Editing Elemental Weird

[[File:Elemental Weirds (Air and Water).jpg|thumb|right|300px|Weirds of Air and Water.]]
[[File:Elemental Weirds (Earth and Fire).jpg|thumb|left|300px|Weirds of Earth and Fire.]]

'''Elemental Weirds''' are, as the name implies, an [[elemental]] race from the history of [[Dungeons & Dragons]]. Uniquely - for elementals - they've changed drastically between [[Advanced Dungeons & Dragons]] and [[Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition]].

They debuted as the "Elemental-kin: Water Weird"; an intelligent but usually hostile water [[elemental]] that could shapeshift between the form of a mass of water and a snake made of solid water. It had more than a touch of [[Gotcha Monster]]. This version debuted in the 1975 WinterCon "Tsojconth" for [[Dungeons & Dragons]], and was later included in the first edition [[Monster Manual]] (as chaotic-evil), crediting Ernie Gygax for its creator.

[[Rose Estes]] featured a vicious and territorial Water Weird in ''[[Endless Quest|Dungeon of Dread]]''. Meanwhile [[Tom Moldvay]] did ''not'' include them in his Expert Set; neither would [[Frank Mentzer]]. Tsojconth also-meanwhile would get revised into [[S4: The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth]] - swapping the Weird for a [[marid]] (of course we couldn't know that). So, for many of us, Estes' book was the only place we'd meet 'em. Estes' Weird wasn't a killer; it didn't act evil. All those kids coming into the hobby with this Weird in mind didn't believe the Manual's "Chaotic Evil" guff. The Water [[Grue]] "Vardigg" ended up taking the Weird's niche as a truly sadistic elemental-kin.

2nd edition redid the Weird in the Monstrous Compendium Volume Two, which got reprinted in that Monstrous Manual under the "elemental, water kin" heading. An Earth Weird appeared in the ''Dragon Mountain'' boxed set and was then reprinted in the ''Monstrous Compendium Annual Volume 1''. And [[Bruce Cordell]] put a serpentine Bone Weird in ''[[Acererak|Return to]] the [[Tomb of Horrors]]''.

In [[Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition|3e]], the [[Monster Manual]] II instead stat(t)ed the Elemental Weird to be a species of [[elemental]]s found all over the [[Elemental Planes]], taking the forms of [[monstergirls|beautiful women made up of elemental matter, be it Earth, Air, Water or Fire]]. These creatures are described as elemental oracles, acting as seers and fortune tellers. This version of the Elemental Weird would receive an Ecology of the Elemental Weird article in [[Dragon Magazine]] issue #347, which also brought back the original Water Weird by stating that infant Elemental Weirds - statted here as "Lesser Weirds" - spend their lives as snake-like elementals tied to a mass of elemental matter, until eventually they mature and transform into the shapely elemental [[nymph]]s. [[Environment Book Series|Frostburn]] would expand the list of four elemental weirds with two new ones from the Paraelemental Plane of Cold; Ice Weirds and Snow Weirds.

As of [[Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition|5e]], they are back to their original snakelike form. Or at least the Water Weird is, as it's the only weird to show up in 5e.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
water weird 1e.jpg|1e
water weird MCV2.jpg|2e
Earth weird dragon mountain.png|Earth Weird
Earth weird MCAV1.jpg|Now in Color!
water weird 5e.jpg|5e
</gallery>

[[Category: Dungeons & Dragons]] [[Category: Monsters]] [[Category: Monstergirls]]