XPH: Elan Balanced?

[two]

Oh man!

I just reazlied they were +0 not +1. I had thought they were +1 (and were considered overpowering at +1). At +0 it's a joke.

Listen people, an ability that is rather costly, but which can be used EXACTLY when you need it, and which often will save the life of your PC (or keep him conscious) is nearly priceless.

Spend 50 PP's to stop 100 points of damage? Sure, it's 50 PP's. What's the alternative? Oh, death. Done. Spent. No-brainer.

Save vs. a debilitating save? Spend some points to increase your odds of making the save by 40-50%? Done. Do this for 2-3 saves and statistics say "it made a difference." Big difference, as in, being turned to stone/killed/disintigrated or not being turned to stone/killed/etc.

These abilities are awesome.

Yeah, +2 to AC for being a small halfling is nice too. Will it ever save your PC from death? Maybe, once or twice, maybe. Will burining PP's to insta-heal damage ever save your PC? Yes. EVERY TIME you would otherwise die (if you were a human or other race) and you instead burn some to stay alive.

How many fights do you get down to single-digit HP's? Or barely go unconscious? Or barely drop to -10? Those days are over, son.

Unless you are out of PP's. So, keep a few around.

 

[Thanee]

It's surely not THAT bad, since you can still use it only once per round (that is against one attack, for example, but not against the next), but it's a very powerful ability for sure (especially for a high level psion). Too powerful for a +0 LA race IMHO.

Considering, that they don't really get much else, the saving throw bonus is probably even ok, altho that one is quite powerful as well. The Resilience ability definitely should have some cap, tho, to justify the +0 LA.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Psiblade]

You need to remember only one immediate action per round. You can only absorb one hit of the three or four inbound, or you can bump your saves, or you can use an immediate power. You can only do one, which do you choose? I still think dwarves and humans make better psychic warriors, probably even better psions. IMHO, the manifester level limit does apply for the racial powers with a minimum of one just like gnomes.

-Psiblade

 

[Darklone]

Agreeing with Thanee and Psiblade here. Absorbing damage per round is nice if you can do it, but the last PC death in my group was caused by three full attack actions of enemy fighters... e.g. 4 arrows, 4 attacks from a double weapon and 2 attacks from a polearm wielder. So the elan could have negated one hit? Big deal. It might be nice against dragons breath ... but it's not possible anymore if the Elan tried to use his save boost against the breath already.

Or when he used his immediate action for that nifty extra-move power for some move+full attack tactics. Or something else. I do prefer "lower" levels up to 12, so YMMV, but in my case one hit won't kill most people (except for wildshaped druids with Powerful Rhino Charge).

 

[Shadowdweller]

Or when he used his immediate action for that nifty extra-move power for some move+full attack tactics. Or something else. I do prefer "lower" levels up to 12, so YMMV, but in my case one hit won't kill most people (except for wildshaped druids with Powerful Rhino Charge).

Au contraire, immediate actions taken during an opponent's turn are counted against your NEXT turn. Meaning that it's possible to soak damage taken directly after a Hustle or Psionic Lion's Charge, but not possible to use the charge on the upcoming turn.

 

[James McMurray]

Has anyone here actually played or ran an Elan in a campaign? Speculation is all well and good, but experience is where the true test lies.

My next campaign (starting this week) will likely feature at least one Elan. I'll be sure to let people know how it turns out.

 

[Thanee]

Yep, those abilities are not easy to judge.

Well, I think basically they are ok, only the soaking ability needs some cap.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Shadowdweller]

I've played in a campaign WITH an elan. Albeit not for very long, of course.

 

[Taren Seeker]

Played the Elan yesterday. Three big fights, didn't use either ability. So basically I played a PC with no racial abilities and -2 charisma. I was a fancy Kobold The one time I might have used either ability was when a Delayed Blast Fireball came in but I used the immediate action to manifest a Tower of Iron Will and protect the whole party instead. Playing an Elan is like playing a Psion, it's all about choices.

Re: 100 PPs for 50 damage, oops, sorry about that. But it was PsiSeveredHead's fault! *points*

 

[JacktheRabbit]

DreamChaser: Power is a defined term, which applies to the powers that psychics gain when they go up in levels. It does not refer to racial abilities. If it did, an Elan fighter would not be able to use his racial abilities and should be given a negative LA because he has no racial abilities, only penalties.

LOL, you argue a power is broken by specifically interpreting that power the most broken way possible.