The Martial Elf an ACKS Wednesday post

Martial Elf

Not all elf are innate arcane caster, a long time ago an elf Senate decided to devote their society to develop the art of fighting.

Their longevity and connection with nature helped them to become great fighters.

This article (the second of the ACKS Wednesday) present a variant elf race using the rules of the Adventurer Conqueror King System (as seen in the ACKS Player's Companion book also considering the additional information from the Autarch Forums.

One of the thing that made me think of this is the fact that doing a martial elf let you build the canonical elven racial classes (or something very similar) and that even if the possibility of doing an Elf(mage)/Divine caster has always been there it's not a very popular choice. Indeed instead of creating an elven mage/cleric it was preferred to create a new race, the Nobirean, in the ACKS Player's Companion to fit the idea of a race/class that could mix arcane and divine casting.

And I must also cite the beautiful articles on Divine Elves by M. Blackburn who helped me think of doing a martial version of this great and proud race.

Martial Elves

When building an elven custom class, assign between 0 and 4
build points to the class’s Elf Value.

At Martial Elf 0, all elves gain the
following five elven custom powers:

1. Attunement to Nature: All elves gain a +1 bonus to surprise rolls when in the wilderness.
2. Elf Tongues: All elves speak four bonus languages: Elf, Gnoll, Hobgoblin, and Orc.
3. Keen Eyes: All elves detect hidden and secret doors with a proficiency throw of 8+ on 1d20 when actively searching, or 14+ on casual inspection. 
4. Connection to Nature: All elves are unaffected by the paralysis ghouls can inflict, and gain a +1 bonus on saving throws versus Petrification/Paralysis and Spells.
5. Animal Friendship: Whenever elves build fastnesses, all ordinary animals within 5 miles of the stronghold become kind and helpful to the elves.
6. Longevity: All Elves characters are ageless and enjoy a lifespan three times longer than that of normal men.

Value	Elf	XP cost
4	Elf + d8 + Fighting 2	2125
3	Elf + d6 + Fighting 2	1625
2	Elf + d6 + Fighting 1a	1125
1	Elf + Fighting 1a	625
0	Elf	125

Racial Classes

What follows are just some notes on what kind of racial classes can be created for the Martial Elves. More details in future post.

Arcane Sword: Elf 3 + Mage 4 (this is very similar to the canonical ACKS Spellsword)

Arcane Gladius: Elf 2 + Mage 4 (this is very similar to the previous with the ability of doing rituals)
Force of Nature: Elf 4 + Divine 2 (trade off turn undead, spells like shaman/druid)
Night Knife: Elf 2 + Mage 2 + Thief 2 (this is very similar to the ACKS Nightblade)
Ambassador: Elf 2 + Mage 2 + Thief 1 (this is similar to the courtesan)
Forest Guardian: Elf 4 + Thief 2 (power trade off for advanced bowery and ranger abilities)

High Guardian: Elf 4 + Fighting 1 + HD 1 (this means hd d10 and fight progression as monsters)

As for arcane/divine casting the Martial Elf can go for: Elf 2 + Mage 2 + Divine 2 for full divine casting and half arcane casting.

Martial elves