Ghoul paralysis and half-elves

[markrivett]

I will preface this by saying, back in my D&D days I NEVER liked the idea that Elves were just so good and pure and bright that they possessed the innate ability to ignore a specific effect - ghoul paralysis.

Now I'm running into this again, but want to make sure that I'm reading the rules right: Half-Elves possess the "Elf" trait and are therefore ALSO immune to ghoul paralysis.

Are there other examples of specific races possessing advantages against specific effects? If not, this feels like an outlier that constitutes an edge-case racial imbalance. If I were to package my adventure for mass consumption on platforms like Roll20, would I have to modify the encounter in a way that accounted for the possibility of an all-elf or all half-elf party?

To be clear, I'm talking specifically about the Ghoul paralysis not affecting elves. I'm not concerned about an entire party of Death Warden Dwarves who are making trade-offs for advantages against Necromancy.

Insight on this is most welcome. Thank You.

[Deadmanwalking]

Ghoul Paralysis is kind of an weird effect to start with. It's a very all-or-nothing effect with a low Save DC and the Incapacitation tag, so it basically doesn't work against anyone, elf or not, of 2nd level or higher, and can fail to come up even in a combat with 1st level PCs. Elves also aren't immune to Ghoul Fever, only the paralysis, so it's not like they escape scott free or anything from ghoul bites.

Frankly, it certainly is an odd corner case that only exists for legacy reasons, but it's not enough to provide real problems in encounter design or anything.

[Goldryno]

To answer the first part of this question: I don't think I am aware of any free immunity like that in other ancestries all though more ancestries are planned. Most GMs would agree since Half Elves have the Elf trait they'd also benefit from the immunity.

Lengthier thoughts on the Elf Ancestry Ghoul Paralysis immunity and how to deal with it:

A recent adventure path has a pretty Ghoul/Ghast heavy section fairly early on and I don't think I've seen any advice or suggestions anywhere to prevent players from selecting Elves. I think even if a campaign will feature undead its pretty unlikely for a party to go all Elves to utilize Ghoul Paralysis immunity. Odds are in any given campaign, even undead heavy ones, if this one particular monster type does appear they won't be a re-occurring theme. I do not believe it creates a balance issue.

If they will be a re-occurring theme, The Slithering kind of sets a precedent for an adventure where it's appropriate to ban/recommend against a specific ancestry. This would be a bit different scenario, but just wanted to point out banning a base ancestry because it interferes with the story you want to tell has been done before.

Lastly just a small lore note: Not sure if you were using a figure of speech in your post but it seems as if current lore points to Elf's immunity comes from the fact the first Ghoul was an Elf and not from any sort of purity or goodness.

[lemeres]

I think Leshies might have the opposite problem- they are weak to the various plant focused effets.

Obviously not restricted to leshies alone, but they are the only ancestry that this would likely come up with (excluding the minions of the race plant druid).

[Asethe]

Goldryno wrote:

Lastly just a small lore note: Not sure if you were using a figure of speech in your post but it seems as if current lore points to Elf's immunity comes from the fact the first Ghoul was an Elf and not from any sort of purity or goodness.

He's referencing old 1st Ed and 2nd Ed AD&D lore, that the elves were so full of life and positive energy that the crippling touch of ghouls had no effect on them

[Castilliano]

The lore precedes DnD.
During wargaming, Chainmail I believe, Elves were expensive troops, yet crippled as easily as any other troops by Ghoul paralysis. So Elves were given immunity simply to be viable vs. them.
The lore was post hoc validation for that mechanical adjustment.
I wouldn't be surprised if this mirrors why Sleep effects didn't work against them.

I think it's kind of neat, both because it's legacy, but also because of the potential tactical shift if Elves are present. I enjoy when Ancestries have distinct differences, even if it's for oddball reasons.