Powerful half-elves

wargear · Jun 3, 2007

I opted for powerful Tolkienesque elves for my campaign world. Needless to say, they are not available as a PC race. Half-elves on the other hand are available. They are also the only race in my campaign that has access to the Druid class, a diluted manifestation of their elven heritage.

Half-Elf

+2 Dex -2 Con +2 Wis
medium size
base land speed 30 ft.
Spell-like abilities: 1/day Detect Magic, Speak with Animals, Animal Messenger.
- These spells are cast as a Druid of the half-elf's character level.
Immunity to magic sleep effects, and a +2 racial saving throw against magic spells and effects.
Low-light vision.
+2 Listen +2 Search +2 Spot
Spell Resistance 11+character level
Weapon Proficiency: Martial Weapon Proficiency (longsword, rapier, longbow, shortbow)
Automatic Languages: Common, Elven.
- Bonus Languages: Draconic, Gnoll, Goblin, Orc, Sylvan.
Favoured Class: Druid.
Level Adjustment: +2

Evilhalfling · Jun 3, 2007

It seems very similar to drow -
even with the SR a race that gets - 2 con and +2 LA is going to be very fragile.
many consider Drow too fragile to play as PCs

I would drop the Spell resistance and make them +1 LA far more likely to see use by players.

Quartz · Jun 3, 2007

+2 LA seems fine for higher level characters. But I'm very wary of letting low level characters have SR, especially with +2 on saves as well. I agree with Evilhalfling: drop the SR and make it +1 LA.

Rystil Arden · Jun 3, 2007

Evilhalfling said:
It seems very similar to drow -
even with the SR a race that gets - 2 con and +2 LA is going to be very fragile.
many consider Drow too fragile to play as PCs

I would drop the Spell resistance and make them +1 LA far more likely to see use by players.

It's going to be even more fragile with the listed 2 Dex. -2 Con I can see, and +2 Wis is always a boon, but having 2 Dex means a huge penalty to AC.

wargear · Jun 3, 2007

Sorry...that was supposed to say +2 dex.

I used the Drow as the basis for my halfelves.

The halfelf 4th level ranger in my campaign seems to be managing for now, even though he is lagging behind the 6th level of the rest of the party.

Andre · Jun 3, 2007

wargear said:
The halfelf 4th level ranger in my campaign seems to be managing for now, even though he is lagging behind the 6th level of the rest of the party.

Yep, just IMO, but this seems a bit weak for +2 LA. At the least, I'd remove the penalty to Con. In fact, I would consider giving a +2 Con. That simple change would move it into decent +2 LA territory.

DreamChaser · Jun 3, 2007

Especially considering that there was nothing fragile about Tolkien's elves a penalty to Con seems unnecessary.

DC

Nifft · Jun 3, 2007

DreamChaser said:
Especially considering that there was nothing fragile about Tolkien's elves a penalty to Con seems unnecessary.

What other reports do you have from Tolkien's play-testing group?

Thanks, -- N

Rystil Arden · Jun 3, 2007

Nifft said:
What other reports do you have from Tolkien's play-testing group?

Thanks, -- N

I heard that the four guys playing the hobbits kept complaining because all the other pregen characters had cool backstories and l33t powers, and the hobbits were kinda sucky. Apparently, Aragorn was the worst offender, with the whole king thing, and a cool magic sword to reforge like Siegfried, and a forbidden love, and basically just overshadowed the rest of the Fellowship most of the time. They told me he was played by Tolkien's girlfriend. The only one who was worse was the DMPC, Gandalf. He was just too good at everything--even though he was a Wizard, he still had a cool magic sword, and a better horse, and magic, and demigod powers, etc. And the GM totally pulled a Deus ex Machina when the DMPC died to bring him back--he just wouldn't go away!

Nifft · Jun 3, 2007

wargear said:
Half-Elf

+2 Dex -2 Con +2 Wis
medium size
base land speed 30 ft.
Spell-like abilities: 1/day Detect Magic, Speak with Animals, Animal Messenger.
- These spells are cast as a Druid of the half-elf's character level.
Immunity to magic sleep effects, and a +2 racial saving throw against magic spells and effects.
Low-light vision.
+2 Listen +2 Search +2 Spot
Spell Resistance 11+character level
Weapon Proficiency: Martial Weapon Proficiency (longsword, rapier, longbow, shortbow)
Automatic Languages: Common, Elven.
- Bonus Languages: Draconic, Gnoll, Goblin, Orc, Sylvan.
Favoured Class: Druid.
Level Adjustment: +2

LA + Con penalty = severe fragility. I'd consider removing the SR, increasing the save vs. spells to +4, removing the sleep immunity, and reducing the LA to +1.

The spell-like abilities are a bit worthless if the guy takes his favored class.

Cheers, -- N

Powerful half-elves

wargear

First Post

Evilhalfling

Adventurer

Quartz

Hero

Rystil Arden

First Post

wargear

First Post

Andre

Explorer

DreamChaser

Explorer

Nifft

Penguin Herder

Rystil Arden

First Post

Nifft

Penguin Herder

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