Eldan
2010-07-21, 05:16 AM
"While legends, found across the world, among the civilizations of dwarves, giants and other, equally ancient civilizations indicate that the high elves are descendant of faeries, such accounts are, curiously, entirely absent among the elves themselves. While there are old legends indicating that they came "from another world", the nature of that world is rarely even alluded to and, if mentioned at all, only in the vaguest of terms."
-Findelwald Tungsten, A Treatise on early Elven History
"I would prefer if you stopped reffering to the Sidhe as "Wild Elves". While they may look superficially similar to my people, I can assure you that they are no less related to us than your people are to Troglodytes, even if you both stink horribly.
No. They are different from us in every way. They are untrustworthy, fickle, dishonest and utterly insane."
-Silenias Lorimgalead, Elven High Mage
It is said that, many thousands of years ago, there existed a plane parallel to the material, as the shadow is today, the world of Faerie. It was ruled over by the wise Nuada Silverhand, king of the highest court and ruler of the many lesser courts and tribes of the fey peoples.
When Nuada was killed in one of the fey's many wars againt the Fomorians, he was succeeded by his daughter, Titania. However, her rule over Faerie did not last long: her younger sister, the now nameless Queen of Air and Darkness, led a civil war against her, and in the process, the world of Faerie was sundered, it's fragments coming to rest scattered over the outer and inner planes, on Arborea, Ysgard, the Outlands, Pandemonium and the Dreamscape.
In those times, the people who came to be known to other mortals as elves were the lowest caste of fey: gifted with neither the innate magical powers nor the physical strength of the greater fey, they had only the advantage of numbers. Bred to be servants, there were dozens of elves for every greater fey, and hundreds for every lord.
Among the faerie realms which came to rest in the Dreamscapes, there was one known as the Amber Spires. It's Lord, his true name now forgotten, was a master of arcane magic of a skill extraordinary even among the highest lords of faerie. Paranoid and insidious, as he was, he allowed no other great fey in his realm, instead only inhabiting his realm with elves, the servants he saw as insignificant and non-threatening.
However, the Dreamscape is a curious place: mortal minds drift there while their bodies sleep, and soon, the elves began to study these minds, and the mortal memories embedded in them, and there they learned of the material plane, and how the mortals there lived in freedom, not ruled over millennia-old immortals with powers rivaling those of the gods themselves. Desiring such freedom for themselves, they rebelled against their Lord, using arcane magic stolen from their master and the essence of the Dreamscape to put him a sleep so deep, he would never awaken again.
So began the exodus of the elves: traveling through the ethereal and using magic gates and fairy pathways, they arrived on the material plane, where the fledgling mortals of the other races looked on in wonder as the elves built their powerful empires.
They would not last long, however, for no high fairy lord is ever chained for long. Still asleep, the Lord Nightmare's mind reached out to those of his renegade servants in their dreams, he drove them insane with visions of blood and fear. War and destruction came over the elven empires as brother slaughtered brother in the streets.
Few survived the ensuing chaos: using meditation techniques, and concentration, they kept themselves from ever falling asleep, thereby escaping the madness now hunting their people.
As the Lord Nightmare's power grew once again, he reached out not only to those elves asleep, but also to those who let their minds wander for too long. And so the elves created The Path, a new philosophy to ensure that their descendants would not fall prey to Lord Nightmare again. Every elf must lead a life of constant vigilance and concentration, lest he fall to nightmares and insanity.
High Elf
Size and Type: Medium Humanoid (Elf). The elves have all but extinguished the fairy blood in their souls.
Abilities: +4 Dex, -2 Con, +4 Int, -2 Cha. While physically frail compared to other humanoids, elves make more than up for it with their extraordinary grace. And while their constant focus and attention gives them great intelligence, other humanoids find them unsettling and strange: the Path does not allow them creativity and diversion, and while they share the fairies' disdain for the "lesser" races, they do not have the charm to make up for it.
Base land speed: 30 ft.
Low-light vision: elves can see twice as far as humans in bad light conditions, such as candle- or starlight.
Meditation: Elves have a +2 racial bonus on all concentration and autohypnosis checks, and these skills are always class skills for them (even if they are not psionic). Instead of sleeping, elves normally go into a deep trance for at least four hours each day, which provides them the same rest as normal sleep does to humans.
Frightful Dreams: All elves are trained from childhood not to sleep and to distinguish reality from deception, and, using powerful magic, have made this so much a part of their lives that even their newborns do not sleep at all. Elves have a +2 racial bonus on will saves against all phantasms and patterns, and a +4 racial bonus against all sleep spells and effects,but a -2 penalty against all spells which work on them while they are asleep, such as a Nightmare spell. However, if they should ever fall asleep, through such an effect or otherwise, they become fatigued for the next 24 hours and suffer 1d4 wisdom damage.
Immortal: Elves do not age as other mortals do: they are effectively immortal and do not gain any penalties or bonuses for aging. Upon gaining their first class level, they can select two class skills, gaining a +4 racial bonus in those skills, representing the fact that they likely have trained in their given profession for centuries. Furthermore, they treat all exotic weapons with "elven" in their title (such as an elven courtblade) as martial weapons instead.
Sealed Memories: In their centuries of life, every elf accumulates more memories than they could ever consciously process. To cope with this fact, elves use their nightly meditation to seal away unnecessary facts and memories, and to access and relive ancient ones. This has the side effect that every elf has vast amounts of forgotten knowledge sealed inside him. Once per day after the elf has stopped trancing, he can make an intelligence check to remember a specific, helpful fact about something they heard the day before. This functions as a bard's bardic knowledge.
Automatic Languages: Common, Elven. Bonus languages: Dwarven, Draconic, Giant, Gnome, Sylvan.
Favoured Class: Wizard
Level Adjustment: +1
Wild Elf:
Size and Type: Medium Fey. Unlike their rebellious brothers, the wild elves' fairy blood flows strong.
Base Land Speed: 30 ft.
Abilities: +4 Dex, -2 Int, -2 Wis, +2 Cha. Quite different from their civilized brothers, wild elves are unfocused, prone to let their minds wander. They are, however, also very creative, with strangely magnetic personalities.
Low-light vision: elves can see twice as far as humans in bad light conditions, such as candle- or starlight.
Glamour (sp): Wild elves project a mental effect which makes them seem much more beautiful, self confident and graceful than they really are. They can cast Eagle's Splendour once per day as a spell like ability, with a caster level equal to their HD.
Forgetfulness (ex): Instead of carefully archiving their accumulating memories during the night, like their high elf brothers do, wild elves instead just forget all the daily facts they deem unimportant during their sleep. This has the side-effect of helping them to combat not only mental control, but also all forms of painful mental experiences they suffered during the day. Every night, while asleep, a wild elf can make a second saving throw against any mind-affecting effects and spells they are affected by, and they automatically heal four points of mental ability damage during their sleep.
Fairy Magic: Living with the higher fey has given the wild elves a lot of experience with their magic and constant trickery. They have a +2 bonus on all saving throws against charms, compulsions and glammers.
Furthermore, if they gain levels in druid, ranger or any other class casting nature-based spells using it's wisdom score (DMs decision), they can use their charisma score instead of their wisdom score to determine spell DCs, spells per day and the highest level of spells they can cast. In their minds, they should not worship nature, nature should worship them.
Immortal: As the higher fey, elves do not age. They get older, but neither any wiser, nor any weaker as they do. They gain no boni and suffer no penalties for aging. Additionally, when gaining their first class level, they gain an additional 6 skill points, which they can only spend on craft, knowledge or perform skills, representing their centuries of studies. It is said that, unlike the high elves and their intensely focused studies, the wild elves have the attention span of small children, changing subjects and areas of study frequently, leaving their spellbooks for an art project, their art projects for weapon training and their weapons for new lovers. Perform is always a class skill for them.
Finally, wild elves treat any exotic weapon with "elven" in it's name as a martial weapon.
Shifting Aspect: Adult wild elves are often many centuries old, and their heads are full of half-forgotten memories and talents, which can suddenly resurface. Every morning, after trancing, they can choose one aspect from the following table to apply to themselves. However, this aspect can never be the same aspect they chose the day before.
*Aspect of the Hunter: the wild elf's base land speed increases to 40 feet, and gains Woodland stride, as the druid's ability.
*Aspect of the Warrior: the elf gains +2 strength and proficiency with one elven weapon or bow of his choice. If he is already proficient with that weapon, he gains +1 to attack rolls with that weapon instead.
*Aspect of the Prey: the wild elf gains +2 dexterity, and a +4 bonus to spot and listen checks.
*Aspect of Magic: if the wild elf has a casting class, he gains +1 to caster level with that class. If he does not, he instead gains spell resistance equal to 12+HD.
Level Adjustment: +1
Notes: Basically, this homebrew started with a simple question: why don't elves sleep? Now, what came out does in fact share a good deal of fluff with 40k's Craftworld Eldar, which was at first unintended. However, once I saw this connection, I exploited it.
Now, the question is: what do people think of this version of the elf race (I might post Wild Elves, those still connected to the fey, later)? I've often read the comment that elves, while being centuries old, are no more competent at their jobs than humans are after a handful of years of training, and tried to do something against that. Also, how is the balance of this race? Apart from the attribute bonuses, little of it should be relevant for combat, but is there abuse potential for any of it's abilities? Anything you think I might add, especially to represent their immortality and centuries of training?
-Findelwald Tungsten, A Treatise on early Elven History
"I would prefer if you stopped reffering to the Sidhe as "Wild Elves". While they may look superficially similar to my people, I can assure you that they are no less related to us than your people are to Troglodytes, even if you both stink horribly.
No. They are different from us in every way. They are untrustworthy, fickle, dishonest and utterly insane."
-Silenias Lorimgalead, Elven High Mage
It is said that, many thousands of years ago, there existed a plane parallel to the material, as the shadow is today, the world of Faerie. It was ruled over by the wise Nuada Silverhand, king of the highest court and ruler of the many lesser courts and tribes of the fey peoples.
When Nuada was killed in one of the fey's many wars againt the Fomorians, he was succeeded by his daughter, Titania. However, her rule over Faerie did not last long: her younger sister, the now nameless Queen of Air and Darkness, led a civil war against her, and in the process, the world of Faerie was sundered, it's fragments coming to rest scattered over the outer and inner planes, on Arborea, Ysgard, the Outlands, Pandemonium and the Dreamscape.
In those times, the people who came to be known to other mortals as elves were the lowest caste of fey: gifted with neither the innate magical powers nor the physical strength of the greater fey, they had only the advantage of numbers. Bred to be servants, there were dozens of elves for every greater fey, and hundreds for every lord.
Among the faerie realms which came to rest in the Dreamscapes, there was one known as the Amber Spires. It's Lord, his true name now forgotten, was a master of arcane magic of a skill extraordinary even among the highest lords of faerie. Paranoid and insidious, as he was, he allowed no other great fey in his realm, instead only inhabiting his realm with elves, the servants he saw as insignificant and non-threatening.
However, the Dreamscape is a curious place: mortal minds drift there while their bodies sleep, and soon, the elves began to study these minds, and the mortal memories embedded in them, and there they learned of the material plane, and how the mortals there lived in freedom, not ruled over millennia-old immortals with powers rivaling those of the gods themselves. Desiring such freedom for themselves, they rebelled against their Lord, using arcane magic stolen from their master and the essence of the Dreamscape to put him a sleep so deep, he would never awaken again.
So began the exodus of the elves: traveling through the ethereal and using magic gates and fairy pathways, they arrived on the material plane, where the fledgling mortals of the other races looked on in wonder as the elves built their powerful empires.
They would not last long, however, for no high fairy lord is ever chained for long. Still asleep, the Lord Nightmare's mind reached out to those of his renegade servants in their dreams, he drove them insane with visions of blood and fear. War and destruction came over the elven empires as brother slaughtered brother in the streets.
Few survived the ensuing chaos: using meditation techniques, and concentration, they kept themselves from ever falling asleep, thereby escaping the madness now hunting their people.
As the Lord Nightmare's power grew once again, he reached out not only to those elves asleep, but also to those who let their minds wander for too long. And so the elves created The Path, a new philosophy to ensure that their descendants would not fall prey to Lord Nightmare again. Every elf must lead a life of constant vigilance and concentration, lest he fall to nightmares and insanity.
High Elf
Size and Type: Medium Humanoid (Elf). The elves have all but extinguished the fairy blood in their souls.
Abilities: +4 Dex, -2 Con, +4 Int, -2 Cha. While physically frail compared to other humanoids, elves make more than up for it with their extraordinary grace. And while their constant focus and attention gives them great intelligence, other humanoids find them unsettling and strange: the Path does not allow them creativity and diversion, and while they share the fairies' disdain for the "lesser" races, they do not have the charm to make up for it.
Base land speed: 30 ft.
Low-light vision: elves can see twice as far as humans in bad light conditions, such as candle- or starlight.
Meditation: Elves have a +2 racial bonus on all concentration and autohypnosis checks, and these skills are always class skills for them (even if they are not psionic). Instead of sleeping, elves normally go into a deep trance for at least four hours each day, which provides them the same rest as normal sleep does to humans.
Frightful Dreams: All elves are trained from childhood not to sleep and to distinguish reality from deception, and, using powerful magic, have made this so much a part of their lives that even their newborns do not sleep at all. Elves have a +2 racial bonus on will saves against all phantasms and patterns, and a +4 racial bonus against all sleep spells and effects,but a -2 penalty against all spells which work on them while they are asleep, such as a Nightmare spell. However, if they should ever fall asleep, through such an effect or otherwise, they become fatigued for the next 24 hours and suffer 1d4 wisdom damage.
Immortal: Elves do not age as other mortals do: they are effectively immortal and do not gain any penalties or bonuses for aging. Upon gaining their first class level, they can select two class skills, gaining a +4 racial bonus in those skills, representing the fact that they likely have trained in their given profession for centuries. Furthermore, they treat all exotic weapons with "elven" in their title (such as an elven courtblade) as martial weapons instead.
Sealed Memories: In their centuries of life, every elf accumulates more memories than they could ever consciously process. To cope with this fact, elves use their nightly meditation to seal away unnecessary facts and memories, and to access and relive ancient ones. This has the side effect that every elf has vast amounts of forgotten knowledge sealed inside him. Once per day after the elf has stopped trancing, he can make an intelligence check to remember a specific, helpful fact about something they heard the day before. This functions as a bard's bardic knowledge.
Automatic Languages: Common, Elven. Bonus languages: Dwarven, Draconic, Giant, Gnome, Sylvan.
Favoured Class: Wizard
Level Adjustment: +1
Wild Elf:
Size and Type: Medium Fey. Unlike their rebellious brothers, the wild elves' fairy blood flows strong.
Base Land Speed: 30 ft.
Abilities: +4 Dex, -2 Int, -2 Wis, +2 Cha. Quite different from their civilized brothers, wild elves are unfocused, prone to let their minds wander. They are, however, also very creative, with strangely magnetic personalities.
Low-light vision: elves can see twice as far as humans in bad light conditions, such as candle- or starlight.
Glamour (sp): Wild elves project a mental effect which makes them seem much more beautiful, self confident and graceful than they really are. They can cast Eagle's Splendour once per day as a spell like ability, with a caster level equal to their HD.
Forgetfulness (ex): Instead of carefully archiving their accumulating memories during the night, like their high elf brothers do, wild elves instead just forget all the daily facts they deem unimportant during their sleep. This has the side-effect of helping them to combat not only mental control, but also all forms of painful mental experiences they suffered during the day. Every night, while asleep, a wild elf can make a second saving throw against any mind-affecting effects and spells they are affected by, and they automatically heal four points of mental ability damage during their sleep.
Fairy Magic: Living with the higher fey has given the wild elves a lot of experience with their magic and constant trickery. They have a +2 bonus on all saving throws against charms, compulsions and glammers.
Furthermore, if they gain levels in druid, ranger or any other class casting nature-based spells using it's wisdom score (DMs decision), they can use their charisma score instead of their wisdom score to determine spell DCs, spells per day and the highest level of spells they can cast. In their minds, they should not worship nature, nature should worship them.
Immortal: As the higher fey, elves do not age. They get older, but neither any wiser, nor any weaker as they do. They gain no boni and suffer no penalties for aging. Additionally, when gaining their first class level, they gain an additional 6 skill points, which they can only spend on craft, knowledge or perform skills, representing their centuries of studies. It is said that, unlike the high elves and their intensely focused studies, the wild elves have the attention span of small children, changing subjects and areas of study frequently, leaving their spellbooks for an art project, their art projects for weapon training and their weapons for new lovers. Perform is always a class skill for them.
Finally, wild elves treat any exotic weapon with "elven" in it's name as a martial weapon.
Shifting Aspect: Adult wild elves are often many centuries old, and their heads are full of half-forgotten memories and talents, which can suddenly resurface. Every morning, after trancing, they can choose one aspect from the following table to apply to themselves. However, this aspect can never be the same aspect they chose the day before.
*Aspect of the Hunter: the wild elf's base land speed increases to 40 feet, and gains Woodland stride, as the druid's ability.
*Aspect of the Warrior: the elf gains +2 strength and proficiency with one elven weapon or bow of his choice. If he is already proficient with that weapon, he gains +1 to attack rolls with that weapon instead.
*Aspect of the Prey: the wild elf gains +2 dexterity, and a +4 bonus to spot and listen checks.
*Aspect of Magic: if the wild elf has a casting class, he gains +1 to caster level with that class. If he does not, he instead gains spell resistance equal to 12+HD.
Level Adjustment: +1
Notes: Basically, this homebrew started with a simple question: why don't elves sleep? Now, what came out does in fact share a good deal of fluff with 40k's Craftworld Eldar, which was at first unintended. However, once I saw this connection, I exploited it.
Now, the question is: what do people think of this version of the elf race (I might post Wild Elves, those still connected to the fey, later)? I've often read the comment that elves, while being centuries old, are no more competent at their jobs than humans are after a handful of years of training, and tried to do something against that. Also, how is the balance of this race? Apart from the attribute bonuses, little of it should be relevant for combat, but is there abuse potential for any of it's abilities? Anything you think I might add, especially to represent their immortality and centuries of training?