Mephit (Creature 1), Water Mephit (Creature 1), Wood Scamp (Creature 1)

Sidebar - Additional Lore Conjuring Mephits

Mephits are a favorite target for low-level spellcasters to summon, both because they have several useful abilities and because they are relatively easy to command and manipulate. Still, care must be taken when using mephits as minions, because if left unwatched or unattended for too long, they can cause all sorts of mischief.

Sidebar - Additional Lore Mephit Interactions

Different types of mephits that can be found on the same elemental plane often develop friendly (or, in some cases, fierce) rivalries with one another. While mephits from elementally opposed planes (such as fire and water) may have strong opinions about the superiority of their own element, the fact that they rarely see such mephits means that when they do encounter them, they often get along better than they do with their close neighbors.

Sidebar - Additional Lore Mephit Names

Perhaps because they're so often compelled into service by mortal conjurers and more powerful elementals, mephits tend to adopt long names peppered with self-proclaimed titles and imagined or exaggerated accomplishments to alleviate their feelings of inadequacy. Some examples of mephit names follow.
  • Anothoraxia, Lurker in Dark Places, the Tragic Hero, One Against All
  • Silothiscil the Embittered, Rimelord of the Eternal Chill, Lord of Icicles
  • Oglophax, Prince of Pungency, the Viscous One, the Forever Stain
  • Zarnozath the Magnificent, First of His Name, Boiler of Kettles, the Teapot Terror

Sidebar - Related Creatures Other Mephits

The four mephits presented here are but the most common of their kind. Others that rise from the mixing of elemental energies exist as well: creatures like dust mephits (who breathe out a scouring cloud of grit), ice mephits (who spit out sickening gusts of frozen air), magma mephits (which can assume the form of a pool of lava), ooze mephits (which spit out foul-smelling acid), salt mephits (who can draw moisture out of the environs and nearby creatures), and steam mephits (which can call down tiny squalls of boiling rain).

Sidebar - Related Creatures Uniters of the Scamps

Wood scamps' unusual inclination toward teamwork can make them invaluable additions to any troupe of elemental scamps. They're known to work well with one another, as well as with air, earth, water, mud, and even dust and ice scamps. They also make good mediators during the all-too-common chaotic conflicts that result. The only scamps they can't tolerate are those of fire and metal, who are notorious for teaming up to bully wood scamps incessantly

Elemental

Related Groups Elemental, Air, Elemental, Air, Elemental, Earth, Elemental, Earth, Elemental, Fire, Elemental, Fire, Elemental, Metal, Elemental, Scamp, Elemental, Water, Elemental, Water, Elemental, Wisp, Elemental, Wood
The Elemental Planes—primordial realms defined by aspects of air, earth, fire, or water—are home to a diverse group of beings known as elementals. Spellcasters on the Material Plane call upon elementals for aid, though these enigmatic creatures can also travel to the world of mortals via interplanar gateways and rifts. The elementals on these pages exemplify the creatures of the Elemental Planes, but this list is by no means exhaustive.

Sidebar - Additional Lore Elemental Beings

The Elemental Planes—primordial realms defined by aspects of air, earth, fire, metal, water, or wood—are home to a diverse group of beings known as elementals. Spellcasters in the mortal Universe call upon elementals for aid, though these enigmatic creatures can also travel to the world of mortals via interplanar gateways and rifts. The elementals on these pages exemplify the creatures of the four best-known Elemental Planes, but this list is by no means exhaustive.

Sidebar - Related Creatures Elemental Connections

Many creatures from the mortal Universe, although not technically elementals, take on the essences of the elements and often work together with elementals or struggle against them for territory. Some of these include giants, oni, and phoenixes.

Sidebar - Additional Lore Elemental Fauna

Not all elementals are lumbering, humanoid-shaped creatures. Some take on the forms and natures of animals and beasts from the mortal Universe. These creatures often behave in ways similar to their animal counterparts, even though as elementals they lack the animalistic instincts mortal creatures have when it comes to hunting, reproducing, and the like. Elemental fauna are favorites of conjurers due to their small size, relative ease of summoning, and varied abilities.

Sidebar - Additional Lore Elemental Lords

The most powerful elementals are demigods known as elemental lords. In ages past, a conspiracy of four vicious lords imprisoned their counterparts. However, during recent events, their prisoners were able to escape, along with the reappearance of the long-lost lords of metal and wood.

Sidebar - Locations Elemental Vortexes

Where the boundary between planes wears thin, elementals manifest in the world through churning vortexes. Such gateways might lie at the heart of a volcano, a deep ocean trench, in regions beset with earthquakes, or within great storms

Sidebar - Related Creatures Other Elementals

In addition to the four elements described here, the planes of Metal and Wood are in the process of returning from their long absence, along with their own elementals and genies. The churning mixture of elements where planar borders blur only rarely produces hybrid elementals, but the jann cherish such strange and beautiful regions.

Sidebar - Additional Lore Primal Elementals

The most well-known of all elementals are the primal elementals, creatures composed entirely of air, earth, fire, or water with roughly humanoid shapes. Many primal elementals are named after natural disasters, ranging from those relatively small in scale (roughly the size of Medium humanoids) to much larger ones (often the size of small buildings). Primal elementals can often be found in areas where their namesake disasters have recently struck.

Sidebar - Additional Lore Sanctified Elements

As long as gods have existed, they have worked their influence over the elements. Along with holy water and unholy water, for example, celestials and fiends often fight with sanctified fire. Elementals experience this divine influence as an unpleasant but generally harmless contaminant, although many acquire a taste for the influence of the elemental lords.