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And for Tiny Tim, whose D&D Insider account is Lame.
Elf
Quick, wary archers who freely roam the forests and wilds.
Racial Traits
Average Height: 5' 7"-6' 0"
Average Weight: 100-130 lb.
Ability Scores: +2 Dexterity, +2 Wisdom
Size: Medium
Speed: 7 squares
Vision: Low-light
Languages: Common, Elven
Skill Bonuses: +2 Nature, +2 Perception
Elven Accuracy
Elf Racial Power
With an instant of focus, you take careful aim at your foe and strike with the legendary accuracy of the elves.
Encounter
Free Action
Personal
Effect: Reroll an attack roll. Use the second roll, even if it's lower.
Elven Weapon Training: You gain proficiency with the longbow and the shortbow.
Wild Step: You ignore difficult terrain when you shift (even if you have a power that allows you to shift multiple squares).
Group Awareness: You grant non-elf allies within 5 squares a +1 racial bonus to Perception checks.
Elven Accuracy: You can use elven accuracy as an encounter power.
Wild and free, elves guard their forested lands using stealth and deadly arrows from the trees. They build their homes in close harmony with the forest, so perfectly joined that travelers often fail to notice that they have entered an elven community until it is too late.
Play an elf if you want …
to be quick, quiet, and wild;
to lead your companions through the deep woods and pepper your enemies with arrows;
to play a ranger, a rogue, or a cleric.
Physical Qualities
Elves are slender, athletic folk about as tall as humans. They have the same range of complexions as humans, tending more toward tan or brown hues. A typical elf's hair color is dark brown, autumn orange, mossy green, or deep gold. Elves' ears are long and pointed, and their eyes are vibrant blue, violet, or green. Elves have little body hair, but males often grow long sideburns. They favor a wild look to their hair, which is often a shaggy mass of braids.
Elves mature at about the same rate as humans but show few effects of age past adulthood. The first sign of an elf's advancing age is typically a change in hair color -- sometimes graying but usually darkening or taking on more autumnal hues. Most elves live to be well over 200 years old and remain vigorous almost to the end.
Playing an Elf
Elves are a people of deeply felt but short-lived passions. They are easily moved to delighted laughter, blinding wrath, or mournful tears. They are inclined to impulsive behavior, and members of other races sometimes see elves as flighty or impetuous, but elves do not shirk responsibility or forget commitments. Thanks in part to their long life span, elves sometimes have difficulty taking certain matters as seriously as other races do, but when genuine threats arise, elves are fierce and reliable allies.
Elves revere the natural world. Their connection to their surroundings enables them to perceive much. They never cut living trees, and when they create permanent communities, they do so by carefully growing or weaving arbors, tree houses, and catwalks from living branches. They prefer the primal power of the natural world to the arcane magic their eladrin cousins employ. Elves love to explore new forests and new lands, and it's not unusual for individuals or small bands to wander hundreds of miles from their homelands.
Elves are loyal and merry friends. They love simple pleasures -- dancing, singing, footraces, and contests of balance and skill -- and rarely see a reason to tie themselves down to dull or disagreeable tasks. Despite how unpleasant war can be, a threat to their homes, families, or friends can make elves grimly serious and prompt them to take up arms.
At the dawn of creation, elves and eladrin were a single race dwelling both in the Feywild and in the world, and passing freely between the two. When the drow rebelled against their kin, under the leadership of the god Lolth, the resulting battles tore the fey kingdoms asunder. Ties between the peoples of the Feywild and the world grew tenuous, and eventually the elves and eladrin grew into two distinct races. Elves are descended from those who lived primarily in the world, and they no longer dream of the Feywild. They love the forests and wilds of the world that they have made their home.
Elf Characteristics: Agile, friendly, intuitive, joyful, perceptive, quick, tempestuous, wild.
Male Names: Adran, Beiro, Carric, Erdan, Gennal, Heian, Lucan, Peren, Rollen, Soveliss, Therren, Varis.
Female Names: Adrie, Birel, Chaedi, Dara, Ennia, Farall, Harrel, Iriann, Lia, Mialee, Shava, Thia, Valenae.
Elf Adventurers
Three sample elf adventurers are described below.
Varis is an elf ranger and a devout worshiper of Melora, the god of the wilds. When a goblin army forced his people from their woodland village, the elves took refuge in the nearest human town, walled and guarded by soldiers. Varis now leads other elves and some human townsfolk in raids against the goblins. Although he maintains a cheerful disposition, he frequently stares into the distance, listening, expecting at any moment to hear signs of approaching foes.
Lia is an elf rogue whose ancestral forest burned to the ground decades ago. Lia grew up on the wasteland's fringes in a large human city, unable to quite fit in. Her dreams called her to the forests, while her waking hours were spent in the dirtiest parts of civilization. She joined a group of adventurers after trying to cut a warlock's purse, and she fell in love with the wide world beyond the city.
Heian is an elf cleric of Sehanine, the god of the moon. The elven settlement where he was born still thrives in a forest untouched by the darkness spreading through the world, but he left home years ago, in search of new horizons and adventures. His travels lately have brought rumors to his ears that danger might be brewing in the ancient forest, and he is torn between a desire to seek his own way in the world and a sense of duty to his homeland.
Well, there you have it. The first unveiling of a full race entry from the 4th Edition Player's Handbook. Oh, what the heck. I'm feeling generous this morning. It must be the season. Here's a racial feat you can peek at, too.
Elven Precision [Elf]
Prerequisites: Elf, elven accuracy racial power, heroic tier
Benefit: When you use the elven accuracy power, you gain a +2 bonus to the new attack roll.
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32
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Hmm, competent but not overwhelming. It feels a bit more focused than the earlier elves, but in general, i think this is well done.
What does peeve me a bit is the apparent lack of progression of racial powers. The powers mentioned are solidly in scope with what i would expect a 3(.5)rd Ed race to have.
Hmm, competent but not overwhelming. It feels a bit more focused than the earlier elves, but in general, i think this is well done.
What does peeve me a bit is the apparent lack of progression of racial powers. The powers mentioned are solidly in scope with what i would expect a 3(.5)rd Ed race to have.
You are right. I thought that they had said sth about racial levels but perhaps they did not want to show sth about or they took it back. Anyway I like the return to Tolkien's elves of the Gray elves and the Noldor (Eladrin?).
A very stream-lined elf. If the rest of the races follow this approach, I'll be impressed.
That's exactly what I was thinking. I have not been impressed or even excited about ANY change/addition/mechanic of 4E thus far, but I will admit, after reading the Elf, thinking, hmm..that's not so bad at all.
I love it, though not in a good way. :)
Every new piece of info convinces me that staying 3.5 is the right choice for me.
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What really bothers me about this is this quote from the last paragraph before the stats in the preview:
"One of the changes that we decided on early for player character races was that we would only provide ability score bonuses. Penalties based on your choice of race are a thing of the past."
There does not seem to be trade offs to choosing a race. In current D&D, every race had a positive trait and a flaw. You could be an elf and get a nice bonus to Dex, but you had a trade off, Con.
This is just one more thing in my long list of turn-offs to 4e.
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I like the streamlining of the race concept, if this is applied to others races as well, it might be interesting.
Sad that some traditional elements of the race are gone (immunity to sleep and darkvision); maybe these will be advanced powers available with racial levels.
Don't like the idea that races give the characters only positive modifiers, it reeks of power-gaming and dumbing down of the game.
The "racial power" thingie is interesting, though I find abhorrent the whole per-encounter mechanic.
An useful preview, even for those (like myself) who don't like 4E.
RPG Superstar 2011 Top 32
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What really bothers me about this is this quote from the last paragraph before the stats in the preview:
"One of the changes that we decided on early for player character races was that we would only provide ability score bonuses. Penalties based on your choice of race are a thing of the past."
There does not seem to be trade offs to choosing a race. In current D&D, every race had a positive trait and a flaw. You could be an elf and get a nice bonus to Dex, but you had a trade off, Con.
This is just one more thing in my long list of turn-offs to 4e.
ACtually, this issue is my only beef with this release. I actually like this elf, though the sideburns are a weird addition. I'm guessing that it's all Downer's fault ^_^
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I've never been a huge fan of Elves having a Con penalty anyway.
"Yes, we live a lot longer than humans. Yes, we live in the woods, surrounded by nature, running through the snow, yanno, when we aren't at home shivering in the grip of the ague, 'cause we get sick so easy..."
With a racial average of 10 for a human and 8 for an elf, that means that elves regularly die of illnesses that a human would survive, and are *less* able to survive exposure to the elements of sun and cold and damp. The females would be less likely to survive childbirth, too, and infant mortality would be 20% higher than in humans, and probably more for woodlands elves, who wouldn't have as high a quality of care.
I'm fine with a race having negatives, but negatives that directly contradict the nature of the race? Not so much. A penalty to Strength for 'high elves' or Intelligence for 'wild elves' would better fit the flavor of the race.
And Dwarves? Yikes. The most insular, clannish, community-oriented race in the darn PHB, and they have a penalty to *Charisma?* A rabid Wolverine has a higher Charisma than a Dwarven noble? Very peculiar. Charisma is force of personality, and the only thing more forceful than a Dwarves personality is his axe! A racial penalty to Dex, representing their stocky frames, would make more sense (although people who haven't realized that Craft skills are Int-based instead of Dex-based might initially shy away from the idea of Dwarves not being nimble, mistakenly thinking that a lower Dex would penalize their crafting skills).
Not bad. But not "awesome".
I am still disturbed by an elf's speed as 7 squares.
Other then that. Nothing special nothing really horrible either. Nice to see some actual info starting to flow though.
I like it.
Hmm, competent but not overwhelming. It feels a bit more focused than the earlier elves, but in general, i think this is well done.
What does peeve me a bit is the apparent lack of progression of racial powers. The powers mentioned are solidly in scope with what i would expect a 3(.5)rd Ed race to have.
Just based on that description, it looks to me like the racial progression will come through racial feats.
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I am still disturbed by an elf's speed as 7 squares.
Oops, I missed that. I assume 7 squares equals a movement of 35 feet? Why are squares easier to figure than feet? It assumes everyone is going to play on a grid, which though I sometimes do, I prefer not to as miniature movement is what, in my experience, slows down the game the most.
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Not bad. But not "awesome".
I am still disturbed by an elf's speed as 7 squares.
Other then that. Nothing special nothing really horrible either. Nice to see some actual info starting to flow though.
I'm not sure how 7 squares compares to the other races, but if humans have 6 squares and dwarves have 5, that would make sense.
...of course it's probably not the case, since that wouldn't make everyone equally fun to play...
Elf way out in front of the party: "Would you guys hurry up?!?"
Human in the middle: "Stupid flighty elves and stupid slow dwarves."
Dwarf at the rear: "What? Stupid tall folk always in a hurry."
Not bad. Certainly much closer to what I've been hoping for from 4E than most of the stuff we've seen so far. :)
-The Gneech
How is a 4E Elf better than a 3.5 Elf? I personally like 3.5 Elves better. I think giving each race strengths along with weaknesses makes character creation more interesting. And, re-rolling an attack roll per encounter seems less "elf-like" than immunity to sleep. Whatever.
I'm not sure how 7 squares compares to the other races, but if humans have 6 squares and dwarves have 5, that would make sense.
...of course it's probably not the case, since that wouldn't make everyone equally fun to play...
Elf way out in front of the party: "Would you guys hurry up?!?"
Human in the middle: "Stupid flighty elves and stupid slow dwarves."
Dwarf at the rear: "What? Stupid tall folk always in a hurry."
It's not the speed. It's the "squares". It says to me "made for miniatures but useable without" (It means that minis are considered standard).
I just love the "speed 7 squares"... It's Monty Pythonesque in a way.
It's european and african sparrows all over again.
Note that using squares instead of feet is easier for conversion to other languages because everyone else is metric.
Also, I think a lot of people play on some sort of grid, either a MegaMat or some tiles or MasterMaze or posters or whatnot so it's easier to express everything as squares rather than convert text from feet into squares or vice versa.
Note that using squares instead of feet is easier for conversion to other languages because everyone else is metric.
Also, I think a lot of people play on some sort of grid, either a MegaMat or some tiles or MasterMaze or posters or whatnot so it's easier to express everything as squares rather than convert text from feet into squares or vice versa.
People seem to think that 3e saw the origin of using a grid and figs for D&D. I've been using a Battlemat and have figs (original AD&D(TM) figures) from 1ed days, and have been doing tactical combat on a grid since the early 80s. (I knew someone who went so far as to take an old table, and draw 1" separated lines over the top and then laminate it permanently way back when.)
Yeah, "squares" is an obvious reference to tactical combat. But this isn't new. And it will make life a little, teeny bit easier for some, and for the rest of us it will change nothing. (Before we were converting feet to squares, now its the other way around.)
Greg
If we use 5' squaes inside, and 10' squares outside, do elvs move twice as fast outside?
Why would you do that?
Heh.
Q. How do you confuse a 4e character?
Use a hex grid. :-P
In the words of Peter Griffin: Friggin' Sweet.
Does that mean weapon's ranges and spell ranges will also be measured in squares?
Heh.
Q. How do you confuse a 4e character?
A. Put him in a room paved with round tiles.
Nice!
Nice!Heh.
Q. How do you confuse a 4e character?
A. Put him in a room paved with round tiles.
But of course there never will be any rooms paved with round tiles in Dungeon Tiles (tm) and we all know everyone uses only Dungeon Tiles (tm) right?!
I keed, I keed! :D
But of course there never will be any rooms paved with round tiles in Dungeon Tiles (tm) and we all know everyone uses only Dungeon Tiles (tm) right?!
I keed, I keed! :D
::Maintains eyes contact while sneakily sliding his Cheapo's Dungeon Tile Warehouse brand hexogonal tiles beneath his DM screen::
Absolutely!
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I just love the "speed 7 squares"... It's Monty Pythonesque in a way.
It's european and african sparrows all over again.
Sparrows?! You must return to the Geek headquarters for retraining (ie. watch Holy Grail again). It's *swallows* ;)
Of course, a move of 7 squares makes one wonder what they will do with people moving on a diagonal... or can creatures in 4e only move orthogonally in the world? Now I'm definitely picking up a Python skit in there somewhere... perhaps mixed with Tron bikes.
Oops, I missed that. I assume 7 squares equals a movement of 35 feet? Why are squares easier to figure than feet? It assumes everyone is going to play on a grid, which though I sometimes do, I prefer not to as miniature movement is what, in my experience, slows down the game the most.
Based on the Star Wars saga rules, I would say yes. I also remember something about using squares so people did not have to count by fives when moving.
The Star Wars saga ruls also uses squares to count range for weapons and powers, so don't be surprised to see that too.
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I also remember something about using squares so people did not have to count by fives when moving.
Yes, I can see that, because the only thing harder than counting by fives is counting be tens...not. My children could count by fives by the time they were four without difficulty. The argument about metric vs. english made more sense to me.
Seriously, is this an issue in people's games - counting by five slows things up? If I play with miniatures, I don't count by five, I divide standard movement by five and apply it to the board we use. And again, I am getting to where I don't want to use miniatures all the time - it is miniature movement that makes combat take twice as long as it needs to. So we're going to streamline the rules so play speeds up and then we are going to retain the single most time consuming aspect of a combat. Makes sense to me in a Bizarro way.
Again, I like the elf better than I thought I would but the change from thirty five feet to seven squares just irks me.
The wording in my opinion feels like it's aimed at the young or novice gamer. Experienced gamers know that we can ignore the information. I mean how many of us use the "starting packages" out of our PHBs? You know, if you're a dwarf fighter you get this feat, and this feat, and this equipment, and this much gold left over. PSHAW. None that I know. But when we introduce a new gamer to the game we open the book and say, okay see these packages? Pick one and just start playing.
I'm thankful for the way its worded because it feels very beginner friendly but with enough options to appease the senses of the gamer who's used to more complexity. As a community we need to attract new blood because we are losing them. We're not getting any younger folks and unlike me not everyone's trying to breed a master-race of DnD players (I keed!) They got to try to attract new players and please the old, that's a tough thing to accomplish so I suggest that all us old-school gamers put on our thick-skins and not take some of the more sophomoric worded parts so seriously.
Wow; I am really impressed by the direction WOTC is going with elves...this goes in the "plus" column for me. I must admit I am becoming more optimistic, especially over the last few days. It looks more and more like they are making a game I want to play.
As for some of the anti-WOTC hyperbole: no, WOTC isn't out to get you, ruin your game, or change things for the sake of change. The rabid, irrational 4E hate is actually starting to get annoying. If it is good (and it is starting t o look like it will be) then move. If it isn't, don't. But the idea that WOTC is *trying* to make people angry is just...paranoia.
Sorry, I usually try to be more understanding, live and let live you know, but the vehement hatred is getting old. Fast.
I also remember something about using squares so people did not have to count by fives when moving.Yes, I can see that, because the only thing harder than counting by fives is counting be tens...not. My children could count by fives by the time they were four without difficulty. The argument about metric vs. english made more sense to me.
Seriously, is this an issue in people's games - counting by five slows things up? If I play with miniatures, I don't count by five, I divide standard movement by five and apply it to the board we use. And again, I am getting to where I don't want to use miniatures all the time - it is miniature movement that makes combat take twice as long as it needs to. So we're going to streamline the rules so play speeds up and then we are going to retain the single most time consuming aspect of a combat. Makes sense to me in a Bizarro way.
Again, I like the elf better than I thought I would but the change from thirty five feet to seven squares just irks me.
I don't mind the "feet to squares" change, because it really does make sense from the Metric/English POV. I just sincerely hope they don't pull a Star Wars Saga and make diagonals count as a single square. That is just so nonsensical as to ruin suspension of disbelief. Yes, I know it can be house-ruled, but that doesn't help at con games, etc.
As for some of the anti-WOTC hyperbole: no, WOTC isn't out to get you, ruin your game, or change things for the sake of change.What about killing my dog? The h4ters insist that WotC is going to kill my dog too.
Shush! Fido has had it coming ever since he chewed up my Andy Gibb's Greatest Hits LP.
Does that mean weapon's ranges and spell ranges will also be measured in squares?
Some of the stuff I have seen is this way, it only makes sense if they are dodging the feet/meter conversion issue.
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I don't mind the "feet to squares" change, because it really does make sense from the Metric/English POV. I just sincerely hope they don't pull a Star Wars Saga and make diagonals count as a single square. That is just so nonsensical as to ruin suspension of disbelief. Yes, I know it can be house-ruled, but that doesn't help at con games, etc.
its ok, I have a player who started making maps of the locations with photoshop and giving every single one a tiled floor with the smallest squares he could.. then pointingly asking if gnomes and goblins and such had to use the little squares to count their movement.
if I look down a cave - how do I estimate how many squares there are between me and the wall? (I know estimate by feet and divide by 5 - bah extra work)