Animental

Animentals, also known as element creatures and occasionally referred to in some of their rarer forms as elemental monsters, were a type of elemental creature that resembled animals and monsters from the Prime Material plane.

Whenever animals died on the Prime Material their life energy went to an appropriate Outer Plane, often times the Beastlands, but a residual part of their energy would typically get shunted through vortexes into one of the many Elemental planes.

Instead of becoming a petitioner like most souls that left the Prime Material, this residual force would coalesce into a duplicate of its former body, composed of its respective plane's element. This same process could occur with monsters, though such cases were rare. Even then, humanoid animentals were not known to exist.

Description
The appearance of an animental generally conformed to that of an animal on the Prime Material.

Primary Elements
For example, an element creature of air would be made up of shifting clouds, with darker bits of fog for their eyes and mouth. An element creature of earth would be made up of stone, earth, and soil, with multifaceted crystals for eyes. And an element creature of fire would have flames in place of hair or fur, with blue flames for eyes. Any armor or scales of their Prime counterpart would be replaced with charcoal and blackened ash.

An element creature of water would have a viscous, fluid body with coral in place of their mouth and glowing green orbs for eyes. They were also likely to have serpentine or fish-like forms. They were confined to a specific shape only when outside of water, such as when in a pocket of air or similar medium. Finally, an element creature of wood would be composed of wood, branches, and leaves with opal-like eyes.

Para-Elements
An element creature of ice would be composed of snow, rime, and ice. With reddish ice for eyes and mouths lined with icicles. Some were very angular in form. An element creature of the Para-Elemental Plane of Magma would be composed entirely of magma, hardened into rock at some places while still fiery and molten at other spots, such as their joints. In place of eyes they had burning coals and their mouths were full of flame. Element creatures of ooze appeared as dark brown masses of muck, with gaping black pits where their eyes and mouth should be. And finally, an element creature of smoke would be composed entirely of a thick, dark cloud of that element with red-hot cinders for eyes and tendril-like claws.

Quasi-Elements
Elemental creatures of the Plane of Radiance and Plane of Vacuum had spherical forms of force, being colored and invisible respectively. Those from the Quasi-Elemental Plane of Lightning took on both spherical and spherical oblong forms of energy with leg-like bolts jutting in all directions. Elemental creatures of minerals had more of an insectoid appearance compared to their Prime planar counterparts. Elemental creatures of salt were white and encrusted with salt.

Behavior
All animentals, regardless of their spirits' Prime counterpart, were of a neutral disposition. Some described them as mindless beings, though their intelligence was on par with their Prime counterparts.

Abilities
Animentals were impervious to harm from their respective elemental. They could fly or swim through it with ease, though their movement remained similar to that of their Prime counterpart. They were capable of sensing creatures on the Border Ethereal of their respective plane. Elemental creatures were also immune to poisons, paralysis, and the spell sleep.

Animentals mimicked the abilities of their Prime counterpart, as well as possessed abilities unique to their element. The abilities they mimicked from their Prime counterpart could remain the same depending upon the element their spirit was composed of &mdash; for example, a medusa reborn as an animental of earth would still petrify her victims. But generally, the mimicked abilities of animentals conformed around their respective element &mdash; the spirit of a medusa reborn as a fire animental might turn her victims into ash, pillars of fire, or volcanic obsidian.

Much like other elementals, animentals reverted to their component element when "killed," such as a bat animental of Earth crumbling away into a pile of stones.

Combat
Animentals fought in the same manner as their Prime counterparts.

Rumors & Legends
Rumors circulated among the planes of there being animental giants, but no proof of their existence was ever found. Others claimed that animental humanoids were the progenitors of genies.

Prior to the Time of Troubles, some believed that animentals, as well as the rarer elemental monsters, were both merely temporary containers for elemental force that had achieved some semblance of sentience.

Diet
The dietary habits of animentals could vary, though generally they were carnivorous due to the lack of plant matter in many of the Elemental planes.

Habitats
Animentals were almost never found outside their respective elemental plane. Though there were some exceptions to this rule, as fire bats were occasionally encountered inside volcanoes on the Prime Material.

Outside of the primary elements, there were also element creatures of wood, who inhabited the House of Nature.

Element creatures of ice were known to exist in Auril's realm of Winter's Hall.

Relationships
Other elemental creatures generally ignored animentals, viewing them as a sort of phantom. Though some were known to use them as guards or even pets.

Whenever a spell that summoned animals, insects, or monsters was cast in the Inner Planes, an appropriate animental was typically summoned instead.

Notable Animentals

 * Elemental Chaos: Animental counterparts of weevils were known to exist on this plane.

Primary Elements

 * Elemental Plane of Air: There were known to exist animental counterparts of bulls, camels, mastiffs, polar bears, axebeaks, criosphinxes, giant rats, owlbears, as well as rats in the form of vapor rats.
 * Elemental Plane of Earth: There were known to exist animental counterparts of black bears, giant slugs, jackals, pegasi, and treants.
 * Elemental Plane of Fire: There were known to exist animental counterparts of birds, sharks, aarakocra, griffons, leucrottas, otyughs, ropers, quippers, as well as bats in the form of fire bats.
 * Elemental Plane of Water: There were known to exist animental counterparts of displacer beasts, elephants, giant leeches, giant weasels, and whales.

Para-Elements

 * Para-Elemental Planes: Across the various Para-Elemental Planes there were known to exist animental counterparts of herd animals, behirs, cave fishers, cloakers, dinosaurs, eagles, electric eels, giant octopi, rats, and urchins.

Quasi-Elements

 * Quasi-Elemental Plane of Ash: The animentals that occurred here were typically counterparts of creatures that dwelled in arctic regions.
 * Quasi-Elemental Plane of Dust: Animentals were an uncommon occurrence in this elemental plane. The type most typically encountered were reflections of wolves.
 * Quasi-Elemental Plane of Lightning: There were known to exist animental counterparts of constrictor snakes.
 * Quasi-Elemental Plane of Salt: Nearly all animentals on this elemental plane were reflections of creatures common in deserts, such as scorpions, monstrous scorpions, and snakes.
 * Quasi-Elemental Plane of Steam: There were known to exist animental counterparts of stags.
 * Quasi-Elemental Plane of Vacuum: Animentals were a rare occurrence in this plane, to the point that some mistakenly believed that none ever manifested in it. Animental whales were one of the few known to occur here.

Appearances

 * Adventures
 * Tales of the Outer Planes