Elemental Pockets (TIP)

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Most people think of the Elemental Planes (and the Paraand Quasielemental Planes, for that matter) as bastions of absolute purity. Ask a body what's in the plane of Air and he'll say "air." And, of course, he's pretty much right.
From time to time, however, bits of material leak from one plane to another. In the plane of Air, for instance, a body may encounter floating pockets of elemental Water drifting about on the winds. Similarly, a lucky planewalker moving through the endless expanses of Vacuum might come upon a floating cloud of breathable air. An elemental pocket can allow for a safe campsite, the replenishing of supplies, and a chance to stretch cramped limbs. 'Course, they can also lead to a sod being eaten, incinerated, drowned, or otherwise lost.
Following the Law of Opposites, elemental pockets fall into two different types. The first is the pure, unadulterated pocket of elemental material-what most bashers think of when they think of pockets. These are the floating blobs of ooze in the plane of Air or the solid chunks of earth suspended in the endless sea of the plane of Water. The two elements don't interact at all.
The other type is the corrupted or mixed pocket, where the foreign elemental material has mixed with or been altered by the environment in which it now rests. Water pockets in the plane of Earth become huge muddy pools, and fire pockets in Ice melt their surroundings to create temporary open areas of water. Most corrupted pockets don't last long. For example, vacuum pockets in the quasiplane of Lightning cause a momentary implosion and then disappear, dust pockets in Air blow about and scatter, and magma pockets cool and harden in most nonfiery realms.
Many graybeards claim that all pockets begin as pure specimens and eventually lose their elemental singularity (whatever that means), decaying into mixed pockets. On the other hand, many·s the experienced planewalker who can remember seeing a brand-new pocket corrupt immediately or an ancient one retain its purity. Go figure.
The DM can use the following table to calculate the size of an elemental pocket. First, roll 1d8 to determine what type of die to use, and then roll I dB again to determine the multiplier applied to that die.
1D8 ROLL	TYPE OF DIE	MULTIPLIER
1 	1d3 	10 yards
2 	1d4 	100 yards
3 	1d6 	1,000 yards
4 	1d8 	I mile
5 	1d10 	5 miles
6 	1d12 	10 miles
7 	1d20 	25 miles
8 	1d100 	100 miles
Thus, a roll of 6 followed by a roll of 3 indicates a pocket that is Id 12 x 1,000 yards across. Most elemental pockets are more or less spherical in shape.
Generally, a 25% chance exists that any such pocket houses I d4 elementals, quasielementals, or paraelementals of the proper type. Some pockets can serve as lairs for other creatures as well, depending on their type and location (for example, an Earth pocket in the plane of Air offers a roost for natives of the plane, if they choose to use it). Naturally, some pockets are more or less likely to contain life, as noted in the individual sections below.
The following descriptions provide the DM with the dark of each type of pocket. However, she should tailor the information based on the plane where the pocket is encountered and on whether the pocket is pure, corrupt, or somewhere in between.
AIR. After any length of time spent in the claustrophobic depths of the solid planes, the unbreathable murk of the liquid planes, or even the choking atmosphere of a place like Smoke or Dust, a body who comes upon a pocket of elemental Air should give thanks to whatever gods she reveres. Air pockets appear as great open areas, which, although they often lack water or light, are as hospitable a place as can be found in many Inner Planes. Because of this, however, they tend to be inhabited. Fact is, an air pocket is devoid of life only 10% to 30% of the time, depending on the severity of the larger plane's environment. If an air pocket is inhabited, the creatures that dwell there may be from the plane of Air (30% chance), the plane upon which the pocket is located (30% chance), or another plane altogether (40% chance).
A body can move about in an air pocket just as if she were in the plane of Air. Anyone who decides that a given direction is down, however, had better be ready to change her mind fast-or find out just how small the pocket really is.
ASH. To an outside observer, a pocket of elemental Ash may look like a dust storm. A berk who enters one, however, finds the air choking and painful to breathe. In other places, an ash pocket might appear to be a mass of solid cinders, which means that a body's less likely to rush into it. Either way, with every passing second, the pocket drains heat from anyone in contact with it, inflicting 1d6 points of damage per round. An ash pocket is quite flammable, too, and an open flame causes it to ignite, forcing everyone in the pocket or within 10 feet of it to make a successful saving throw vs. breath weapon or suffer 5d6 points of damage. Such an explosion converts the pocket into a cloud of elemental Smoke.
DUST. Depending on where it's found, a dust pocket can take the form of a swirling storm of powdery motes and sand; a patch of thin, dry, quicksandlike particles; or a thick morass of murky liquid. Dust pockets obscure vision and threaten to choke sods caught within them. What's more, they can be very abrasive and inflict 1d4 points of damage per round to those inside them.
EARTH. Pockets of elemental Earth take the shape of floating mountains, tumbling asteroids, or simple chunks of stone. There's a 50% chance that an earth pocket is the lair of one or more creatures. However, the biggest danger associated with an earth pocket comes from smacking into it while moving around in more open planes.
FIRE. A pocket of elemental Fire appears as a glowing orb of scintillating flame. There's a 50% chance that any fire pocket houses an elemental creature. An unprotected berk who enters one of these burning pockets suffers 1d20 points of damage per round.
ICE. Pockets of elemental Ice take the form of giant icebergs or snowballs tumbling through the sky, floating in liquid, or just embedded in another solid. They're so cold that an unprotected sod who explores one suffers I d4 points of damage per round. Ice pockets offer a thirsty traveler an opportunity to obtain water while passing through planes where the commodity is scarce.
LIGHTNING. A lightning pocket takes the form of a vast electrical storm, though an addle-cove might mistake it for a pocket of air. The greatest danger here is, of course, lightning. Anyone venturing into such a region must make a successful saving throw vs. breath weapon or suffer 1d20 points of damage each round.
MAGMA. Pockets of magma may appear almost as volcanic vents or lakes. As a planewalker draws nearer to such places, the ground becomes warmer and warmer until it finally glows red-hot, liquefies, and runs like water. Alternatively, in an environment without gravity, the pocket can exist for a short time as an orb of glowing, rippling lava until it cools and becomes similar to an earth pocket. A sod who gets too close to a magma pocket while it's still hot suffers Id I 2 points of damage per round. Once a pocket's cooled, a 25% chance exists that some creature will make its lair on (or in) the hardened rock.
MINERAL. Finding a mineral pocket can be the best thing that ever happens to a basher, if he doesn't get himself lost doing it. Not only are these places full of valuable gems and priceless crystals, they also tend to be riddled with pockets of air and occasionally dotted with pools of water. Fragments of the quasiplane of Mineral appear as sharply angled crystalline clusters. They're inhabited more often than are other pockets (75% chance), since mines sunk into them can produce valuable stones in large quantities. In most cases, those busy mining a mineral pocket won't be too keen on having visitors.
OOZE. Pockets of elemental Ooze appear as wobbling bubbles of slime that look like giant amoebas moving without gravity, or as pools of muck that slowly and endlessly gurgle and drip. They're rare in planes like Air, for the winds of the Boundless Blue generally tear them apart in short order. Pockets of ooze can become deadly traps to sods foolish enough to tread upon them. They're very sticky and anyone who touches them has a tough time pulling free (doing so requires a successful bend bars/lift gates roll).
RADIANCE. A pocket of elemental Radiance appears as a glowing orb that, from a distance, looks like the sun around which many typical prime-material worlds circle. Those who look directly at a radiance pocket must make a successful saving throw vs. polymorph or be blinded. This has the same effect as a cause blindness spell.
Anyone touching the surface of a radiance pocket is affected as if they'd come into contact with a random color of a prismatic sphere. Any leatherhead dim enough to pierce one of these pockets finds the conditions within identical to those in the quasiplane of Radiance itself.
SALT. When elemental Salt pockets come into being in the airy planes, they take the form of swirling storms of crystalline hail. These abrasive and painful particles cause I d4 points of damage per round. They also sting exposed eyes, cutting visibility by half.
In more solid environments, a pocket of elemental Salt appears as a vein of white crystals that sparkle and scintillate if a light is put upon them. At first glance, it's possible to mistake such a place for a mineral pocket. There's only a 5% chance that a salt pocket serves as something's lair.
A berk who tries to inhabit or move through a salt pocket finds the moisture slowly drawn from his flesh, which causes 1d4 points of damage per round. What's more, anyone carrying fresh water into a salt pocket must keep it tightly stoppered. Otherwise, the water must make a successful saving throw vs. acid (as a potion) or become so tainted with salt as to be undrinkable.
SMOKE. A pocket of hot elemental Smoke chokes those moving through it just as one of elemental Ash does. It's not flammable, but anyone who enters such a place suffers the effects of a stinking cloud spell unless he makes a successful saving throw vs. breath weapon. If he stays in the pocket for some reason, he must make another saving throw each round or suffer I d6 points of choking damage per round. Visibility in a smoke pocket is cut in half, and infravision doesn't function at all.
STEAM. A pocket of elemental Steam usually takes the form of nothing more than an expanse of cool, white vapor. Most primes mistake them for clouds as they drift lazily along through the surrounding environment. Steam pockets cut down on visibility, reducing the range of sight by 75%, but a body need not fear choking on these harmless fumes.
VACUUM. These are perhaps the most deadly of all the elemental pockets. For one thing, they're invisible. A body usually has no warning before he stumbles into one. The edge of a pocket of vacuum is identical to that of a globe created by Otiluke's resilient sphere, so a sod's likely to think he's come across a barrier keeping him out of a safe haven.
Anyone who manages to enter a vacuum pocket must make a saving throw vs. polymorph or be killed instantly by the harsh environment. Those who succeed must make another saving throw each round until they leave the pocket. 'Course, a blood equipped to travel in a vacuum need not make the roll, though the DM may apply modifiers as she sees fit.
WATER. Pockets of elemental Water found in environments without gravity are called orb seas, and they float about on the winds like giant soap bubbles. There is a 75% chance that any given orb sea is inhabited by aquatic creatures. While the smaller pockets are usually broken apart by winds, effectively becoming pockets of steam, large orb seas may linger for years.
On solid planes with gravity, pockets of elemental Water form vast lakes and seas. Again, there's a 75% chance that a pocket is filled with life, containing anything from simple fish to creatures from the Elemental Plane of Water itself. These pockets can serve as good places for a body to net a meal, refill canteens, and escape the grind of travel.
Apart from drowning, there's no great danger associated with entering water pockets-unless a sod irritates the animals, monsters, and folk that live in and around them. Canny planewalkers remember that water is a valuable resource in most planes and make note of the fact that those who've claimed it for themselves will be loath to share it with anyone else.