How small a space can a water elemental fit through?

[Monty Lovering]

Can water elementals fit through tiny gaps? As they can be damaged I feel they have more substance than water itself and therefore cannot fit in through as tiny a space as water can.

My players recently got trapped in a room with only one exit, namely a very sturdy door which cannot be opened from inside. Some of you may recognise the scenario but I'll not say which to avoid spoiling the fun.

They had run in there because they were running from water elemental. The size of the water elemental was considerably greater than that of the room, but I decided that the water elemental could not 'squeeze' in through the edges of what was meant to be a very sturdy door, as let's face it, it would not be MGF to potentially kill a few players.

But in normal circumstances I might have decided otherwise.

What do you think?

 

[Kloster]

As any liquid can, given time, squeeze through any opening, I would say a water elemental can. It is made of water, after all. But the main point here is 'given time'.

[French Desperate WindChild]

your decision seems to me fine.

The elemental is water yes, but the elemental is One. that is not only an agregation of molecules (or any gloranthan word  to describe what water can split )

The question then, is to determine if the part of it going under the door is still itself or not. The connection may be too tiny to garantee its integrity

Or maybe the elemental was afraid to give an opportunity to the adventurers to "cut" a part of itself, things like that..

who knows ?

there are in all cases a lot of reasons (physical from a gloranthan perspective, magical, or even psychological)

Edited October 30, 2021 by French Desperate WindChild

[Baron Wulfraed]

If I'm in a fae mood, I'd probably rule that the elemental can get through any opening an octopus can get through

 

[Bill the barbarian]

4 hours ago, Monty Lovering said:

Can water elementals fit through tiny gaps? As they can be damaged I feel they have more substance than water itself and therefore cannot fit in through as tiny a space as water can.

 

The best idea is to decide how long it would take for the water to move safely through. I would imagine that forcing an elemental through a tight gap would cause damage but assuming time permits a slow and safe passage...

[Joerg]

Water erodes, over time.

[Monty Lovering]

7 hours ago, French Desperate WindChild said:

Or maybe the elemental was afraid to give an opportunity to the adventurers to "cut" a part of itself, things like that..

There is that as well. 

I suppose if it’s Move is 6, that’s 1.5m/s. 

So with a door of 1x2m, a large elemental of 81m^3 would take 27m to move through the door if it was open. 

If there was a 3mm gap around the door then instead dividing 81 by 2 and that by 1.5, you’d be dividing 81 by 0.018 by 1.5. 

Which is 3,000 seconds. 50 minutes. And Rune Magic lasts 15 minutes. LOL. 

Even with Extension, the elemental would take sooooo much damage in the 200 melee rounds it would be pointless. 

[Monty Lovering]

4 hours ago, Bill the barbarian said:

The best idea is to decide how long it would take for the water to move safely through. I would imagine that forcing an elemental through a tight gap would cause damage but assuming time permits a slow and safe passage...

Yup. Did the maths above. 50 minutes. 

Not an option really. 

[Rob Darvall]

4 hours ago, Monty Lovering said:

Yup. Did the maths above. 50 minutes. 

Not an option really. 

OR you could use it as a tension ratchet at which point the maths is not really relevant. This allows you to cackle evilly while avoiding PC deaths at will.

[Monty Lovering]

… not do maths?

what madness is this?

😀

I’m actually surprised I didn’t do the maths. I was more like ‘if hitting it with a sword hurts it then going through a 3mm gap will too’. 

If weapons didn’t harm it the it slowly filling the chamber whilst they look for the McGuffin that gets them out would indeed have been an excellent idea.