Got to admit: to me, this is a flagrantly obvious idea. Yet I can't seem to find elemental dragons in any source, printed or online. So I invented my own. Just for extra flavour, each dragon variety is derived from the mythology of a different continent. The Fire Dragon is of course your classic European or Middle Eastern fire-breathing monster; the Water Dragon is the noble but ferocious river or lake guardian found in East Asia and the Pacific; the Air Dragon resembles the Feathered Serpent of the Americas (can't understand why they did the Couatl as a "native outsider" rather than a dragon); and the Earth Dragon is loosely based on the African underground serpent known as Aido Hwedo, which shares with the Greek Ouroboros and the Norse Jormungandr a tendency to bite its own tail.
For the dragons of Fire and Water, I'd use slight mods to existing creatures, as detailed below. The Air and Earth dragons are my own creation.I'd like an MitP vote for each.— gods damn it, just too late...
ELEMENTAL DRAGONS
The dragons of the Four Elements are reptilian beings of enormous size and phenomenal elemental power. Some are good and some are evil, but none can be safely trifled with.
AIR DRAGON
Dragon (Air)
Environment: Temperate mountains
Organization: Wyrmling, very young, young, juvenile, and young adult: solitary or clutch (2–5); adult, mature adult, old, very old, ancient, wyrm, or great wyrm: solitary, pair, or family (1–2 and 2–5 offspring)
Challenge rating: Wyrmling 4; very young 5; young 7; juvenile 10; young adult 13; mature adult 18; old 20; very old 21; ancient 23; wyrm 24; great wyrm 26
Treasure: Triple standard
Alignment: Always chaotic (any)
Advancement: Wyrmling 8–9 HD; very young 11–12 HD; young 14–15 HD; juvenile 17–18 HD; young adult 20–21 HD; adult 23–24 HD; mature adult 26–27 HD; old 29–30 HD; very old 32–33 HD; ancient 35–36 HD; wyrm 38–39 HD; great wyrm 41+ HD
Level Adjustment: Wyrmling +4; very young +5; young +6; others —
Writhing in midair, its head darting this way and that, the creature resembles a snake, but with a vast pair of cloudy-white feathered wings. A crest of bright plumes rises on the back of its head. A fragrance of mingled rain and snow wafts towards you.
Combat
Air dragons have no claws, but use the other attack forms listed for dragons in the Monster Manual.
Breath Weapon (Su): An air dragon has one type of breath weapon, a line of scouring wind. In addition to dealing the damage listed, the dragon's breath weapon acts as the spell gust of wind, creating a blast of severe wind always directed away from the dragon. A Huge air dragon's breath weapon creates a windstorm; a Gargantuan or Colossal air dragon's breath weapon creates a hurricane.
Immune to Wind Effects (Su): Regardless of size, an air dragon's movement is never affected by wind of any strength unless it so chooses.
Cloud Movement (Su): An air dragon can slither on clouds or fog as though on solid ground. The ability functions continuously but can be negated or resumed at will.
Damage Reduction: An air dragon's damage reduction does not function against weapons made from stone (such as a giant's thrown rock).
Spell-Like Abilities: 3/day — fog cloud (adult or older), control winds (old or older); 2/day — feather fall (juvenile or older); 1/day — control weather (ancient or older), storm of vengeance (great wyrm).
AIR DRAGONS BY AGE
{table=head]Age|Size|Hit Dice (hp)|Str|Dex|Con|Int|Wis|Cha|Base Attack/Grapple|Attack|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Breath Weapon (DC)|Frightful Presence DC
Wyrmling|M|7d12+7 (52)|13|16|13|14|15|14|+7/+8|+8|+6|+8|+7|1d6 (14)|—
Very young|L|10d12+20 (85)|17|16|15|16|17|16|+10/+17|+12|+9|+10|+10|2d6 (17)|—
Young|L|13d12+26 (110)|21|16|15|16|17|16|+13/+22|+17|+10|+11|+11|3d6 (18)|—
Juvenile|L|16d12+48 (152)|25|16|17|18|19|18|+16/+27|+22|+13|+13|+14|4d6 (21)|—
Young adult|H|19d12+76 (199)|27|16|19|18|19|18|+19/+35|+25|+15|+14|+15|5d6 (23)|23
Adult|H|22d12+88 (231)|29|16|19|20|21|20|+22/+39|+29|+17|+16|+18|6d6 (25)|26
Mature adult|H|25d12+125 (287)|29|16|21|20|21|20|+25/+42|+32|+19|+17|+19|7d6 (27)|27
Old|G|28d12+168 (350)|31|16|23|24|25|24|+28/+50|+34|+22|+19|+23|8d6 (30)|31
Very old|G|31d12+217 (418)|33|16|25|26|27|26|+31/+54|+38|+24|+20|+25|9d6 (32)|33
Ancient|G|34d12+272 (493)|35|16|27|28|29|28|+34/+58|+42|+27|+22|+28|10d6 (35)|36
Wyrm|G|37d12+333 (573)|37|16|29|30|31|30|+37/+62|+46|+29|+23|+30|11d6 (37)|38
Great wyrm|C|40d12+360 (620)|41|16|29|32|33|32|+40/+71|+47|+31|+25|+33|12d6 (39)|41[/table]
AIR DRAGON ABILITIES BY AGE
{table=head]Age|Speed|Initiative|AC|Special abilities|Caster level|SR
Wyrmling|40ft., fly 150ft (good)|+3|15 (+3 Dex, +2 natural) touch 13, flat-footed 12|Immunity to cold and electricity, immune to wind effects, cloud movement|—|—
Very young|40ft., fly 150ft (good)|+3|17 (-1 size, +3 Dex, +5 natural) touch 12, flat-footed 15||—|—
Young|40ft., fly 150ft (good)|+3|20 (-1 size, +3 Dex, +8 natural) touch 12, flat-footed 17||1st|—
Juvenile|40ft., fly 150ft (good)|+3|23 (-1 size, +3 Dex, +11 natural) touch 12, flat-footed 20|Feather fall|3rd|—
Young adult|40ft., fly 150ft (good)|+3|25 (-2 size, +3 Dex, +14 natural) touch 11, flat-footed 22||5th|21
Adult|40ft., fly 150ft (good)|+3|28 (-2 size, +3 Dex, +17 natural) touch 11, flat-footed 25|Fog cloud|7th|23
Mature adult|40ft., fly 150ft (good)|+3|31 (-2 size, +3 Dex, +20 natural) touch 11, flat-footed 28|DR 5/earth or magic|9th|25
Old|40ft., fly 200ft (average)|+3|32 (-4 size, +3 Dex, +23 natural) touch 9, flat-footed 29|Control winds|11th|27
Very old|40ft., fly 200ft (average)|+3|35 (-4 size, +3 Dex, +26 natural) touch 9, flat-footed 32|DR 10/earth or magic|13th|28
Ancient|40ft., fly 200ft (average)|+3|38 (-4 size, +3 Dex, +29 natural) touch 9, flat-footed 35|Control weather|15th|30
Wyrm|40ft., fly 200ft (average)|+3|41 (-4 size, +3 Dex, +32 natural) touch 9, flat-footed 38|DR 15/earth or magic|17th|31
Great wyrm|40ft., fly 200ft (average)|+3|40 (-8 size, +3 Dex, +35 natural) touch 5, flat-footed 37|Storm of vengeance|19th|33[/table]*Can cast cleric spells and those from the Air and Chaos domains as arcane spells.
EARTH DRAGON
Dragon (Earth)
Environment: Underground
Organization: Wyrmling, very young, young, juvenile, and young adult: solitary or clutch (2–5); adult, mature adult, old, very old, ancient, wyrm, or great wyrm: solitary, pair, or family (1–2 and 2–5 offspring)
Challenge rating: Wyrmling 4; very young 5; young 7; juvenile 10; young adult 13; mature adult 18; old 20; very old 21; ancient 23; wyrm 24; great wyrm 26
Treasure: Triple standard
Alignment: Always lawful (any)
Advancement: Wyrmling 8–9 HD; very young 11–12 HD; young 14–15 HD; juvenile 17–18 HD; young adult 20–21 HD; adult 23–24 HD; mature adult 26–27 HD; old 29–30 HD; very old 32–33 HD; ancient 35–36 HD; wyrm 38–39 HD; great wyrm 41+ HD
Level Adjustment: Wyrmling +4; very young +5; young +6; others —
A blunt, shovel-shaped snout breaks the earth, followed by a wide, shark-like mouth. The creature resembles a giant earthworm, but with thick grey scales like smooth stones. It gives off a pungent odour of raw earth. Though it has no eyes it seems fully aware of your movements.
Combat
Earth dragons have no claws, wings, or breath weapon, but use the other attack forms listed for dragons in the Monster Manual.
Blindsight (Su): An earth dragon can sense all creatures and objects in contact with the earth as a sighted creature would — including foes in indirect contact, such as in a tree. Earth dragons are blind to all airborne creatures and objects. If an earth dragon is lifted out of contact with the ground (say by a levitate spell), it becomes completely blind for the duration. Earth dragons are immune to gaze attacks, visual effects, visual illusions, and other attack forms that rely on sight.
Earthquake Immunity (Su): Earth dragons are never harmed by an earthquake, whether its origin is natural or magical. If an earthquake collapses a cavern around an earth dragon, it is merely inconvenienced by having to dig its way out — it suffers no damage from the falling stone.
Encircle (Su): Once per week a juvenile or older earth dragon can crawl around a creature smaller than itself and complete the circle by biting its own tail. This is a full-round action which draws an attack of opportunity from creatures outside the circle; a creature inside the circle can make a reflex save (DC 10+dragon's base attack bonus) to escape. If the attack of opportunity deals damage, or if all creatures within the circle escape, the ability fails. The dragon's bite does not damage its tail. The circle can hold 2 creatures 2 sizes smaller than the dragon, 8 creatures 3 sizes smaller, 32 creatures 4 sizes smaller, 128 creatures 5 sizes smaller, or 512 creatures 6 or more sizes smaller than the dragon. All encircled creatures are effectively trapped as if by an inward-focused magic circle against their own alignment. Meanwhile the dragon itself receives the benefits of an outward-focused magic circle against chaos. It can make no physical attacks while encircling another creature, but it gains effective caster level +2 for each multiple of its own HD trapped within the circle. Thus, an adult dragon with 22 HD encircling six creatures with a total of 54 HD would add +4 to its effective caster level.
Those encircled can attempt to break out by dealing damage equal to 1/8 of the dragon's normal hp (the dragon is denied any Dexterity bonus against them); but they must first succeed on a Will save (DC equals the dragon's Frightful Presence DC, or 18 for a juvenile dragon), or they cannot attack. This is a mind-affecting compulsion effect. An opponent outside the circle can attack the dragon as normal; if it feels seriously threatened, it will break the circle voluntarily in order to counterattack. If the dragon breaks the circle for any reason, all effects end immediately.
An old or older earth dragon's encircle ability creates an effect similar to Mordenkainen's private sanctum, except that the privacy effect works in both directions, in addition to the magic circle against the encircled creatures. A great wyrm's encircle ability creates a sequester effect against the encircled creatures in addition to the magic circle and private sanctum.
Improved Grab (Ex): To use this ability, an earth dragon must hit with its bite attack. It can then attempt to start a grapple as a free action without provoking an attack of opportunity. If it wins the grapple check, it establishes a hold and can attempt to swallow the foe the following round.
Swallow Whole (Ex): An earth dragon can try to swallow a grabbed opponent of a smaller size than itself by making a successful grapple check. Once inside, the opponent takes crushing and acid damage as indicated in the table. A swallowed creature can cut its way out by using a light slashing or piercing weapon to deal damage equal to 1/8 of the dragon's normal hp to the gizzard (AC equals the dragon's flat-footed AC -2). Once the creature exits, muscular action closes the hole; another swallowed opponent must cut its own way out. An earth dragon's interior can hold 2 creatures 2 sizes smaller than itself, 8 creatures 3 sizes smaller, 32 creatures 4 sizes smaller, 128 creatures 5 sizes smaller, or 512 creatures 6 or more sizes smaller than itself.
Tunnelling (Ex):Earth dragons can burrow through solid stone at a speed of 5 feet. When moving through such hard materials an earth dragon leaves behind a usable tunnel of a diameter indicated in the table.
Spell-Like Abilities: At will — spider climb; 3/day — stone shape (adult or older), move earth (ancient or older); 1/day — transmute rock to mud/mud to rock (old or older), flesh to stone (great wyrm).
EARTH DRAGONS BY AGE
{table=head]Age|Size|Hit Dice (hp)|Str|Dex|Con|Int|Wis|Cha|Base Attack/Grapple|Attack|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Swallow Whole Damage (crushing/acid)|Frightful Presence DC
Wyrmling|M|7d12+14 (59)|17|10|15|8|11|8|+7/+10|+10|+7|+5|+5|1d8+3/2|—
Very young|L|10d12+30 (95)|21|10|17|8|11|8|+10/+19|+14|+10|+7|+7|2d6+5/3|—
Young|L|13d12+39 (123)|25|10|17|10|11|10|+13/+24|+19|+11|+8|+8|2d6+7/3|—
Juvenile|L|16d12+64 (168)|29|10|19|10|11|10|+16/+29|+24|+14|+10|+10|2d6+9/4|—
Young adult|H|19d12+95 (218)|31|10|21|12|13|12|+19/+37|+27|+16|+11|+12|2d8+10/5|20
Adult|H|22d12+110 (253)|33|10|21|12|13|12|+22/+41|+31|+18|+13|+14|2d8+11/5|22
Mature adult|H|25d12+150 (312)|33|10|23|14|15|14|+25/+44|+34|+20|+14|+16|2d8+11/6|24
Old|G|28d12+196 (378)|35|10|25|14|15|14|+28/+52|+36|+23|+16|+19|4d6+12/7|26
Very old|G|31d12+248 (449)|37|10|27|16|17|16|+31/+56|+40|+25|+17|+20|4d6+13/8|28
Ancient|G|34d12+306 (527)|39|10|29|16|17|16|+34/+60|+44|+28|+19|+22|4d6+14/9|30
Wyrm|G|37d12+370 (610)|41|10|31|18|19|18|+37/+64|+48|+30|+20|+24|4d6+15/10|32
Great wyrm|C|40d12+400 (660)|45|10|31|20|21|20|+40/+73|+49|+32|+22|+27|4d8+17/10|35[/table]
EARTH DRAGON ABILITIES BY AGE
{table=head]Age|Speed (tunnel diameter)|Initiative|AC|Special abilities|Caster level|SR
Wyrmling|40ft., burrow 45ft. (1ft.)|+0|17 (+7 natural) touch 10, flat-footed 17|Blindsight, earthquake immunity, immunity to acid, improved grab, spider climb, swallow whole, tunnelling, vulnerability to electricity|—|—
Very young|40ft., burrow 45ft. (1 1/2ft.)|+0|19 (-1 size, +10 natural) touch 9, flat-footed 20||—|—
Young|40ft., burrow 45ft. (2ft.)|+0|22 (-1 size, +13 natural) touch 9, flat-footed 22||1st|—
Juvenile|40ft., burrow 45ft. (2 1/2ft.)|+0|25 (-1 size, +16 natural) touch 9, flat-footed 25|Encircle I|3rd|—
Young adult|40ft., burrow 45ft. (3ft.)|+0|27 (-2 size, +19 natural) touch 8, flat-footed 27|DR 5/magic|5th|19
Adult|40ft., burrow 45ft. (4ft.)|+0|30 (-2 size, +22 natural) touch 8, flat-footed 30|Stone shape|7th|20
Mature adult|40ft., burrow 45ft. (5ft.)|+0|33 (-2 size, +25 natural) touch 8, flat-footed 33|DR 10/magic|9th|23
Old|40ft., burrow 45ft. (6ft.)|+0|34 (-4 size, +28 natural) touch 6, flat-footed 34|Encircle II, transmute rock to mud/mud to rock|11th|24
Very old|40ft., burrow 45ft. (7ft.)|+0|37 (-4 size, +31 natural) touch 6, flat-footed 37|DR 15/magic|13th|27
Ancient|40ft., burrow 45ft. (8ft.)|+0|40 (-4 size, +34 natural) touch 6, flat-footed 40|Move earth|15th|28
Wyrm|40ft., burrow 45ft. (9ft.)|+0|43 (-4 size, +37 natural) touch 6, flat-footed 43|DR 20/magic|17th|31
Great wyrm|40ft., burrow 45ft. (10ft.)|+0|42 (-8 size, +40 natural) touch 2, flat-footed 42|Encircle III, flesh to stone|19th|33[/table]*Can cast cleric spells and those from the Earth and Law domains as arcane spells.
FIRE DRAGON
Fire dragons are almost identical to the red dragons of the Monster Manual, but they can be of any evil alignment.
WATER DRAGON
Water dragons are very similar to the chiang lungs of Oriental Adventures, but they do not begin life as yu lungs. They can be of any good alignment.
