Afrodyte
Explorer
Has anybody tinkered with the PHB races? What changes did you make? How did you alter or change the idea behind each race? How did things turn out?
I find PHB demihumans to be less than inspiring in and of themselves. They were, quite frankly, bland. It seems that, as far as the PHB is concerned, only humans have the luxury of diversity in culture, appearance, and personality. Of course, that has as much to do with the problems of a "generic" fantasy game than with the concept. I'm thinking about changing a few things to get a more solid grasp on what it means to play a demihuman, without resorting to merely humans with slight aesthetic differences or to "completely alien and unplayable." I know that Tolkien has influenced many players and designers, but I am eager to go beyond him, yet not completely leave his ideas behind. These are my notes:
Demihumans in general
1. Gnomes, elves, and dwarves are creatures of magic. As such, they show up as magical auras whenever detect magic or similar spells are cast.
2. Each demihuman race has an innate purpose or inclination that sets them apart from other races, something that does not change based upon upbringing, although certain environments may encourage or discourage particular traits. For instance, a gnome's inclination toward innovation and invention is certainly supported more often in gnomish or human cultures than in goblin cultures. However, the drive to create and the yearning for novelty are always there.
Basic deviations from the PHB
1. For the most part, ability score adjustments are gone, replaced by things that I think more keenly fit in with the adjusted flavor I created.
2. Some races have several favored classes, although one must be chosen at the start of play (or at least before taking levels in that favored class).
3. I have only included 3 basic demihuman types: dwarves, elves, and gnomes. I will definitely consider orcs as well. I can't come up with a concept that will really differentiate halflings from gnomes that does not blatantly rip off Tolkien. For half-elves and half-orcs, I'll need more time to put them into perspective.
Gnomes in particular
Physical description: about half the size of the average human, with the same variation in skin, hair, and eye color. Sometimes, they have combinations that would seem unnatural to humans, such as dark skin with blond hair and green eyes. Gnomes tend to be lean, although there are exceptions among affluent gnomes or those who were born with or developed more powerful builds. Gnomes, due to their short stature and slightly pointed ears, are often mistaken for dwarves or elves by those unfamiliar with the different demihuman races.
Misunderstandings, stereotypes, and truth
The stereotypical gnome falls into two types. The first is the tinker of minor crafts often bent over one project or another. The second is the jester who plays pranks and jokes much to others' annoyance. While gnomes are indeed known for their craftsmanship (often augmented with magic) and for their humor, these are elements of various gnomish cultures, not innate racial traits. To outsiders unaware of these cultural variances, gnomes can seem dualistic. On the one hand, there are their dedication and the pursuit of perfection as evidenced by their crafts. On the other hand, there is the humorous, detached attitude as represented by their pranks.
A closer look at gnomish behavior, interests, and attitudes reveals something far more grand and, to a certain extent, dangerous. Gnomes are the embodiment of genius. What they particularly enjoy is not making but planning. They marvel at the attention to detail, foresight, timing, and ingenuity that comes with it, whether it involves complex machinery or pranks that take many days to set up and execute just right. Beyond just pranks and tinkering, gnomes excel at activities and occupations that take advantage of their attention to detail and ability to process volumes of information quickly and put it to use. They make excellent craftsmen, architects, and engineers. They are also fearsome foes in warfare due to their knack for tactics and strategy. They can also be uncanny politicians.
Unscrupulous gnomes can be great allies and terrible enemies. Boredom is very dangerous for gnomes (or rather, for those around them) because when left idle, their thoughts can turn destructive. They are also prone to being nervous wrecks if their minds are not put to something useful. Yet, when given something to focus their minds on, the results can be phenomenal.
Technical stuff
Favored class: Wizard
Ability score adjustments +2 INT, -2 STR.
Size: Small and the bonuses and drawbacks that come with it.
Racial feats: Diligent or Investigator feat for free at 1st level.
Racial skills: Craft (any one skill), Knowledge (architecture and engineering), Knowledge (dungeoneering), and Knowledge (arcana) are always class skills. If you already have a class that has these as class skills, you get a +1 bonus to checks involving these skills.
Automatic Languages: Dwarf, Gnome, and Common. Bonus languages: any.
Arcane talent. Given their knack for sensing and using magic, all gnomes know and may cast a few simple but useful spells. Gnomes may cast the following spells a number of times per day equal to their Intelligence modifier: dancing lights, detect magic, ghost sound, prestidigitation, read magic, and speak with animals. Their caster level is equivalent to their character level when casting these spells.
Dwarves in particular
Physical description: Dwarves generally have red, blond, or black hair, green or gray eyes, and ruddy, earth-toned complexions. Dwarves are on the average stocky and quite rugged. However, not all of them are powerhouses. The less physically active amongst them can be rather scrawny, looking more like tall gnomes than the burly dwarves most people imagine. Because they are generally slightly shorter than the average Medium-sized humanoid, they are frequently mistaken for robust gnomes. The fact that gnomes and dwarves are interfertile does not help alleviate the confusion.
Misunderstandings, stereotypes, and truth
The stereotypical dwarf is gruff and taciturn and very stubborn, lives in mountain halls, is an excellent craftsman of metal and stone, is as solid as a rock, and has a peculiar fixation with his (or her!) beard.
In reality, the relative reserve or extraversion dwarves display has as more to do with environment than with an innate predisposition towards introversion. Dwarves can be quite gregarious when comfortable, which can be rare or frequently depending upon the dwarf in question and his or her surroundings. However, dwarves who have had limited exposure to other peoples and cultures, even other dwarven cultures, tend be more initially reserved than humans or gnomes. While not unfriendly in most cases, they are generally very private people who do not take kindly to strangers probing into their affairs. As far as stubbornness, though it is true that many (not most) dwarves can be willful and resistant to persuasion, compulsion, and even wise counsel, they are not innately intractable. This trait is more a function of individual temperament and, to a lesser extent, age and experience, than race.
As strange as it may seem, there are dwarven farms and cities in areas besides the mountains. In fact, dwarves live in a variety of environments. However, the dwarves from the mountains do the most mining and crafting of things frequently used in trade: coal, precious metals, stone, and gems. These same dwarves are also, unsurprisingly, very excellent craftsmen of stones and metals because their homes are rich in ores. For those dwarves from more urban or rural areas, and even for those from the mountains, the instinct for craftsmanship may show itself in different ways. Music, painting, sculpture, cooking, and even courtship are but a few other crafts they develop.
As far as prizing full, well-kept beards, this is only true in some dwarven cultures. For these cultures, well-kept beards are often a sign of status, virility, or religious devotion.
More than anything else, though, Dwarves are the very spirit of craftsmanship. Any activity that requires time, energy, and diligence can be a craft. For dwarves, the joy is not necessarily in creation but in the mastery of what they set their minds and hearts to. Traditional forms, methods, and crafts frequently serve as a model from which they work, and their satisfaction comes from how close to the ideal their own efforts come.
Beyond just crafts, dwarves excel at activities that put their diligence and lengthy life spans to good use. Of course, they make excellent artisans and smiths. They also find deep satisfaction in scholarship (particularly lores with deep historical roots). Dwarves make formidable warriors because of their innate toughness, but they also practice to the point of perfection and sometimes even beyond. Unexpectedly, many dwarves are also wizards, and a good number of them are particularly adept at the arcane arts because of their willingness to devote time and energy beyond what is necessary to master this art. These same traits make them excellent visual and performing artists. It is rumored that dwarves make excellent lovers.
Technical stuff
Favored class: Fighter or Wizard (choose one)
Size: Medium, but base land speed is 20 feet as PHB.
Stability as PHB.
Resilient. Dwarves are naturally very resilient to disease and poison. They gain a +2 bonus to saves against poison and disease.
Racial feats: Diligent, Great Fortitude, or Toughness feat for free at 1st level.
Racial skills: Appraise and Craft are always class skills. If you already have Appraise and Craft as class skills, you get a +1 bonus to Appraise and Craft checks.
Automatic Languages: Dwarf, Gnome, and Common. Bonus languages: any.
The Craft. Dwarven magic flows through their craft, be it as obvious as forging weapons or armor or as subtle as performing a song. Dwarves may cast the following spells a number of times per day equal to their Intelligence bonus: arcane mark, light, mending, and resistance. Their caster level is equivalent to their character level.
Elves in particular
Physical description: Elves are usually at least as tall as humans, but there are exceptions. They are svelte, although there are gaunt and brawny members amongst them. They tend to be a few shades paler than the average humanoid in a given climate, but their hair and eye color has the most variation. Aside from blond, black, brown, and red, elves are also known to have white, silver, or golden hair. In addition to blue, green, hazel, and brown, they have also been observed with silver or violet eyes. Often quite attractive by human standards, elves tend to be easy on the eyes as opposed to intimidating or overwhelming in their beauty. As such, they can easily pass as pretty humans when the need arises. They are often deemed androgynous because they do not have strong markers of masculinity and femininity (like facial and body hair), especially the males.
Misunderstandings, stereotypes, and truth
The stereotypical elf is aloof and highly perceptive and looks down on shorter-lived races from their homes in the trees. They are also said to be fragile compared to other humanoids as well as immortal.
It is true that elves can be be wary and reserved when they meet someone new. The same can be said of many humans. However, given their different relationship with time, they are usually in this awkward phase is longer than other humanoids, so they are pegged as aloof, and even arrogant, because of it. This is not to say that there are no arrogant elves. It is simply that this, as with other personality traits, has more to do with the individual than with elves as a whole. Upbringing, exposure, and beliefs play a great part. Some elven cultures do tend to look at the shorter life spans of other races with a mixture of pity and contempt, but others believe that other races have their own gifts and lessons to teach and learn.
Contrary to popular belief, elves are not a race of superhumans with praeternatural sight, hearing, and agility. Elves on average do have better vision and hearing than other races, but the range of their senses are nowhere near as extreme as has been reported. The sharp eyes and ears of elves has more to do with culture and environment than innate ability. In fact, a human who spends a lot of time in the wilderness and an elf who does likewise generally have the same range of perceptive abilities. The same can be said for their so-called inhuman grace, which is often learned from many decades of practice. A juvenile elf, or one who does not have the interest, can be alarmingly clumsy.
Where elves live is a matter of culture, and elven cultures are as diverse and contradictory as human cultures. In fact, elves tend to have more in commmon with non-elves from similar environments (wilderness, urban, or agricultural) and cultures than with elves from wildly different environments.
Elves are immune to the ravages of natural aging, and they do not die of old age. They also do not have to worry about most natural diseases. An elf who is careful and lucky can indeed live forever. Magical aging and diseases are, of course, the exceptions. Though the physical aspects of aging do not affect elves, they are prone to the psychological wear and tear of life's ups and downs. Their physical well-being is intimately tied to their mental state. Elves whose lives are filled with joy and wonder are strong and vibrant, so much so that they can seem more like forces of nature than beings in their own right. Grief and despair sap their energy, sometimes to the point of killing them.
Yet, for all the otherwordliness ascribed to them, elves personify the joy in living. Everything elves do, even the simplest things, is rooted in a deep love of life that creates in them a sense of joy and wonder about many things that other creatures take for granted. Their favored activities are those which allow them to express themselves most fully. As such, they are frequently drawn to the arts and crafts, although many elves are endlessly fascinated by vocations, hobbies, and other endeavors that others find dull or boring. There are more than a few elves who find the prospect of spending the rest of their lives as street sweepers and brick-layers particularly exciting.
Elves bring an element of beauty and joy in everything they do, from warfare to politics to courtship. Their arts and crafts are marked by both elegance and utility, whether they be something as simple as a wine jug or as complex as a fortress. Apathy and ennui are rare for elves. Those who have succumbed to it are usually close to their undoing.
Technical stuff
Favored class: Bard
Size: Medium, but base land speed 40 feet because elves are especially light for their size.
Racial feats: Acrobatic, Agile, or Alertness feat for free at 1st level.
Racial skills: Craft and Knowledge are always class skills. If you already have a class that has these as class skills, you get a +1 bonus to checks involving these skills.
Automatic Languages: Elven, Common. Bonus languages: any.
Innate magic. Elves, being creatures of magic, possess innate abilities in sensing and manipulating magic. Even the least magically inclined elves have some magical capabilities. Elves may cast the following spells a number of times per day equal to their Charisma modifier: arcane mark, detect magic, mending, and prestidigitation. Their caster level is equal to their character level when casting these spells.
Frailty. Whenever elves suffer psychological trauma, they must make a Will save or lose Constitution points as if they were a 1st level character brought back from the dead. In fact, the loss of these Constitution points represents the fact that the elves die a little bit each time they suffer. The DC of this save depends upon the nature of the trauma: moderate (like being tortured), major (like losing a loved one), or severe (like destroying something you love with your own hands). Failing the Will save reduces Constitution by a cumulative 2 points for each category. Thus, failing the save for severe trauma reduces an elf's Constitution by 6 points. The final arbiter of what kind of trauma an elf character suffers is ultimately the DM's call.
I find PHB demihumans to be less than inspiring in and of themselves. They were, quite frankly, bland. It seems that, as far as the PHB is concerned, only humans have the luxury of diversity in culture, appearance, and personality. Of course, that has as much to do with the problems of a "generic" fantasy game than with the concept. I'm thinking about changing a few things to get a more solid grasp on what it means to play a demihuman, without resorting to merely humans with slight aesthetic differences or to "completely alien and unplayable." I know that Tolkien has influenced many players and designers, but I am eager to go beyond him, yet not completely leave his ideas behind. These are my notes:
Demihumans in general
1. Gnomes, elves, and dwarves are creatures of magic. As such, they show up as magical auras whenever detect magic or similar spells are cast.
2. Each demihuman race has an innate purpose or inclination that sets them apart from other races, something that does not change based upon upbringing, although certain environments may encourage or discourage particular traits. For instance, a gnome's inclination toward innovation and invention is certainly supported more often in gnomish or human cultures than in goblin cultures. However, the drive to create and the yearning for novelty are always there.
Basic deviations from the PHB
1. For the most part, ability score adjustments are gone, replaced by things that I think more keenly fit in with the adjusted flavor I created.
2. Some races have several favored classes, although one must be chosen at the start of play (or at least before taking levels in that favored class).
3. I have only included 3 basic demihuman types: dwarves, elves, and gnomes. I will definitely consider orcs as well. I can't come up with a concept that will really differentiate halflings from gnomes that does not blatantly rip off Tolkien. For half-elves and half-orcs, I'll need more time to put them into perspective.
Gnomes in particular
Physical description: about half the size of the average human, with the same variation in skin, hair, and eye color. Sometimes, they have combinations that would seem unnatural to humans, such as dark skin with blond hair and green eyes. Gnomes tend to be lean, although there are exceptions among affluent gnomes or those who were born with or developed more powerful builds. Gnomes, due to their short stature and slightly pointed ears, are often mistaken for dwarves or elves by those unfamiliar with the different demihuman races.
Misunderstandings, stereotypes, and truth
The stereotypical gnome falls into two types. The first is the tinker of minor crafts often bent over one project or another. The second is the jester who plays pranks and jokes much to others' annoyance. While gnomes are indeed known for their craftsmanship (often augmented with magic) and for their humor, these are elements of various gnomish cultures, not innate racial traits. To outsiders unaware of these cultural variances, gnomes can seem dualistic. On the one hand, there are their dedication and the pursuit of perfection as evidenced by their crafts. On the other hand, there is the humorous, detached attitude as represented by their pranks.
A closer look at gnomish behavior, interests, and attitudes reveals something far more grand and, to a certain extent, dangerous. Gnomes are the embodiment of genius. What they particularly enjoy is not making but planning. They marvel at the attention to detail, foresight, timing, and ingenuity that comes with it, whether it involves complex machinery or pranks that take many days to set up and execute just right. Beyond just pranks and tinkering, gnomes excel at activities and occupations that take advantage of their attention to detail and ability to process volumes of information quickly and put it to use. They make excellent craftsmen, architects, and engineers. They are also fearsome foes in warfare due to their knack for tactics and strategy. They can also be uncanny politicians.
Unscrupulous gnomes can be great allies and terrible enemies. Boredom is very dangerous for gnomes (or rather, for those around them) because when left idle, their thoughts can turn destructive. They are also prone to being nervous wrecks if their minds are not put to something useful. Yet, when given something to focus their minds on, the results can be phenomenal.
Technical stuff
Favored class: Wizard
Ability score adjustments +2 INT, -2 STR.
Size: Small and the bonuses and drawbacks that come with it.
Racial feats: Diligent or Investigator feat for free at 1st level.
Racial skills: Craft (any one skill), Knowledge (architecture and engineering), Knowledge (dungeoneering), and Knowledge (arcana) are always class skills. If you already have a class that has these as class skills, you get a +1 bonus to checks involving these skills.
Automatic Languages: Dwarf, Gnome, and Common. Bonus languages: any.
Arcane talent. Given their knack for sensing and using magic, all gnomes know and may cast a few simple but useful spells. Gnomes may cast the following spells a number of times per day equal to their Intelligence modifier: dancing lights, detect magic, ghost sound, prestidigitation, read magic, and speak with animals. Their caster level is equivalent to their character level when casting these spells.
Dwarves in particular
Physical description: Dwarves generally have red, blond, or black hair, green or gray eyes, and ruddy, earth-toned complexions. Dwarves are on the average stocky and quite rugged. However, not all of them are powerhouses. The less physically active amongst them can be rather scrawny, looking more like tall gnomes than the burly dwarves most people imagine. Because they are generally slightly shorter than the average Medium-sized humanoid, they are frequently mistaken for robust gnomes. The fact that gnomes and dwarves are interfertile does not help alleviate the confusion.
Misunderstandings, stereotypes, and truth
The stereotypical dwarf is gruff and taciturn and very stubborn, lives in mountain halls, is an excellent craftsman of metal and stone, is as solid as a rock, and has a peculiar fixation with his (or her!) beard.
In reality, the relative reserve or extraversion dwarves display has as more to do with environment than with an innate predisposition towards introversion. Dwarves can be quite gregarious when comfortable, which can be rare or frequently depending upon the dwarf in question and his or her surroundings. However, dwarves who have had limited exposure to other peoples and cultures, even other dwarven cultures, tend be more initially reserved than humans or gnomes. While not unfriendly in most cases, they are generally very private people who do not take kindly to strangers probing into their affairs. As far as stubbornness, though it is true that many (not most) dwarves can be willful and resistant to persuasion, compulsion, and even wise counsel, they are not innately intractable. This trait is more a function of individual temperament and, to a lesser extent, age and experience, than race.
As strange as it may seem, there are dwarven farms and cities in areas besides the mountains. In fact, dwarves live in a variety of environments. However, the dwarves from the mountains do the most mining and crafting of things frequently used in trade: coal, precious metals, stone, and gems. These same dwarves are also, unsurprisingly, very excellent craftsmen of stones and metals because their homes are rich in ores. For those dwarves from more urban or rural areas, and even for those from the mountains, the instinct for craftsmanship may show itself in different ways. Music, painting, sculpture, cooking, and even courtship are but a few other crafts they develop.
As far as prizing full, well-kept beards, this is only true in some dwarven cultures. For these cultures, well-kept beards are often a sign of status, virility, or religious devotion.
More than anything else, though, Dwarves are the very spirit of craftsmanship. Any activity that requires time, energy, and diligence can be a craft. For dwarves, the joy is not necessarily in creation but in the mastery of what they set their minds and hearts to. Traditional forms, methods, and crafts frequently serve as a model from which they work, and their satisfaction comes from how close to the ideal their own efforts come.
Beyond just crafts, dwarves excel at activities that put their diligence and lengthy life spans to good use. Of course, they make excellent artisans and smiths. They also find deep satisfaction in scholarship (particularly lores with deep historical roots). Dwarves make formidable warriors because of their innate toughness, but they also practice to the point of perfection and sometimes even beyond. Unexpectedly, many dwarves are also wizards, and a good number of them are particularly adept at the arcane arts because of their willingness to devote time and energy beyond what is necessary to master this art. These same traits make them excellent visual and performing artists. It is rumored that dwarves make excellent lovers.
Technical stuff
Favored class: Fighter or Wizard (choose one)
Size: Medium, but base land speed is 20 feet as PHB.
Stability as PHB.
Resilient. Dwarves are naturally very resilient to disease and poison. They gain a +2 bonus to saves against poison and disease.
Racial feats: Diligent, Great Fortitude, or Toughness feat for free at 1st level.
Racial skills: Appraise and Craft are always class skills. If you already have Appraise and Craft as class skills, you get a +1 bonus to Appraise and Craft checks.
Automatic Languages: Dwarf, Gnome, and Common. Bonus languages: any.
The Craft. Dwarven magic flows through their craft, be it as obvious as forging weapons or armor or as subtle as performing a song. Dwarves may cast the following spells a number of times per day equal to their Intelligence bonus: arcane mark, light, mending, and resistance. Their caster level is equivalent to their character level.
Elves in particular
Physical description: Elves are usually at least as tall as humans, but there are exceptions. They are svelte, although there are gaunt and brawny members amongst them. They tend to be a few shades paler than the average humanoid in a given climate, but their hair and eye color has the most variation. Aside from blond, black, brown, and red, elves are also known to have white, silver, or golden hair. In addition to blue, green, hazel, and brown, they have also been observed with silver or violet eyes. Often quite attractive by human standards, elves tend to be easy on the eyes as opposed to intimidating or overwhelming in their beauty. As such, they can easily pass as pretty humans when the need arises. They are often deemed androgynous because they do not have strong markers of masculinity and femininity (like facial and body hair), especially the males.
Misunderstandings, stereotypes, and truth
The stereotypical elf is aloof and highly perceptive and looks down on shorter-lived races from their homes in the trees. They are also said to be fragile compared to other humanoids as well as immortal.
It is true that elves can be be wary and reserved when they meet someone new. The same can be said of many humans. However, given their different relationship with time, they are usually in this awkward phase is longer than other humanoids, so they are pegged as aloof, and even arrogant, because of it. This is not to say that there are no arrogant elves. It is simply that this, as with other personality traits, has more to do with the individual than with elves as a whole. Upbringing, exposure, and beliefs play a great part. Some elven cultures do tend to look at the shorter life spans of other races with a mixture of pity and contempt, but others believe that other races have their own gifts and lessons to teach and learn.
Contrary to popular belief, elves are not a race of superhumans with praeternatural sight, hearing, and agility. Elves on average do have better vision and hearing than other races, but the range of their senses are nowhere near as extreme as has been reported. The sharp eyes and ears of elves has more to do with culture and environment than innate ability. In fact, a human who spends a lot of time in the wilderness and an elf who does likewise generally have the same range of perceptive abilities. The same can be said for their so-called inhuman grace, which is often learned from many decades of practice. A juvenile elf, or one who does not have the interest, can be alarmingly clumsy.
Where elves live is a matter of culture, and elven cultures are as diverse and contradictory as human cultures. In fact, elves tend to have more in commmon with non-elves from similar environments (wilderness, urban, or agricultural) and cultures than with elves from wildly different environments.
Elves are immune to the ravages of natural aging, and they do not die of old age. They also do not have to worry about most natural diseases. An elf who is careful and lucky can indeed live forever. Magical aging and diseases are, of course, the exceptions. Though the physical aspects of aging do not affect elves, they are prone to the psychological wear and tear of life's ups and downs. Their physical well-being is intimately tied to their mental state. Elves whose lives are filled with joy and wonder are strong and vibrant, so much so that they can seem more like forces of nature than beings in their own right. Grief and despair sap their energy, sometimes to the point of killing them.
Yet, for all the otherwordliness ascribed to them, elves personify the joy in living. Everything elves do, even the simplest things, is rooted in a deep love of life that creates in them a sense of joy and wonder about many things that other creatures take for granted. Their favored activities are those which allow them to express themselves most fully. As such, they are frequently drawn to the arts and crafts, although many elves are endlessly fascinated by vocations, hobbies, and other endeavors that others find dull or boring. There are more than a few elves who find the prospect of spending the rest of their lives as street sweepers and brick-layers particularly exciting.
Elves bring an element of beauty and joy in everything they do, from warfare to politics to courtship. Their arts and crafts are marked by both elegance and utility, whether they be something as simple as a wine jug or as complex as a fortress. Apathy and ennui are rare for elves. Those who have succumbed to it are usually close to their undoing.
Technical stuff
Favored class: Bard
Size: Medium, but base land speed 40 feet because elves are especially light for their size.
Racial feats: Acrobatic, Agile, or Alertness feat for free at 1st level.
Racial skills: Craft and Knowledge are always class skills. If you already have a class that has these as class skills, you get a +1 bonus to checks involving these skills.
Automatic Languages: Elven, Common. Bonus languages: any.
Innate magic. Elves, being creatures of magic, possess innate abilities in sensing and manipulating magic. Even the least magically inclined elves have some magical capabilities. Elves may cast the following spells a number of times per day equal to their Charisma modifier: arcane mark, detect magic, mending, and prestidigitation. Their caster level is equal to their character level when casting these spells.
Frailty. Whenever elves suffer psychological trauma, they must make a Will save or lose Constitution points as if they were a 1st level character brought back from the dead. In fact, the loss of these Constitution points represents the fact that the elves die a little bit each time they suffer. The DC of this save depends upon the nature of the trauma: moderate (like being tortured), major (like losing a loved one), or severe (like destroying something you love with your own hands). Failing the Will save reduces Constitution by a cumulative 2 points for each category. Thus, failing the save for severe trauma reduces an elf's Constitution by 6 points. The final arbiter of what kind of trauma an elf character suffers is ultimately the DM's call.
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