D&D 4E XPH Races in 4e?

[Nifft]

What I loved about Elan is that they were all Elan by choice. Like the Mojh in Arcana Evolved, they decided to abandon their (demi)humanity in search for ... <insert plot hook here>.

I love "races" that have cool hooks like that, where you can ask the player, "why did you do this to yourself?"

Cheers, -- N

 

[davethegame]

+1 love for the Elan. I had tons of character concepts for them, though as was often the case with psionics, they were hard to integrate into the campaigns I was playing in.

Kalashtar could be one replacement, but I liked the idea earlier of making them with Eladrin stats. Just add "doesn't have to eat."

 

[Mr. Teapot]

I think what strikes me is that elan, kalashtar, maenad, and xeph all kind of inhabit the same "real estate" in the game. The elan and kalashtar are particularly close. All of them are near-human races.

This reminds me of the goliath and half-giant. In the new Dark Sun, half-giants will be goliaths since they occupy the same territory. I'm assuming the designers have done the same here.

See also how most dwarf and elf subraces have been eliminated, or turned into feat trees. Heritage feats and the like could handle a lot of these. Like say:

Xeph Heritage (Heritage feat)
As long as you have at least one power point remaining, your speed increases by one.

Maenad Heritage (Heritage feat)
When an enemy scores a critical hit against you, you gain one power point.

Maenad Majesty
Requires: 11th level, Maenad Heritage
The first time you are bloodied by an attack in an encounter, you gain one power point.

 

[Nahat Anoj]

The thing I loved the most about the elan is that they could have been any race, not just humans, who traded their power and memories for eternal life and psionics. That made them rife with plot hooks.

That's why I think a "bloodline" feat like dhampirs or vistani will be the way they go, as any race can become a dhampir or vistani.

 

[Dragonhelm]

See also how most dwarf and elf subraces have been eliminated, or turned into feat trees. Heritage feats and the like could handle a lot of these.

Heritage feats are a good idea. I also think you can write the elan and maenad up as cultures without having to come up with subrace stats.

See, this is why I say not to get rid of your prior edition books. There may be some ideas that you can port over into new editions.

 

[the Jester]

I never much dug the elan, but this thread is giving me some cool ideas.

I agree that heritage feats are a good idea; it seems like they are a good way to do a lot of campaign customization pretty easily.

See, this is why I say not to get rid of your prior edition books. There may be some ideas that you can port over into new editions.

Don't forget the art. Compare the 4e pic of the evistro with the 3.5 one (in MM4 or MM5 iirc). I much prefer having four pictures to choose between when showing my pcs what they are facing.

 

[Piratecat]

I never much dug the elan, but this thread is giving me some cool ideas.

My concept for an elan PC: elderly brutal warlord (like Druss the Legend, if you've ever read that book) decides that he's had enough of war and death. He sells his skill, experience and memories to an unknown organization in exchange for transformation. He emerges looking the same but feeling entirely different; his old bloody past is a distant memory, he feels like a 20 year old, and his mind is afire with power.

Problem is, no one ever told his very many enemies that he's a new man. And what is that organization of elan doing with all the memories and skills they took from him, anyways?

 

[Dragonhelm]

I never much dug the elan, but this thread is giving me some cool ideas.

Huzzah! Love it when a thread inspires someone.

Don't forget the art. Compare the 4e pic of the evistro with the 3.5 one (in MM4 or MM5 iirc). I much prefer having four pictures to choose between when showing my pcs what they are facing.

I'm that way about the displacer beast. I prefer the 1e/2e art.

Back to topic...

Another thing you can do is create a single kalashtar based on the elan or maenad. Use a prior race to shape your current character.

 

[Danzauker]

If I were to reskin a race to do the Elan, i'd probably use Deva.

"Memory of a Thousand Lifetimes" has always had Elan written on in capital letters to me.

 

[Garthanos]

If I were to reskin a race to do the Elan, i'd probably use Deva.

"Memory of a Thousand Lifetimes" has always had Elan written on in capital letters to me.

Tiefling for Maenad?

After a false start thinking I was going to have to create a standard relationship or single translation for a race or subrace It was pointed out to me precision skinning is really a for the pc thing and that we dont have to be looking at one to one correspondence after an ooh ahh.. example I got better. He skinned a dwarf with a hammer as a lame human monk using staff ... the monk training gave him center of gravity resistance to being shifted and the lame bit gave him a slower movement rate and so on....It really made me blink.