Regarding Summon Elemental spell

[kaymarciy]

Some time ago in some discussion (which I just can't find) someone asked what determines the type of a summoned elemental. There was an opinion that it depends at least partially on the terrain/location. It doesn't. It is based solely on magic skills of the caster (doesn't matter if this is a regular spell or a flask with Canned Elemental).

Game takes all 4 magic skills (with bonuses), adds 20 to each and makes an RNG roll.

For example: Character has 10 Fire, 20 Water, 30 Air and 40 Earth skills.
Game adds 20 to each turning it into 30 Fire, 40 Water, 50 Air and 60 Earth. Sum is 180
d180 RNG roll is made. If the result is 30 or lower - it's a Fire elemental, if the result is between 31 and 70 - that's a Water Elemental. And so on.

[biogoo]

Good to know! So it makes sense to train the air realm after all :)

[Zergs]

Interesting. Are some types of elementals superior to others?

[biogoo]

Air has a chance for 2 swings per attack, and air+fire have the highest attack rating. Earth has slightly lower attack rating but also extended range and higher damage. Water has much worse attack rating and lowest damage.
They of course all have different resistances and hitpoints. They also have different on-attack effects - the PL7 fire elemental can even instakill.

[Seewhyseeoh]

I've never seen an elemental instakill......time for yet another play through me thinks!
(in all honesty I rarely used the elemental spell or the canned version)

[NolanDaneworth]

I love earth elementals precisely for their extended range and tankiness.
And i damn hate to fight them because of that.

[Zergs]

Is there an upper limit to how high elementals scale? If you cast summon elemental at PL7, does it matter if your caster level is 20 or 30?

[kaymarciy]

You mean their stats? I don't think so. In this game creatures of the same type aren't examples of this type Class, but examples of the Creature class with the type ID being one of its properties. In other words, a single creature such as a specific summoned Greater Earth Elemental doesn't have stats of its own (aside from health / stamina) but shares stats with every other Greater Earth Elemental. In order to make them scale, the game would need to have several creature types called Greater Earth Elemental (for example, there are 6 different types of creatures called Rapax Initiate), but in Cosmic Forge it's clear there's only one.

And if you mean the size of the elemental - no, it depends purely on the chosen PL I believe.

[CeterumCenseo]

Originally posted by kaymarciy:

And if you mean the size of the elemental - no, it depends purely on the chosen PL I believe.

...and of the type (which the player cannot influence at casting). Earth elementals have a significant higher footprint compared to the other Elementals of same PL.

The height is also worth mentioning. Inside buildings, the maximum castable PL is limited by the height of the ceiling. This is ignored for the Canned Elemental Bomb/Potion (PL6), which can be cast in any environment. However the Elemental may not be able to move if "stuck" in the ceiling.