Are priest elemental summons stronger than the mage elemental summons? I have noticed that priest elementals have the chance to be huge, or of varying sizes. However, the mage elemental seems to stay at a constant small size. Is the mage summon weaker than the priest elementals?

I'm not too sure about the relative power levels of the mage or priest elementals but I do know that when the mage summons one, he has to spend three rounds concentrating to see if he can control it.

At the end of those three rounds there is a percentage chance (I can't remember exactly what) of the elemental attacking the party. Because of that I only ever use the priest version.

According to the manual Conjure (whatever) Elemental is the same for both priests and wizards, the only difference being that priests have automatic and complete control over the elemental. (but then again, we all know how unreliable the manual can be at times ;))

Perhaps you got a "small" elemental because you were casting Conjure Lesser Elemental. The Elemental looks smaller when that happens.

I was comparing both of the normal elementals, not the lesser ones.

Question: When Imoen summons an earth elemental, it appears and stays blue and doesn't do anything for a few rounds. Only after waiting awhile will it turn green and join the fight. What's going on there?

Grrrrrr...

For that "concentration" issue why haven't you read the spell description? Ok, here it is:

Upon casting a conjure earth elemental spell, the caster opens a special gate to the elemental plane of Earth, and an earth elemental is summoned to the vicinity of the spellcaster. It is 60% likely that a 12 hit dice elemental appears, 35% likely that a 16 hit dice elemental appears, and 5% likely that a 24 hit dice elemental appears. Once the elemental appears the caster must concentrate on the creature for 3 rounds in order to assure that the elemental will not turn on him (15% chance that the elemental will turn on the caster). However, after this period has passed the elemental will do the bidding of the caster until it is slain, or the duration of the spell runs out. All of the commands given to the elemental are done so telepathically, so there is no time lost due to miscommunication, and it is not necessary to know the language of the summoned creature.

Second, priest elementals look different but they are not "harder" than mage's, and they also appear on percentages like mage's summons. But the priest elemental summoning doesn't have a "concentration" issue.

Sorry, sorry, it occurred to me after posting that I should have checked the spell description before asking; I was just reading the thread and remembered wondering about that. You could've just said, "go re-read the spell description".

humbly ducking away

The small chance (15% ??) that the elemental turns hostile also applies to the priest's elemental summoning spells.

No, Priests may control their summoned elementals completely and immediately without fail. There is no time when the elemental is not under your control, unless you accidentally or willfully attack it.

mmmh, a little late maybe, but I still want to know and I see no reason to create a new thread.

What about the difference of the names of the wizard spell 'Conjure Elemental' and the priest spell 'Summon Elemental'.

Maybe this has nothing to do with the chance that the elemental turns to you, but still...
'Conjure' makes me feel you're asking a favour, and 'Summon' makes me think of an order.
Conjured elementals would have an own will, or something like it, and could disagree with you, and thus could attack you.
Summoned Elementals wouldn't have no choice and must obey you.

I don't know why I came up with this, but it didnt sound to bad to be some sort of explanation for the chance of failing and the name of the spell. ;)