One rare form of earth elemental commonly sought by adventurers is the crystalline gem hurler. These hulking brutes are living, moving amalgams of stone and jagged crystal. They produce massive crystal boulders inside their elemental gullets, and when threatened, they often regurgitate these boulders out of their yawning maws into their huge, mitten-like hands. Gem hurlers throw these rocks at their foes, and were named thusly.

Territorial Sentinels. Gem hurlers in their native home of the Elemental Plane of Earth patrol wide areas that they try to claim for their own, devouring the most mineral-rich soil they can find. In battle, their territorial nature shows through in their insistence on keeping foes enemies away with an onslaught of tossed rocks and slammed arms. Gem hurlers mark their territories by digging tunnels, both marking the boundaries and weaving throughout the area. They have a primitive idea of property as it relates to earth, stone, and crystal, and they observe it and each others' borders with strict rigidity that matches the inflexible crystal structure that both constrains and defines their bodies and minds.

Filled With Riches. Most of a gem hurler's body is made of relatively cheap and abundant crystals like salt or quartz, and the boulders they regurgitate to attack with crumble to dust not long after they are created, but the insides of a gem hurler's gullet are usually lined with rare and expensive jewels and minerals that remain even after the gem hurler dies. Adventurers often hunt down these rare elementals specifically for the bounty of wealth they surely contain.

Soldiers of the Dao. The elemental genies of earth, the dao, commonly make use of gem hurlers as elite slave warriors. They are easy for the lawful evil dao to control, and they make excellent eternal guardians for the daos' riches. When they have no longer useful, the dao break them open to feast on their gems.

Elemental Nature. A gem hurler doesn't require air, food, drink, or sleep, but it can eat substances made of earth to restore its body through digestion, and loves to eat mineral-rich soil.

Variant: Salt Elemental

Some elementals are made entirely of salt, and are usually called salt elementals. There are areas in the Plane of Elemental Earth where salt elementals are especially abundant, but they outnumber the true gem hurlers all across the plane. Salt elementals use the same statistics as a gem hurler, except that they lack the Wild Refraction trait and instead have the Water Susceptibility trait:

Water Susceptibility. For every 5 feet the elemental moves in water, or for every gallon of water splashed on it, it takes 1 acid damage.