Bestiary of Air

Furious Storms and Invisible Assassins

A Bestiary of the Boundless Blue

It is tricky to make any confident claims regarding the nature of true air elementals, even if you can find some who are willing to stop and chat. For elementals are creatures that do not need to breathe, eat, drink, sleep or even breed, that are never truly born or deceased, and are bound to exist in a completely different paradigm to plain old humanoids.

But some sorts of conclusions can be drawn about them. As a rule, air elementals enjoy constant movement, and if they have to stop in one place, they will spin like tornadoes. Ironically, among elemental creatures they are the most often captured and transformed by spellcasters to serve their bidding, into forms like invisible stalkers or aerial servants. Thus, certain elementals can have a lot of disdain towards spellslingers.

They also like gaseous aromas—which is perplexing, as they don’t seem to have noses. Certain sages propose that elementals enjoy not the smell itself, but the shape of tiny particles constituting it. Imagine a toddler, who grabs every object in sight just to know how it feels to touch. This suggestion is supported by the fact that certain elementals seem to appreciate quite foul-smelling substances. Air elementals have been observed to “wear” the aromas inside of them as long as they can hold onto them—scents seem to be something akin to jewellery by their standards. If you catch a smell of roses (or guano, or anything that shouldn’t be there) while flying through the Boundless Blue, you can be certain you’ve attracted attention of interested elementals. And you know Auran, you can try to ask them for directions, perhaps in exchange for some interesting fragrance.

— Professor Crocosmia, a ghoran explorer and scholar of planar flora

A Bestiary of Air

• Aerial Servant
  • Virtually invisible kin of air elementals who also roam the Ethereal and Astral. They are less intelligent than elementals and therefore easier for wizards bind and use as deadly assassins.
  • Guide to the Ethereal Plane [2e] p60; Inner Planes [2e] p16; Planescape Campaign Setting [2e] DM’s Guide to the Planes p28; Planewalker’s Handbook [2e] p27
  • Stats: [ 2e | 5e ] [ PF 1e ]
• Air Drake
  • Long, lean and light dragon-kin who love to soar through the endless skies.
  • Planescape Monstrous Compendium Vol. 3 [2e] p3-8
  • Stats: [ 2e ] [ PF 1e ]
• Air Sentinel
  • Friendly spirits of Shurrock, who occasional visit djinni relatives in Air.
  • Monstrous Compendium Outer Planes Appendix [2e]; Planes of Conflict [2e] Liber Benevolentiae p34,41
  • Stats: [ 2e ]
• Air Walker
  • The air walkers are enigmatic native creatures, perfectly suited to their boundless, ever-shifting home. They appear as faintly humanoid figures composed entirely of swirling, translucent air currents, their forms barely visible except for the subtle ripples they create as they move. Silent and almost imperceptible, they drift effortlessly through the skies, blending seamlessly with the winds around them. What makes them unique is their role as the plane’s unseen observers—watching, listening, and recording the endless stories carried on the breeze. Air walkers are thought to be born from the plane itself, manifestations of its consciousness or perhaps its curiosity. They are drawn to moments of significance: A djinn’s council, a clash of elementals, or even a mortal planewalker’s first ‘step’ into the plane. Their presence is often felt rather than seen—a sudden stillness in the air or a whisper that seems to come from nowhere. While they rarely interact directly, chant goes they can communicate through subtle shifts in wind patterns or fleeting images in the clouds. Their motives remain a mystery; are they guardians, spies, or simply wanderers?
  • Inner Planes [2e] p24; Planescape Monstrous Compendium Vol. 3 [2e] p8

• Ak’hali ‡
  • Ak’hali or cloud-makers are giant flying creatures, resembling huge whale sharks—if the shark looked like a ghost and could fly. Ak’halis exist in the cloudbanks, where the environment is most comfortable for them. And if they can’t find a convenient loudbank, they create one—their skin evaporates water, giving them their signature ghostly appearance. Of course, this ability requires a lot of water. A single ak’hali can drink an entire pocket of Water, leaving with its gullet grotesquely bloated. Ruvoka tribes believe that ak’halis create the majestic clouds of the plane, and so they take care of these gentle giants, directing them towards water and food sources. Said food is anything sufficiently small to fit through ak’hali’s baleen-like teeth, including even air elementals. Sometimes they swallow entire flocks of birds—a terrible sight indeed. Fortunately, ak’halis can’t swallow an adventurer. Of course, this doesn’t make these titanic creatures harmless, but you’ll probably be fine, so long as you keep your distance.
• Anaemos ‡
  • Most elementals are disinterested in the affairs of other creatures, but it is not unknown for them to choose a side when a philosophical conflict of importance rears its ugly head. Those air elementals who choose the side of law are called anemos, and this choice changes their very form. They become distinctive by the net of tiny cloud-like tangling threads which manifests inside of them. Contrast eith eolians (see below).
• Animental
  • Animentals are echoes of Plife reformed in the raw essence of the Inner Planes, creatures that carry the memory of their Prime Material forms but are reshaped by the elemental forces that claim them. On the Plane of Air, a wolf might return as a sleek, translucent predator made of whirling gusts, its howl a haunting whistle through the winds. A bird might become a shimmering silhouette of light and vapour, its wings trailing streams of mist as it soars. Animentals are not merely animals given new bodies however—they are living embodiments of their elements, their instincts and behaviours now infused with their new nature. Some say they retain faint recollections of their past lives—an air animental horse might still circle a traveller’s campfire out of habit. An air animental is weightless and untethered, moving with uncanny grace and speed, part of the wind itself. They are neither fully spirit nor fully elemental, existing in a liminal state where memory and raw elemental energy merge.
  • Planescape Monstrous Compendium Vol. 3 [2e] p14
  • Stats: [ 2e ]
• Arrowhawk
  • Arrowhawks are snake-like four-eyed and four-winged lightning-blasting creatures, chant goes originating from the Prime world of Eberron. They are well-adapted to the unique environment in Air and are known for spending their entire lives in flight.
  • Manual of the Planes [3e] p68-69
  • Stats: [ 3e ] [ PF 1e ]
• Belker †
  • These reclusive fume elementals have glowing red eyes, leathery wings, and long, sharp claws. While they always retain their shape, belkers can control the solidity of their forms at will, transforming into clouds of smoke, ash, and dust.
  • Planescape Monstrous Compendium Vol. 3 [2e] p22-23; Bestiary 2 [PF2e] p106
  • Stats: [ 2e ] [ PF 1e | 2e ]
• Blessed Breezes ‡
  • Blessed Breezes are a rare and radiant variation of air elementals, transformed by their embrace of goodness into beings of quiet grace and luminous beauty. Unlike their tempestuous kin, who embody the raw and untamed force of the wind, Blessed Breezes manifest as shimmering clouds of translucent air that glow softly with golden light, casting warm sunbeams wherever they drift. Their movements are serene and purposeful, exuding an aura of calm that soothes those nearby. What sets them apart is their unique ability to purify and uplift: They can cleanse the air of toxins, dispel magical darkness or despair, and even heal minor wounds with their touch, as if the very essence of goodness flows through their airy forms. They are drawn to places where harmony falters—whether it’s a battlefield or a storm-tossed village—and act as silent guardians, restoring balance without fanfare. Some say they may be created the first time that an air elemental witnesses an act of profound kindness or sacrifice, forever altering its natural aphilosophical nature.
• Bora ‡
  • Bora is the name given to an airy elemental of cold wind, born in the Mistral Reach. Like migratory animals, boras leave their region to travel far across Air to the Sirocco Straits. The touch of a bora covers objects in rime and drains heat from creatures. Like ice para-elementals, these frosty monsters just enjoy freezing things. Once they reach Sirocco Straits, boras fight dust devils—another kind of elemental embodying hot desert air, who loathe the cold. This inter-elemental war seems to have been boiling for eternity, but so far no one managed to capitalise on it—this is more of a conflict between primal forces of heat and cold, and neither boras nor dust devils treat this “war” as something worth organising around.
• Breathdrinker
  • A dreadful elemental that feeds on the air extracted from the lungs of living creatures.
  • Monster Manual II [3e] p39
  • Stats: [ 3e | 5e ]
• Camel, Flying ‡
  • These winged domesticated livestock were created by the djinni, who needed strong and hardy beasts of burden. Since then though, escapees have run wild and now their herds can be found flocking together all throughout the Boundless Blue.
• Chraal, Air
  • A ruthless icy killer formed when a hateful being perishes on Elemental Air or Water.
  • Monster Manual III [3e] p28
  • Stats: [ 3e ]
• Cyclonic Ravanger
  • Air elementals who side with Elemental Evil are reformed as cruel Cyclonic Ravagers, unforgiving and aggressive whirlwind storms who will attack planewalkers and other air elementals in a rage-like stage.
• Despairing Pall †
  • Despairing palls are small, dark clouds that float aimlessly through the Plane of Air, casting literal and emotional shadows wherever they go. Pranksters and mischievous elementalists often summon them to rain on a rival’s parade.
  • Rage of Elements [PF2e] p82
  • Stats: [ PF 2e ]
• Dust Devil; Living Whirlwind †
  • A species of air elemental which embodies the hot desert air, who loathe the cold. The dust devils dwell in the Sirocco Straits and have an ancient emnity with the bora, another clade of air elemental (see above). A dust devil has a vague mouth and eyes formed among the dust and debris swirling within it.
  • Monster Core [PF2e] p140
  • Stats: [ PF 2e ]
• Duster
  • Small, aardvark-like omnivores, who are among the few animals here who are unable to fly (yet nonetheless numerous). They are considered a pest by the djinni.
  • Planescape Monstrous Compendium Vol. 3 [2e] p8

• Elemental, Air; Elemental Hurricane [PF2e]
  • What many planewalkers don’t realise is that there are many castes of air elemental. To the untrained eye, a living whirlwind looks the same as another, but this ignorance can be dangerous. Several different castes of air elemental are described here—see the individual name for more details:
  • Air walker—the subtle sneaks and spies
  • Anaemos—air elementals influences by law
  • Blessed Breeze—air elementals who have sided with goodness
  • Bora—cold and wet migratory air elementals
  • Cyconic Ravager—air elementals tainted with evil
  • Dust Devil—elementals of hot and dry winds
  • Eolian—air elementals of the chaotic breezes
  • Inner Planes [2e] p24; Manual of the Planes [3e] p68; Planescape Campaign Setting [2e] DM’s Guide to the Planes p28; Planewalker’s Handbook [2e] p27; Tales from the Infinite Staircase [2e] p74; Monster Core [PF2e] p140
  • Stats: [ 2e | 3e | 5e ] [ PF 1e | 2e ]
• Elementaloid, Air ‡
  • The elementaloid creatures are a fascinating hybrid of elemental and biological features. The flesh of air elementaloid creatures is light and gives out a soft crackle when touched. Their tissues, including their blood, are full of tiny bubbles of gas. These creatures are very resistant to decompression sickness, which, curiously, makes them suited to surviving deep underwater and in Vacuum. Once they figure out how to acquire sufficient air, of course. This ties to another ability shared by many such creatures—they can survive without breathable air by transmuting fixed air [carbon dioxide] and mephitic air [nitrogen] from around them. However, this ability requires a lot of energy (in the form of food) and having enough actual suitable gases to breathe—all that to say, air elementaloids still can drown.
• Eolian
  • A clade of air elementals swayed by chaos, and these beings are always unpredictable and full of fog and debris. Unlike certain other chaotic elementals, eolians aren’t necessarily evil, but they have an intense rivalry with Wind Dukes of Aaqua and frequently attack their outposts.
  • Inner Planes [2e] p16; Monstrous Manual [2e]; Planescape Monstrous Compendium Vol. 3 [2e] p8
  • Stats: [ 2e ]
• Fundamental, Air
  • The weakest of the true elementals, the fundamentals are small, bat-like creatures that flit around the plane.
  • Planescape Monstrous Compendium Vol. 3 [2e] p46-47
  • Stats: [ 2e ]
• Gen, Air
  • Small elemental genies who willingly serve as familiars to the sha’ir of the Land of Fate. Wind gen are small air sprites with bluish skin and white hair.
  • Monstrous Compendium Al-Qadim Appendix; Dragon Magazine #315 p82
  • Stats: [ 2e ]
• Genasi, Air; Sylph [PF2e]
  • Sylphs, also known as air genasi, are mortal humanoid beings whose bloodlines have been touched by the Plane of Air. Sometimes this is from an ancestor in the family tree—although graybeards scratch their heads about how that might work, physically—but more often this is because planar energies infuse a developing baby in utero. Air genasi can appear in diverse forms, but are usually humanoids with blue or white translucent skin, wild white hair which has the consistency of mist and never stops moving even when the air is still.
  • Dragon Magazine #307 p23-24; Planescape Monstrous Compendium Vol. 3 [2e] p8; Planewalker’s Handbook [2e] p72
  • Stats: [ 2e | 3e | 5e ] [ PF 1e | 2e ]

• Genie, Djinn; Jaathoom [PF2e]
  • The native genies to the plane of Air, the djinni dwell on floating islands of rock crammed with buildings, courtyards and gardens. The nobles of the race are able to grant wishes.
  • Dragon Magazine #350 p54; Inner Planes [2e] p24,27,29,45,55,86,89,94; Planescape Monstrous Compendium Vol. 3 [2e] p6,8,10; Manual of the Planes [3e] p68-70,139; Planescape Campaign Setting [2e] DM’s Guide to the Planes p8,28,33-34; Sigil & Beyond p67; Planewalker’s Handbook [2e] p27,72; Tales from the Infinite Staircase [2e] p72-73
  • Stats: [ 2e | 3e | 5e ] [ PF 1e | 2e ]
• Genie, Jann
  • Janni are genies made from all four elements combined and they tend to spend their time on the Prime, but they are able to travel to and survive in the Inner Planes for up to 48 hours at a time.
  • Dungeon Magazine #144 p69-85; Inner Planes [2e] p35,55; Planar Handbook [3e] p24-25
  • Stats: [ 2e | 3e | 5e ] [ PF 1e | 2e ]
• Goose, Short-Winged ‡
  • Short-winged geese are creatures bred from giant fey geese by cloud giants. They have shorter wings, that can only be used in no-gravity environment of the Plane of Air and such. Unlike their fey relatives, short-winged geese don’t lay eggs, they are ovoviviparous—their eggs incubate inside their bodies. Newborn geese are already well-developed, but they need to hold onto their parents until they can fly.
• Gryphon; Griffon
  • The gryphons of Air are majestic creatures, perfectly adapted to the endless skies. They resemble their Material Plane counterparts—part eagle, part lion—but their forms are lighter, almost ethereal, with feathers that shimmer like sunlight on water and fur that ripples like clouds in a breeze. These gryphons are not bound by gravity of course; they soar effortlessly through the currents of air, often riding invisible streams of wind for days without rest. They are able to sense disturbances in the plane and navigate its invisible borders with uncanny precision, and therefore they are often employed by djinn as mounts or messengers. Gryphons are far from mere beasts of burden however—they are intelligent and proud, choosing their riders carefully and forming lifelong bonds with those they deem worthy.
  • Inner Planes [2e] p24; Planescape Monstrous Compendium Vol. 3 [2e] p8; Planewalker’s Handbook [2e] p27; Well of Worlds [2e] p95
    Stats: [ 2e | 3e | 5e ] [ PF 1e | 2e ]
• Hgaun
  • The result of a barmy wizard’s experiments, hgaun possess the bodies of medium-sized dogs, birdlike heads with multifaceted eyes, and feathered wings just large enough to allow them to get airborne.
  • Tales from the Infinite Staircase [2e] p75 (inc. brief stats)
• Hippogriff
  • The hippogriffs of Air are creatures of breathtaking grace, with majestic eagle-like heads, powerful wings, and equine hindquarters. Their feathers shimmer with an opalescent sheen, catching and refracting the light of distant storms and rainbows. These beings can glide effortlessly through the endless skies, using the plane’s natural air currents to travel great distances without ever flapping their wings. What truly sets them apart though is their uncanny ability to navigate even the most chaotic winds, and their ability to sense impending storms long before they arrive.
  • Inner Planes [2e] p24; Planescape Monstrous Compendium Vol. 3 [2e] p8; Manual of the Planes [3e] p68; Planescape Campaign Setting [2e] DM’s Guide to the Planes p28; Planewalker’s Handbook [2e] p27; Tales from the Infinite Staircase [2e] p81; Well of Worlds [2e] p95
    Stats: [ 2e | 3e | 5e ] [ PF 1e | 2e ]
• Ildriss (Air Grue, Wind Terror)
  • Air grues or ildriss (in their own tongue) are something between scavengers and macrophages of their respective planes. Ildriss seek impurities like droplets of water or specks of dust and slowly devour them, producing clean air as a byproduct. They are invisible, yet very abrasive (the exact nature of their bodies is unclear, but it is definitely not just regular air). My readers may come to conclusion that ildriss must hate everything that isn’t air—but this is far from the truth. In fact, grues would love to consume more impurities and expand their numbers—and this is what brings them to side with the Princes of Elemental Evil. Ildriss, being more of a scavenger type, rarely attack groups of adventurers, but they may try and finish off wounded ones. If your friend is on their last legs or has been infected with the bloody fever, it is unwise to leave them unattended, even in a locked room. Remember, ildriss are air elementals and can seep through any crack, no matter how airtight you think a door may be.
  • Planescape Monstrous Compendium Vol. 1 [2e] p52-53; Vol. 3 p8,101; Planescape Campaign Setting [2e] DM’s Guide to the Planes p28
  • Stats: [ 2e ]
• Invisible Stalker; Phade [PF2e]
  • Invisible stalkers, also known as phades, are enigmatic and unwilling servants from Air, often mistaken for elementals by those unfamiliar with their true nature. Unlike their more tempestuous kin, invisible stalkers are purpose-driven beings summoned to the Material Plane through magic to fulfil specific tasks, usually as assassins or trackers. They are entirely composed of air, rendering them naturally invisible—even magical detection reveals only a faint outline. What makes them unique is their faultless tracking ability; they unerringly know the location of their target, so long as it remains on the same plane. However, their servitude is deeply resented—summoners must word commands with absolute precision, as stalkers will exploit any ambiguity to subvert their orders or twist them to their advantage. This simmering resentment stems from their forced removal from their home plane, where they exist as free and untethered entities. Unbound on the Plane of Air, they are elusive observers, blending seamlessly into the currents of wind, and known as air walkers.
  • Planescape Monstrous Compendium Vol. 3 [2e] p8; Planescape Campaign Setting [2e] DM’s Guide to the Planes p28; Monster Core [PF2e] p140
  • Stats: [ 2e | 3e | 5e ] [ PF 1e | 2e ]
• Living Thunderclap †
  • A living thunderclap is a humanoid-shaped storm cloud that cracks and booms with thunder.
  • Bestiary 2 [PF2e] p102
  • Stats: [ PF 2e ]
• Living Whirlwind (see dust devil) †
• Locust, Giant ‡
  • Insects are less numerous on the plane of Air than one might assume. There are too few water sources for dragonflies or mosquitoes to be prevalent. However, a body can still find many flying critters, such as grasshoppers, flies, botflies, sandflies, beetles and wasps. Some of them are enormous—like the giant Air-dwelling locust. Unlike Prime locusts, these doesn’t come in swarms (usually)—but when the locust is a size of a sheep, even one is a problem. They have one redeeming quality though—giant locusts are edible. Assuming they haven’t been eaten from the inside by giant hairworms, that is. Don’t worry, those worms are harmless (ignore the chant-mongers claiming otherwise), but seeing them tear their way out of poor insect is gnarly.
• Melody on the Wind †
  • This cloud of song and sound has been caught by the wind and carried across the air. While the melody on the wind (known by some as a song elemental, despite the fact that no such place as a plane of song exists in the known multiverse) might enjoy the beauty of music, it is by nature a destructive elemental force.
  • Bestiary 2 [PF2e] p107
  • Stats: [ PF 2e ]

• Mephit, Air; Scamp, Air [PF2e]
  • Fickle, untrustworthy, and empty-headed, these small elemental troublemakers make excellent messengers and couriers—for their first mission. Thereafter they flee their creators to explore the planes, attach themselves to whomever looks interesting and make entertaining mischief. Air mephits are weird winged humanoids, known (like all mephits) for their unpleasant temperament—in this case it’s inability to control their own curiosity. Air mephits are interesting in that they breath in carbon dioxide and exhale oxygen. Having an air mephit around you while travelling through Gehenna or Baator can be quite helpful—so long as you have a way to keep it from wandering off. Just keep your mephit away from necromantic spells—those kinds of magic can permanently destroy archaea in its lungs, rendering the mephit unable to perform its helpful metabolism.
  • Inner Planes [2e] p24; Planescape Monstrous Compendium Vol. 1 [2e] p70-71; Manual of the Planes [3e] p68; Planescape Campaign Setting [2e] DM’s Guide to the Planes p28; Planewalker’s Handbook [2e] p27
  • Stats: [ 2e | 3e ] [ PF 1e | 2e ]
• Mephling, Air
  • A playable race from 3e that was part mephit, part human. I don’t get the point of these when we already have genasi—I’ve included them here for completeness but I’d suggest using ‘mephling’ as rude name to call genasi if you want to offend them. I’m also not a fan of the original art for them, there was no consistency between the different elemental types.
  • Planar Handbook [3e] p6,10-12
• Mihstu
  • Mihstu are malicious misty creatures, are often thought of as air elementals, corrupted by some dangerous force—perhaps the malign influence of the Negative Energy Plane. Unfortunately, there’s simply not much information on thse creatures, and mihstu are quite hostile to being researched.
  • Monster Manual II [1e] p84; Planescape Monstrous Compendium Vol. 3 [2e] p8
  • Stats: [ 1e | 5e ] [ PF 1e ]
• Nyth
  • Radiant creatures similar to the deadly will o’ wisp. Normally, these scintillating beings are solitary hunters that roam their domain looking for living prey.
  • Inner Planes [2e] p25-27
  • Stats: [ 2e ]
• Omnimental
  • A coruscating being of Elemental Chaos, shimmering with fire, electricity, water, and whirling air that devastates all in its path.
  • Monster Manual III [3e] p118
  • Stats: [ 3e ]
• Para-Elemental Beast, Rain
  • Stranger elemental-kin can be found lurking near planar borders and around heterogeneus pockets. Para-Elemental beasts of Rain are born from mixture of water and air that isn’t cold enough to become an ice para-elemental or a snowfury. They dash through the plane with incredible speed. While rain beasts can be hazardous if they run into a berk, they are not at all intelligent and won’t attack unprovoked.
  • Stats: [ 2e ]
• Para-Elemental, Ice; Snowfury
  • Snowfuries are para-elementals who inhabit the Mistral Reach and the Precipice, but they will be explored in the chapter about Para-Elemental Ice.
  • Planescape Monstrous Compendium Vol. 3 [2e] p68-70
  • Stats: [ 2e | 5e ] [ PF 1e ]
• Pegasus, Tulpar ‡
  • The tulpar is a breed of especially nimble pegasus, who can turn their wings invisible, when they land on ground. They were created on Air—their human herders claim that the mythical deific horse Akbuzat touched the first of the tulpar. Akbuzat and his twin Kukbuzat are believed to still prance somewhere in Deep Air, far from anyone who wants to take advantage of them.
• Peryton
  • Perytons are haunting creatures, ethereal hybrids of stag and bird appear with feathers which shimmer with hues of storm-cloud gray and sky-blue, while their antlers gleam like polished crystal. Unlike their terrestrial counterparts, these perytons are infused with the essence of air itself, making them faster, more agile, and eerily silent as they glide through the endless skies. Their humanoid shadows remain a chilling feature, cast unnaturally beneath them even in the absence of sunlight, a constant reminder of their cursed origins. Perytons are relentless hunters, preying on both physical and elemental beings, driven by an insatiable need to claim hearts to sustain their existence. They build nests near planar borders where chaos and strife draw potential prey. While they are solitary hunters by nature, some planewalkers whisper of flocks of perytons that gather during great planar storms, their eerie cries merging with the howling winds.
  • Planes of Chaos [2e] Book of Chaos p33
  • Stats: [ 2e | 5e ] [ PF 1e | 2e ]
• Phade (see Invisible Stalker) †
• Picture-in-Cloud †
  • The shifting shapes of clouds in the sky have captivated the imaginations of mortal children for centuries. Pictures-in-clouds represent this pure possibility of air, transforming into anything the multiverse imagines them to be.
  • Rage of Elements [PF2e] p83
  • Stats: [ PF 2e ]
• Plasm, Air
  • Renegades hated by air elementals, air plasms are transparent skeletons of solid ether and air whose forms are discernible only when they move.
  • Inner Planes [2e] p24; Monstrous Compendium Mystara Appendix [2e]
  • Stats: [ 2e ]
• Pterosaur, Tupuxuara ‡
  • The giant tupuxuara is a colourful, if rare, fructivorous pterosaur.
• Quasi-Elemental, Lightning; Storm
  • Storm elementals come to the Boundless Blue from Quasi-Elemental Lightning.
  • Stats: [ 2e | 3e | 5e ] [ PF 1e | 2e ]
• Riven (Human culture of Blurophil)
  • Tales from the Infinite Staircase [2e] p75-76,79

• Roc
  • Rocs of the Plane of Air are even more extraordinary than their Prime counterparts, embodying the boundless freedom and raw power of their elemental home. These gargantuan birds, the most ancient of whom with wingspans that can stretch miles, appear as living storms—feathers shimmering like polished silver or streaked with the colors of dawn and dusk. Unlike terrestrial rocs, they are weightless and glide effortlessly through the endless skies, often riding the chaotic winds and hurricanes that sweep across the plane. Their cries echo like thunderclaps, and their presence can stir air currents into violent turbulence. They nest within towering cloud formations, guarding their transparent eggs fiercely. Some djinn revere them as sacred creatures, while others attempt to tame them as mounts or guardians for their citadels—though such efforts rarely succeed. To encounter a roc on the Plane of Air is to witness the sky itself take form, vast and unconquerable.
  • Inner Planes [2e] p24; Planescape Campaign Setting [2e] DM’s Guide to the Planes p28; Planewalker’s Handbook [2e] p27; Monster Core [PF2e] p294
  • Stats: [ 2e | 3e | 5e ] [ PF 1e | 2e ]

• Saasin
  • Saasin are weirder than even mephits. Medium-sized snakes with multiple little wings on their bodies, they zip around the Plane of Air, drifting on the winds. One can expect that such creatures would be predatory, and they are—but only in their youth. Once saasin are fully grown, their digestive system atrophies, yet they continue to exist, seemingly with no sustenance. Captured saasin die within hours, which has led many researchers to conclude that these creatures somehow feed on movement itself. Salel the Windbreaker (air genasi druid [he/him] / Fraternity of Order) offers generous payment to whoever is able to catch and bring him the xong-yong, mysterious energon of sound and movement, or finds a way to contain a living saasin. This is the only way to learn anything about how this species lives and reproduces.
  • Planescape Monstrous Compendium Vol. 3 [2e] p122
• Skriaxit; Blackstorm
  • Powerful and intelligent air elementals that take the dust of the desert and whirl it, to create their ten-foot-tall forms. It is as a pack that they create their greatest terror, generating huge winds and a fierce sandstorm that can render a human fleshless in minutes. While natives of the Boundless Blue, these days skriaxit are desert-dwellers—of the Prime, or Quasi-Elemental Dust, most of them having been driven out of the Plane of Air generations ago.
  • Inner Planes [2e] p24; Planescape Monstrous Compendium Vol. 3 [2e] p8; Planescape Campaign Setting [2e] DM’s Guide to the Planes p28
  • Stats: [ 2e ]
• Sislan
  • A shimmering whirlwind with whispy appendages, and a single eye in its cloudy centre.
  • Inner Planes [2e] p29; Planescape Monstrous Compendium Vol. 3 [2e] p8,100-101
  • Stats: [ 2e ]
• Spark Bat †
  • Spark bats congregate around volatile weather in the Plane of Air. They can form arc lightning sparks to jump between nearby pieces of metal.
  • Bestiary 2 [PF2e] p106
  • Stats: [ PF 2e ]
• Spirit of the Air
  • Huge winged monkeys who serve the powers of the wind and the sky.
  • Fiend Folio [3e] p160-161; Inner Planes [2e] p24; Planescape Monstrous Compendium Vol. 3 [2e] p8; Planes of Chaos [2e] Book of Chaos p107; Planescape Campaign Setting [2e] Monstrous Supplement p26-27; Planewalker’s Handbook [2e] p72
    • Stats: [ 2e | 3e ]

• Stormflying Fox ‡
  • Bats and bat-like creatures are not unknown on Air. Stormflying foxes have nothing in common with regular foxes. They belong to the family of flying foxes—also known as fruit bats. Stormflying foxes are large (up to 8 feet in wingspan), but mostly harmless, as they prefer to eat nectar and fruits of dire baobabs. These mammals are a delicacy, and many hunters catch them by setting up areas of magical darkness—Inner-planar cheiropteras love places where they can sleep and seem to have a knack for locating such regions. However, there’s a huge risk involved. Stormflying foxes carry many diseases (to which they are immune themselves), but the most horrible of them all is the bloody fever.
  • Disease: Bloody Fever. After coming into contact with the blood or bodily secretions of an infected stormflying fox (such as during butchering it) or another infected creature, a creature (only humanoids, genies and gen are susceptible) must make a DC 18 Constitution saving throw or become infected. After an incubation period of 2d10 days symptoms surface: the creature is wracked with a headache, muscle pains, coughing and vomiting. In gameplay terms, this creature is poisoned (cannot get rid of this condition until the disease is cured), requires two times more water to survive (due to vomiting and diarrhea), and its speed (both regular and travel distance) is halved. This goes on for 1d4 days, after which the creature must make another saving throw, this time with the DC of 20. On success, the sickness lasts for 1d4 days more, slowly fading away. On a failure, however, the condition worsens. The virus ravages blood vessels, and the poor sod starts bleeding. Internal hemorrhage makes them lose 2d8 hit points each day (and their maximum HP is reduced by the same amount) until the victim reaches 0 hit points and dies. Only spells of 6th level and higher, such as heal can get rid of the bloody fever—less powerful spells only grant another DC 18 Constitution save to try and shake it off. Moreover, the purify food and drink spell can’t destroy the virus in meat (but throughout boiling or searing can).
• Storm Lord †
  • Storm lords wage battles to claim important territory within the plane of Air.
  • Bestiary [PF2e] p145
  • Stats: [ PF 2e ]
• Sylph
  • Sylphs are small beautiful, humanoid women with wings like dragonflies. NB: In Pathfinder terminology, ‘sylph’ is the term for the air genasi heritage.
  • Inner Planes [2e] p16; Planescape Monstrous Compendium Vol. 3 [2e] p8; Monster Manual II [3e] p192-193; On Hallowed Ground [2e] p175; Planes of Chaos [2e] Book of Chaos p36,45-46; Monstrous Supplement p20; Travelogue p17,20; Planescape Campaign Setting [2e] DM’s Guide to the Planes p28; Planewalker’s Handbook [2e] p16,27,72
  • Stats: [ 2e ] [ PF 1e | 2e ]
• Tempest
  • A tempest is a chaotic living storm which appears as a dark storm cloud of comparatively small size. Human or bestial features can often be seen in the roiling vapours.
  • Inner Planes [2e] p24; Planescape Monstrous Compendium Vol. 3 [2e] p8; Planescape Campaign Setting [2e] DM’s Guide to the Planes p28; Bestiary 3 [PF1e]
  • Stats: [ 2e | 5e ] [ PF 1e ]
• Uranesia ‡
  • Uranesias are cyan butterflies, who live in the moister parts of the plane. They subsist on nectar, especially from sky lotuses. A canny planewalker will understand that such a diet makes those beautiful insects poisonous—even touching their wings can cause mild irritation. This is one of the reasons inhabitants of Air view these creatures as vermin. Another one is their larvae—they are large and voracious caterpillars, covered in tiny venomous spikes. [Handling them with bare hands causes the sod to take 1d4 poison damage.]

• Vaati; Wind Duke
  • A race of statuesque humanoid immortals dedicated to Law. They are tall, muscular and androgynous.
  • The Rod of Seven Parts [2e]; Monstrous Compendium Annual Vol. 4; Dragon Magazine #224
  • Stats: [ 2e ]
• Veiled Current †
  • Often considered cousins of phades, veiled currents are loose veils of wind who catch prey within their folds.
  • Rage of Elements [PF2e] p82
  • Stats: [ PF 2e ]
• Vortex
  • Those few who have seen them usually think vortices are miniature whirlwinds, little dust devils about the size of a small jug, but what they see is not the vortex itself. Rather, it’s the air wrapped like a second skin around the being within.
  • Inner Planes [2e] p24; Planescape Monstrous Compendium Vol. 3 [2e] p8; Planescape Campaign Setting [2e] Monstrous Supplement p28-29
  • Stats: [ 2e ]
• Weird, Air; Weird, Lesser Air
  • Elemental weirds exist as guardians of their home planes, and will attack anyone who they believe is despoiling their home. Weirds are a xenophobic bunch, and don’t really like any cutters who aren’t air elementals—but as the planes become more and more interconnected, they have learned to put up with them begrudgingly. Moreover, they’ve ended up being aligned with the Princes of Elemental Good, who profess a similar philosophy of having all elements stay in balance right where they are. Air weirds fight by enveloping their opponents and bombarding them with sound. They vibrate so intensely that they can rend flesh and erode metal.
  • Greater air weirds, unlike their smaller cousins, are visible. They appear as blobs of cracking cyan energy that can take humanoid shape if they desire. These weirds are intelligent enough to communicate with other creatures (in fact, it is thought that greater weirds were the first to invent elemental languages like Auran, or at least to teach them to outsiders) and often appear as feminine ethereal humanoids when they do. Moreover, they have the gift of prophecy—although this is not without its quirks—weirds rarely predict anything definitely, and instead talk about events that might happen on your journey. To gain an audience with the greater weird the first challenge is to actually find them—which may be very easy or very hard, depending on how hard to get the weird is feeling—and then offer something tempting. Air weirds prefer to deal in knowledge and stories.
  • Dragon Magazine #347 p66-69,70-71; Monster Manual II [3e] p91-92
  • Stats: [ 2e ]
• Windlouse ‡
  • Windlice look a lot like a common woodlouse, except they reach up to 10 feet in length. Unlike most creatures, these crustaceans have managed adapt to travelling inside the hurricanes that ravage the plane of Air. Of course, they feed and mate during calmer times, but when they feel a storm approaching, they curl into a ball and wait till the wind picks them up and flings them somewhere else. Despite being incredibly dumb (so dumb, in fact, that they lack the concept of gravity and float instead of falling, periodically correcting their course by expunging air), these creatures have a knack for predicting even subtle weather changes. A canny airwalker knows to seek shelter whenever windlices start to roll. Windlice eat dead plant matter and are utterly harmless to anything else. If attacked, they just retreat into their shell. Some denizens of the plane hunt them for these shells, that can be made into armour or shields. Such items grant advantage on saving throws against pushing, but they aren’t durable at all.
• Wind Walker
  • A roaring column of whistling wind, often summoned to serve as guards. Wind Walkers seem to be related to saasin—they too are serpents (although wingless ones), who cannot live without movement. However, unlike solitary saasin, wind walkers spend their lives intertwined in a single writhing ball. These creatures display telepathic abilities, and each group of wind walkers exhibits properties of a hive mind, not unlike hordes from the Plane of Earth. For the purposes of mind-affecting magic and psionics, treat the wind walker as a single creature in multiple bodies. Wind walkers were created by noble djinn as messengers and enforcers. They are surprisingly intelligent for a swarm of snakes, while maintaining saasin ability to subsist on motion. However, to maintain this motion wind walkers constantly surround themselves in a powerful roaring whirlwind. It isn’t a very convenient pet, even if you factor in the innate magic that many denizens of Air possess.
  • Tome of Horror Complete [PF1e]
  • Stats: [PF 1e]
• Zephyr Hawk †
  • Zephyr hawks drift among the currents of the plane of Air in great flocks. They delight in riding the air currents with no destination in mind.
  • Monster Core [PF2e] p140
  • Stats: [ PF 2e ]

See Also: Flora of Air

Sources: Margarita and Jon Winter-Holt. † Denotes additional elemental lore from the Pathfinder setting. ‡ Denotes a homebrew addition to the lore.