Rust Monster

First off, Happy New Year to everybody! As I write this 2007 is rapidly coming to a close (and I’m sitting here writing, damn I need to get out).

Now earlier this month Ampersand released a wonderful glimpse at the Elf entry in the new 4E Player’s Handbook. Sure it might get tweaked again before we get out cheese-stained paws all over it but it’s a nice, juicy bite into what we can look forward to in 2008. And if you’ve read any of my earlier musings you’ll know about my fondness for playing elves so this was really exciting for me.

One of the first tid-bits dropped in the paragraphs preceding the actual Elf entry was the removal of ability score penalties. Hmm, so they’ve kept the bonues and got rid of the penalties, interesting. So let’s look at the first block of info here:

Elf

Quick, wary archers who freely roam the forests and wilds.

Racial Traits

Average Height: 5′ 7″-6′ 0″
Average Weight: 100-130 lb.

Ability Scores: +2 Dexterity, +2 Wisdom
Size: Medium
Speed: 7 squares
Vision: Low-light

Languages: Common, Elven
Skill Bonuses: +2 Nature, +2 Perception

And skimming down we see the elf is getting a bonus to Dexterity and Wisdom. Wisdom, huh? Well, at least we don’t have to take the Constitution penalty so no more wheezy elves! Also in the initial block of information we see elves move 7 squares - so they’re faster? Well, assuming the average base rate is 6 squares that’s cool!
Finishing it off we see low-light vision, a couple skill bonues, languages…ok, ok, nothing new here. So far so good though. A wiser, faster elf thats not always fighting a cough, sweet!

Next block:

Elven Accuracy Elf Racial Power

With an instant of focus, you take careful aim at your foe and strike with the legendary accuracy of the elves.

Encounter Free Action Personal

Effect: Reroll an attack roll. Use the second roll, even if it’s lower.

Elven Weapon Training: You gain proficiency with the longbow and the shortbow.
Wild Step: You ignore difficult terrain when you shift (even if you have a power that allows you to shift multiple squares).
Group Awareness: You grant non-elf allies within 5 squares a +1 racial bonus to Perception checks.
Elven Accuracy: You can use elven accuracy as an encounter power.

Ah, a racial power, and a nice one. Reroll an attack roll is pretty cool. But wait, I see the bow proficiency but the swords are gone? No more swords? Elves are no longer weapon masters, just archers. Ah well, you win some, you lose some. Wild step sounds cool but I don’t know what “shift” means yet. And I also like the Group Awareness - abilities that enhance the group as a whole are handy so no love lost here. But where are the swords!? Oh well, I’ll get over it.

OK, next we have some fluffy details:

Wild and free, elves guard their forested lands using stealth and deadly arrows from the trees. They build their homes in close harmony with the forest, so perfectly joined that travelers often fail to notice that they have entered an elven community until it is too late.

Play an elf if you want …

• to be quick, quiet, and wild;
• to lead your companions through the deep woods and pepper your enemies with arrows;
• to play a ranger, a rogue, or a cleric.

Reading through it, ok, ok, ok [record needle scratches the record!] Hold the phone! Play an elf if you want to play a ranger, rogue, or cleric?! What happened to wizards! Nooooo! My love for playing elves was only seconded by my love for playing wizards. I like the chocolate, I like the peanut butter, I love them together! Ok, breathing into my paper bag - in, out, in , out; ok calming down. I should have saw it coming with their fancy +2 to Wisdom I read earlier. I was all enamored about a second stat bonus that I failed to see they were leading me way from the elf wizard. Hmm.

Well, lets continue:

Physical Qualities

Elves are slender, athletic folk about as tall as humans. They have the same range of complexions as humans, tending more toward tan or brown hues. A typical elf’s hair color is dark brown, autumn orange, mossy green, or deep gold. Elves’ ears are long and pointed, and their eyes are vibrant blue, violet, or green. Elves have little body hair, but males often grow long sideburns. They favor a wild look to their hair, which is often a shaggy mass of braids.

Elves mature at about the same rate as humans but show few effects of age past adulthood. The first sign of an elf’s advancing age is typically a change in hair color — sometimes graying but usually darkening or taking on more autumnal hues. Most elves live to be well over 200 years old and remain vigorous almost to the end.

More fluff. It’s apparent though by the descriptions that the elves are resembling a more primal, wild race - more like the Wood Elves of previous supplements/editions. But you’ll also note the age of elves - well over 200 years. What happened to the immortal elves, or the elves that lives for over a 1,000 years, or at least several hundred. They’ve been whacked all the way down to 200 or so. I’ve been in the debates about the life span of elves and if they live so long they’d have so much power, or what ever. Maybe this is an attempt to answer that debate once and for all. They’re not really living that much longer than other races any more (I presume without seeing the other racial entries). That’s a piece of fantasy that I don’t really want to shake - elves were the immortals - or at least it seemed that way. They were supposed to have been there thousands of years before and they’re supposed to be there thousands of years after. 200 years - bah!

Playing an Elf

Elves are a people of deeply felt but short-lived passions. They are easily moved to delighted laughter, blinding wrath, or mournful tears. They are inclined to impulsive behavior, and members of other races sometimes see elves as flighty or impetuous, but elves do not shirk responsibility or forget commitments. Thanks in part to their long life span, elves sometimes have difficulty taking certain matters as seriously as other races do, but when genuine threats arise, elves are fierce and reliable allies.

Elves revere the natural world. Their connection to their surroundings enables them to perceive much. They never cut living trees, and when they create permanent communities, they do so by carefully growing or weaving arbors, tree houses, and catwalks from living branches. They prefer the primal power of the natural world to the arcane magic their eladrin cousins employ. Elves love to explore new forests and new lands, and it’s not unusual for individuals or small bands to wander hundreds of miles from their homelands.

Elves are loyal and merry friends. They love simple pleasures — dancing, singing, footraces, and contests of balance and skill — and rarely see a reason to tie themselves down to dull or disagreeable tasks. Despite how unpleasant war can be, a threat to their homes, families, or friends can make elves grimly serious and prompt them to take up arms.

At the dawn of creation, elves and eladrin were a single race dwelling both in the Feywild and in the world, and passing freely between the two. When the drow rebelled against their kin, under the leadership of the god Lolth, the resulting battles tore the fey kingdoms asunder. Ties between the peoples of the Feywild and the world grew tenuous, and eventually the elves and eladrin grew into two distinct races. Elves are descended from those who lived primarily in the world, and they no longer dream of the Feywild. They love the forests and wilds of the world that they have made their home.

Elf Characteristics: Agile, friendly, intuitive, joyful, perceptive, quick, tempestuous, wild.

Male Names: Adran, Beiro, Carric, Erdan, Gennal, Heian, Lucan, Peren, Rollen, Soveliss, Therren, Varis.

Female Names: Adrie, Birel, Chaedi, Dara, Ennia, Farall, Harrel, Iriann, Lia, Mialee, Shava, Thia, Valenae.

Elf Adventurers

Three sample elf adventurers are described below.

Varis is an elf ranger and a devout worshiper of Melora, the god of the wilds. When a goblin army forced his people from their woodland village, the elves took refuge in the nearest human town, walled and guarded by soldiers. Varis now leads other elves and some townsfolk in raids against the goblins. Although he maintains a cheerful disposition, he frequently stares into the distance, listening, expecting at any moment to hear signs of approaching foes.

Lia is an elf rogue whose ancestral forest burned to the ground decades ago. Lia grew up on the wasteland’s fringes in a large human city, unable to quite fit in. Her dreams called her to the forests, while her waking hours were spent in the dirtiest parts of civilization. She joined a group of adventurers after trying to cut a warlock’s purse, and she fell in love with the wide world beyond the city.

Heian is an elf cleric of Sehanine, the god of the moon. The elven settlement where he was born still thrives in a forest untouched by the darkness spreading through the world, but he left home years ago, in search of new horizons and adventures. His travels lately have brought rumors to his ears that danger might be brewing in the ancient forest, and he is torn between a desire to seek his own way in the world and a sense of duty to his homeland.

Well, there you have it. The first unveiling of a full race entry from the 4th Edition Player’s Handbook. Oh, what the heck. I’m feeling generous this morning. It must be the season. Here’s a racial feat you can peek at, too.

Elven Precision [Elf]

Prerequisites: Elf, elven accuracy racial power, heroic tier
Benefit: When you use the elven accuracy power, you gain a +2 bonus to the new attack roll.

And we finish it off with some more character fluff. More good reading to get the imagination going and help shape your vision for your new elf. But they leave us with one last morsel - the Racial Feat. A nice little bonus to your attack roll when you use the elven accuracy power. Well, as feats go that’s no whopper so we’ll have to see more about the availability of feats and how many we’ll be selecting.

Reading between the lines a little there are a few hints at the Eladrin. There’s probably some more info out there somewhere on this race but it sounds like they may be the elf cousins with more arcane tendencies. I’d like to get the skinny on these fey-friends - maybe what I loved about elves was encapsulated in this new race - time will tell.

So there you have it - the 4th Edition D&D elf. Some good, some disappointment - only as far as the tradition of how things were though. I’m still excited, nay more so, about the coming edition and elves still rock!

Happy New Year!

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