Earthbending

> Earthbending, one of the four elemental bending arts, is the geokinetic ability to manipulate earth and rock in all their various forms, prevalent in the Earth Kingdom and the United Republic.
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> Earth is the element of substance, while the people of the Earth Kingdom are diverse, strong, and enduring. Following the lion turtles' decision to relinquish their role as protectors of mankind, Oma and Shu were the first earthbenders to learn this art from the badgermoles.
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> The key to earthbending is utilizing neutral jing, which involves waiting and listening for the right moment to strike  and, when that moment comes, acting decisively. In other words, earthbenders generally endure their enemies' attacks until the right opportunity to counterattack reveals itself.
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- Earthbending, Avatar Wiki

## Abilities

### Non-master level

#### Earth and stone levitation

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**Range:** Self; 60ft line

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**Chi cost per (approximately) 'n' ft (**⌀) **of rock lifted:** n(18/11/7/4)

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The most common attack involves
levitating nearby pieces of earth and stone of numerous sizes (more powerful
benders can move larger masses) and propelling them at foes with punching or
kicking motions.

* Choose up to six targets in a cone with radius 60ft in front of you. The target(s) have to make a constituion saving throw. Should the succeed, they take 1d6 damage. Should they fail, they take 1d8 damage per projectile that connects, up to 6.
* Damage increases by 2d4 per rank.

#### Earth block

Earthbenders can bring up blocks of earth and launch
them at their enemies.

#### Earth column

A more powerful version of rock projectiles,
this technique involves forcing columns of rock out of the ground. Using a
similar principle, an earthbender can shoot a stream of small ruts and
protrusions from underground at their opponent. This can also be used to
enhance the benders' jumps. It is, however, limited to the ground and does not
have the same range as a rock projectile.

#### Earth compression

It is possible for earthbenders to
compress large chunks of rock into smaller, denser chunks, or to compress
several smaller chunks into one big piece of rock. The fact that two earthbenders are required to perform it suggests
that this technique is quite difficult.

#### Earth gauntlet

A much less advanced version of earth armor
that can be used to throw back opponents with hard solid force. The technique is useful in
that it grants some level of the protection of earth armor but allows the rest
of the body to remain flexible.

#### Earth hand/mannequin

An earthbender with a decent grasp of
sculpting can craft replicas of human appendages or bodies from any rock source
and move them from place to place.

#### Earth launch

While earthbenders like being rooted to the
ground, they can quickly
move rock beneath them and launch them several tens of feet into the air,
whether to catch airborne opponents or to travel faster.

#### Earth line

As an offensive attack, earthbenders can create
a line of twisted columns and propel it forward.

#### Earth material manipulation

Earthbending is not limited to
rock or soil alone. An earthbender can also manipulate coal, gems, crystals,
and other earth-based materials, like meteorites and jennamite.

#### Earth shelter

This can be used by earthbenders to create a
shelter or dome which can provide an instant shelter in the wilderness. It can also be
used to trap enemies, but this application would not work against an
earthbending opponent, who would be able to cancel out the technique.

#### Earth sinking

More advanced earthbenders, can forcibly sink their opponents into
the ground, imprisoning them or even suffocating them in earth.

#### Earth smash

Earthbenders can easily destroy rocks and
boulders with punches and kicks, even if they have a small amount of muscle
mass. This technique is useful when facing other earthbenders, as it allows the
earthbender to destroy any earthen projectiles sent at them and break out of
imprisoning techniques. However, it does not seem to affect objects not made of
earth.

#### Earth wall

Earthbenders can create walls of earth, which
can be used for both defense and offense, as well as for practical things, like
construction.

#### Earthquakes/fissures

Striking the ground with feet, fists,
or hammers, creates localized earthquakes or fissures to throw
opponents off-balance. This same process can be used to sculpt a landmass or to
slice large chunks of rock clean off a surface to create avalanches or
rockfalls. More advanced earthbenders can make narrow fissures for precise
attacks.

#### Quicksand

Earthbenders turn certain surfaces to quicksand
to immobilize an enemy, or to create a soft landing for themselves should they
fall from a height. Sandbenders can also do the reverse of this, compacting
sand together to create harder projectiles or a firmer grip on the ground.

#### Rock hanging

If an earthbender is attached to, or wearing a
piece of rock, he or she can attach to other stone surfaces and remain off the
ground for long periods of time.

#### Rock shield

A levitated slab of rock can also double as a
shield when positioned in front of a bender. This can also be performed with a
slab or sheet of bedrock thrust out of the earth's surface. The shield can be
hurled at the opponent for quick retaliation.

#### Rock slide

If an earthbender is near a cliff or mountain,
he or she can cause many rocks of a multitude of sizes to rain down on his or
her opponent.

#### Sand spout

Similar to both the water and the air spout, an
earthbender can manipulate the fine sand particulates to form a whirling
column. The sandbenders used this technique to propel their sand-sailers
through the Si Wong Desert.

#### Slab shackles

With proper timing, an earthbender can bind
an opponent's arms with triangle shaped slabs. This technique is generally used
if the opponent is in a vulnerable position, for example on their knees.

#### Water filtering

When working in concert with a waterbender,
an earthbender can purify polluted water. The waterbender suspends the polluted
water in the air, while the earthbender removes the pollutants.

### Master level

#### Dust cloud

By shaking the ground back and forth,
earthbenders can create dust clouds of various sizes to provide cover, the
particles of which can also be manipulated themselves.

#### Earth armor

Earthbenders can bring rocks, dust, pebbles, or
crystals around them and mold them to fit their body and create something
similar to armor. They can also hide inside the earth by bending the rock
around them as a shell. This earthbending
move is great for defense, especially against fire. It is not as effective for
offensive moves, since it limits the practitioner's range of motion.

#### Earth bomb

By sending a rock toward the ground,
earthbenders can cause massive damage as well as throw their opponents off
their feet.

#### Earth tunneling

Earthbenders can move through the earth to
out-maneuver their foes either by opening tunnels or by pulling the earth past
them, literally swimming through the ground.

#### Earth wave

High level earthbenders can create a wave of
earth to ride on and use it as a form of transportation. The downsides of the wave are
that it takes a lot of energy to produce, as well as intense concentration; the
slightest distraction could cause the user to lose control of the wave. They
can also force a wave of earth outward and use it as an extremely powerful
offensive attack.

#### Magnetization

Skilled earthbenders are capable of
magnetizing their limbs to any type of stone, making wall-scaling simpler in
the appropriate circumstances.

#### Remote earthbending

If an earthbender is suspended from the
ground, but is aware that there is earth somewhere near, the earthbender can
focus his energies and bend that earth out of his physical reach out of sheer
concentration.

### Special techniques

#### Lavabending

Certain powerful earthbenders are able to
change the phase of the earth they are manipulating, melting it into lava for
more versatility in battle, similar to what waterbenders do with ice. A bender
using this ability can form the lava into different weapons or summon magma
from the ground.

#### Metalbending

Metalbending is a sub-skill of earthbending
developed by Toph. Most earthbenders are unable to affect processed metals.
Usually, the trace amount of earth still present in metal is so minuscule that
it goes undetected even by the best earthbenders, lending to its use in
detaining earthbenders. However, due to her ability to "see" earth,
Toph was able to locate the small fragments of earth in metal, target them, and
utilize them to "bend" the metal portion. In the beginning, she was
not able to bend metal with the same ability or ease seen in normal
earthbending. Eventually, her skill with metalbending developed to the point
where she could effectively defeat comet-enhanced firebenders during the battle
at Wulong Forest with the technique. After the conclusion of the Hundred Year
War, Toph founded a metalbending academy to teach the newly acquired skill to
other earthbenders, and the technique eventually became the primary weapon of
the Metalbending Police Force in Republic City. As metalbending techniques were
further refined, benders eventually learned how to manipulate metal without
being in close contact with it, and amateur metalbending students were able to
apply this skill to small objects such as coins and canes.

#### Mudbending

It has been demonstrated that earthbenders are
also able to bend the earth in mud.

#### Rock gloves

The Dai Li have mastered the rock glove
technique. Similar to an earth gauntlet, they cover their hands in small rocks
and project them at a target as small projectiles or compacted fists to
bludgeon an opponent. A more refined and favored method however is to use them
as detachable hands, maintaining the hand shape and literally grabbing and
restraining the opponent from a distance.

#### Rock shoes

The Dai Li also used shoes made out of earth to
slide to travel faster and to cling to walls and suspend themselves on the
ceiling.

#### Sandbending

Sandbending is an alternate earthbending style
that has been adapted for use in the Si Wong Desert by the people that live
there. They move quickly in the desert on specialized wooden sailers that are
propelled by bending miniature, localized sandstorms behind their sails.
Because sand is sediment which travels in flows, their style resembles air and
waterbending more than earthbending. It is implied that most, if not all,
earthbenders are capable of easily bending sand, but because of the loose
shifty nature of sand it is not an easy transition for the average earthbender.
The sandbenders of the desert are especially proficient with it due to their
particular habitat. Likewise, one can compact
the sand to be solid and thick.

#### Seismic sense

A technique originally developed by the blind
badgermoles, skilled earthbenders are able to sense vibrations through the
ground, "seeing" by sensing their surroundings and making a mental
image of it. It allows for a 360 degree field of "vision", outside of
normal line-of-sight. To operate, the user needs direct contact with the
ground, preferably without something like shoes in between. The technique is
only usable on surfaces the user can bend. Acute training of this technique can lead to the ability to tell if someone is
lying by sensing his or her physical reactions, such as breathing and heart
rate. It was also the basis of metalbending.