Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Neox 03-17-08, 08:51 PM	Hello, I did a quick search of the boards and didn't find anything to answer my question, so here it is. In the Elan description it states: Elans have effectively unlimited life spans. As long as they are not destroyed, their mental arts could conceivably continually energize and rebuild their bodies for a thousand years or more. Since their effectively ageless, do they garner penalties? I know it gives in the age table: Elan: Middle Age: 200 years Old: 400 years Venerable: 1,000 years Maximum Age: +10d% years But the description implies that they don't get worse over time, they continually 'rebuild' themselves (though I suppose I should take anything in D&D with a grain of salt), would it be like the dragonwrought kobold or true dragons in which it doesn't take penalties but accumulates the bonuses? I'm asking this cause its an aberration and i don't understand how their aging works, like aboleths don't gain penalties do they?
CrimsonDeath 03-17-08, 09:35 PM	Since it doesn't say otherwise, they take aging penalties and bonuses just ilke anyone else. Also, check the errata, which removed the Elan's maximum age.
SpoonNinja 03-17-08, 10:36 PM	Here's a question: What do Elans look like?
Lycanthromancer 03-17-08, 10:50 PM	Red-headed psionic stepchil... ...Um...Red-headed, green-eyed humans. That are freaky due to -2 Cha.
SpoonNinja 03-17-08, 11:01 PM	How can a female green-eyed red-headed Elan be freaky looking? :P But still, can anyone find/post a picture?
Lycanthromancer 03-17-08, 11:11 PM	How can a female green-eyed red-headed Elan be freaky looking? :P But still, can anyone find/post a picture?"Not weird," eh? http://www.narutohq.com/gallery/albums/Naruto%20Wallpaper/normal_Gaara-Wallpaper01.jpg http://kakashi.joueb.com/images/Gaara%2001.jpg
The_Mess 03-17-08, 11:51 PM	Here's the official picture: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/xph_gallery/80491.jpg Elan look human. Exactly human. There's a tendency for the people who control the Elan-transformation process to pick people with red hair (personal bias, apparently), but it's not a requirement in any sense. But, come on, who wouldn't want red hair? The -2 Charisma penalty represents them being abberations at the core and the fact that people sense something... off... about them. It's nothing physical.
Lycanthromancer 03-17-08, 11:59 PM	I'm pretty sure the tentacles-as-hair has something to do with the -2 Cha. Of course, this becomes a +2 in Japan. [/obligatory tentai joke]
CrimsonDeath 03-18-08, 03:15 AM	The -2 Charisma penalty represents them being abberations at the core and the fact that people sense something... off... about them. It's nothing physical. And, of course, it bothers Tieflings, Thri-Kreen, and even Daelkyr Halfblood exactly as much as it bothers Humans.
Xeraph 03-18-08, 06:54 AM	Elan can look both really hot: http://www.videogamesblogger.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/03/nariko-with-heavenly-swords-big.jpg or really not: http://images.amazon.com/images/G/01/dvd/dvd-dune-sting.jpg http://www.magickrituals.com/sting.jpg
Psionx 03-18-08, 07:06 AM	http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y224/schieteensop/schieteensop2/southpark2.jpg Run! It's the gingers elans!
SlanderPanic 03-18-08, 11:13 AM	It's time for justice... http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v518/Slanderpanic/david-caruso.jpg Psionics style!
Zappy 03-18-08, 04:06 PM	Red-headed psionic stepchil... LOL! Anyway back on topic. I'm AFB right now, but I thought I remembered reading in the XPH section o n Elans that the appearence was dependent on the age of the Elan. That the most recent batch (less then a few hundred years old) were red headed. It said it had to do with the ruling council's ideas of ideal. I suppose if you and your DM can agree you could set an different age range per type. I was planning on playing one sooner or later and maybe even starting him closer to middle aged. I'm stoked for it now knowing that my character will be in our custom world FOREVER!
'Dane 03-19-08, 12:54 AM	so it makes you wonder, how many elans do you think they make every year, cause with no death age you'd think there'd be a lot more of em running around and you'd also think that living that long would make you go completely insane eventually. So it also makes me wonder how thier secret hasn't gotten out yet. but on amore on topic note i made my elan however i wanted without worrying about what the current council members are looking for because it is more likely that a) I was made before they showed up so I can basically pick whatever I want and b) that could be in there in case the players want to investigate elans further and either become one or bust the secret wide open, which could make for a pretty good campaign. I also just had an idea to make a bunch of dice specifically for choosing hair/skin/eye/etc. color
CrimsonDeath 03-19-08, 01:47 AM	so it makes you wonder, how many elans do you think they make every year, cause with no death age you'd think there'd be a lot more of em running around and you'd also think that living that long would make you go completely insane eventually. So it also makes me wonder how thier secret hasn't gotten out yet. Even if they don't die of natural causes, they can still die due to violence. And since they do have a Venerable age category, that's a lot more likely for the older Elan, who have a -6 penalty to Constitution. As for going insane with age... I'm guessing that the process of transformation takes care of that. Other long-lived aberrations, like Aboleths, aren't any more insane after five thousand years than they are as infants.
teshen 03-19-08, 12:42 PM	Even if they don't die of natural causes, they can still die due to violence. And since they do have a Venerable age category, that's a lot more likely for the older Elan, who have a -6 penalty to Constitution. . . That's when you look for/build a psionic prc with timeless body. It shows foresight.
SpoonNinja 03-19-08, 02:05 PM	Where can I find all the info on Elans to date? I have no clue what they are except for the blantently obvious stuff. They make a good race for a jedi build, though.
The_Mess 03-19-08, 10:36 PM	Basically, everything about the Elan is in the Expanded Psionics Handbook. That's the one and only official source you need. (Note that the background and "fluff" information didn't make it into the SRD. This even has some mechanical consequences since the fact that they don't sleep isn't mentioned in the SRD at all.) There are a few feats for them in Complete Psionic, but no expansion of their society or culture. (Something that would have been appreciated from the book.) Elan get a bit of coverage in Secrets of Sarlona, converting them to Eberron. It changes their nature quite a bit, but I'm rather fond of the result, so I don't hold it against the book. There's an oblique mention of the "first Elan" in a this page from the Mind's Eye column (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20070119a). The only other official source that even mentions them is this online Class Chronicles column (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/frcc/20070620), bringing them to Faerūn. Outside of official stuff, there's Races of the Mind: Elan, from Dreamscarred Press.