Exiled Elves: New Racial Stats - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Exiled Elves: New Racial Stats

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
ferratus
Mar 08, 2004 15:24:37 Elf, Diaspora (Valthonesti)

With the destruction of the elven homelands of Qualinesti and Silvanesti, the elves themselves are a people without a homeland, wandering throughout Ansalon looking for sanctuary. In some lands they are welcomed for their skills in lore or magic, in others they are driven away in hatred. However, since no human realms can absorb the entire population of two nations, and the elves themselves are divided as to the best course of action, they are increasingly splintering into smaller and smaller groups and finding a home wherever it might be. Thus, they have taken the name of the “Valthonesti” (which in the elven tongue means “people of the exile”).

Personality: Valthonesti are generally embittered by the loss of their beloved realms, and suspicious of everyone they come across. They keep to their own clans and villages in the frontiers of human lands, or wander the realms of others as transients doing their best to survive as peddlers of magical wares and exotic goods. However, they have not completely lost their joy for life, and delight in their traditional arts of poetry, dance and song.

Physical Description: Valthonesti elves generally tend to be tall and slim, standing about 6 to 61/2 feet tall and typically weighing 130 to 200 pounds, with elven men the same height and only marginally heavier than elf women. Though more frail than humans physically, they have a newfound strength of will that comes from their recent hardships. As well, they have become extremely practical, and thus prefer simple and comfortable clothes.
Other than their height, elves vary widely in physical appearance. As they live close to nature, with respect for nature, they magically adapt to the ecosystems of various terrains. Thus, their features (such as the hue of their skin tone) have begun to vary widely, though they retain their haunting beauty. An elf reaches adulthood at about 80 years of age, and can live to be more than 600 years old.

Relations: Elves have a mostly antagonistic relationship with the world, not only due to human prejudice but also fostered through centuries of their own elitism and isolationism. They are often hostile to half-elves, for they represent the dangers of assimilation (and thus extinction). Dwarves are generally held in high esteem, though the dwarves themselves harbor a grudge from an ancient feud that only they remember. Kender are viewed with amusment and annoyance in equal measure. The technological fascination of the gnomes is incomprehensible to the nature loving elves. Elves actively hate the minotaurs for their occupation of Silvanesti and the genocide of the elves that remained behind.

Alignment: As the Valthonesti have homeland or no central authority, they have grown to be chaotic in nature. They are good however, both by natural inclination and through the teachings of the deities of good.

Elven Lands: The elves of the diaspora, as their name suggests, do not have a homeland of their own. Instead, they live in small communities among the realms of other races, or as nomads drifting from place to place. The only exception to this is found in the forests of Southern Ergoth, where elven refugees and exiles since the time of the War of the Lance have displaced and assimilated the native barbaric Kagonesti elves, forging a new nation known as Colinesti.

Religion: The Valthonesti revere all the gods of light, though this piety is cold and practical among all the elves save the devout clergy. The elves are only passionately involved spiritually in the teachings of the fallen god Eli, who sacrificed himself in order to save the elven people from absolute destruction and genocide by a dark goddess. He is said to walk among them now in elven form, under the name “Valthonis” (the exile). A rite of hospitality has arisen all the elves of the Diaspora, who will treat every elven stranger (and his companions) as an honored guest, as a way to honor the fallen deity.

Language: Those Valthonesti who remain relatively isolated from human civilizations speak a language that has become known as “High Elven” which is heavily based on the ancient elven tongues spoken in their former homelands, and which borrows few words from other languages. This is in contrast to the “Low Elven” spoken by their kin, who are commonly known as the “Ghetto Elves”.

Names: With the loss of Silvanesti, names relating to their caste and place in society have become increasingly hollow. Increasingly, the elves of the exile are adopting the Qualinesti method of naming their children, in which the father’s name is appended to the child’s own.

Male Names: Arlendaro, Belthanos, Daranthalas, Eriel, Kyriatos, Lembian, Othial, Roquel, Torunis, Xanordras.

Female Names: Ashia, Corana, Fyrelana, Jaerla, Nevela, Pellisa, Serinda, Teina, Uline, Zorinna

Adventurers: Due to their exile, elves are generally adventurers as a way of life, moving from place to place in order to survive.

Elf Racial Traits
• +2 Dexterity, -2 Constitution. Elves are graceful but frail. An elf’s grace makes her naturally better at archery.
• Medium. As Medium creatures, elves have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
• Elf base land speed is 30 feet.
• Low-Light Vision: An elf can see twice as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight and similar conditions of poor illumination. She retains the ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions.
• +2 racial bonus on Listen, Search, and Spot checks. Elves have exceptionally keen senses.
• Terrain Adaptation: Elves live in harmony with their surrounding environment. As such, they can choose one terrain type from the following list: Aquatic, Arctic, Desert, Ghetto, Forest, Marsh, Mountains, Plains. The elf gains a bonus of +2 to Knowledge (nature) and Survival when in the environment of their favored terrain type. It takes five years of continued habitation in a particular terrain to magically adapt to the elf's new home, and all abilities gained by the former terrain (see below) are lost.

In addition to skill bonus above, elves gain the following abilities based on terrain:

Aquatic: Valthonesti elves that live on islands or make their living as mariners can hold their breath for a number of rounds equal to three times their constitution score.

Arctic: Inured to the cold, elves of the arctic no longer require saving throws to avoid the effects of cold weather when outfitted properly in winter clothing.

Desert: No strangers to hunger and thirst, elves of the desert have learned to conserve their body’s resources. They can go without food or water for twice as long as other characters.

Forest: Elves who have been fortunate enough to find another forest home, or unfortunate enough to remain in Qualinesti and Silvanesti can move through the undergrowth (see page 87, DMG) with only half the penalty of other characters. Thus, they can move through light undergrowth normally, and heavy undergrowth at half-speed.

Ghetto: The streetwise elves of the ghetto have learned to adapt to human cities. Therefore they gain one skill point per level, in addition to those normally gained by race and class, which can be spent on the following skills: Bluff, Escape Artist, Open Lock, Sleight of Hand, and Sense Motive. If these skills are cross-class skills for the character, they can be held in reserve so that a rank can be purchased every other level. Maximum ranks based on level and class still apply.

Marsh: Some of the elves belonging to the more magical castes fled into isolation in the swamps and moors of Ansalon. Their innate magical powers have served them well, adapting to their new environment. An elf of the marshes has the spell like abilities: speak with animals 1/day (reptiles only, duration 1 minute). A marsh elf with a charisma of at least 10 also has the following abilities spell-like abilities: 1/day dancing lights, detect snares and pits, ghost sound.

Mountains: Many elven griffon riders fled the armies of Nerekan knights and ogres fled to the highest peaks of the Khalkhists. From there they raid and harass their foes, retreating back to heights that their enemies cannot follow them to. Those who live among the mountain peaks do not require any saving throws to avoid the effects of fatigue and altitude sickness (see page 90, DMG) due to living in higher elevations.

Plains: The wary elves of the plains can always make a spot check to notice enemies within 1500 feet, even when not actively looking for them, barring obstructions to the line of sight. Normal rules for cover and concealment still apply.

• Wilderness Lore: Elves receive Knowledge (nature) and Survival as class skills regardless of the class they belong to.
• Automatic Languages: Common and High Elven. Bonus Languages: Elves are generally fluent in the tongues of the humans and other dominant races in the area which they live.
• Favored Class: Ranger. A multiclass elf’s ranger class does not count when determining whether or not she takes an XP penalty for multiclassing (see XP for Multiclass Characters in the PHB). Ghetto elves have Rogue as their favored class.
#2
jrblasingame
Mar 08, 2004 15:30:59 Man those elves are HUGE!....nice job though.
#3
talinthas
Mar 08, 2004 15:39:05 /nods
aside from the height, i like it.
#4
ferratus
Mar 08, 2004 15:51:05 Okay, this is something I've had on the backburner for a couple months now, and I've sort of reached the end of my rope with.

In WoS I was really impressed with the idea of elves being "in communion" with the land, and being able to adapt readily to even harsh foreign environments. Furthermore, I've felt for a long time that the elven subraces shouldn't be based on the shattered elven kingdoms, but on their exile. Is it a bit too soon? Perhaps, but if I wait until enough game time to pass for the slow-changing elves to culturally adapt to their new surroundings, I'll be 80 years old myself. Therefore I put a little innate magical connection to the natural world in the elven species to explain this sudden change.

Now, I'm not entirely satisfied with many of the abilities I've assigned, and I feel that some are underpowered. I've looked over the two most dungeon-useful abilities (the marsh and the ghetto elves) and I'm rather satisfied with theirs. The minor magics of the swamp elf complement the ranger very well. The skill points are designed to make the ghetto elf rogues as good at theivery as your average human rogue, and to give a few ranks of street survival skills to other classes to show that they "grew up on the streets". They'll never ever be even close to as good as a rogue of their level, but they'll be able to do minor roguish things.

The arctic elf is perfect if you want to run a Gellidus or Icewall campaign, but doesn't have much use outside of frigid environments. The mountain elf is good for dragon and griffon riding, but not much else. The desert elf is only useful if you are going to be in the desert without supplies for a long time. I'd prefer to give the desert elf the horizon walker prestige class desert ability (normal when otherwise be fatigued, fatigued when you otherwise would be exhausted) but then that leaves me with nothing for the mountain elf. The forest elf has some use in the forest, swamps or plains to move through undergrowth as a mobile hero, which makes for a good tumbling two-weapon fighter or ranged and retreat archer.

The plains ability just sucks. I really need something for that.

Now, the versatility to me isn't as important as game balance. So if you only pick an arctic elf if you are playing in Icewall that's fine. That's actually what I would like you to do. I do not however want you picking a subspecies outside of the terrain type your playing just because I screwed up on game balance. Can you guys help me out with this? What needs to be tweaked, and how can I tweak it?
#5
ferratus
Mar 08, 2004 15:57:27
Originally posted by JRBlasingame
Man those elves are HUGE!....nice job though.

Well I'm following the novels about the height. Porthios, Solostran, Dalamar and the rest are always described as being 6-6 1/2 feet tall in tolkienesque tradition. For the weights, I asked my tall skinny friends what they tipped the scales at.

I should also take this opportunity to note that unlike the PHB elves, these elves do not gain reverie (and thus immunity to sleep), no resistances to enchantment, and no ability to detect secret doors.
#6
zombiegleemax
Mar 08, 2004 16:06:29 Im presently working on a few alternatives for your climate related traits.....especially since you said you werent happy with the plains ability...Workin on that one first.....Ill be in touch here with some ideas for you, maybe they'll work out
#7
zombiegleemax
Mar 08, 2004 21:38:36 I understand why you dropped elven reverie and immunity to sleep, in the novels the elves always said to sleep and for just as long as any other race.
But, why drop the save bonuses against enchantments and the special search ability? To my knowledge the elves of Krynn have keen sight, and I don't remember anything in the novels that would suggest getting rid of either of these abilities.
Did you also drop the bonuses to listen, spot, and search?
What about weapon proficiencies? That one I could see, the War of Souls trilogy seems to suggest that not every elf is trained in the use of weapons.
#8
ferratus
Mar 08, 2004 23:47:20
Originally posted by Shadowalk Nimblefeet

But, why drop the save bonuses against enchantments and the special search ability? To my knowledge the elves of Krynn have keen sight, and I don't remember anything in the novels that would suggest getting rid of either of these abilities.

Well because the elves didn't seem to have any special magical resistances, or at least it was never made into a big issue. Frankly I dropped it so I could have a more powerful "nature adaptation ability" yet still keep the elves at ECL 0.

The search for secret doors thing was a hold out of the tradition of old editions rather than something that really came into play in dragonlance. A dungeon delving trick, but not anything that really had to do with dragonlance. The closest parallel I could think of is Sla-Mori... but the elven heroes already knew where the entrance to that was.

Did you also drop the bonuses to listen, spot, and search?

Nope, they're right there. Look again. +2 listen, spot search.

What about weapon proficiencies? That one I could see, the War of Souls trilogy seems to suggest that not every elf is trained in the use of weapons.

Actually, I just forgot about the weapons. But yeah, I guess I dropped them. It will make them fit in with WoHS better anyway.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 ferratus Mar 08, 2004 15:24:37	Elf, Diaspora (Valthonesti) With the destruction of the elven homelands of Qualinesti and Silvanesti, the elves themselves are a people without a homeland, wandering throughout Ansalon looking for sanctuary. In some lands they are welcomed for their skills in lore or magic, in others they are driven away in hatred. However, since no human realms can absorb the entire population of two nations, and the elves themselves are divided as to the best course of action, they are increasingly splintering into smaller and smaller groups and finding a home wherever it might be. Thus, they have taken the name of the “Valthonesti” (which in the elven tongue means “people of the exile”). Personality: Valthonesti are generally embittered by the loss of their beloved realms, and suspicious of everyone they come across. They keep to their own clans and villages in the frontiers of human lands, or wander the realms of others as transients doing their best to survive as peddlers of magical wares and exotic goods. However, they have not completely lost their joy for life, and delight in their traditional arts of poetry, dance and song. Physical Description: Valthonesti elves generally tend to be tall and slim, standing about 6 to 61/2 feet tall and typically weighing 130 to 200 pounds, with elven men the same height and only marginally heavier than elf women. Though more frail than humans physically, they have a newfound strength of will that comes from their recent hardships. As well, they have become extremely practical, and thus prefer simple and comfortable clothes. Other than their height, elves vary widely in physical appearance. As they live close to nature, with respect for nature, they magically adapt to the ecosystems of various terrains. Thus, their features (such as the hue of their skin tone) have begun to vary widely, though they retain their haunting beauty. An elf reaches adulthood at about 80 years of age, and can live to be more than 600 years old. Relations: Elves have a mostly antagonistic relationship with the world, not only due to human prejudice but also fostered through centuries of their own elitism and isolationism. They are often hostile to half-elves, for they represent the dangers of assimilation (and thus extinction). Dwarves are generally held in high esteem, though the dwarves themselves harbor a grudge from an ancient feud that only they remember. Kender are viewed with amusment and annoyance in equal measure. The technological fascination of the gnomes is incomprehensible to the nature loving elves. Elves actively hate the minotaurs for their occupation of Silvanesti and the genocide of the elves that remained behind. Alignment: As the Valthonesti have homeland or no central authority, they have grown to be chaotic in nature. They are good however, both by natural inclination and through the teachings of the deities of good. Elven Lands: The elves of the diaspora, as their name suggests, do not have a homeland of their own. Instead, they live in small communities among the realms of other races, or as nomads drifting from place to place. The only exception to this is found in the forests of Southern Ergoth, where elven refugees and exiles since the time of the War of the Lance have displaced and assimilated the native barbaric Kagonesti elves, forging a new nation known as Colinesti. Religion: The Valthonesti revere all the gods of light, though this piety is cold and practical among all the elves save the devout clergy. The elves are only passionately involved spiritually in the teachings of the fallen god Eli, who sacrificed himself in order to save the elven people from absolute destruction and genocide by a dark goddess. He is said to walk among them now in elven form, under the name “Valthonis” (the exile). A rite of hospitality has arisen all the elves of the Diaspora, who will treat every elven stranger (and his companions) as an honored guest, as a way to honor the fallen deity. Language: Those Valthonesti who remain relatively isolated from human civilizations speak a language that has become known as “High Elven” which is heavily based on the ancient elven tongues spoken in their former homelands, and which borrows few words from other languages. This is in contrast to the “Low Elven” spoken by their kin, who are commonly known as the “Ghetto Elves”. Names: With the loss of Silvanesti, names relating to their caste and place in society have become increasingly hollow. Increasingly, the elves of the exile are adopting the Qualinesti method of naming their children, in which the father’s name is appended to the child’s own. Male Names: Arlendaro, Belthanos, Daranthalas, Eriel, Kyriatos, Lembian, Othial, Roquel, Torunis, Xanordras. Female Names: Ashia, Corana, Fyrelana, Jaerla, Nevela, Pellisa, Serinda, Teina, Uline, Zorinna Adventurers: Due to their exile, elves are generally adventurers as a way of life, moving from place to place in order to survive. Elf Racial Traits • +2 Dexterity, -2 Constitution. Elves are graceful but frail. An elf’s grace makes her naturally better at archery. • Medium. As Medium creatures, elves have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size. • Elf base land speed is 30 feet. • Low-Light Vision: An elf can see twice as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight and similar conditions of poor illumination. She retains the ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions. • +2 racial bonus on Listen, Search, and Spot checks. Elves have exceptionally keen senses. • Terrain Adaptation: Elves live in harmony with their surrounding environment. As such, they can choose one terrain type from the following list: Aquatic, Arctic, Desert, Ghetto, Forest, Marsh, Mountains, Plains. The elf gains a bonus of +2 to Knowledge (nature) and Survival when in the environment of their favored terrain type. It takes five years of continued habitation in a particular terrain to magically adapt to the elf's new home, and all abilities gained by the former terrain (see below) are lost. In addition to skill bonus above, elves gain the following abilities based on terrain: Aquatic: Valthonesti elves that live on islands or make their living as mariners can hold their breath for a number of rounds equal to three times their constitution score. Arctic: Inured to the cold, elves of the arctic no longer require saving throws to avoid the effects of cold weather when outfitted properly in winter clothing. Desert: No strangers to hunger and thirst, elves of the desert have learned to conserve their body’s resources. They can go without food or water for twice as long as other characters. Forest: Elves who have been fortunate enough to find another forest home, or unfortunate enough to remain in Qualinesti and Silvanesti can move through the undergrowth (see page 87, DMG) with only half the penalty of other characters. Thus, they can move through light undergrowth normally, and heavy undergrowth at half-speed. Ghetto: The streetwise elves of the ghetto have learned to adapt to human cities. Therefore they gain one skill point per level, in addition to those normally gained by race and class, which can be spent on the following skills: Bluff, Escape Artist, Open Lock, Sleight of Hand, and Sense Motive. If these skills are cross-class skills for the character, they can be held in reserve so that a rank can be purchased every other level. Maximum ranks based on level and class still apply. Marsh: Some of the elves belonging to the more magical castes fled into isolation in the swamps and moors of Ansalon. Their innate magical powers have served them well, adapting to their new environment. An elf of the marshes has the spell like abilities: speak with animals 1/day (reptiles only, duration 1 minute). A marsh elf with a charisma of at least 10 also has the following abilities spell-like abilities: 1/day dancing lights, detect snares and pits, ghost sound. Mountains: Many elven griffon riders fled the armies of Nerekan knights and ogres fled to the highest peaks of the Khalkhists. From there they raid and harass their foes, retreating back to heights that their enemies cannot follow them to. Those who live among the mountain peaks do not require any saving throws to avoid the effects of fatigue and altitude sickness (see page 90, DMG) due to living in higher elevations. Plains: The wary elves of the plains can always make a spot check to notice enemies within 1500 feet, even when not actively looking for them, barring obstructions to the line of sight. Normal rules for cover and concealment still apply. • Wilderness Lore: Elves receive Knowledge (nature) and Survival as class skills regardless of the class they belong to. • Automatic Languages: Common and High Elven. Bonus Languages: Elves are generally fluent in the tongues of the humans and other dominant races in the area which they live. • Favored Class: Ranger. A multiclass elf’s ranger class does not count when determining whether or not she takes an XP penalty for multiclassing (see XP for Multiclass Characters in the PHB). Ghetto elves have Rogue as their favored class.
#2 jrblasingame Mar 08, 2004 15:30:59	Man those elves are HUGE!....nice job though.
#3 talinthas Mar 08, 2004 15:39:05	/nods aside from the height, i like it.
#4 ferratus Mar 08, 2004 15:51:05	Okay, this is something I've had on the backburner for a couple months now, and I've sort of reached the end of my rope with. In WoS I was really impressed with the idea of elves being "in communion" with the land, and being able to adapt readily to even harsh foreign environments. Furthermore, I've felt for a long time that the elven subraces shouldn't be based on the shattered elven kingdoms, but on their exile. Is it a bit too soon? Perhaps, but if I wait until enough game time to pass for the slow-changing elves to culturally adapt to their new surroundings, I'll be 80 years old myself. Therefore I put a little innate magical connection to the natural world in the elven species to explain this sudden change. Now, I'm not entirely satisfied with many of the abilities I've assigned, and I feel that some are underpowered. I've looked over the two most dungeon-useful abilities (the marsh and the ghetto elves) and I'm rather satisfied with theirs. The minor magics of the swamp elf complement the ranger very well. The skill points are designed to make the ghetto elf rogues as good at theivery as your average human rogue, and to give a few ranks of street survival skills to other classes to show that they "grew up on the streets". They'll never ever be even close to as good as a rogue of their level, but they'll be able to do minor roguish things. The arctic elf is perfect if you want to run a Gellidus or Icewall campaign, but doesn't have much use outside of frigid environments. The mountain elf is good for dragon and griffon riding, but not much else. The desert elf is only useful if you are going to be in the desert without supplies for a long time. I'd prefer to give the desert elf the horizon walker prestige class desert ability (normal when otherwise be fatigued, fatigued when you otherwise would be exhausted) but then that leaves me with nothing for the mountain elf. The forest elf has some use in the forest, swamps or plains to move through undergrowth as a mobile hero, which makes for a good tumbling two-weapon fighter or ranged and retreat archer. The plains ability just sucks. I really need something for that. Now, the versatility to me isn't as important as game balance. So if you only pick an arctic elf if you are playing in Icewall that's fine. That's actually what I would like you to do. I do not however want you picking a subspecies outside of the terrain type your playing just because I screwed up on game balance. Can you guys help me out with this? What needs to be tweaked, and how can I tweak it?
#5 ferratus Mar 08, 2004 15:57:27	Originally posted by JRBlasingame Man those elves are HUGE!....nice job though. Well I'm following the novels about the height. Porthios, Solostran, Dalamar and the rest are always described as being 6-6 1/2 feet tall in tolkienesque tradition. For the weights, I asked my tall skinny friends what they tipped the scales at. I should also take this opportunity to note that unlike the PHB elves, these elves do not gain reverie (and thus immunity to sleep), no resistances to enchantment, and no ability to detect secret doors.
#6 zombiegleemax Mar 08, 2004 16:06:29	Im presently working on a few alternatives for your climate related traits.....especially since you said you werent happy with the plains ability...Workin on that one first.....Ill be in touch here with some ideas for you, maybe they'll work out
#7 zombiegleemax Mar 08, 2004 21:38:36	I understand why you dropped elven reverie and immunity to sleep, in the novels the elves always said to sleep and for just as long as any other race. But, why drop the save bonuses against enchantments and the special search ability? To my knowledge the elves of Krynn have keen sight, and I don't remember anything in the novels that would suggest getting rid of either of these abilities. Did you also drop the bonuses to listen, spot, and search? What about weapon proficiencies? That one I could see, the War of Souls trilogy seems to suggest that not every elf is trained in the use of weapons.
#8 ferratus Mar 08, 2004 23:47:20	Originally posted by Shadowalk Nimblefeet But, why drop the save bonuses against enchantments and the special search ability? To my knowledge the elves of Krynn have keen sight, and I don't remember anything in the novels that would suggest getting rid of either of these abilities. Well because the elves didn't seem to have any special magical resistances, or at least it was never made into a big issue. Frankly I dropped it so I could have a more powerful "nature adaptation ability" yet still keep the elves at ECL 0. The search for secret doors thing was a hold out of the tradition of old editions rather than something that really came into play in dragonlance. A dungeon delving trick, but not anything that really had to do with dragonlance. The closest parallel I could think of is Sla-Mori... but the elven heroes already knew where the entrance to that was. Did you also drop the bonuses to listen, spot, and search? Nope, they're right there. Look again. +2 listen, spot search. What about weapon proficiencies? That one I could see, the War of Souls trilogy seems to suggest that not every elf is trained in the use of weapons. Actually, I just forgot about the weapons. But yeah, I guess I dropped them. It will make them fit in with WoHS better anyway.