Return of the Talaire under XPH

[Psion]

Does anyone here remember the Talaire? The little race/mini campaign to introduce psionics written Steve Kenson in the pages of Dragon when the original Psionics Handbook came out?

I was considering using them as an entity in my River of Worlds campaign. I wanted a race that represented psionics on the planes, and their background as planar wanderers, spurred on by the destruction of their world by the Illithid.

I had considered, in XPH terms making them Elan. Both are essentially human. If you assume that the Talaire as a race invariably indoctrinate anyone with any potential, you are left with a dichotomous race. As the original article sites, most of the race is psionic in nature; you could translate this into most of them are Elan. Some minority might use normal human racial statitistics.

Or do you think it would be better just to skip the Elan and use humans with at least 1 psionic class level?

 

[Aaron L]

I'd go with Elan, but then again I really like Elan.

 

[Psion]

Is there something in the XPH about Elan being immortal, because I'm not seeing it in the SRD version?

 

[Zarrock God of Evil]

Does anyone here remember the Talaire? The little race/mini campaign to introduce psionics written Steve Kenson in the pages of Dragon when the original Psionics Handbook came out?

I was considering using them as an entity in my River of Worlds campaign. I wanted a race that represented psionics on the planes, and their background as planar wanderers, spurred on by the destruction of their world by the Illithid.

I had considered, in XPH terms making them Elan. Both are essentially human. If you assume that the Talaire as a race invariably indoctrinate anyone with any potential, you are left with a dichotomous race. As the original article sites, most of the race is psionic in nature; you could translate this into most of them are Elan. Some minority might use normal human racial statitistics.

Or do you think it would be better just to skip the Elan and use humans with at least 1 psionic class level?

Yeah. I remember the Talaire. I find them very interesting and use them extensively in my Dragonstar campaign. Until now, I've used a tone down version of the "psionic creature" template and applied it to humans to create the Talaire. Elans are a bit different than my own initial conception of the Talaire but it could definitely work, but I WOULD remove their immortality.

I think the Talaire as written were only intended to be normal humans with psionic aptitude (for use in campaigns were psionics are uncommon), but in a campaign that already has psionics, I too would prefer to change their racial characteristics slightly to make them more special.

One option I have been pondering is to make psionics cast by Talaire follow the "Psionics are Different" optional rule, while all other psionic humans follow the standard rules. This would mean that the Talaire are very difficult to defend against by magical means, but also that they are more vulnerable to magical attacks - attacks that are possibly alien to them.

-Zarrock

 

[Epinephrine]

Is there something in the XPH about Elan being immortal, because I'm not seeing it in the SRD version?

Yes; it's in the "Physical Description" section of the Elan entry, on page 9.

 

[Particle_Man]

Is there something in the XPH about Elan being immortal, because I'm not seeing it in the SRD version?

Not quite. They are venerable at 1000 and then get 10d% on top of that, so die of old age, at maximum, after a mere 2000 years, barring psionic/magical/divine aid.

 

[Psion]

There's actually XPH errata about them not having a max age.

Wow... that's some pretty huge aging. Reminds me of the 1e Grey Elf...

 

[Dark Psion]

I forgot about them and haven't gone back and gave them an XPH makeover yet.

I would use the Psionic Human race from the Dark Sun issues of Dungeon & Dragon magazines for the basic Talaire. I would make one change, their racial bonus powers would come from their discipline list since their society is based on disciplines.

Elan would be very common among them as well. Maybe only some have the potiential to become Elan, an Elan-seed perhaps?

I would also use the Athasian Half-elf race for Half-Talaire, Half-elf.

Wilders would serve their society as the Magewright does in Eberron, doing the basic skilled labor, but with psionics.

 

[caudor]

I think your idea makes sense...most of them being Elan, while the others are merely human.

Also, I think adding the Elan to the mix adds an element of coolness. The logic you presented seems to mesh pretty well.

 

[Zarrock God of Evil]

I forgot about them and haven't gone back and gave them an XPH makeover yet.

I would use the Psionic Human race from the Dark Sun issues of Dungeon & Dragon magazines for the basic Talaire. I would make one change, their racial bonus powers would come from their discipline list since their society is based on disciplines.

Elan would be very common among them as well. Maybe only some have the potiential to become Elan, an Elan-seed perhaps?

I would also use the Athasian Half-elf race for Half-Talaire, Half-elf.

Wilders would serve their society as the Magewright does in Eberron, doing the basic skilled labor, but with psionics.

That's a great idea. I completely forgot about the Dark Sun humans, I think I'll change my Dragonstar Talaire the same way (since my own Psionic Human template doesn't feel perfect). I forget great Dragon material way too often - they put out too much!!!

-Zarrock