Lodoss War...

[Anime Kidd]

What would you classify Deedlit's jumping around the trees and disappearing? And how about the sleep immunity, cause didn't Deedlit get konked out by Pirotess's spell?

I've made the Lodoss Elves for 2e. I gave the high elves an animal empathy-like ability and a controlled Blink (that still in 3e?) ability that allows them to zip from place to place anywhere within 10 ft. I'm not sure what the dark elves had, but they were based off the D&D dark elves.

 

[Deedlit]

Maybe a +2 racial bonus to animal empathy instead of search, and I completely forgot to drop the sleep immunity. Lodoss elves sleep just like the other races. I don't think there is blink in 3e though.

 

[Anime Kidd]

Finally found my 3e conversion of the Lodoss Elves. When I was writing them up, I originally planned for them as an off-shoot of normal high elves and drow, and were called Long Ear elves, in my world.

Here is the Long Ear High Elf:
Guess I didn't give them some sort of Animal Empathy.

+2 Dexterity, -2 Constitution.
Medium size.
Base speed of 30 ft.
Low-Light Vision: They have standard Low-Light Vision.
Racial Proficiency: Proficient with either longsword or rapier; proficient with shortbow, longbow, composite longbow, and composite shortbow.
+2 racial bonus on Spot and Search checks. An elf who merely passes within 5 feet of a secret or
concealed door is entitled to a Search check to notice it as if she were actively looking for the door.
+4 racial bonus on Listen checks.
+2 racial saving throw bonus against Enchantment spells or effects, including sleep and sleep-like effects.
Levitate (Sp): The Long Ear elf can levitate at will, as if cast by a sorcerer of equal level.
Blink (Sp): The Long Ear elf can quickly disappear and reappear anywhere within 10 ft. of their original position as a Standard Action. It doesn’t allow them to blink through any form of obstruction.
Bad Relations: Because Long Ear elves rarely interact with others not of their kind, they have a –2 to all social actions when dealing with non-elves. Also, because of the hatred between them, high elves receive a –4 penalty to any social actions when dealing with any dark elves.
Automatic languages: Common, Long Elven
Bonus languages: Draconic, Gnoll, Gnome, Goblin, Orc, and Sylvan.
Favored Class: Druid or Sorcerer (only one).
Character Rating: +1.

Here is the Long Ear Dark Elf:
Because I didn't know much about the dark elves, I based them off the D&D drow.

+2 Dexterity, +2 Intelligence, -2 Constitution, +2 Charisma
Medium size.
Base speed of 30 ft.
Darkvision: They have standard Darkvision.
Racial Proficiency: Proficient with either longsword or rapier; proficient with shortbow, longbow, composite longbow, and composite shortbow.
+2 racial bonus on Spot and Search checks. An elf who merely passes within 5 feet of a secret or concealed door is entitled to a Search check to notice it as if she were actively looking for the door.
+4 racial bonus on Listen checks.
+2 racial saving throw bonus against Enchantment spells or effects, including sleep and sleep-like effects.
Spell Resistance of 11 + level.
Spell-like Abilities (Sp): The Long Ear drow can use each a variety of spell-like abilities. These are as cast by a sorcerer equal to their level. The abilities are:

At 1st: Dancing Lights, Faerie Fire, Darkness; each once per day.
At 4th: Levitate, Know Alignment, Detect Magic; each once per day.
If Priest: Clairvoyance, Detect Lie, Suggestion, Dispel Magic; each once per day.

Bad Relations: They receive a –4 penalty to social actions when dealing with all non-dark elves.
Automatic languages: Common, Long Drow.
Bonus languages: Abyssal, Draconic, Gnoll, Gnome, Goblin, Drow, Bugbear, Orcish.
Favored Class: Ranger or Druid (only one).
Character Rating: +2.

Edit: Fixed the Bad Reputation to imply the penalty applies to only social actions.

 

[Deedlit]

Altered my original post on the lodoss high and dark elves, to reflect some things I forgot, and some things you added in that seemed like a good idea.

 

[Anime Kidd]

Whats with the Shaman class? I didnt think there was one, but I do remember something about Shaman being in Kingdom of Kalamar.

 

[Deedlit]

It is from oriental adventures, and considering elven magic relies mainly on summoning spirits and the like, it makes more sense as a favored class then druid.

 

[Anime Kidd]

I feel reel dumb right now! I totally forgot the OA Shaman. But your right it does fit a lot better then Druid, though Druid fits well enough if you don't have access to OA.

Also, I've heard that there are 3 elves; normal, high (deedlit's kind), and dark elves. So your stats are for high elves right?

And what do you have for the dark elves?

 

[Deedlit]

My stats are for high elves. I posted a little blurb afterward for dark elves. I have yet to see a normal(Non high or dark) elf in my Lodoss experience(Though I suspect Leaf is half one), so I can't provide stats.

 

[Akunin]

My lodoss experience comes more from the tv series then anything else, which confirmed in one of the omakes that drow, at least, could fly.

That's the problem with the OAV and TV series - and ESPECIALLY with the extras portions. They're based on the writer's take on the setting, and not necessarily on the source material. Just look at episodes 9+ in the OAV: what happens in those episodes does not reflect the actual novels' storyline.

Elves in Lodoss do not fly, but nearly every elf DOES, posess some skill with magic, and levitation spells are frequently used to augment their high agility.

I forgot to put down the part that they can only use this in open spaces, and I forgot about the wind direction rules(A Lodoss elf can't fly against the wind.) The elves may be distrustful and mean to humans, but they still have a natural grace and beauty.

Natural grace can be covered under Dexterity, and as for natural beauty - nowhere in the series do people react to elves' beauty any more than they do to attractive humans. I initially thought of the scene at the ball when Deedlit wore the fancy dress, but the reaction of those women seemed to be one of surprise at seeing a) an elf in b) that fancy gown (the womens dresses were pretty plain in comparison). Remember, nobody else in that scene (or in any other scene that I recall) makes a big deal about Deedlit's appearance. Deedlit also makes a comment about how Elves don't dress up like humans do. There are other references in the source material that suggest Elves don't attach much value to physical beauty, instead revering the beauty of nature. As a whole, the race is short-tempered, xenophobic, and condescending toward the "children" of the short-lived races.

taken as a whole it, sounds like a CHA penalty to me (Anime Kidd, you have a good idea here, but you might want to word it to reflect that they have a penalty to CHA checks and CHA-based skills - if the penalty is to all actions, that would include attacks ) . CHA is more about how you interact with others and present yourself, and not so much based on raw appearance (Hence, the old Comeliness stat?)

Remember, I'm basing my information on multiple Manga series, the novels, the console RPG, the original tabletop RPG, and the two animated series. There is a lot of original background information that you're missing, and none of it supports high-charisma flying elves.

I always figured the charisma thing was a mistake, considering the amount of Deedlit shrines on the internet(By comparison to shrines to those with higher charisma)..

Eh? That statement makes no sense at all. By that logic, any character from Dragonball Z has a higher Charisma than all the members of the Night Sabers (Bubblegum Crisis and sequels), the Dirty Pair, and the Gunsmith Cats combined! Number of character shrines != relative Charisma of a given character.

Saying that the RPG not giving a Charisma bonus to elves is a mistake because there are a lot of internet fan sites for a popular elf character is the most rediculous notion I've heard all year.

It's hormone-addled otakus (and, yes, I use that word in the negative sense) drooling over Deedlit (because they don't have the courage or social skills to get a cute girlfriend of their own, since Anime babes are much less intimidating than the real thing) who are responsible for the majority of those shrines.

Lodoss drow get invisibilty 2/day, and sunlight blindness(They did always travel at night, and attack only in dark places, and their settlement is called a dark island.) but are otherwise as normal elves.

In the source material, they suffer no penalty at all for sunlight, and operate in the daytime in several places throughout even the animated series (Legend of Crystania, while not necessarily "canon", has Pirotess exposed to quite a lot of sunlight, IIRC). The reason you see them operating at night is that many of the "monster" races they lead into battle are nocturnal.

About the "Dark Island" - it was called so because it was considered to be cursed, and not because it got any less sunlight than the rest of the world. It's a metaphor.

The only differences between the High Elves and the Dark Elves are the color of skin, and the Dark Elves' general tendency toward evil. It is suggested that they are not as long-lived as High Elves, but I don't recall anything that directly states their lifespan. Much like the D&D Drow, the Dark Elves split from the High Elves to serve evil, and were marked for their betrayal. There was, however, no other transformation, and they gained no other abilities.

Someone asked about other elven races in Lodoss. High Elves are the "normal" elves in Lodoss, and the Dark Elves are the only other "true" elf race in the setting. There are half-elves in the setting (Leaf comes to mind) and they posess the night vision of all elves, higher than human agility, and longer than human lifespans (2x human, IIRC).

 

[Deedlit]

Please note that my conversion follows the anime timeline, where Marmo is a place of perpetual darkness IIRC, and Drow can racially turn invisible. Popularity relative to appearances and the series is a good indicator of charisma.(Though some factors, such as a huge amount of angst, can throw this off) It takes a good charisma and dexterity to be graceful, last I checked. You can have the dexterity of an elder air elemental, but you still won't look graceful with a charisma of three or lower. Maybe I should extend bad relations to some other charisma checks too. However, Charisma is in regard to all races, and giving them a penalty because of how they treat humans and dwarves is a bad idea(Please note that elves and meadow sprites are generally on good terms, and Maar and Deedlit became fast friends.)