| Dragon | - | Races | - | Dragon 105 |
| Wild elf | Gray dwarf | Deep Gnomes | Dark Elves | Editor's Conclusion |
The list of possible player-character races
was expanded by seven
with the publication of Unearthed
Arcana. Three of the new choices
? gray
elf, wood elf, and valley
elf ? should present no problem for
the DM to incorporate into a campaign.
However, the other four
new races all have abilities or characteristics
that may make them
tough to handle without upsetting the balance
of the campaign.
Here are some suggestions for avoiding
those difficulties.
The
wild elf
This character race is the easiest of the
four to deal with. The wild
elf's power of animal friendship could
cause the DM possible strife if
the player decides to have his character
(like many a druid we all
know and love) strike up an encounter with
every squirrel and blue-
bird the party chances to meet. The DM
can discourage this tactic
by ruling that the ability is only usable
once per day (just as the spell
would be), once every 6 hours, or whatever
seems appropriate, and
also by sticking to the letter of the spell
description. First of all, the
target is given a saving throw. Second,
remember that animal
friendship does not allow conversation
with or communication from
the animal, and can only be used to attract
the pet and teach the
animal three simple tricks. The magic only
works on non-magical
creatures of neutral alignment and
semi- or animal intelligence.
It takes a week to teach each trick, and
the animal must be tended
to continuously (at least once every 3
days) or it will leave. It could
be ruled that while one animal friendship
training session is under
way, a wild elf cannot attempt to use the
innate power a second time
without penalty; doing so, even if the
target animal makes its save,
would cause the first enchantment to be
broken.
A wild elf can attract a second pet successfully
only when the first
one has been fully trained (taught three
tricks), and in this way can
accumulate a group of pets. A wild elf
can control one or more
animals totaling 1 HD per level of the
elf. This is reduced from the 2
HD per level given in the druid spell,
because having a 5th-level
wild elf character with an elephant or
a rhinoceros in tow could
unbalance things rather badly.
A wild elf player character of an alignment
other than neutral
would have more difficulty in attracting
animal pets; allow the ani-
mal +1 or +2 on its saving throw if the
wild elf's alignment is one
step removed (neutral good, neutral evil,
etc.), and a +2 or +4
bonus if two steps removed (lawful good,
chaotic evil, etc.). Also,
allow an extra saving throw if the elf
tries to teach the animal a trick
that would be out of character for the
animal, or which would show
disrespect for nature.
The
gray dwarf
Duergar have a disadvantage that makes
them very hard to play
in some campaigns, and a few advantages
that might be too power-
ful for the game if they are interpreted
literally.
The disadvantage (also shared by two other
new PC sub-races) is
the adverse effect that daylight or bright
light has on them. Even in
a campaign that takes place mostly in the
dungeons, a party has to
move above ground during the day to get
from place to place. Un-
earthed Arcana says that the gray
dwarf ?will not venture forth? on
bright days. This inhibits the player character
too strongly. The
dwarf may not like to do it, but there
are going to be times when
he?ll have to come out in the sunshine
to keep from slowing the
party down or becoming separated from it.
He will ?venture forth,?
but only when he has to ? and the duergar
must then operate with
all the penalties given in the text.
Alas, there is no Create Foster Grants spell
that would signifi-
cantly aid the light-sensitive gray dwarf.
Perhaps the dwarf could
travel wearing a full helm with the visor
down, so that marching
would be a little easier. A lenient DM
might want to allow a gray
dwarf attired in some sort of eye or head
covering to ignore the
dexterity penalty if a thieving ability
is used in a noncombat situa-
tion. However, all penalties given should
apply during any hostile
encounter or combat.
The duergar?s advantages, and the problems
that arise from them,
are the result of having immunities ? to
non-natural poisons, para-
lyzation attacks, and illusion spells.
If we tone these down to resis-
tances instead of immunities, we can avoid
possible game-balance
problems.
An immunity to non-natural poisons may be
too strong. Such a
rule allows a gray dwarf to enter a deadly
situation without jeopardy.
Instead of immunity, give the gray dwarf
a saving throw of 2 versus
non-natural poisons (so that it can be
failed on a roll of 1). Or, re-
duce the experience-point award for the
encounter in which the
opponent was expecting an advantage from
its use of non-natural
poison.
Immunity to paralyzation is a greater advantage,
and potentially
a greater problem. With this on their side,
gray dwarves can stride
into a pack of ghouls or ghasts without
fear or threat. The suggested
solutions are the same as above: require
a saving throw of 2, or cut
down the XP award by not counting the paralyzation
power as an
exceptional ability. This immunity/resistance
only extends to paraly-
zation caused by physical attack (such
as the touch of a ghoul or
ghast) and not to paralyzation or a similar
force of magical origin;
thus, a gray dwarf is just as susceptible
to a hold person spell or a
wand of paralyzation as any other
dwarf is.
Now, the book says that gray dwarves are
?unaffected by illusion
spells.? This is really opening Pandora?s
Box. This statement must
be toned down, or entire types of play
are going to crumble into
nothingness.
Consider one of the most common types of
illusion ? the invisi-
bility spell. Imagine a party of
PCs being able to see everything they
encounter because their good buddy, the
gray dwarf, is unaffected
by illusions. As extreme as this example
is, it only represents the tip
of the iceberg. The party will encounter
many other common illu-
sions, and having one member (or more)
of the group never affected
by an illusion simply gives the party too
big an advantage.
To tone down this immunity, let?s first
stipulate that in order to
use this characteristic, the gray dwarf
must concentrate for one
round on seeing through, or looking for,
an illusion. If any other
action is taken in the same round, the
dwarfs concentration is bro-
ken and the effort is wasted.
Second, the chance to be unaffected should
not be a 100% thing
in very many cases. The distance between
the dwarf and the illusion
is a factor; it?s harder to detect illusions
that are farther away. If you
interpret this resistance to illusions
as an innate ability that cannot
be improved, then a dwarfs intelligence
score will also help deter-
mine how good he is at seeing through illusions.
If you interpret the
ability as something that can be improved
through practice and
experience, then use the dwarfs experience
level as a factor in deter-
mining his chance. In the following table,
use either the headings for ?Level? or ?Intelligence? over the columns,
depending on
what you think is the nature of this resistance
ability.
Level
| Range to illusion (feet) | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8+ |
| 1-29 | 50% | 60 | 70 | 80 | 90 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
| 30-59 | 40 | 50 | 60 | 70 | 80 | 90 | 100 | 100 |
| 60-89 | 30 | 40 | 50 | 60 | 70 | 80 | 90 | 100 |
| 90-119 | 20 | 30 | 40 | 50 | 60 | 70 | 80 | 90 |
| 120-149 | 10 | 20 | 30 | 40 | 50 | 60 | 70 | 80 |
| 150-179 | 5 | 10 | 20 | 30 | 40 | 50 | 60 | 70 |
| 180-209 | 2 | 5 | 10 | 20 | 30 | 40 | 50 | 60 |
| 210-239 | - | 2 | 5 | 10 | 20 | 30 | 40 | 50 |
| 240-269 | - | - | 2 | 5 | 10 | 20 | 30 | 40 |
| 270-299 | - | - | - | 2 | 5 | 10 | 20 | 30 |
| 300-329 | - | - | - | - | 2 | 5 | 10 | 20 |
| 330-359 | - | - | - | - | - | 2 | 5 | 10 |
| 360-389 | - | - | - | - | - | - | 2 | 5 |
| 390-419 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 2 |
It is impossible, even for a gray dwarf
of utmost intelligence or
level, to successfully see through an illusion
at a distance of 420 feet
or greater. Illusions that have real effects
(such as shadow monsters)
could still harm a gray dwarf, even though
the character could see
the monsters for what they are. Concealed
and hidden doors are not
illusions in any case. Neither are things
hidden in shadows, blended
against rock formations, or similarly camouflaged.
This is only one way to deal with this power
of gray dwarves;
certainly there are other ways of approaching
the issue ? but it
should be approached. Using the rule book
literally where immunity
to illusions is concerned has the potential
to bring irrevocable harm
to the campaign.
Deep
gnomes
These little people have a problem operating
in bright light or
daylight, just as gray dwarves do, which
can be handled as described
in the preceding section. They are also
"immune to the effects of
illusions and phantasms"; take care
of this with a table identical or
similar to the one above. (Success figures
for deep gnomes might be
higher than for gray dwarves, since gnomes
have an innate attunement to illusions.)
<
Level-->
| Range to illusion (feet) | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8+ |
| 1-29 | 60% | 70 | 80 | 90 | 100 | 110 | 110 | 110 |
| 30-59 | 50 | 60 | 70 | 80 | 90 | 100 | 110 | 110 |
| 60-89 | 40 | 50 | 60 | 70 | 80 | 90 | 100 | 110 |
| 90-119 | 30 | 40 | 50 | 60 | 70 | 80 | 90 | 100 |
| 120-149 | 20 | 30 | 40 | 50 | 60 | 70 | 80 | 90 |
| 150-179 | 15 | 20 | 30 | 40 | 50 | 60 | 70 | 80 |
| 180-209 | 12 | 15 | 20 | 30 | 40 | 50 | 60 | 70 |
| 210-239 | - | 12 | 15 | 20 | 30 | 40 | 50 | 60 |
| 240-269 | - | - | 12 | 15 | 20 | 30 | 40 | 50 |
| 270-299 | - | - | - | 12 | 15 | 20 | 30 | 40 |
| 300-329 | - | - | - | - | 12 | 15 | 20 | 30 |
| 330-359 | - | - | - | - | - | 12 | 15 | 20 |
| 360-389 | - | - | - | - | - | - | 12 | 15 |
| 390-419 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 12 |
There are two ways to tone down this power
? make it usable
with less frequency (once a week, for instance)
or impose an
experience-point penalty on player-character
deep gnomes in return
for their possession of this ability. I
would suggest a 10% penalty on
all earned experience through the end of
4th level, and a 50% pen-
alty when going from 5th to 6th level.
You may find that a combina-
tion of these procedures (a slight XP penalty
plus a reduction in
frequency) will suit the purpose.
<conjure earth elemental 2 times per week>
<5% XP penalty at level 1>
<5% XP penalty at level 2>
<5% XP penalty at level 3>
<5% XP penalty at level 4>
<25% XP penalty at level 5>
<25% XP penalty at level 6>
<0% XP penalty at levels 7+>
<1st use causes fatigue: 1 HP damage>
<2nd use in a 24 hour period causes exhaustion: 4 HP damage>
The svirfneblin?s spell-like abilities of blindness, blur,
and change
self are not too radical ? although
a thief who can change self is
going to be hard to find in a populated
area!
Dark
elves
Drow player characters also have a problem
with bright light or
daylight; handle this as described above
for gray dwarves.
The drow have some very substantial spell-like
powers usable once
per day. Dancing lights, faerie fire, and
darkness 5? radius are not
too severe and probably do not need a counter.
Assume that the
duration, range, etc., of these abilities
are the same as for their
namesake spells, with variable characteristics
dependent upon the
dark elf?s level.
Dark elves of 4th level or higher also
get detect magic, know align-
ment, and levitate abilities. The first
two are not great problems,
although they can obviously help a party
very much. However, the
ability to levitate can be an unbalancing
advantage for a drow of
high level, who might be able to get an
entire party out of trouble
with one usage of the ability. To compensate
for this great advan-
tage, I would make all classes of player-character
drow take a 10%
penalty to earned experience at all times
after attaining 4th level.
Female dark elves get even more advantages
at 4th level, and
player characters should take a 20% penalty
to earned experience in
going from 3rd to 4th level, plus a 10%
penalty for every level there-
after. This penalty does not seem too severe,
considering that female
drow obtain clairvoyance, detect lie, and
dispel magic abilities ? a
very handy group of powers for a player
character to have on a
once-a-day basis.
Editor's conclusion
Much of the difficulty in designing the
new player-character races
arose from the fact that many of the races
were previously described
as ?monster? types in the rule books. Clearly,
player characters
belonging to these races could not be permitted
to enjoy all the
special abilities attributed to the ?monsters.?
For instance, gray
dwarves could not be automatically psionic;
svirfnebli could not
have special skill with darts; drow could
not retain many of the
magical attributes given for that race
of ?monsters? in the FIEND
FOLIO®
Tome.
Counterbalancing this was our desire to
be faithful to the way the
races were originally described; because
of this, characteristics such
as the duergar?s immunity to illusions
were retained, even though it
wasn?t always easy to find a game-balance
reason for doing so.
The changes suggested in this article are
good ways of dealing
with problems ? if the problems occur or
threaten to crop up in
your campaign. If you find it necessary,
you can use any method of
toning down these abilities that you think
is appropriate. ? KM