Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Nat_20 03-11-07, 08:16 PM	I've played in some campaigns that included elens at fist lvl, and they were UBER!!! the thing that me, the non elen players, and the DM didn't like was the fact that the elen psions did ALL the combat. Nobody else really got to do anything... Does anyone else have a problem with this race? My DM wants to make it a quest to go from human to elen, of make it a Prestige Race or something... But anyway, does anyone else have a problem with them?
Deekin 03-11-07, 08:23 PM	Elan. They are called Elans. Elans Also see the Elan monster listing. * -2 Charisma * Aberration: Elans are not subject to spells or effects that affect humanoids only, such as charm person or dominate person. * Medium: As Medium creatures, elans have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size. * Elan base land speed is 30 feet. * Elans (unlike most aberrations) do not have darkvision. * Naturally Psionic: Elans gain 2 bonus power points at 1st level. This benefit does not grant them the ability to manifest powers unless they gain that ability through another source, such as levels in a psionic class. * Resistance (Su): Elans can use psionic energy to increase their resistance to various forms of attack. As an immediate action, an elan can spend 1 power point to gain a +4 racial bonus on saving throws until the beginning of her next action. * Resilience (Su): When an elan takes damage, she can spend power points to reduce its severity. As an immediate action, she can reduce the damage she is about to take by 2 hit points for every 1 power point she spends. * Repletion (Su): An elan can sustain her body without need of food or water. If she spends 1 power point, an elan does not need to eat or drink for 24 hours. * Automatic Language: Common. Bonus Languages: Any (other than secret languages, such as Druidic). Elans’ past lives expose them to wide ranges of language. * Favored Class: Psion. * Level Adjustment: +0. This is what an Elan gets as a race. A First level elan has at most 6pp. They can use this pp to manifest 6 first level powers, absorb 12 hp of damage, or add +4 to a saving throw 6 times, or any combination of the above. How is this a problem? A single raging orc barbarian can force him to soak all his pp to stay alive after a single attack.
BluEnigma 03-11-07, 08:26 PM	It sounds as though your problem is with psions, as there's not too much other than the +2pp/day that makes an elan very offensive in a combat situation. Do you remember exactly how the elan psions (who are the psionics equivalent of a wizard/sorcerer) are doing "all the combat?" Did your DM give the standard 4 encounters per day? Did the player of the elan spend more than his manifester level in power points on any one power? Maybe an Energy Ray or Crystal Shard dealing more than 2d6 as a ranged touch attack? (assuming Overchannel+Talented)
Bacris 03-11-07, 08:46 PM	But anyway, does anyone else have a problem with them? Nope. Considering you have to spend your power points that should normally be used to manifest powers instead on racial abilities, I've found them to be perfectly fine. Most problem situations I've encountered are in unusual game circumstances or people not understanding the rules.
Vut 03-11-07, 11:55 PM	No.
JulesCARV 03-12-07, 12:30 AM	Ellen who? I have to say, I don't think that I would let a PC start out as Ellen DeGeneres, for example, because that much starting gold and fame is just a bit much for a level 1 character, and could unbalance the game. Although as a general matter, I think Ellens are perfectly balanced against other names.
Perseus_Stoned 03-12-07, 12:31 AM	I'd agree with Bacris here, sounds like a rule is being misinterpreted. Can you think of any tactics in particular that the elans seem to be doing so well?
Sines 03-12-07, 12:50 AM	Elans get some free equivalents of first level powers. Resiliance isn't as good as vigor in terms of HP per PP, but it can be used immediately, and you never spend more than you need to. So it evens out. Resistance is the same. And Abberation type isn't half bad either. The +2 PP is nice at low levels but loses steam fairly quickly, Kalashtars at least maintain the ability to manifest an extra fully augmented power each day from level 1 to 20. The way it sounds is likely an issue of more PP than level. Not a fault of the Elan (Though an Elan does provide an extra 2 PP to spend over thier manifester level, which can be useful at very low levels.
Adolfo_Mondschein 03-12-07, 01:34 AM	At low levels their alright, at those levels they use up power points fairly quickly. Although the fact their abberations and and have the equivalents of several immediate action powers built into them are bad enough at any level. The negative to charisma seems like a balancing point, depending on the game, but most cases this is a dump stat anyway. However, I have noticed at higher levels, for psionic Elans(I haven't seen any other kind either) they can have such an amazing abundance of powerpoints that even after blasting his foes to nothingness he still has a enough to resist most of the blows he takes from melee and spells. If your not doing at least three battles per day they can be way overpowered or maybe even indestructible depending on the campaign. I always thought they gave them too many powerpoints. I think they should be using the same number of points as a Sorcerer using the spellpoint system from Unearthed Arcana.
JulesCARV 03-12-07, 01:42 AM	Resistance is better than any power than I can think of at 1st level. It's unambiguously better than empty mind. Empty mind gives +2 bonus to a will save for a power point. Resistance gives a +4 bonus on any save for a power point. Admittedly, resilience is largely inferior to vigor (although it is an immediate action), and repletion has limited applicability, is only barely better than sustenance, and is regardless no better than a clear spindle ioun stone, but resistance... it seems to me that this is something difficult to replicate, with psionics or with anything else. It's a racial bonus to saves, which means it stacks with resistance bonuses and everything.
BlaineTog 03-12-07, 02:18 AM	Elan are pretty awesome at first level. Not so much after.
Lokiyn 03-12-07, 02:27 AM	Just to point out if i had a race that duplicated this effect for the arcane types. vis vitalis Duplicate the Elan, however, replace the power points and resilience abilities with something like this Resilience As an immediate reaction the Vitalis can sacrifice spell slots to spontaneously gain the listed number of temporary hit points that last for a single attack. Slot pp Temp Hp 1 1 2 2 3 6 3 5 10 4 7 14 5 9 18 6 11 22 7 13 26 8 15 30 9 17 34 Temporary hit points so gained last until the next initiative count, or until the Vitalis is struck for any amount of damage, This pool is non divisible, excess points are wasted. Here is a question. If i could sacrifice a fireball to negate the next ten points of damage would it be worth it? A Stoneskin for 14 points? Why are power points less valuable? Simply because power points are more flexible does not negate the need to preserve against the threat of encounters. I routinely Divide my power point pool into three pools, not because i expect to deal with a large number of encounters, but because the threat remains. Even worse it eats immediate actions. Free actions are one thing, but you only get one immediate action a round.
PrinceCurtis 03-12-07, 04:33 PM	Forgive me if this has already been answered, but are Elans ability to spend PP on racial abilities limited by there level?
InkBlot 03-12-07, 04:44 PM	No, it's not limited at all. An Elan can spend as many powerpoints as she has on Resiliance. That's one of the reasons why the powerpoint-to-damage ratio is so poor.
Lokiyn 03-12-07, 07:17 PM	Which, While sounding great on paper, is Horrible in practice. While the ability to sacrifice pp for some sort of quasi hp/dr is convenient. Each pp spend is a greater loss than the actual hp it protects (baring life or death situations) A Manifester that sacrifices pp at the drop of a hat is a manifester that is lacking in powers to use when the bill is due.
Sines 03-12-07, 10:16 PM	Resistance is by far the best part, +4 to all saves lasting a whole round for 1 pp. Thats a rare racial ability that actually improves with level. A level 1 Psion Elan has at most 6 pp. If he makes use of Resistance, he is limiting his ability to actually contribute past firing crossbow bolts. On the other hand, a level 20 Psion Elan has 346 + 10 * Int Mod, an Elan of that level could have around 450 pp, and that +4 to saves is just as useful at 20th level as it was at first. Still in the end, its merely a self preservation ability, albiet at a quickly diminishing cost at higher levels. Abberation type is useful, but doesn't protect the character from everything. While alot of fun spells won't make it past thier type, they are still vulnerable to all the other fun spells, provided you get past thier +4 saves. So, Elans do actually provide nifty benefits at all levels. As they get higher levels thier bonus pp and resiliance start becoming rather bleh, but the cost resistance is merely your swift action for the round as the 1pp cost is too small to even be noted. I haven't played higher level psions, so maybe swift actions see more use than I think, but I doubt they are at such a premium as to never make use of resistance.
johnkretzer 03-12-07, 10:22 PM	Just a question did anybody see the alternate Sorcerer's ability from Dungeonscape? Just asking since as I remembered it is very similar to the Elan's ability....
Think0028 03-13-07, 06:01 PM	Some guys at Character Optimization (including me) looked over it, and figured the best thing we could pull off was a Sorceror 4/Psion 6/Cerebremancer 10. Impossible to get 9th level spells or powers with such a build, and not much point to it, either. You just now have two things to burn. Speaking in terms of non-psionics, this is probably the wrong board (given it's the Psionics board and all).
AntiDjinn 03-13-07, 07:00 PM	Resilience is a good racial ability, but it is hardly a game-breaker due to its inefficiency. If you find you are using it all the time then you probably didn't pick a good set of defensive powers. If you were a sorcerer, would you spend an immediate action and a first level spell slot to prevent 2 points of damage? How about a second level to prevent 6 points, third level to prevent 10 points? Yes, you will if it would prevent you from being killed or incapacitated. Resilience is your fix-all for damage that you were not expecting (as long as you are capable of taking an immediate action in response to the damage). If you are trying to kill an elan, you do need to take Resilience into account, but it is not really going to make your job all that much harder. Just bring multiple sources of damage to bear because he only gets one immediate action per round. Multiple hits for minor damage each round only gives him the option to nix a small portion and still chews up his points and immediates. If your astral construct hits an elan target and he uses his Resilience, then he doesn't have the immediate action that round to activate Resistance when you also hit him with a power.
Lamorake 03-13-07, 09:29 PM	(as long as you are capable of taking an immediate action in response to the damage). Yes, the "immediate action" is tough, because not only can you not perform other immediate actions, you can't take swift actions either. That means if using Resilience is needed, no swift powers/spells/actions or other immediate powers/spells/actions... that is a very limiting factor for sure. Say, you took a huge hit from a NPC barbarian and you used Resilience to negate it, then a NPC wizard casts a maximized delayed blast fireball in your area - no avoiding that, even if you have the Damp Power spell. Just have to hope for a good reflex roll.
Bacris 03-13-07, 09:44 PM	Also recall that you can't use immediate actions until your turn comes in initiative - before that, you're flat footed, and you cannot use immediate actions if you're flat footed. So if you're caught by surprise, you can't use your elan racial abilities.
AntiDjinn 03-14-07, 03:26 AM	All of which means you have have to exercise sound tactical judgement in deciding when to use your elan abilities. Just because you take damage, it is not automatically a good idea to invoke your Resilience. If taking off 10 points of damage at the start of the round means not being able to use Intellect Fortress to block 50 points to your entire party, or failing a save vs. Domination because you couldn't also use Resistance, then you made a bad choice. None of these abilites will keep a character alive without a player who has a solid grasp of the mechanics making the right choices. And none of them make an elan NPC unbeatable by a party who knows how to use appropriate tactics. If elan are going through your game like a runaway train, then something is wrong with your DM's implementation of the rules.