Elves in my Mystara Campaign: Classes and high levels

This post was inspired by this discussion about elves on the Piazza Mystara forum. It is my way of reconciling different approaches to high-level elves in the BX/BECMI rules. 

Elves in folklore and fantasy literature have often had the aura of being better than mortal humans. Better at magic, better at swordsmanship, better at archery, better at poetry, better at architecture and so on. Although in old-school games balance is not held in such high regard as in later editions, nonetheless if one were to stick to the lore, elves would be completely broken in terms of choosing characters. How should the DM or game designer enable other characters to compete with the elves?

art by Terry Dykstra, from Rules Cyclopedia

 

In B/X D&D with its race-as-class elves are assumed to be fighter/magic users, capable of casting a wide range of low and mid level spells, while wearing any sort of armour and wielding any weapon and shield. Needless to say, this is a powerful combination of class traits. In the early game this is counterbalanced by hefty requirements for XP per level. Human mages need 2500 xp to get from 1st to 2nd level, human fighters need 2000 xp from 1st to 2nd level and elves require 4000 xp. This is something to redress the imbalance but then there’s more: the level cap. Elves are limited to 10th level while humans (including the fighters and magic users) can reach the mighty heights of 36th level. Up until the cap is reached this is of little consequence- in low level play the Elf is still the mightiest of classes at any particular level. But at 10th level or higher the player is acutely aware of this particular limitation of their chosen class.  Could some semblance of balance be maintained into Companion level play?  

Elves of Alfheim, the Companion Rules and Paths

There are two published approaches to elf characters beyond 10th level. The Companion Rules (and the Rules Cyclopedia) state that elves do not gain further spells, but do gain better THAC0s in the form of attack ranks, combat options as human fighters, and saving throws vs dragons breath. This means that martial skill improves but magical ability stays capped. Interestingly officially they do not gain further levels as they gain more XP but their improved attack ranks and other XP-linked abilities are levels in all but name. 

Conversely GAZ5 The Elves of Alfheim by Steve Perrin takes the approach that elves can gain further levels, up to 20, but this is only in improving their spellcasting, gaining access to spells of 6th-9th level, but not gaining attack ranks or combat options. Interestingly in the text it talks about some elves improving their fighting skills instead. From p63:

Elves who learn their magic from the Keeper of the Tree of Life can progress in their magics beyond the 10th level of experience, just as fighting elves who learn their fighting from humans can progress beyond the 10th level of fighting. 

The Experience point levels are the same as those for elves increasing their fighting ability but Experience must be applied to either fighting or magic but not both. In effect the elf becomes two characters progressing in two separate character classes, the Elf Lord and the Elf Wizard. 

Okay I'm going to break from Gaz5 here.  In this campaign at some point before reaching 11th level the character must make a decision whether to go with the path of the Elf Lord or that of the Elf Wizard. Once made as the character progresses to 11th level in one of those classes, the commitment cannot be reversed.  There is no splitting of XP between the two classes. Note that here the Elf Lord still retains current spellcasting abilities, but they no longer progress in that regard. If a spell effect (damage, duration etc.) depends on the caster level then the elf lord level is used. 

Although in some groups gaining levels is hand-waved and the character simply gains new spells or new class abilities, the DM is within their rights to say that training with some sort of mentor or tutor is necessary for the new class level to come into effect.   For the Elf Wizard Gaz5 says the PC must learn in Alfheim, not schools of human wizards though Elf Lords may train among humans when gaining levels. Ultimately this is DM's discretion, but I am happy to go along with this. Perhaps only elves know how to cast high level spells while wearing plate mail armour. The requirement for training could be the bottleneck that means that few elves progress beyond 10th level. The traditional level cap at 10th is where many elves, particularly those without training or tutors, stay.  High-level human fighters can help train Elf Lords but only the elders of Alfheim can teach Elf Wizards.  

 The B/X elf, known in my campaign as the Elf Spellsword, advances as follows:

Elf Spellswords				Prepared Spells by level
Character Level	Min XP	Hit Dice	THAC0	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th
1	0	1d6	19	1
2	4,000	2d6	19	2
3	8,000	3d6	18	2	1
4	16,000	4d6	17	2	2
5	32,000	5d6	17	2	2	1
6	64,000	6d6	16	2	2	2
7	120,000	7d6	15	3	2	2	1
8	250,000	8d6	15	3	3	2	2
9	400,000	9d6	14	3	3	3	2	1
10	600,000	9d6+2	13	3	3	3	3	2

Those that then take the path of the Elf Lord advance as follows

Path of the Elf Lord				Prepared Spells by level
Character Level	Min XP	Hit Dice	THAC0	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	Notes
11	850,000	9d6+4	13	3	3	3	3	2	Combat Options as Fighter
12	1,100,000	9d6+6	12	3	3	3	3	2	Half Damage from Breath Weapons
13	1,350,000	9d6+8	11	3	3	3	3	2	2 attacks/round
14	1,600,000	9d6+10	11	3	3	3	3	2	-
15	1,850,000	9d6+12	10	3	3	3	3	2	-
16	2,100,000	9d6+14	9	3	3	3	3	2	-
17	2,350,000	9d6+16	9	3	3	3	3	2	-
18	2,600,000	9d6+18	8	3	3	3	3	2	-
19	2,850,000	9d6+20	7	3	3	3	3	2	3 attacks/round
20	3,100,000	9d6+22	7	3	3	3	3	2	-

Observant readers may note that the abilities on the right-most are those of the Companion rules and Rules Cyclopedia, albeit slightly different progression and with higher levels instead of attack ranks. 

Those that take the path of the Elf Wizard progress as follows

Path of the Elf Wizard				Prepared Spells by level
Character Level	Min XP	Hit Dice	THAC0	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th
11	850,000	9d6+2	13	4	3	3	3	2	1
12	1,100,000	9d6+3	13	4	4	3	3	2	2
13	1,350,000	9d6+3	13	4	4	3	3	3	2	1
14	1,600,000	9d6+4	13	4	4	3	3	3	2	2
15	1,850,000	9d6+4	13	4	4	4	3	3	2	2
16	2,100,000	9d6+5	13	5	4	4	4	3	3	2	1
17	2,350,000	9d6+5	13	5	4	4	4	3	3	2	2
18	2,600,000	9d6+6	13	5	5	4	4	4	3	3	2	1
19	2,850,000	9d6+6	13	5	5	4	4	4	4	3	2	2
20	3,100,000	9d6+7	13	5	5	5	4	4	4	4	3	2

This table is heavily based on p64 from the Elves of Alfheim. Although it did not give Hit Dice and THAC0 I am putting them here for the sake of clarity. My decision to keep THAC0 flat and only increase hit points per level very slowly may not be to everyone's taste but seems appropriate to me.  For the majority of elves, spells that can be prepared and cast are from the magic user spell lists, including those from the Companion and Master Rules sets. 

Elf Mystics 

The extra spells in Gaz5 Elves of Alfheim, particularly the druidic and clerical ones, are at the DM's discretion. My suggestion is that elf characters that take the Path of the Wizard have another option available. If they take the Path of the Mystic they progress using the same table above as for the Path of the Wizard. However, they can also cast clerical and druidic spells, drawing on any spell in the druid and cleric spell lists and preparing and casting them as spells of the same magic user/elf spell level. They can also use the new spells given in Gaz5. This is at the cost of weapons and armour that use metal: Elf mystics cannot cast clerical or druidic spells in metal armour and tend to eschew any weapons except clubs and staffs (made of wood, no iron reinforcements) and slings (leather, throwing stone shot, not metal shot). Although you might think this is weird, perhaps nonsensical given human and dwarf clerics casting spells in armour, I believe it is appropriate for game balance. If you still disagree with these restrictions then I would suggest let the elf mystics use whatever weapons and armour they want as normal elves but they then become NPCs as I consider them too powerful to be player characters. This is all quite a departure from Gaz5 and its own spell-lists for high-level elves. I feel that by saying elven mystics can use all cleric and druid spells at their normal spell levels is a matter of simplicity, reducing the need to refer back to the spell list in Gaz5. 

Elf Rangers

Aside from the question of level caps and game balance, the B/X elf does assume a particular style and set of abilities. They are fighter/magic users, probably modelled after the Melniboneans of Michael Moorcock’s Elric stories who wear armour and wield swords and other weapons of battle while summoning elementals and demons. But what of other elves who are less reliant on magic and more on archery and woodcraft? In the early days of this blog I posted my version of the Elf Ranger. And I still believe it is valid, although I suspect other DMs would tweak and alter it (they are welcome to do so). If the classic elf fighter/magic user is based on Elric, the Elf Ranger is based on Legolas: stealthy, excellent with bows and not bad in melee either, but really not using any obvious magic. The illustration from Rules Cyclopedia at the top of this post is much more how I envision an elf ranger than an elf spellsword. 

In this revision elf rangers progress normally up until 10th level. Here they can progress further to 11th and beyond but require the same intensity of specialist training that lords, wizards and mystics require. And how many high-level elf rangers willing to train you does your character know? Thus many elf rangers (particularly those away from Alfheim) stay at level 10.  However, if they do find a suitable elf ranger to train them, they can gain similar benefits to elf lords of similar level. 

Elf Ranger Level	Min XP	Hit Dice	THAC0	Hide in Wild	Move Silently	Climb in Wild	Tracking	Notes
1	0	1d6	19	15	20	60	40	+1 to hit with longbows
2	2,000	2d6	19	20	25	62	43
3	4,000	3d6	18	25	30	64	46
4	8,000	4d6	17	30	34	66	49
5	16,000	5d6	17	34	38	68	52
6	30,000	6d6	16	38	42	70	55
7	60,000	7d6	15	42	46	72	58
8	120,000	8d6	15	46	50	74	61
9	240,000	9d6	14	50	54	76	64
10	360,000	9d6+2	13	54	58	78	67	Max level without specialst training
11	480,000	9d6+4	13	58	62	80	70	Combat Options as Fighter
12	600,000	9d6+6	12	62	66	82	73	Half Damage from Breath Weapons
13	720,000	9d6+8	11	66	70	84	76	2 attacks/round
14	840,000	9d6+10	11	70	74	86	79
15	960,000	9d6+12	10	74	78	88	82
16	1,080,000	9d6+14	9	78	82	90	85
17	1,200,000	9d6+16	9	82	86	92	88
18	1,320,000	9d6+18	8	86	90	94	91
19	1,440,000	9d6+20	7	90	94	96	94	3 attacks/round
20	1,560,000	9d6+22	7	94	98	98	97	.

See my original post for further rules and explanation about this class. 

Dwarves, Halflings and Gnomes

I am aware that having started off discussing about balance, I have left these rules leaving a gaping disparity between elves and other demihumans. Yes there are still the attack ranks from the Companion set and Rules Cyclopedia, and these are an acceptable stop-gap solution. I intend to deal with these in a separate post. 

Race as Class or Race-Specific Classes? 

Another aspect I am aware of is that this approach veers even further away from the B/X idea of race as class. Now elf characters can be lords (fighters), wizards (magic users), mystics (clerics) and rangers (thieves of sorts). Is this appropriate? Honestly I’m not sure but at the moment high-level elves are rare enough that it won’t have a major impact on this campaign. And besides, with the introduction of the dwarf cleric, elf ranger and halfling defender my version of B/X is not so much race as a single class so much as race-specific classes. When viewed as race-specific classes, the elf lord, elf wizard and elf mystic actually fit quite well.