Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Cyber-Dave Nov 23, 2009 16:00:27	Ok, so, I know all about the Valenar, Arenal, and Dragonmarked elves. They are awsome. But, in passing, I had an idea for an elf ranger-seeker hybrid who is a member of the wardens or the gatekeepers. But, the more I read up on these sects, the more it seems like they are all human, orc, half-orc, or shifter populated. Would it make sense for an elf to be a member of any of these druidic sects?
#2 bustr Nov 23, 2009 17:03:09	i think i remember a post by hellcow saying something that the tairnadal are more primal oriented.  if you want to stick with aerenal cultures.  the link is here: community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/758...
#3 Hellcow Nov 23, 2009 17:38:51	The Tairnadal do have primal connections. The Siyal Marrain are the druids of the Tairnadal: www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ebds/2... ... and the Taer Valaestas articles discuss the fact that primal power is used to create the fortresses of the Valenar. www.wizards.com/DnD/Article.aspx?x=dnd/d... www.wizards.com/DnD/Article.aspx?x=dnd/d... www.wizards.com/DnD/Article.aspx?x=dnd/d... www.wizards.com/DnD/Article.aspx?x=dnd/d... Rangers traditionally played a role in the forces of the Valenar, and of course rangers used to be a little more primal than they are in 4E. www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ebds/2... So, you can certainly get primal classes among the Tairnadal. But if you want to have elves in the Eldeen, you certainly can. They're out there, just as they can be found anywhere in Khorvaire. They simply don't make up a significant portion of any of the sects and do not have a distinctive culture of their own; over the generations, they have integrated into the sects and adopted their beliefs, accepting them as a new family.
#4 Sacrament Nov 23, 2009 17:46:03	Ok, so, I know all about the Valenar, Arenal, and Dragonmarked elves. They are awsome. But, in passing, I had an idea for an elf ranger-seeker hybrid who is a member of the wardens or the gatekeepers. But, the more I read up on these sects, the more it seems like they are all human, orc, half-orc, or shifter populated. Would it make sense for an elf to be a member of any of these druidic sects? Don't forget about the "integrated" elves (refered to as Khorvaire elves in RoE I believe), who would make as much sense as typical wardens as any human or half elf would.
#5 Cyber-Dave Nov 24, 2009 3:46:19	Do all Tairnadal warriors ride horses, or is it feasible that one had an archer ancestor who didn't, and thus doesn't him/herself?
#6 Hellcow Nov 24, 2009 13:13:03	Do all Tairnadal warriors ride horses, or is it feasible that one had an archer ancestor who didn't, and thus doesn't him/herself? Well, one thing to consider is that in 3E, the Valenar "warrior" - which is to say, the typical member of a Valenar warband - isn't an NPC classed warrior like his counterparts in the armies of the Five Nations. He's a ranger. He's trained in stealth and survival, capable of disappearing into cover and living off the land. He's specialized in blade or bow, capable of performing feats with his chosen weapon that outshine that typical soldier of the Five Nations. He may even have a touch of primal magic. All rangers are trained in sword and bow, and have more skill points than their warrior counterparts, and a wider range of skills to choose from. What they DON'T have is anything that automatically forces them to focus on mounted combat. And this is reflected in the forces of Valenar. Their cavalry is the best on Khorvaire. But it's only a fraction of their army. Most warbands have horses, because they need to cover a lot of ground in their travels. But many of them don't FIGHT on horseback. But if you look to City of Towers (the novel), when they talk about fighting Valenar, it's not defending against a cavalry charge, but rather dealing with a long guerilla siege, with a single warband lurking in the woods around their fort and picking off anyone who ventures outside. They may have used horses to get there... maybe... but they are fighting on foot. So they aren't all cavalry soldiers by a long shot. But they emphasize skill and cunning over brute force. Part of this is because they don't have the numbers the other nations have, and because it takes decades to produce a soldier with the skill of the typical Valenar. They can't recover from losses as quickly as the Five Nations can. The loss of a thousand Thranes in a battle is a tragedy, but replacing 1st level warriors isn't a hard thing to do. Valenar aren't BORN 4th-level PC-classed characters, and when they lose a thousand soldiers, it takes them decades to replace them. Of course, with the Tairnadal everything depends on the ancestor. The bulk of the Tairnadal ancestors were skirmishers, because they simply didn't have the power or numbers to face the giants head on; stealth and commando tactics were necessary for survival. But if you want to be descended from the Tairnadal warden legendary for barreling head-first into the giants and never backing down...  hey, make up the legend. So: Tairnadal have a history with their horses. But only a fraction of them actually fight on horseback, and some don't even ride at all. Long story short, if you want your ranger/seeker who doesn't have a thing to do with horses, you're perfectly viable as a Tairnadal elf.
#7 Cyber-Dave Dec 02, 2009 9:01:32	Neat! Thank you for the info Kieth!
#8 Ogiwan Dec 02, 2009 9:44:36	I'm just waiting for a Dragon article that allows a PC's mount to get better as the PC levels up.
#9 Cyber-Dave Dec 02, 2009 16:36:44	It's never going to happen. Not unless the mount becomes a class feature of an existing class ala the beastmaster beast class feature. What they will hopefully, one day, create is a system of paying gold to "train" your mount and level it up, at the cost of gold, as you level. But, simply to have your mount level up for free... its both an unbalanced and unrealistic request.