Hey, I'm new; hi everybody.
I'm trying to redesign Elves for my campaign. The biggest difference between the Elves I'm designing and PHB Elves is the origin and nature of their trance. Basically, Elves used to sleep and dream just like other humanoids, then at some point in the distant past Sehanine Moonbow, Elven godess of the moon and dreams became weakened and lost her dominion over the dreams of elves. As a result elves could no longer sleep.
To prevent his children from going insane, Correlon Larethian gave the Elves the ability to go into the trance, however (unlike as described in the PHB) this is a dreamless state. Instead of dreaming, elves experience an REM like state while awake, causing them to experience halucinations overlayed on top of normal perceptions. They percieve what is there, and things that aren't there, and as a side effect they can detect the presence of magic.
They notice all these thing, but generally can tell what is and isn't real (after years of practice), unfortunately this makes them very distractable and gives them a very detached demeanor than other races tend to find annoying.
I'm also thinking that the increased visual stimulation makes them more artistic, but this is not too important.
So here's what I'm thinking:
Elves
+2 Dexterity, -2 Constitution.
Medium: As Medium creatures, elves have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
Elf base land speed is 30 feet.
Immunity to magic sleep effects, a +2 racial saving throw bonus against enchantment spells or effects,and a +2 racial saving throw bonus for disbelieving in Figments and Glamers.
Low-Light Vision: An elf can see twice as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions of poor illumination. She retains the ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions.
Weapon Familiarity: Elves treat the longsword, rapier, longbow (including composite longbow), and shortbow (including composite shortbow) as simple weapons.This is more just because I think that the original trait is cheesy.
+2 racial bonus on Listen, Search, Sense Motive, and Spot 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 it.
+2 racial bonus on Spellcraft checks made to identify any spell or spell-like ability that does not create a Sleep effect or is not in the spell list for the Dream Domain.
Incapable of both learning and casting spells that create sleep effects, prohibition from the Dream Domain, and a -4 racial penalty on Spellcraft checks to identify such spells and spell-like abilities.
-2 racial penalty on Concentration, Intimidate and Bluff checks.
-2 racial penalty on Diplomacy checks made when dealing with all races but Elves, Gnomes, Halflings, Humans, Sylphs, Chaotic Outsiders, Fey, and Plant Creatures.
-2 racial penalty on Diplomacy checks made when dealing with Humans and Half-Elves that do not prefer members of the Elf's sex, and a +2 racial bonus on Diplomacy checks when dealing with Humans and Half-Elves that do prefer members of the Elf's sex
+2 racial bonus on Craft (Graphic Arts) and Craft (Sculpture) checks.
Magical Awareness: Elves are always able to sense the presence of magical auras as if they have just cast a Detect Magic spell. If an Elf actually casts Detect Magic, or uses it a spell-like ability, the spell effect is treated as having been in effect for one round more than it actually has.
Automatic Languages: Common and Elven. Bonus Languages: Draconic, Gnoll, Gnome, Goblin, Orc, and Sylvan.
Favored Class: Wizard. A multiclass elf’s wizard class does not count when determining whether she takes an experience point penalty for multiclassing.
So, is this balanced? What do I need to do to make it balanced?
I'm trying to redesign Elves for my campaign. The biggest difference between the Elves I'm designing and PHB Elves is the origin and nature of their trance. Basically, Elves used to sleep and dream just like other humanoids, then at some point in the distant past Sehanine Moonbow, Elven godess of the moon and dreams became weakened and lost her dominion over the dreams of elves. As a result elves could no longer sleep.
To prevent his children from going insane, Correlon Larethian gave the Elves the ability to go into the trance, however (unlike as described in the PHB) this is a dreamless state. Instead of dreaming, elves experience an REM like state while awake, causing them to experience halucinations overlayed on top of normal perceptions. They percieve what is there, and things that aren't there, and as a side effect they can detect the presence of magic.
They notice all these thing, but generally can tell what is and isn't real (after years of practice), unfortunately this makes them very distractable and gives them a very detached demeanor than other races tend to find annoying.
I'm also thinking that the increased visual stimulation makes them more artistic, but this is not too important.
So here's what I'm thinking:
Elves
+2 Dexterity, -2 Constitution.
Medium: As Medium creatures, elves have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
Elf base land speed is 30 feet.
Immunity to magic sleep effects, a +2 racial saving throw bonus against enchantment spells or effects,and a +2 racial saving throw bonus for disbelieving in Figments and Glamers.
Low-Light Vision: An elf can see twice as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions of poor illumination. She retains the ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions.
Weapon Familiarity: Elves treat the longsword, rapier, longbow (including composite longbow), and shortbow (including composite shortbow) as simple weapons.This is more just because I think that the original trait is cheesy.
+2 racial bonus on Listen, Search, Sense Motive, and Spot 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 it.
+2 racial bonus on Spellcraft checks made to identify any spell or spell-like ability that does not create a Sleep effect or is not in the spell list for the Dream Domain.
Incapable of both learning and casting spells that create sleep effects, prohibition from the Dream Domain, and a -4 racial penalty on Spellcraft checks to identify such spells and spell-like abilities.
-2 racial penalty on Concentration, Intimidate and Bluff checks.
-2 racial penalty on Diplomacy checks made when dealing with all races but Elves, Gnomes, Halflings, Humans, Sylphs, Chaotic Outsiders, Fey, and Plant Creatures.
-2 racial penalty on Diplomacy checks made when dealing with Humans and Half-Elves that do not prefer members of the Elf's sex, and a +2 racial bonus on Diplomacy checks when dealing with Humans and Half-Elves that do prefer members of the Elf's sex
+2 racial bonus on Craft (Graphic Arts) and Craft (Sculpture) checks.
Magical Awareness: Elves are always able to sense the presence of magical auras as if they have just cast a Detect Magic spell. If an Elf actually casts Detect Magic, or uses it a spell-like ability, the spell effect is treated as having been in effect for one round more than it actually has.
Automatic Languages: Common and Elven. Bonus Languages: Draconic, Gnoll, Gnome, Goblin, Orc, and Sylvan.
Favored Class: Wizard. A multiclass elf’s wizard class does not count when determining whether she takes an experience point penalty for multiclassing.
So, is this balanced? What do I need to do to make it balanced?
