Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Bailrut 05-15-07, 01:40 AM	I tend to excercise my powers as DM to really customize races for my players' backgrounds, future goals and whatnot and one of my players wanted to try playing a Valenar fighter. I took a look at some of the elf characteristics from the PHB, ECS, and desert elf variant from Unearthed Arcana (the Tairnadal strike me as a very desert-based culture by their style of dress and curved blades) and came up with this. I'd be interested in hearing any thoughts. +2 bonus on racial bonus on Ride and Handle Animal. Everyone knows how much stock the Tairnadal put into their horses, so this made perfect sense. This replaces the +2 bonus to listen checks. I also decided to remove the notice secret door ability, figuring that there just wasn't much call for that type of thing on the open plains or the Blade Desert. +2 to Dex, -2 to Strength. Strength doesn't help one survive the harsh environment of the desert or vastness of the plains as much as constitution. This is also right out of the desert elf variant in UA. Immunity to sleep, +2 bonus to saves vs enchants, +2 racial bonus to spot checks and low light vision all remain with this variant. Restrictions - Armor - Due to their nomadic and equestrian culture, Tairnadal can never be proficient in anything heavier than light armor, regardless of class. Weapons - Tairnadal warriors also refuse to train in any weapon that deviates from those used by their ancestors. Tairnadal weapon proficiencies are limited to the scimitar, double scimitar, falchion, kukri, shortbow (composite included) and simple weapons (any further suggestions would be welcomed.) regardless of class weapon proficiencies. To train in any other weapon would, in the eyes of the Valenar, be disrespectful to the spirit of their ancestors. Bonuses - Tairnadal elves gain the martial weapon proficiency for scimitar, double scimitar, falchion, kukri and shortbow. They also recieve the Mounted Combat feat as well as Weapon Focus (for one of the aforementioned weapons) as bonus feats. Now, I'm not saying that ALL Valenar elves would share these traits, but merely suggest that some of the more traditional Tairnadal warriors would and could fit this profile. Thanks for reading and I look forward to any suggestions or comments.
Captain_Kobold 05-15-07, 09:09 AM	I suppose the first question to ask is: Why? Why do you feel the need for the elves who moved to Valenar to vary so much from the ones who have lived in Khorvaire, or those they left behind in Aerenal? The second is: How? By what mechanism do elves deviate so drastically from their parents? Think about how many generations of elves have actually lived in Valenar. The mercenary Elves have had less than 100 years on the land, and Valenar has only existed for 40 years as a nation. If you feel the need to make changes to the elf due to a different culture, then make them to the cultural influences. Change weapon proficiencies perhaps (But bear in mind that simply giving out all the iconic weapons reduces the relative power of the martial classes and boosts the less martial.) The bonus to listen etc. as well as he ability to notice secret door is not because of a cultural fascination with deception or architecture. Simply a function of having extremely keen senses. Although the favored class is also often regarded as a racial function, it could be argued that it has a basis in the culture, so you might get away with changing that to ranger perhaps. All in all, even without the designer of Eberron having mentioned that he doesn't see sub-races in Eberron, I don't see the need to optimise the Valenar by changing Elven racial traits. :rant: OK. Rant over. Now to the mechanics: (We'll leave out the whys etc, and simply assume that elves have changed due to their ancestors warping the children born to the culture, or that these represent a 'lost culture' of elvesthat have actually been living the lifestyle for aeons.) Perhaps include the skills bonus to include wild empathy checks on horses for those classes who have that ability? The Valenar are very much a Warrior culture, with possibly more focus on melee than standard elves. I'm not sure that a loss of strength is approriate. Perhaps Charisma and/or Intelligence penalties reflect the culture's turning away from scholarly pursuits to the more brash legendary ancestor-emulation. Armor: I think that saying that no Valenar elf can ever learn to wear armour better than light is overly restrictive. Whilst the Valenar light cavalry may prefer to stick to chain shirts etc. I don't see a reason why a Valenar fighter could not use heavier armour as the situation demanded. Weapons: If you must restrict the weapons, then I would suggest adding lances, composite longbows, whips, bolas, flails, nunchaku, kama, shuriken, nets to the list usable. Giving all Valenar elves two free feats (in addition to all the weaponprofs, but that is just adjustment from the standard elf cheese) could be regarded as a little unbalanced. The best way to retain this flavor whilst retaining class balance might be to remove medium and heavy armour profs from those classes that get them as standard (but allow them to spend a feat to get them later) and give them Mounted Combat in compensation. Those classes who would normally get the full range of martial weapons have the list restricted but gain weapon focus instead. Note: I still don't like this, but its the most balanced way I can think of of retaining the flavor of the OP.
Bailrut 05-15-07, 01:57 PM	Thanks for the feedback! You've got some good points there and this is just what I was looking for. Another viewpoint. I've decided to include the bonus feats of mounted combat and weapon focus and armor and weapon restrictions as a fighter class substitution level instead of a racial thing. Dumped the other stuff. Thanks again.
kaionon 05-15-07, 04:15 PM	If you look in the Players guide to Eberron it lists the changes a Valenar elf gets over the normal high elves of the PHB. Basicly just the changes weapon profic feats was all I think.