Goodman Games

I have a marked dislike for the elf class in DCC, so I'm creating my own version called (unimaginatively enough) the wood elf. It's entirely based off Legolas and Robin Hood. No magic, just ridiculous coolness with a bow. I want to create a 'trick shot' ability whereby the elf performs amazing things with his arrows; splitting another arrow (al la Robin Hood), shooting an arrow attached to a rope across a river for people to cross across, shooting an arrow through a small loop, etc. The problem is, I need it to work at least as efficiently as the Mighty Deeds of Arms, and probably better (since it is so narrowly focused, whereas the Mighty Deeds are very broad). Ideas?

Well, I'm not a proponent of 'sharing out' the Deed Die -- but what about some kind of reduced Deed Die and adding CL to that result if the Deed in question involves bow usage?

That's the best I've got off the top of my head. Maybe something will appear there later...

I'm generally not in favour of giving MDoA to other classes either; however, given that the Dwarf has them, I wouldn't strenuously object if a single elf class used a highly restricted version of them in my games.

So, for ease of creation, give them a restricted armour and weapon listing:
Armour no heavier than chainmail, no shields (too large/unwieldy).
Weapons restricted to those typical to rangers/elves, e.g. hand axe, spear, staff, dagger, club, long sword, short sword, long bow, short bow.
Then, restrict their crits like the Dwarf and ensure that they still suffer the elven vulnerability to iron.

Now, to offset the restricted weapon and armour use, lack of shields, reduced crits, and iron vulnerability, give them "Mighty Feats of Archery" a bow-specific form of MDoA, add in the most typical elf abilities (infravision, immunities, and heightened senses), give them a tracking ability, and finish off with a few Thief-based abilities usable in the wilderness (sneak silently, climb sheer surfaces, hide in shadows).

Job done.

Colin

Colin wrote:I'm generally not in favour of giving MDoA to other classes either; however, given that the Dwarf has them, I wouldn't strenuously object if a single elf class used a highly restricted version of them in my games.

So, for ease of creation, give them a restricted armour and weapon listing:
Armour no heavier than chainmail, no shields (too large/unwieldy).
Weapons restricted to those typical to rangers/elves, e.g. hand axe, spear, staff, dagger, club, long sword, short sword, long bow, short bow.
Then, restrict their crits like the Dwarf and ensure that they still suffer the elven vulnerability to iron.

Now, to offset the restricted weapon and armour use, lack of shields, reduced crits, and iron vulnerability, give them "Mighty Feats of Archery" a bow-specific form of MDoA, add in the most typical elf abilities (infravision, immunities, and heightened senses), give them a tracking ability, and finish off with a few Thief-based abilities usable in the wilderness (sneak silently, climb sheer surfaces, hide in shadows).

Job done.

Colin

Colin, I generally like this line of thinking. My only issue is that I want the wood elf's ability with the bow to be better than what a warrior could achieve with a bow using MDoA.

vivsavage wrote:Colin, I generally like this line of thinking. My only issue is that I want the wood elf's ability with the bow to be better than what a warrior could achieve with a bow using MDoA.

That's something I'd be very wary about, personally. A Warrior already rocks the casbah combat-wise, so cranking that level of prowess up another notch could be too much, especially if you want to add in any elf/ranger abilities too.

Colin

Colin wrote:

vivsavage wrote:Colin, I generally like this line of thinking. My only issue is that I want the wood elf's ability with the bow to be better than what a warrior could achieve with a bow using MDoA.

That's something I'd be very wary about, personally. A Warrior already rocks the casbah combat-wise, so cranking that level of prowess up another notch could be too much, especially if you want to add in any elf/ranger abilities too.

Colin

To hell with being conservative, I say!

Hey, it's your game, so if you wanna crank it up, more power to you.

Colin

Colin wrote:Hey, it's your game, so if you wanna crank it up, more power to you.

Colin

Actually, I think I've come up with a solution; when using a bow the wood elf's attack value is 1 'level' higher than the warrior's base attack score. So d3 becomes d4, and so on. Not sure about the deed die. But the elf's score with other weapons is markedly inferior to the warrior's.

vivsavage wrote:

Colin wrote:Hey, it's your game, so if you wanna crank it up, more power to you.

Colin

Actually, I think I've come up with a solution; when using a bow the wood elf's attack value is 1 'level' higher than the warrior's base attack score. So d3 becomes d4, and so on. Not sure about the deed die. But the elf's score with other weapons is markedly inferior to the warrior's.

I would simplify it even more and say that a wood elf with a bow gets a flat bonus (ala weapon specialization) and never hits allies when firing into melee. That seems pretty powerful to me since firing into melee ceased when I introduced these rules...

Either way, you can also mitigate any abuse that you might see with special bow skills by having enemies close with the party, have enemies target the archer consistently (that's just good strategy), etc. I've always looked at character options/powers as opportunities to show that enemies learn from their losses with the party, and work to minimize their exposure to that option/power.