Erachu's page

Huh, that reversed quickly. I should concede my position more often.

Alright, unless someone from Dreamscarred wants to come in and voice the final ruling, I suppose I've been outvoted.

My stance was that Elan didn't have this ability in 3.5.

It appears they've gotten a stealth buff (on top of their documented ones), good for them.

Going back and reading the entry as opposed to what I vaguely remember and what was posted in this thread, I could see it interpreted either way. Since it is not an actual racial benefit and is just description, I don't know. I mean, in my own game, I'd just say, "sure, you rest for 4 and then can be on watch the rest of the night," but that's me.

I think I'm not quite sure what your overall interpretation is.

Are you considering standing watch to be a restful behavior, and thus 4 hours of meditation + 4 hours of uneventful watch = 8 hours rest?

Or are you considering their 4 hour meditation enough to regain power points and thus free them to do what they must (so if the watch turns into an attack, they've already regained powers for example).

Point is, Elan as written get the benefits of 8 hours rest in 4. But your argument isn't without merit.

I suppose so. Wonder what it would take to get the question raised to someone at Dreamscarred. Like I mentioned in my first post, I couldn't successfully register for their forums (site crashes trying to send validation emails.)

Thanks.

Heh, it sounds like things are leaning away from my position, and that's okay.

My position was that they still needed to rest for 8 hours because that's how caster classes have operated in 3.0 and 3.5 (where the elan were originally defined).

From the 3.5 handbook, elves who also only needed to meditate 4 hours a night (with basically identical wording) were identified in the preparing spells section as still needing to rest a full 8 hours before they could prepare spells/pray.

That wording was removed in pathfinder because elves in pathfinder do sleep, so the precedent isn't expressly present anymore.

In 3.5, it would have been easy to say that Elans, who have the same wording as elves when it comes to rest periods, still had to rest 8 hours to regain power points. The question I suppose comes down to "Did elans get a silent buff (it's not listed as a race feature after all) in the Pathfinder conversion?" for that purpose.

Alternate comments that my interpretation of the rules in 3.5 is wrong are also acceptable though I'd like to know why.

I'd also like to point out that the rules for gaining power points expressly say "If the character does not need to sleep for some reason, he still must have 8 hours of restful calm before regaining power points." which is consistent with the wording in 3.5 for spellcasters (that made elves with their short sleep still have to take 8 hours).

Hey all,

I'm in a bit of a debate with someone and hoping I can find something absolutely concrete rather than implicit.

They assert that the Elan description:

"Elans do not sleep as mortals do, instead entering a deep meditative trance for 4 hours a day. Resting in this fashion grants the elan the same benefits that other races gain from 8 hours of sleep. The elan spends the time in this trance renewing her body by suffusing it with psionic energy, repairing wounds, and keeping the tissues and organs healthy."

Means they can prepare spells or regain power points after just 4 hours of meditation, as opposed to the 8 hours of rest (sleep or not) required by all the other races I'm aware of.

They're latched on to the phrase "same benefits that other races gain from 8 hours of sleep", which means the general rule in the Psionics "Powers an Power Points" section talking about 8 hours of restful calm they feel has been overcome by that.

Which of us is right, and is there anything concrete the winner of this debate can point to to say "See, it's this and only this"?

I'd have posted this on the Dreamscarred site itself but can't register successfully.