Elves

Author's Notes:
I hate elves; I should say that right now. I hate their arrogant, superior attitudes, I hate their annoyingly good reflexes, I hate their long life spans. I hate EVERYTHING about them, especially the fact that, in fantasy (except for Drow), they're ALWAYS the good guys. You can only root for the orcs for so long. Solution? Make 'em villains. So, inspired by Terry Prachett's Lords and Ladies, and a piece of fiction I read in Dragon Magazine many years ago (author and title forgotten), I present to you a new, improved elf. He's not poor or short, but he is nasty and brutish.

Editor's Notes:
I've changed a bit of the information here to better fit into the Nightbane^TM setting. For the most part, these Elves will work fine. However, some of the background for them had to be modified. If something is modified, I will make a note of it and put the original version at the end of the page. Enjoy!

"In this, the Year of Our Lord Twelve Hundred and Seventy Seven, we have won a great victory for Christiandom. The summoned armies of these several Christian lords have, at long last, ridded Europe of the scourge known as the Fey. Their centuries-old menace to the bodies and souls of good men, and likewise to the virtue and well-being of honest women, will now know end as, armed with blades of Cold Iron, and supported with the blessings of His Holiness, these Paladins have exterminated those Children of Lucifer to the last. In a spirit of thanksgiving we honor thee, Lord, with our prayers. Amen."

- From the notes of Friar Aldridge

"March 13, 2005 -
"Two years to the day since the Elves popped in; a little over a year and a half since they decided to turn on us. They started out on our side... or so we thought. They were helping us against the Nightlords. We seemed to actually be making some real progress finally.
"But now... I guess the Nightlords gave them an offer they couldn't refuse. Decided to help squash the 'pesky humans'.
"What chance do we have, now? Seems like our weapons don't have the 'pop' against Elves that they do against regular people. And theirs... Lord, what are they using? Magic? Since when did my life become a Tolkien novel? I'm definitely too old for this shit.
"At least we can operate (more or less) freely against them during the day. If only we could figure out a way to avoid losing everything we gained the next night...
"Damn, I hate Elves."

- Personal Notes, Col. James Franklin, ADA

(See original version)

(Editor's Note: The following intro/history was not in the original version)

Elves. Humanity thought they were only a fairy tale. Creatures of myth, fighting for what was right. Older... wiser... better than humanity. We were wrong... about everything.

The Elves, or Fey as they are otherwise known, have come back. When they first appeared, they did seem like the creatures we had read about in books or heard stories of around the campfire. They joined the battle against the Nightlords. For a while the tide almost seemed to turn in our favor. Then disaster struck.

No one knows exactly why, but one day instead of attacking the Nightlords, the Elves began attacking mankind. Most people assume that some kind of deal was struck with the Nightlords, but know one is sure. Regardless, with new allies the Nightlords quickly gained the upper hand again.

Humanity and it's allies have been paying the price ever since.

Elves

Attributes
IQ 3d6 ME 4d6 MA 4d6 PS 3d6 PP 4d6 PE 3d6 PB 4d6 Spd 4d6
SDC: By OCC
Hit Points: Standard
PPE: Non-Magical OCC - 5d6
Magical OCC - As per OCC, +10%

Natural Abilities:

Magical Affinity - The elvish connection with magic is so strong that they both cast and resist magic with greater ease than mortals. Spell-casting elves subtract their level of experience from the PPE cost of any spell they cast, to a minimum cost of the spell's level in PPE (i.e., a Call Lightning spell from a 5th level elvish sorcerer costs only 10 PPE, but a Globe of Daylight will cost one). In addition, all elves have an additional +3 to save vs Magic, +1 for every additional four levels after first.

Immortality - Elves are immortal, to the extent that they have no natural limit to their lifespans. In addition, their alien nature reduces their vulnerability to normal weapons. In game terms, subtract one from every die of damage dealt to the elf from normal weapons or hand to hand attacks.

Silver - The metal of the moon cannot harm the fey. Elves take no damage from silver weapons.

Nightvision - Roughly the equivalent of human day vision.

Vulnerabilities:

Sunlight - Elves are creatures of the night; as such, they are affected by sunlight as are vampires.

Cold Iron - Iron disrupts elvish magic, and severely harms elves. Merely carrying a pound or so of iron on one's person grants a +3 to save vs elvish magic, while greater amounts give an even greater bonus (GM's discretion). In addition, weapons of at least 50% pure iron do double damage against elves, and even scattered iron filings (or similar) affect them as a similar quantity of acid would normal people.

Skills:
By OCC. Elves are generally either Sorcerers or Mystics (See Nightbane^TM RPG); those with no talent for magic become Elven Warriors.

Elven Warrior OCC

The Elven Warrior is, in essence, the "grunt" of the elvish community. Lacking talent for the greater pursuit of magic, he or she instead follow the lesser path of physical combat. At least, that's how the elves see it. In fact, an elven warrior is a capable, skilled combatant; one of them generally the equal of two "mere humans".

OCC Skills

Lore: Magic (+10%)

Lore: Demons & Monsters (+10%)

Lore: Ghosts & Faeries (+15%)

Tracking (+15%)

Wilderness Survival (+15%)

Archery

Fencing

Prowl (+20%)

WP Sword

Hand to Hand: Expert (may be changed to HtH: Assassin at the cost of one Other Skill)

OCC Related Skills: Select ten other skills, plus two at level four, and one at levels 7, 10, 12, and 15.

Communications: None

Computer: None

Domestic: Any

Electrical: None

Espionage: Any

Mechanical: None

Medical: First Aid and Holistic Medicine only (+10%)

Military: None

Physical: Any (+15% where applicable)

Pilot: Horsemanship only (+10%)

Pilot Related: None

Rogue: Any except Computer Hacking

Science: Any (-10%)

Technical: Any (+5% on Lore skills)

Wilderness Any

WP: Any Ancient

Secondary Skills:
Choose five from the above list, without listed bonus (Science penalty still applies) at first level. Choose one additional secondary skill at levels 3, 5, 8, 10, and 12. These additional secondary skills do NOT have the limitations placed on them that initial skills do.

By Lee Casebolt (mulrc7@uxa.ecn.bgu.edu).
Editing changes by Chris Curtis (c-curtis@tamu.edu).

(Original version:)

Personal Notes, Col James Franklin, Human Resistance Army

"March 13, 1998 - Two years to the day since the Elves popped in; a little over a year and a half since they took over. Five and a half months to take a planet? Dear God, what are we facing? Seems like our weapons don't have the "pop" against Elves that they do against regular people. And theirs... Lord, what are they using? Magic? Since when did my life become a Tolkien novel? I'm definitely too old for this shit.

"At least we can operate (more or less) freely during the day. If only we could figure out a way to avoid losing everything we gained the next night...

"Damn, I hate Elves."