I AM GETTING READY TO form my own milieu. This is something that I have always wanted to do, but for whatever reasons, never have got around to. The cool part is that I get to fix stuff that I don’t like, and one of them is the elf.

I have already described my Goblins, and in the same vein, elves are another thing that constantly bugs me. I just don’t see eye to eye with most gamers about their function and their place in the world. Heck, I don’t even agree with most of the stuff that are Core Dungeons & Dragons! I figure that if you are going to have magical races that aren’t human, then you should just go all out! Now, granted, this will be a player character, so we don’t want to go too far out.

In my mind, elves are similar to us in form only. We share a thumb, and we both walk erect. Elves are creatures that are hardly ever seen, and only then when they chose to be seen. They are always busy doing something; they seem to always have their hands in some kind of quest. Perhaps this isn’t an accident? This is their rite of passage: To leave the world of the elves, and find ones adulthood in the land of men. To reap an education, to care for and nurture the Fey, these are the main concerns of the Elf.

In game terms, I am going to remove the Sub-class: Bard, and replace it with Elf.

RACIAL REQUIREMENTS

I think that if we drift too far away from the core rules, then we’ll lose to much of the spirit of the game itself, therefore I think that it would be best to keep the min/max requirements of the Players Handbook (12 DEX/13 INT/15 CHA), as well as the +1 to Dexterity; -1 to Constitution rules. Both of these are not just Core, but they are also quite sound. Elves are very good at simply disappearing, they are fast, nimble creatures, however, they have the hardest time dealing with what humans ingest into their bodies, and are highly susceptible to human parasites and diseases.

RACIAL BENEFITS

Elves are magical creatures, this magic flows through their veins. All elves are 90% resistant to charm and sleep spells, as is core, however they have the bonus ability to cast spells as a Bard. Besides casting spells, they also have the following thieving skills: Move Silently 30%, Hide in Shadows 30%, Detect Noise 20%, and Read Languages 5%. The player gets 20 additional percentage points to put were he wants, and is granted 15 points per level. Note: These are not the traditional Bard Abilities; I chose these to better reflect the elven nature.

Elves gain a +1 bonus when using a bow, they also typically use quarter staves and spears.

RACIAL PENALTIES

Elves have a natural disdain for metal, they see it as a thing of cruelty. Their weapons and armors must be none metal; the metal has a tendency to drain them. Under some circumstances an elf may have a blade constructed, but it will be for a specific goal and he must have the blessing of an elder to have it constructed. Upon the completion of the quest, this blade must be destroyed. Armor is typically looked down upon by the elves, they do not typically wear it, however, some elves have been known to construct armor out of natural and magical materials such as Dragon Scale, or golden straw. These types of elven armors must be constructed by an elven Armorer who will typically demand the owner to supply them with the materials to construct the armor.

Now granted this is a really rough draft, but I am pleased as to were it is going.

One of my biggest changes is that Elves do not have infravision. I find eyesight to be beyond the scope of the game. If we know that someone has excellent eyesight, then we must define every bodies eyesight which is kind of stupid, not to mention that the DM uses a characters vision to describe a scene to everybody at once, for this reason it is important that everybody has the same vision.