Talk:Dire Elf (3.5e Monster)

At an initial glance, i'm loving this! a monstrous template + standard humanoid elf = Feral Archer(where'd they get those composite bows...)! but then i'm realizing, wait a second... shouldn't there be a Dire variant of All the different Elven subtypes?Snafusam (talk) 07:45, 23 June 2021 (UTC)

This way lies madness. But naturally you can be sure there probably is. :P -- Eiji-kun (talk) 08:22, 23 June 2021 (UTC)

A Review

Ok, first look and this is great! Kinda bosmer-ish, don't know if that was your inspiration. All their special qualities are fitting/great, especially the ones you specifically created. DR/cold iron means clearly "these are not fey, but almost are" and that's cool. I'm kinda surprised and confused to see elemental resistance, which I don't clearly understand why is there. Also, you gave them overall average/high score, especially mental attributes: given the description I would expect them to be a bit more brutish. They are still elves you'd say, but your lore seems to point that they are crazy, at least by normal elves standard. I don't know, care to elaborate on that? It's a very minor nitpick though. Also, 3 feats? Shouldn't be two? I'm super bad at making monsters and using HDs to give feats and whatnot, so probably I'm just confused.

I love the claws. --The bluez in the dungeon (talk) 08:58, 23 June 2021 (UTC)

So, examining the stats a bit and The bluez in the dungeon has a very nice point, the 4HD mismatches the 3CR, which would typically mean low stats and abilities, it does indeed mysteriously have a 3rd feat for having claws, why would it need the quick draw feat?. For this sample dire elf i'd give it's CR to be 9(4hd + 1/3 noncombat abilities + 1 each combat ability + 1/5 for Damage+elemental reduction) meaning this 4hd monster is fitting fight for a 4-person level 9 fight, which given it's change shape ability, high intelligence(int does not = civil) and specialized weaponry, we've got a feral elf guerrilla in the jungle! watch out!Snafusam (talk) 19:10, 23 June 2021 (UTC)

I had a weird idea of a 'dire elf' from a typo. It does come off as Bosmer, doesn't it? So I ran with it: Elves are natural semi-fey things that are scary and do things like the wild hunt, so I'm like "this is an animal in a human skin". But they're also human+, so they get the whole "human perfection" thing and become scary human hunters. This ended up with something that was kinda Predator-esque. Using the pathfinder Dire template as a guideline, it has most of those properties. I boosted Int as well since they are human+ and Dire doesn't account for it (designed to be applied to animals), but instead implied I removed their humanity. So its less that they're brutish as they are amoral, alien, and brutally cunning (or is that cunningly brutal?).

CR was roughed out based on the template. If you think I'm off there, that's worth discussion. I'll mull on it. I'm not sure about CR 9 though. This thing would get destroyed by level 9 parties. A group of 3s should be able to take one on with moderate difficulty. -- Eiji-kun (talk) 02:19, 24 June 2021 (UTC)