Complete Book of Elves Kit Evaluation

 The Complete Book of Elves is infamous; I used to jokingly call it "Meine Alf", because it was just a book about how cool elves were. Not how they were sometimes flawed, or necessarily about their culture, but about how they were more in tune with the universe and made the best stuff (like armor that you could cast in, awesome bows, and the occasional cybernetic appendage). Most infamous were the Bladesingers, who were these amazing Fighter/Mages, on top of the coolness of already getting to be a fighter/mage.

So I'm going into this a bit biased against the book. Keep that in mind, as I will be.

Kits are organized by class group, but oddly... Priest, Warrior, Mage/Thief, Fighter/Mage, Fighter/Thief, Fighter/Mage/Thief, and Any Class. No pure wizard kits, no pure rogue kits.

Priest Kit
Herbalist: Herbalists are interesting; not too powerful, but very useful if they're in their element. Bonus WP of sickle, which might conflict with their divine class, bonus NWP of Healing and Herbalism. But their focus is pretty much entirely on non-magical herbalism, and limited by terrain... at 1st level, they must pick one, and have a penalty in all others, including a 1 in 4 possibility of picking poisonous ones. While in their terrain, they can heal extra damage (1d4 points if they can start within 4 rounds of someone being hurt), being able to find hard-to-find herbs (no mechanics), and identify plants and pure water in their chosen terrain. Every five levels, they can add a new terrain, and five levels after that, they can identify plants and pure water in their terrain. They technically CAN brew poison, but if they ever do for use against others (as opposed to testing for antidotes), they lose the kit.

This kit could be very useful if you were likely to stay in a single place; their healing is pretty useful, especially at low levels. I am somewhat curious about the choice to make it 4 rounds for the healing... why not a turn? Why not five rounds? But it is what it is. A very specific sort of kit, but not bad at it, in its own way.

Warrior Kits:
Archer: Archers suck with melee weapons, get a bonus to trick shots, a bonus to damage with well-cared for equipment, and an improved rate of fire... but that's part of the problem. They get +1/2 an attack, which is reasonable enough. But then the kit claims that their rate of fire becomes 5/2... ok... and includes movement. What? The PH (Movement and Missile Combat) says that moving means you get half your usual ROF. So it would be 3/2, right? Nope. Because Complete Elves gives elves the ability to maintain their ROF even though they've moved (p. 73). The kit then says that, if they stood still, they'd get a 3/1, which means it's not just a +1/2, it's a +1 attack. This isn't a specialization bonus; bows don't get additional attacks per round when specialized. It's just a special ability of archers, stacked on top of a special ability of elves, that came out of nowhere.

It is through things like this that the reputation of the Complete Book of Elves was built.

Wilderness Runner: A ranger-only kit, Wilderness runners pick up bonus WP (bows and quarterstaves), NWPs (Endurance, Running, Set Snares). They get a bonus to tracking, ignore natural weather changes between 32* and 100* (this is, incidentally, an ability given to all elves on page 36), can use Set Snares to make man-traps, and can make any equipment they need. I think it is supposed to be that they don't use swords, since their recommended weapons include "organic weapons", but I can't see that it's required anywhere. They start with almost no money. This is balanced by some pretty heavy restrictions... have to make a wisdom check to stay in a city for more than a day, have to make a wisdom check to stay in unnatural caves (they don't LIKE natural caves, but they won't freak out). They also get a big penalty to dealing with "civilized" elves, but the inverse with sylvan elves and their allies. And they start with almost no money... you might not even be able to afford leather armor, though you can justify starting with any equipment you want.

Like the Herbalist, the Wilderness Runner is a choice. You're playing a backwoods ranger who makes their own gear, their own jerky, and probably their own moonshine. You won't ride a horse, and probably won't wash your socks. They're good at what they do, but what they do is narrowly tailored.

Windrider: In theory, an elven fighter or ranger without a kit can choose this one. Sometime between 4th and 6th level, they'll get the benefits (I assume they got the bonus WP and NWPs before then): They get a griffon, hippogriff, or pegasus as a mount, and they get a +2 to reaction from the higher-class humans and elves. Downsides are a -3 to reaction with lower class elves and humans, and they have to worry about their mounts. Of the three, griffons are the toughest (7 HD, 3 AC), pegasi are the smartest and fastest, and hippogriffs are an option... slightly faster than griffins, do more damage with hooves than griffin claws, but far less damage with a bite, and having only about half the HD, and far less morale.

Nothing terribly to write home about, in all, but not an unbalancing kit, either.

Mage/Thief
Spellfilcher: Some bonus NWP, Detect Magic 1/level/day (which level? Thief or mage?), and a +5% to find and temporarily disable magical traps, and +5% more per four levels (which level?). The last is kind of a mixed bag; +5%/4 levels to find and remove magical traps is nice, especially since magical traps cut your chance in half. But it's also only 5% every 4 levels; 1.25% per level, only for magical traps, and traps are only temporarily disabled, not removed. They're tightly tied to the Spellfilcher's Guild, including needing to ask for permission to go adventuring, and they're supposed to get negative reactions from non-elven wizards, and be sought after by non-elven thieves... but there's no mechanics backing these up, like a negative encounter reaction. The 1/day/level detect magic is nice, but I think it's trying to do all the heavy lifting, and it has mage/thief noodle arms.

Fighter/Mage
Bladesinger: Bonus NWPs, +1 to hit and damage with a weapon of choice, +1/4 levels with special fighting manuevers (eg disarm), sizable bonus to AC when casting (half level, +1), can cast 1-handed at +2 to initiative. This is balanced by a very wishy-washy "Have to help elves and advance the elf race" (unless they think it's a trick), -1 to hit with any weapon other than their prefered weapon, no bonus with bows. They can't specialize in weapon groups, which is odd, since no one can. Penalty when wearing armor heavier than elven chain or studded leather. It's recommended that they take single weapon or two-handed style, which is another weird bit... they do not practice bladesong as a fighting style. Their AC bonus while casting mimics Bladesong's ability to parry while fighting, but doesn't apply while fighting. They get a +1 to hit and damage with their chosen weapon, but not Bladesong's +1 to AC. It feels like the two abilities, kit and style, are out of synch, and much could have been made out of just making Bladesingers the masters of the Bladesong fighting style... let them use all the abilities of the bladesong in the same round, let them improve the bladesong's bonuses as normal. They're not super-powerful, just feel out of touch with the bladesong they're supposed to be masters of.

War Wizard: Bonus WP, Bonus NWP (Spellcraft and Engineering or Survival). They can add a +1 to their entire side's attack bonus, which is pretty great, but under some pretty harsh restrictions (have to study and map the area, have to hold a strategy meeting with everyone, anyone who is getting the bonus has to pass an Int check); great bonus, but hard to get. +1 to hit with their weapon of choice, and a spell of choice every 4 levels, which gets a -1 to initiative or inflicts a -1 on saving throws. And at the next multiple of 4, the bonuses on spell one go up, and you get a new spell at -1 (which is a good thing). A couple sweet bonuses. Penalties are can only select certain weapons (swords, bows, and lances), have a code of conduct that is left up to the DM ("should be fierce, demanding, and restrictive"), and must comply with the demands of the unit. This is the second kit where the chaotic elves absolutely must follow orders, incidentally. Still, if your DM isn't too harsh, the benefits are pretty nice.

Fighter/Thief
Huntsmen: Bonus Net WP, NWPs of Hunting and Tracking. +10% to Move Silently and Hide in Shadows on top of everything else. They "take a smaller bonus to their Tracking proficiency than other non-rangers", but what this smaller penalty might be is never mentioned. Just that it's smaller. Cannot take Read Languages like other thieves, and get a -2 to reaction penalties with good people (he's a bounty hunter) and evil people (he's a bounty hunter). Neutral people apparently don't care.

This one is just poorly written, IMO. How do you say they get a smaller penalty then not tell me what the smaller penalty is? Sure, it's +20 to thief skills, but it's also taking away an entire thief skill, and making you disliked.

Fighter/Mage/Thief
Collector: Bonus NWP (Ancient History and Engineering), half of a bard's chance to know about magic items (5% per 2 levels), plus a bonus if they can search for references and spend their time looking into it. By spending a lot of money (10d100 gp), they can figure out more or less where an item might lie. They get a +10% to Find/Remove traps, and can at +1 or -1 to a roll once a day. Nice benefits; the Find/Remove Traps bonus, incidentally, is better than the one Spellfilchers get... a +10% to all traps equals a +5% to magic traps, but also applies to all traps. While a spellfilcher gets +5%/4 levels, and the Collector is flat, I think the Collector comes out ahead on that.

But the downsides? -2 reaction penalty to everyone. Will not knowingly use a charged magic item, will not destroy a magic item if at all possible, and destroying one gives them -2 to attacks and saves for a week. Now, I got a question, here... does that include potions and scrolls, which are destroyed by their very use? Logically, as they are magic items, it does. However, you are a wizard who cannot use scrolls. This isn't QUITE as bad as the peasant wizard who is technically forbidden from owning a spellbook, but sweet monkey, think through your kits!

Infiltrator: Good bonus NWPs (FIVE!), and a +1 to all of them. They also can pass themselves off as a tall dwarf or a short human with disguise at a -4 (half the normal -7 penalty), which disappears at a rate of 1 per 4 levels in their most expensive class, and +10% to two thief skills of choice. Downside? Reduced resistance to sleep and charm spells of 10% per level (minimum 30%), and supposed to role-play being unsure of themselves and their own identity. Hefty penalty, but they are good at what they do.

Any Class
Undead Slayer: Bonus WP (Medium-sized bludgeon available to their class), NWP (Blindfighting, only), +2 to Hit and Damage against one kind of undead, and can find undead lairs, without any mechanics attached. In return, they must fanatically hunt undead, especially intelligent undead, even to the point of dying themselves if it means killing more. Won't work with non-evil undead. Have to buy holy water and a silver mirror at the start. In a lot of ways, they feel like a concept with a bit of mechanical cover (the +2 to hit and damage one kind of undead), rather than something fully developed.

Overall? The kits kinda suck. I like the concepts, but I don't really want to play any of them as written. I do not understand why either the Collector or the Infiltrator need to be Fighter/Mage/Thieves; they could have been pure thief kits without a lick of change, and the Collector has a crippling flaw of being unable to use potions or scrolls. Herbalists are nice, if limited. Archers are reasonable, but leverage an out-of-left field bonus. Wilderness runners aren't bad, but somewhat narrow, Windriders could be replaced by Complete Fighter Beast Riders who have had a bath, Spellfilchers get a lot of bonus spells... well, one bonus spell a lot of times... Bladesingers don't practice bladesinging. War Wizards really have no reason to be fighters. Huntsmen are incomplete. Undead Slayers are basically a member of any class who got a ranger's species enemy for a single type of undead. And every single one of them is written with paens to the wonderful nature of elves.

An that, I think, is the essential problem with the Complete Book of Elves: It doesn't treat elves seriously. There's no real examination of them that isn't purely laudatory... even the story about four elves capturing and torturing a dwarf for decades comes across as a testament to elven ingenuity. Complete Dwarves talked about dwarves having flaws; Complete Elves waves them away, and makes new abilities and equipment to make elves even kewler. Did you know they can claim a +3 to reaction checks on their homeworld? That they have up to 50% resistance to disease? It's suggested you give elves 3 or more bonus NWPs. And they have not just elven chain, but full plate armor that doesn't interfere with casting. And they can make cybernetics. Not magical limbs... they are explicitly not magical.

An entire book like this; bonus abilities and new stuff where every elf is totally cool.