Elan race

[Seriah]

So I am playing in a DnD 3.5 campaign in a custom setting. My older brother is the DM and hasn't really used psionics all that much, though he has not banned them.
I decided that I wanted to play a psionic character, and he said "Sure, why not." Now, to RP it instead of just popping up, I had to journey long and far, walking up many stairs to a hidden monastery etc etc. In the end, I learned about psionics and was made into an elan. Now comes the problem....

What exactly changes when you turn into an Elan? Will I remember my party? Does everything about my character reset? Obviously my character levels reset, thats quite clear in the book, as do my skill points. But what about my XP? My feats? My bloodline? The "other characteristics" is a bit vague. I haven't been able to find anything on this online, so I figured I would ask you guys, since I've always been able to google search up an answer on these forums to every other question I've ever had.

[Asrrin]

Elans are considered a base race and not a template according to RAW, so a level 1 Elan will only have the mechanical effects of a level 1 character, and not of a previous character who had a template applied.

As far as the fluff is concerned, it's left vague, but I would imagine that renouncing your humanity would also do away with your human memories.

[Karl Aegis]

A new Elan is a new character. You don't keep anything from your old character when you roll a new character.

[atemu1234]

A new Elan is a new character. You don't keep anything from your old character when you roll a new character.

Thought bottle. Done.

[Seriah]

Thought bottle. Done.

LOLs, thanks everyone for the replies. I'm going to have to start digging through the Elan as Template posts I think.

[KillingAScarab]

What exactly changes when you turn into an Elan? Will I remember my party? Does everything about my character reset?... My bloodline?Sorry, I don't have anything to contribute to an answer, but I just wanted to ask if you're using the bloodlines (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/races/bloodlines.htm) from Unearthed Arcana with an Elan? The possibility interests me.

[atemu1234]

Sorry, I don't have anything to contribute to an answer, but I just wanted to ask if you're using the bloodlines (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/races/bloodlines.htm) from Unearthed Arcana with an Elan? The possibility interests me.

Or, possibly dragonmarks.

Which would also be fascinating.

[Segev]

Elan fluff is (probably deliberately) vague on the subject of how much of "you" is still the human you once were. Given that it's viewed as an improvement and that people are NOT generally terrified of it, it must have at least the appearance of continuation of "self."

However, it also comes with a loss of any and all professional progress you'd made, and can reformat you to have a starting level of proficiency in something new. That is, you start over at level one, and can be any starting class you want.

Therefore, I posit that you remember knowing and having skills for whatever it was you could do before, but the specifics elude you. You remember names and faces, but perhaps not as well as would require a Knowledge check to resolve. You know you used to be a skilled sailor, and remember doing it viscerally, but actually applying that experience - the muscle memory and the specific detailed knowledge - is not possible, at least not to the degree it might once have been.

This, of course, assumes you became an Elan after being a higher-level character. Level 1 humans becoming level 1 Elan have the potential to have nearly the same skill ranks and class features before and after.


In short, I would treat it as you remembering everything that is not mechanically defined, and even retaining THAT if you kept the same class and weren't higher level. A human who trained and became a Psion as his first level who then immediately became an Elan would lose, at most, his human bonus feat and his bonus human skill point(s). Not a huge loss, and can easily be written off as having to learn the new body.

[atemu1234]

Elan fluff is (probably deliberately) vague on the subject of how much of "you" is still the human you once were. Given that it's viewed as an improvement and that people are NOT generally terrified of it, it must have at least the appearance of continuation of "self."

However, it also comes with a loss of any and all professional progress you'd made, and can reformat you to have a starting level of proficiency in something new. That is, you start over at level one, and can be any starting class you want.

Therefore, I posit that you remember knowing and having skills for whatever it was you could do before, but the specifics elude you. You remember names and faces, but perhaps not as well as would require a Knowledge check to resolve. You know you used to be a skilled sailor, and remember doing it viscerally, but actually applying that experience - the muscle memory and the specific detailed knowledge - is not possible, at least not to the degree it might once have been.

This, of course, assumes you became an Elan after being a higher-level character. Level 1 humans becoming level 1 Elan have the potential to have nearly the same skill ranks and class features before and after.


In short, I would treat it as you remembering everything that is not mechanically defined, and even retaining THAT if you kept the same class and weren't higher level. A human who trained and became a Psion as his first level who then immediately became an Elan would lose, at most, his human bonus feat and his bonus human skill point(s). Not a huge loss, and can easily be written off as having to learn the new body.

I now feel like going on the homebrew forum and turning it into a race-template like Dragonborn. Anyone want me to?

[Segev]

If you want to, go for it, but I actually like it as-is, personally.