I have created a world where elves have been at war over the use of nature. During that time, the race has split in two, with the High Elves being the standard race, while Wild Elves have become nature's champions. I would appreciate feedback on my thoughts on this racial variant, as expressed below.
The wild elves have lost some of their magical aptitude. Instead, they have become much wilder, oftentimes almost feral. Their skin is hues of brown and green, with darker hair and eyes. While much of their shelter and clothing is "grown", they do so with little style, so everything is somewhat primitive. They tend to be distrusting of their High Elf neighbors, fearing that they will once more overwhelm the forest with their gardens and parks, pushing out the wilderness. They have become friendly with the dwarves of the Weathered Wall, as they have also come to revere nature, though they do so underground. While wary of humans, they have found that they can form alliances with those who seek to rein in the expansionist tendencies the race possesses. As they live in an area which is geographically isolated, they tend to be somewhat distrustful of most other races.
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Wild Elf Racial Traits +2 Dexterity, +2 Wisdom, –2 Constitution: Wild elves are dexterous and able to move easily, while their connection with nature has given them greater wisdom; they are, however, still frail.
Medium: Wild elves are Medium creatures and have no bonuses or penalties due to their size. Normal Speed: Elves have a base speed of 30 feet.
Low-Light Vision: Wild elves can see twice as far as humans in conditions of dim light.
Wild Elven Immunities: Wild elves are immune to plant based poison and potion effects and get a +2 racial saving throw bonus against plant attacks and spell-like effects, including druid spells such as Entangle.
Wild Elven Nature: Elves receive a +2 racial bonus on caster level checks made on Knowledge (Nature) and Survival checks. In addition, wild elves receive a +2 racial bonus on Handle Animal skill checks when dealing with forest animals. Keen Senses: Wild elves receive a +2 racial bonus on Perception skill checks.
Weapon Familiarity: Elves are proficient with longbows (including composite longbows), guisarme, siangham, and shortbows (including composite shortbows), and treat any weapon with the word “elven” in its name as a martial weapon.
Languages: Elves begin play speaking Common and Sylvan. Elves with high Intelligence scores can choose from the following: Celestial, Draconic, Gnoll, Gnome, Goblin, Orc, and Elven.
Looks good to me. Very druid-y, ranger-y, and slightly different from the standard elf.
The weapons seemed a little strange, but thinking about it, they're easy to make, and being isolated, the wild elves could have easily developed their own preferred fighiting style. Plant poison immunity is a good swap for sleep inmunity, etc.
I'd play it like that!
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For an elf who has bonded with the natural world, I would ditch the Con penalty and replace it with an Int penalty. It doesn't really fit the 'feel' of a race that lives outdoors and spends a lot of time in the wild to be a sickly race that keels over at the slightest hint of infection, or change in temperature.
For the more ethereal and otherworldly high elves, who may retain a connection to fey realms and such, a Con penalty is acceptable, as it represents that these elves have *not* adjusted to the mortal world, and are deliberately holding themselves apart from it, resulting in their lighter-than-expected frames being overly susceptible to earthly conditions of climate, contagion, etc.
Thanks for liking it. It wasn't too hard to do, mostly finding the right replacements to give them the right feel.
I actually read over all of the standard weapons several times trying to find substitute weapons that did similar damage but would be easy to make in the wilderness. I also wanted them to be easy to use and carry. I have to admit, though, that once I realized the siangham fit my criteria, I thought it was too unusual not to use. No monks in my world, so it is not a weapon that you would see too often.
Eric
Looks good to me. Very druid-y, ranger-y, and slightly different from the standard elf.
The weapons seemed a little strange, but thinking about it, they're easy to make, and being isolated, the wild elves could have easily developed their own preferred fighiting style. Plant poison immunity is a good swap for sleep inmunity, etc.
I'd play it like that!
Thanks, I appreciate your comment. It helps, because sometimes I get stuck. I wasn't wild the constitution penalty, but was not sure I could change to much without losing the elven flavor. You are right... I am changing out the Con penalty for Int... It will be reflected above.
Eric
For an elf who has bonded with the natural world, I would ditch the Con penalty and replace it with an Int penalty. It doesn't really fit the 'feel' of a race that lives outdoors and spends a lot of time in the wild to be a sickly race that keels over at the slightest hint of infection, or change in temperature.
For the more ethereal and otherworldly high elves, who may retain a connection to fey realms and such, a Con penalty is acceptable, as it represents that these elves have *not* adjusted to the mortal world, and are deliberately holding themselves apart from it, resulting in their lighter-than-expected frames being overly susceptible to earthly conditions of climate, contagion, etc.
I have created a world where elves have been at war over the use of nature. During that time, the race has split in two, with the High Elves being the standard race, while Wild Elves have become nature's champions. I would appreciate feedback on my thoughts on this racial variant, as expressed below.
The wild elves have lost some of their magical aptitude. Instead, they have become much wilder, oftentimes almost feral. Their skin is hues of brown and green, with darker hair and eyes. While much of their shelter and clothing is "grown", they do so with little style, so everything is somewhat primitive. They tend to be distrusting of their High Elf neighbors, fearing that they will once more overwhelm the forest with their gardens and parks, pushing out the wilderness. They have become friendly with the dwarves of the Weathered Wall, as they have also come to revere nature, though they do so underground. While wary of humans, they have found that they can form alliances with those who seek to rein in the expansionist tendencies the race possesses. As they live in an area which is geographically isolated, they tend to be somewhat distrustful of most other races.
sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss sssssssssssssssss
Wild Elf Racial Traits +2 Dexterity, +2 Wisdom, –2 Intelligence: Wild elves are dexterous and able to move easily, while their connection with nature has given them greater wisdom; they have come to rely more on wisdom and cunning, and lost reliance on intelligence in the process.
Medium: Wild elves are Medium creatures and have no bonuses or penalties due to their size. Normal Speed: Elves have a base speed of 30 feet.
Low-Light Vision: Wild elves can see twice as far as humans in conditions of dim light.
Wild Elven Immunities: Wild elves are immune to plant based poison and potion effects and get a +2 racial saving throw bonus against plant attacks and spell-like effects, including druid spells such as Entangle.
Wild Elven Nature: Elves receive a +2 racial bonus on caster level checks made on Knowledge (Nature) and Survival checks. In addition, wild elves receive a +2 racial bonus on Handle Animal skill checks when dealing with forest animals. Keen Senses: Wild elves receive a +2 racial bonus on Perception skill checks.
Weapon Familiarity: Elves are proficient with longbows (including composite longbows), guisarme, siangham, and shortbows (including composite shortbows), and treat any weapon with the word “elven” in its name as a martial weapon.
Languages: Elves begin play speaking Common and Sylvan. Elves with high Intelligence scores can choose from the following: Celestial, Draconic, Gnoll, Gnome, Goblin, Orc, and Elven.
I like the feel of the race overall quite a bit. I'll second someone else's opinion that the weapon proficiencies are awkward. Id rather just see Longbow OR shortbow (preferably longbow, heh). I find it odd that they get a Siangham, especially considering its a monk weapon (which I know don't exist in your world!). I think giving them net would be interesting, given their hunting nature. Im sad to see an elf race lose longsword prof, but I understand why.
The idea of Wild Elven Immunities is great. I like how regular elves maintain their Arcane focus (Spell pen, enchantment resistance, sleep immunity), and wild elves are more attuned to nature. I feel like the wording is a little awkward. Am I immune to any poison that comes from a potion? Or only plant-based poisons in a potion? Why give a dave bonus vs plant attacks, shouldn't it just be abilities/spells since you dont normally save vs an attack. I guess the biggest problem I have is I wish it could be made to be somewhat broader as you just dont encounter these sorts of things that often (outisde of a nature campaign, of course). But then again, Wild elves weren't design to be optimal in an urban campaign, Im sure. As someone who likes playing Elven Druids (even though the stats dont line up like I'd like), I give this race an overall approval!
Thanks to everybody for the feedback. I had considered making net as one of the weapons. However, it is pretty weak for combat, and I wanted to balance out the weapons on the standard elves. The siangham matches up pretty well with the rapier, which is a standard elven weapon. The guisarme does a bit more damage than the longsword, but I could honestly see a stealthy wild elf using it to trip up a charging creature. It is the names that bother me the most, but I felt it would be easier to just leave the standard names than explain that a "kchar-staff" was the same as a guisarme. Spears could have made the cut, but felt a bit "blah". I took the proficiency with both bows straight from the standard rules for elves in Pathfinder. Limiting it to one or the other would mean I would need to find a replacement to keep the balance I wanted.
I was looking at giving these guys immunity to any plant-based substance. Since I don't feel all poisons are potions and all potions aren't poison, I was trying to make my description cover both. I also felt that limiting their spell immunity to plant-based ones was limiting, but I couldn't figure out a way around it without sacrificing the flavor of the race. Suggestions on how to broaden this without overly diluting it?
The save vs. plants is from knowledge. Easier to escape from an assassin vine, that kind of thing. I suppose better wording would be a +2 bonus vs. plant attacks?
Thanks again..
Eric
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I'm a little confused about the poison or potion distinction. I can't think of an offensive potion that isn't a poison. If you mean a poison (inhalation, injury, or contact) then simply saying poison would work fine.
As for the net, I actually think it fits thematically as well as power-wise. People neglect to see that the net gives a -4 penalty to dexterity to the creature. While it doesn't make too much RP sense, this does actually mean combined with poison (which these elves are automatically "proficient" with plant-based poisons) could cause the creature to go to 0 dexterity... thereby disabling it completely. I once had a poison using rogue that did this to a dragon... best way ever to drop a dragon, dex damage/penalty.
Thanks to everybody for the feedback. I had considered making net as one of the weapons. However, it is pretty weak for combat, and I wanted to balance out the weapons on the standard elves. The siangham matches up pretty well with the rapier, which is a standard elven weapon. The guisarme does a bit more damage than the longsword, but I could honestly see a stealthy wild elf using it to trip up a charging creature. It is the names that bother me the most, but I felt it would be easier to just leave the standard names than explain that a "kchar-staff" was the same as a guisarme. Spears could have made the cut, but felt a bit "blah". I took the proficiency with both bows straight from the standard rules for elves in Pathfinder. Limiting it to one or the other would mean I would need to find a replacement to keep the balance I wanted.
I was looking at giving these guys immunity to any plant-based substance. Since I don't feel all poisons are potions and all potions aren't poison, I was trying to make my description cover both. I also felt that limiting their spell immunity to plant-based ones was limiting, but I couldn't figure out a way around it without sacrificing the flavor of the race. Suggestions on how to broaden this without overly diluting it?
The save vs. plants is from knowledge. Easier to escape from an assassin vine, that kind of thing. I suppose better wording would be a +2 bonus vs. plant attacks?
Thanks again..
Eric
I would NOT complain about net proficiency, it'd be awesome AND flavorful! If I Had a wild elf character I'd ALWAYS carry around some nets.
For the plants, Id consider something like Defensive Training: Wild Elves get a +2 dodge bonus to AC and +2 racial bonus to CMD against plants. You could give +2 to saves against plant abilities, as well, thatd be alot though, so maybe instead of the +2 to AC.I'd say maybe give them at +2 to knowledge checks to identify plants, but thats already covered by your other + to knowledge (Nature).
For the poisons, you could just make them immune to plant based poisons. Done. This includes the poison abilities of plants, as well as any "potions" that are based on plants. Requires a little bit more research, but covers it.
Using the Elven immunities as a template, I'd consider something like this:
Wild Elves are Immune Plant based poisons and receive a +2 racial saving throw against nonmagical poisons (such as those from vermin). Not quite as powerful as the Elven Immunities (since enchantments/sleep can be killers), but whatever, it fits and Id be happy to have it, especially in conjunction with the other abilities.
This is very similar to what I have for the True Elves/Shuu in my campaign setting. I like.