|
Shadow Elf
Shadow elves are a race of subterranian humanoids, similar to elves. They are somewhat thinner and shorter than elves and have white hair and very pale skin. Their ears are larger than a normal elves ears so that they can hear better underground. They also speak in high pitched voices which sound very squeaky to other races. They have a very insular society and tend to dislike all surface dwellers. Despite this trait they tend towards neutral alignments rather than evil ones.
+2 Dexterity, +2 Intelligence, -2 Charisma; Shadow elves are quick and smart, but they do not work and play well with others.
Darkvision: Shadow elves can see in the dark upto 90 ft.
Elven Immunities: Shadow elves are immune to magical sleep effects and recieve a +2 bonus to saving throws against enchantment spells and effects.
Keen Senses: Shadow elves get a +2 racial bonus to Perception checks.
Weapon Familiarity: Shadow eleves are proficent with longswords, short swords and halbards.
Languages: Shadow elves begin play speaking Elven and Undercommon. Shadow elves with high Intelligence can choose from the following: Common, Draconic, Dwarven, Gnoll, Gnome, Goblin, Infernal, Orc, and Terran.
Nice without being overpowered. I'd say you have a talent for this. What is their preferred class?
|
|
Nice without being overpowered. I'd say you have a talent for this. What is their preferred class?
They are from 2nd edition which did not have prefered classes. Based on their description though I would say Fighter or Sorcerer. Clerics and Rogues are almost unheard of and there are no shadow elf bards known to exist.
Ranger, Earth Bloodline Sorcerer? hmmm...
Am I detecting a "no elf left behind" policy, Fryer?
Aw, sorry. Until I posted, I could only see your post. :S
Well done, I´d say. Sorcerer is probably a good choice for preferred class given their racial background, being exposed to radiation and all this. There was a shaman class in the original Gazetteer which practially begs to be converted into a prestige class - you needed to collect 2000 xp to be eligible for that class, and you needed to divide the xp between regular and shaman advancement. But he gained a bonus on wisdom. With the shaman, you have a mix of clerical and wizard spells, with a very reduced spell list, again calling to something more sorcerer/favored soul-like.
Stefan
Hmm... this brings back the old problem that the Elf in basic D&D was a class also. How do you translate that into 3e?
I would think that the basic requirements for the PrC should be
- some BAB (+2 at most)
- spontaneous arcane casting (in keeping with the Sorcerer base class as favored), 2nd level at most.
- some special feat? Perhaps the disfigurement requires a feat and gives some bonus (like, it gives you +1 to wisdom as soon as you start shaman training or somesuch)
more later, have to go.
Stefan
Googling found the following file:
gaz 13 text, which is a html version of the original text file found on wizards homepage. Just for reference.
EDIT: Are there any official AD&D2 stats for shadow elves? If so, where can I find them?
EDIT2: I think that the shadow elf shaman could even be a base class, as it goes up to level 36 originally.
Stefan
EDIT: Are there any official AD&D2 stats for shadow elves? If so, where can I find them?
They used to be on the Wizards of the Coast website.
They used to be on the Wizards of the Coast website.
EDIT: Are there any official AD&D2 stats for shadow elves? If so, where can I find them?
Thanks, I´ll try to find that later, as I can´t access that site right now.
Hmm... the more I think of it, the more I come to the conclusion that the shaman is best portrayed as a special sorcerer bloodline under the pathfinder RPG rules.
From the BD&D rules, the class had spellcasting up to level 7 - highest spell level for clerics under these rules. It has its own spell list, with a few special spells in it. This calls for a full spell progession anyway. Its spell list was limited - sounds like sorcerer. It had only few special abilities beyond that, which was the norm for BD&D.
A feat is perhaps necessary, like this:
Feat: Mark of the Shaman
This feat must be taken at the creation of the character and cannot be taken later. It shows as a symmetrical purplish birthmark on the face of the character. As soon as the character starts his training as a shaman (i.e., takes his first level of shaman), he gains +1 to his wisdom score permanently.
I haven´t read about the soul crystals in depth yet, but I guess that could be put into it as special bloodline power.
Most of the rest is just a matter of mindset, i.e., fluff.
So much for now,
Stefan
Technically, Shadow Elves were not from AD&D 2nd edition, they were from D&D, the basic game, from Mystara, even if the Gazetteer was published in the 2nd edition era.
They should have the -2 Con penalty, as they are frail as other elves.
Therefore their stats should be Dex +2, Con -2, Int +2, Cha -2.
They should also have Light Sensitivity, like many subterranean races.
|
|
Technically, Shadow Elves were not from AD&D 2nd edition, they were from D&D, the basic game, from Mystara, even if the Gazetteer was published in the 2nd edition era.
They should have the -2 Con penalty, as they are frail as other elves.
Therefore their stats should be Dex +2, Con -2, Int +2, Cha -2.
They should also have Light Sensitivity, like many subetrranean races.
Yes, but in Pathfinder you only get one negative. I went with Charisma rather than Constitution for two reasons. One was tomake them different from normal elves. Otherwise they only had Darkvision that sets them apart and their weapon and language choices. The other reason that I felt Charisma was the better choice was that living in a radioactive environment a hit to Con never made sense to me. If you want to add it, then it is your choice. But I like the stats the way they are.
Yes, but in Pathfinder you only get one negative. I went with Charisma rather than Constitution for two reasons. One was tomake them different from normal elves. Otherwise they only had Darkvision that sets them apart and their weapon and language choices. The other reason that I felt Charisma was the better choice was that living in a radioactive environment a hit to Con never made sense to me. If you want to add it, then it is your choice. But I like the stats the way they are.Technically, Shadow Elves were not from AD&D 2nd edition, they were from D&D, the basic game, from Mystara, even if the Gazetteer was published in the 2nd edition era.
They should have the -2 Con penalty, as they are frail as other elves.
Therefore their stats should be Dex +2, Con -2, Int +2, Cha -2.
They should also have Light Sensitivity, like many subetrranean races.
Difference of interpretation: I can see your logic for stating that living in a radio active environment would result in the race evolving to deal this, and thus negating the constitution penalty. Then again one could argue that it has made the race weaker as a whole, and thus the constitution penalty should remain to reflect this.
At this point it simply a matter of how you perceive the race and their weaknesses. If they're so similar to surface elves that their only real difference is living underground, and then strictly IMO you should leave the stat bonuses as if they were normal elves, and change their languages to reflect the new environment they live in.
-If you want to give them light sensitivity, then perhaps you should either increase the range of their lowlight vision or upgrade them to darkvision.
These are merely thoughts and suggestions.
-AK
Yes, but in Pathfinder you only get one negative. I went with Charisma rather than Constitution for two reasons. One was tomake them different from normal elves. Otherwise they only had Darkvision that sets them apart and their weapon and language choices. The other reason that I felt Charisma was the better choice was that living in a radioactive environment a hit to Con never made sense to me. If you want to add it, then it is your choice. But I like the stats the way they are.Technically, Shadow Elves were not from AD&D 2nd edition, they were from D&D, the basic game, from Mystara, even if the Gazetteer was published in the 2nd edition era.
They should have the -2 Con penalty, as they are frail as other elves.
Therefore their stats should be Dex +2, Con -2, Int +2, Cha -2.
They should also have Light Sensitivity, like many subetrranean races.
Im going to have to disagree with the choice to not give -2 Con as well. Even now in the PF Bestiary, Drow who live underground and deal with "radiation" still have the penalty to con. Also, if I remember correctly, the shadow elves had a fairly large occurance of malformation and even had a ritual where they would take malformed babies and leave them in the caves to fend for themselves. I just think this is personal preference with what you would like to see with the race (which I can understand) as opposed to what is already established. The description of the race in the Gaz. book even describes them as the typical elf stature and build, frail, not hearty like a jungle elf for example.
Im going to have to disagree with the choice to not give -2 Con as well. Even now in the PF Bestiary, Drow who live underground and deal with "radiation" still have the penalty to con. Also, if I remember correctly, the shadow elves had a fairly large occurance of malformation and even had a ritual where they would take malformed babies and leave them in the caves to fend for themselves. I just think this is personal preference with what you would like to see with the race (which I can understand) as opposed to what is already established. The description of the race in the Gaz. book even describes them as the typical elf stature and build, frail, not hearty like a jungle elf for example.
Indeed the Shadow Elves originally had Dex +1, Con -1, Int +1 & Cha -1.
But i understand the point of David, he wants to make something different from the typical drow or elf, even if it differs from the original Shadow Elf from Mystara.
After all, these are destined to be from another world, Golarion i presume...
But then i would suggest to remove the radioactive thing and make up something original and new.
As a matter of fact, i happened to use Shadowelves in my own campaign world, but with a different story, something more in tune with the actual shadows, the shadow plane and shadow magic, similar in some points with the shadar-kai, but without the crazy aspect.
|
|
Again, it comes down to which you think is more in line with the "feel" of the race. To me it is the malformities themselves that are the iconic part of the shadow elf, so I gave them a Charisma penalty rather than a Constitution penalty. Remember that until the PFRPG core rulebook, gnomes took a penalty to Constitution, now they don't. When converting from one system to another, sometimes you have to make choices. In this case, I felt that a Charisma penalty was more in line with the image and concept of the race. Since this is not an "official" conversion, you are more than welcome to ignore it if you feel that they should have a Constitution penalty instead of one to Charisma.
Agreed, David.
And after all, that's your conversion, not an official one.
But then, as i said, i would suggest you to remove the radioactivity thing, and replace it with something equivalent, but more fitting in the setting.
Radioactivity is not very heroicfantasyesque (neologism) ;)
You could use some kind of a magic addiction, a debilitative effect or a mark from the shadows, a bit like the shadar-kai's affliction (that's what i used personally), an ancient curse, a banishment, whatever...
And as i mentioned before, don't forget the Light Sensitivity.
They used to be on the Wizards of the Coast website.
EDIT: Are there any official AD&D2 stats for shadow elves? If so, where can I find them?
Just for reference, here is the text file:
shadow elves WOTCalso here:
as html text
Stefan
But then, as i said, i would suggest you to remove the radioactivity thing, and replace it with something equivalent, but more fitting in the setting.
Radioactivity is not very heroicfantasyesque (neologism) ;)
THis radiation thing is well-established for Mystara, mentioned earliest in GAZ 3, Glantri (I think). It is part of the worlds history. I would not replace it.
I like Davids idea of giving them a charisma penalty to distinguish them from "ordinary" elves, even if it hurts their effectiveness as sorcerers.Stefan