Editing Rockseer Elf (section)

==Powers==
{{NotFunny Sourcebook}}
Rockseers eschew fighting whenever possible. They are <s>too cowardly</s> too few in number to risk pointless deaths. Their underground special skills are so great that they can generally escape combat when they wish to; they are rarely even seen by potential aggressors. If forced to fight, Rockseers are unflinching. They always fight to the death to defend others of their own kind. They rarely possess bows (suitable bowstrings are difficult to come by in the Underdark) and prize such items, but they employ swords, spears, and stone quarterstaves which are hard as any steel.

The special attacks and defenses of these elves are formidable. They gain a +1 bonus to attack rolls with long swords (but not with bows). They are 90% resistant to sleep, charm, hold, and web spells and wholly immune to petrification. They have 50% magic resistance against all Elemental Earth spells but suffer a -1 penalty on saving throws against Elemental Air spells.

Rockseers are armed with long swords (50%), long sword and dagger (25%), or long sword and short sword (25%). Weapon possession is also variable depending on class type. Missile weapons, save for the rarely employed staff-sling or bow, are not favored by Rockseers. If they have enough distance to use missile attacks, they have enough distance to use spells or simply to meld into stone and escape.

Every Rockseer has the ability to meld into stone from childhood. This talent is usable thrice per day until the Rockseer reaches maturity (at the age of 60 to 70 years), after which time it is usable at will. Rockseers who are of 3rd or higher level can stone walk (walking through stone as if through air) for a total distance of 100 yards once per day; this distance increases by 100 yards for each additional level gained. A Rockseer of 9th level can take one additional human-sized creature with him or her on such a stone walk; this number increases at the rate of one passenger per level beyond 9th (thus at 10th level the Rockseer could take two companions). Rockseers intuitively sense distances between passages and caverns separated by walls, so that they always know whether a stone walk can take them to a safe place or whether they might be trapped in solid stone at the end of the walk. Rockseers of 5th and higher levels can stone shape once per day, and those of 9th or higher level can employ stone tell once per day.

Rockseers also have communal powers. A group of three or more Rockseers with a total of 10 or more experience levels can create a wall of stone at will, and a group of five or more with a total of 20 or more experience levels can conjure a huge earth elemental once per day (that is, any Rockseer who participates in such a conjuration cannot do so again until the next day). This elemental has 20 HD and at least 5 hp per die, and it cannot be turned back against its summoners. Spell effects are considered to be at the aggregate experience level of the Rockseer group for the purposes of dispelling the elemental.

Rockseer can be warriors, wizards, thieves, warrior-thieves, or warrior-wizards. There is no priest class (the elves believe themselves to be shunned by the elven Powers for their cowardice, and tales of the Powers are all but forgotten by these people. As warriors, they can attain 11th experience level maximum. As thieves, they can attain 13th level maximum. As wizards, Rockseers can attain 18th level maximum.

Rockseer wizards (single-classed only) gain special bonus spells as they gain experience levels. At 5th level, they can memorize Melf’s acid arrow as an additional spell. At 9th level, Maximilian’s stony grasp* is the bonus spell. At 15th level, a Rockseer wizard gains a bonus acid storm* spell (these latter two spells are found in the Tome of Magic book). Rockseer wizards also add 1% per level to their magic resistance against Elemental Earth spells, and if they cast such spells at others not of their own kind, the target incurs a saving throw penalty of -1 per five levels of the Rockseer (round fractions above one-half upwards). Rockseer wizards can cast all priest Elemental Earth spells as if wizard spells of the same level.

Rockseer wizards of 11th and higher level know the secrets of creating magical “familiars” (more correctly, golem-like constructs) called stone dragonets. These incredibly intricate slender stone statuettes are 12 inches long plus an additional 9 inches to 12 inches of tail; they move as if perfectly articulated, and the finest of them have gems of extraordinary kind as eyes. A stone dragonet has AC -2. HD 2, hp 16, and attacks three times per round for 1d3/1d3/1d4 (claw/claw/bite). It has 25% general magic resistance, 75% resistance to Elemental Earth spells, and complete immunity to petrification (obviously), illusions, gaseous attacks, poison, paralyzation, and spells which affect corporeal bodies generally. A wizard with such a familiar gains a -2 bonus to his or her own Armor Class and cannot be surprised. If the gem-eyes of the statuette are each of value not less than 5,000 gp, the eyes of the dragonet can cast a brilliant eyebite glare once per day if the correct spells are cast during the creation of the familiar.

Rockseer elves have 240-foot infravision. They do not, as a rule, possess many magical items. Nonwizards have but a 5% chance per level of owning a magical weapon. Wizards have a 10% chance er level of owning a magical item of appropriate kind, but these are often powerful indeed. The greatest wizards are reputed to possess special wands of steam and vapor which create acrid clouds of burning, blinding acid (6d6 points of damage the first round, 4d6 the second, and 2d6 the third and final).

On account of their longevity (they have a natural lifespan of over 1,400 years), groups of Rockseers are almost always led by an experienced veteran, a warrior or warrior-wizard of at least 5th (or 4th/4th) level. A sizable group (30 or more) will have at least one warrior of 7th to 10th level (6+1d4) and also a wizard of 7th to 12th level (6+1d6). In the central lair of a Rockseer clan, where up to a hundred may be gathered together, the clan chieftain is usually a wizard of surpassing skill (level 12+1d6) and has 1d3+2 advisers/bodyguards who are either (50%) warriors of 10th to 11th level or wizards of 11th to 14th level (but not of higher level than the chieftain).

Rockseer elves have a -1 penalty to their initial Strength, Constitution, and Charisma scores, but they gain +1 bonuses to Wisdom, Intelligence, and Dexterity.