Rules:Elves

Rules in playtest: The rules on this page are in playtest. They are available for use on a limited, trial basis. Characters created using them may be more subject to changes under the Volatility Clause than usual.

These are the official character rules for Elves. For the story-based description of them, go here.

Name: Elf (singular), Elves (plural), Elven (adjective)
Class: Major Race (non-canon)
Tech Bias: Good
Available Power Types: Any (Phys, Ki, Psi, Magic)
History and Background Page: Elves

Major Racial Advantages:

Family Heirlooms: Elves prize family greatly, and often maintain items or knowledge of power and hand them down within their family over generations. At creation, pick one of the following:

• Combat Training: Base tech day cost for all weapon proficiencies, general weapons proficiencies, or melee proficiency techniques also purchased at creation, is halved, to a maximum savings of 150 base days.
• Mental Command: Base tech day cost for Multitask is permanently reduced by 60, for all iterations.
• Secrets of Training: Instead of 3% gain rate, have 4% gain rate. Daily cap also becomes 8%, instead of the usual 6%.
• Spellcasting Prodigy: Learn the basic forms of Barrier, Firebolt, Icebolt, Levitation, and Litbolt at no charge.

Freedom of Movement: Elves are accustomed to moving freely in all sorts of environments, and commonly wear clothes that do not restrict this freedom. Thus, all effects that would impair their movement (slow effects, entanglement, etcetera) affect the elf as if the elf were at twice their actual power level. If it is a mind-affecting effect, and the elf is a psion, the psion's naturally-doubled defense against this stacks with this racial bonus.

Serenity: Elven minds, being largely imperturbable, are highly resistant to effects that would drastically alter their views. Supernatural effects that would cause the elf to fall asleep, be unnaturally confused, be charmed into following the commands or suggestions of a nature they normally wouldn't, and other similar mind-affecting effects, affect the elf as if the elf were of twice their actual power level, much like Freedom of Movement. Again, this stacks with the doubled defense of psions, if the elf is one.

Minor Racial Advantages:

Longevity: Elves do not die of old age. Nor do they age normally, once they have achieved physical maturity. Rather, memories that they form wear them down. If an elf passes through a particularly bone-harrowing encounter, these memories weigh upon them heavily, aging their appearance. The older an elf appears, physically, the more experienced he or she is. A particularly sheltered elf could live many centuries, yet still look a young adult. When an elf can no longer resist the weight of their memories, they surrender their physical body, and fade away into the next dimension.

Major Racial Disadvantages:

Arcane Traditions: Due to the nature of the elven worldview, the vast majority of them are trained in magical arts to some degree. Power wielders, in particular, are always trained in the mystic arts, and always seem to have sufficient spark to develop power-grade magical skills. Elven characters must start with a Magical PL.

Family Specialization: Due to the unique social structure of elven society, the children of a family tend to inherit their parents' professions. Nowhere is this more true than with power wielders. As such, elven characters will always start with only one power type in addition to magic -- they must always start with a two-part mixture. They must select either this power type, or magic, as their primary power type, at creation. This selection may not be later altered. Starting PL must be divided with two-thirds going to their selected primary power, and one-third going to their secondary power. Their chosen secondary power must always be at least one-third of the strength of their primary power, and may not exceed being equal to the primary power. Any additional power types later gained may not exceed the chosen secondary power in PL.

Frailty of Body: Elves, while starting with the same basic stamina stat as everyone (400%), find it difficult to train themselves to further feats of endurance. All costs for stamina increase and drain reduction techniques/upgrades are considered to be at two bias steps lower (typically, Poor) for elves.

Slowed Recovery Rate: Elven bodies proceed at a slow pace. When wounded to the point of incapacitation, they heal only half a point of incap per real day that passes. With hospital care, however, this doubles, to heal a point of incapacitation every day. Their physiology is sufficiently related to humanity's, that human hospitals can care adequately for elves.

Minor Racial Disadvantages:

Infertility: Elven children are very rare. Where human families can easily have a dozen children, or more, it is rare for an elven couple to have even four, in the entire span of a couple's life. This leads to elven culture highly prizing children. The most serious crime someone can commit, in elven eyes, is to harm a child.

Mental Rigidity: Despite their excellent education, elven thought is very slow to change -- a product of their innate longevity. As such, all elves learning the Enlightenment CTech, to increase their bias, automatically fail their roll, and gain Good+ bias, instead of Excellent.