The Sand Elemental

In the session I DMd the other day, one of the things that stuck out in my head was the total lack of interesting desert-native creatures. Desert locations are extremely cool, and they can be underused except in the "plunder this pseudo-egyptian tomb" location. But even that is underused, considering how vast and varied such a location has the potential to be!

In an effort to reconcile this, here's the Sand Elemental, a creature I'd created for the session but (sadly) never was encountered. Such is life!

While not a true elemental per se, the Sand Elemental is nevertheless a destructive, petty creature. It rages at nearby living creatures, attempting to suffocate them with inside of its stinging whirlwind. Sand Elementals appear to be a small tornado, or dust devil, at a distance, but as it grows closer it becomes obvious that it is animated- the spirit emits an undulating shriek and solid, tearing claws form inside the sand to rend open flesh; two things that an average whirlwind does not do.


No. Enc.: 1
Alignment: Chaotic
Movement: 120' (40')
Armor Class: 4
Hit Dice:  2+1
Attacks:  2
Damage:  1d4/1d4
Save:  F3
Morale:  10
Hoard Class: None
XP:  47

Beings near the Sand Elemental have a difficult time seeing or hearing, due to the copious amounts of dust and the hideous shrieking, respectively. Besides the usual effects, they also suffer a -1 penalty to hit when near the Sand Elemental.