Nyeshet
First Post
Another idea is to use the Elven Paragon racial class in UA - modified somewhat, of course. Personally, I rather prefer the version found here: Reworking Racial Paragons (post #2)
So it would be d8 HD, 3/4 BAB (due to being humanoid), poor Fort, good refl (or will, depending on subrace - an immortal race would likely have a stronger Will, I suspect) with the remaining save poor, 2 + Int skill points using the Elven paragon class skill list, and something like the following:
01 Middle Age, +1 all mental stats, Ageless, Resist Enchantment (+ racial level)
02 Old Age . ., +2 all mental stats, Elfsight, Resist Natural Disease (+ racial level), +1 CL
03 Venerable , +3 all mental stats, Grace, Resist Natural Poison (+ racial level), +2 CL
04 Ancient . ., +4 all mental stats, Immune to Natural Disease & Poison, True Elfsight, +3 CL
Most of the benefits / specials are already described elsewhere: elfsight improves the bonus to Listen / Spot, the range of LLV, and (w/ True Elfsight) the range for detecting concealed portals. Grace grants a +1 dodge bonus when not in medium or heavy armor and when not encumbered. I left out Weapon Focus as most that have reached such an age that had an interest in weapons will have moved far beyond that point, I think.
Ageless just prevents any physical penalties from acruing due to advanced age (whether natural or otherwise). Effectively it is Timeless Body without the benefits stated (as they are granted separately with each age level).
The three "+ racial level" specials grant a bonus equal to their current racial age level to the stated save. Thus a Venerable Elf has +3 vs Natural Diseases and Poisons and +5 vs Enchantments. As readily inferred from the above, an Ancient Elf has Immunity to Natural Diseases and Poisons and +6 vs Enchantments. I would even consider (at that point, as they cannot progress further for age categories) granting their level as a bonus against non-natural diseases poisons. (+4 is nice, but against some of those nasties its not that nice - especially as they gain no benefit against them for over 1000 years.)
They gain 3 casting levels as an arcane caster (sorcerer or wizard) due to their magical nature. Note that this can be readily altered to a divine class (druid, ranger, etc) if that happens to be thier (sub)racial favored class, but for their species an arcane caster - and sorcerer in specific - makes more sense.
Considering they are taking levels for this I would consider granting this for only LA +1 - maybe LA +2. This may sound weak for what is gained, but consider the fact that they are falling behind by at least two or three levels in spellcasting (first racial level and the one or two LA non-levels).
On the other hand, I would drop the LA to 0 (or 1) if the caster levels were replaced with +casting level (no spells gained / learned) - thus effectively granting Practised Spellcaster by Ancient age (instead of casting as Wiz 3, or Sor 3, or etc). They are falling so far behind by this point that they resemble the MT - no better than 8th level spells at max non-epic levels, and two entire grades of spellcasting behind for most prior levels (3rd level spells when most are using 5th, etc).
Skill focused classes are harmed by four levels of only 2 + Int skill points. BAB focused classes are the least affected of all the classes as they are only slightly weakened by the average BAB of the class, falling behind by two or three points - which are partially made up for by the lack of physical penalties from age.
So it would be d8 HD, 3/4 BAB (due to being humanoid), poor Fort, good refl (or will, depending on subrace - an immortal race would likely have a stronger Will, I suspect) with the remaining save poor, 2 + Int skill points using the Elven paragon class skill list, and something like the following:
01 Middle Age, +1 all mental stats, Ageless, Resist Enchantment (+ racial level)
02 Old Age . ., +2 all mental stats, Elfsight, Resist Natural Disease (+ racial level), +1 CL
03 Venerable , +3 all mental stats, Grace, Resist Natural Poison (+ racial level), +2 CL
04 Ancient . ., +4 all mental stats, Immune to Natural Disease & Poison, True Elfsight, +3 CL
Most of the benefits / specials are already described elsewhere: elfsight improves the bonus to Listen / Spot, the range of LLV, and (w/ True Elfsight) the range for detecting concealed portals. Grace grants a +1 dodge bonus when not in medium or heavy armor and when not encumbered. I left out Weapon Focus as most that have reached such an age that had an interest in weapons will have moved far beyond that point, I think.
Ageless just prevents any physical penalties from acruing due to advanced age (whether natural or otherwise). Effectively it is Timeless Body without the benefits stated (as they are granted separately with each age level).
The three "+ racial level" specials grant a bonus equal to their current racial age level to the stated save. Thus a Venerable Elf has +3 vs Natural Diseases and Poisons and +5 vs Enchantments. As readily inferred from the above, an Ancient Elf has Immunity to Natural Diseases and Poisons and +6 vs Enchantments. I would even consider (at that point, as they cannot progress further for age categories) granting their level as a bonus against non-natural diseases poisons. (+4 is nice, but against some of those nasties its not that nice - especially as they gain no benefit against them for over 1000 years.)
They gain 3 casting levels as an arcane caster (sorcerer or wizard) due to their magical nature. Note that this can be readily altered to a divine class (druid, ranger, etc) if that happens to be thier (sub)racial favored class, but for their species an arcane caster - and sorcerer in specific - makes more sense.
Considering they are taking levels for this I would consider granting this for only LA +1 - maybe LA +2. This may sound weak for what is gained, but consider the fact that they are falling behind by at least two or three levels in spellcasting (first racial level and the one or two LA non-levels).
On the other hand, I would drop the LA to 0 (or 1) if the caster levels were replaced with +casting level (no spells gained / learned) - thus effectively granting Practised Spellcaster by Ancient age (instead of casting as Wiz 3, or Sor 3, or etc). They are falling so far behind by this point that they resemble the MT - no better than 8th level spells at max non-epic levels, and two entire grades of spellcasting behind for most prior levels (3rd level spells when most are using 5th, etc).
Skill focused classes are harmed by four levels of only 2 + Int skill points. BAB focused classes are the least affected of all the classes as they are only slightly weakened by the average BAB of the class, falling behind by two or three points - which are partially made up for by the lack of physical penalties from age.
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