Holiday Present - The Elf PHB entry

[Bishmon]

I love the elf entry. Absolutely perfect for what I want out of elves.

My only concern is the +1 to allies within a certain distance thing, and I'm only concerned because those type of abilities could be annoying to track if there's a lot of them. But my small concern about that is vastly overshadowed by my happiness at the racial entry.

 

[Incenjucar]

Perception bonus... works even if you don't know the elf is there, or the elf is unconscious...? Maybe even dead....?

*rubs temples*

I like the overall thing, but the genetic feat and the vague language are ill-considered.

 

[Mistwell]

Also: Expect long, drawn-out arguments about whether the Racial Feat is +2 total, or +2 in addition.

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Aaaaand... perception bonus... works even if you don't know the elf is there, or the elf is unconscious...? Maybe even dead....?

*rubs temples*

I like the overall thing, but the genetic feat and the vague language are ill-considered.

I doubt the language is vague. We just don't have the context. For example, whether or not something is total or in addition is the kind of rule covered in a general section on bonuses, not an individual entry like this. I'd not worry about that issue.

 

[Incenjucar]

The Feat is a non-issue simply because I imagined a bonus in the original one, ignore that.

 

[Frostmarrow]

Elves don't live for thousands of years anymore! Yay!

As Dragon Magazine put it "How do you play a character who could have been babysitter to Billy the Kid?" Now they can live amongst men for most of their lives and then stay at the retirement home for an extra one hundred years. This is great.

Feat grants re-rolls! Nay!

I hate re-rolls. It's sloppy design and at the table it adds minutes to the decisions of slow people. Luckily its just a 'per encouter' ability so it will mostly be forgotten. (Unless people realize re-rolls should be used as soon as possible to maximize its use).

No racial penalties, what will human bonuses be? Say!

In light of no racial penalties I think humans will have two +2 stats too. Which will it be? Humans are resilient plains people; +2 Con and +2 Cha (humans make great leaders).

 

[Frostmarrow]

I love the elf entry. Absolutely perfect for what I want out of elves.

My only concern is the +1 to allies within a certain distance thing, and I'm only concerned because those type of abilities could be annoying to track if there's a lot of them. But my small concern about that is vastly overshadowed by my happiness at the racial entry.

Everyone will bring something to the table (guess). Party composition will be interesting.

 

[Flobby]

Looks pretty cool. I figured that they would have went the SWSE and got rid of the racial skill bonuses (you know went for rerolls instead). Wonder why the dumped that?

 

[Falling Icicle]

I too am concerned by the "aura" bonus. It will be a major nuisance to keep track of, and for that reason will most likely just be forgotten most of the time. And the ability doesn't even make sense. How does an elf make his friends more perceptive? Other than that, the rules look pretty good to me. I'm glad they got rid of the "find secret doors" thing. I always thought that was a stupid racial bonus. That kind of thing should be something anyone can do. I am pretty disappointed with the nerf to elf maximum age, but then, I really am not fond of the fluff changes they've made to the races in general. The feat looks very, very weak, but that's from a 3rd edition perspective.

 

[Incenjucar]

I think the idea is that the elf is acting like a watch dog or something... and people notice the elf's ears twitch or somesuch....it's a rather odd ability.

If it was some kind of new race which created stillness around itself, which made things more noticable... or some other reasonably-automatic ability...

Fortunately, there's rather few times you're going to be in a position to USE this ability, so it's not really worth caring about unless you're having a back to back buddy combat with your friendly elf against some invisible stalkers.

 

[Scholar & Brutalman]

I generally like it - spliiting off the wizard part has allowed them to produce a more focussed race.

I agree the aura is a bit of an irritation: if we have to keep track of something, it should be a significant bonus, not a tiny +1. Little bonuses like that should be a permanent thing on a character sheet.

The Accuracy power as a free (rather than immediate) action allows the Elf to use it whenever they use any other per-day or per-encounter attack and it misses. Since these are usually decisive abilities, the Elven Accuracy feat becomes a bit more powerful. I still think it doesn't sound that great. Compare it to the other two heroic level feats we've seen:

Toughness
Tier: Heroic
Benefit: When you take this feat, you gain additional hit points equal to your level + 3. You also gain 1 additional hit point every time you gain a level.

Alertness
Tier: Heroic
Benefit: You don’t grant enemies combat advantage in surprise rounds.
You also gain a +2 feat bonus to Perception checks.

I'd rather take either of them.