Editing Elan

'''Elans''' are a race of artificially engineered humanoids from the world of [[Dungeons & Dragons]]; formerly [[human]], Elans have been reforged through powerful [[psionics]]-based rituals, transmuting their bodies and minds into a "perfected" form that has superior physical and mental abilities, an innate affinity for [[psionics]], and increased longevity - an elan can easily live for a thousand years, and they may be functionally immortal. It's unclear if elans are sterile, or if their offspring simply do not inherit the transformation; either way, elans must continually induct new human recruits into their ranks to propagate, unlike the similar [[illumian]]s - just another way in which [[magic]] is superior to [[psionics]] in D&D.

Because of this, elans don't have a lot of really unique lore; they're portrayed as just "humans with an added level of secrecy" - after all, humanity is kind of likely to take a dim view to secret cabals of psionicists ascending to practically immortal new forms walking amongst them. Of course, hiding is a little tricky because, whilst elans retain their old memories, their body's "newborn" status means that they have to readjust to it from scratch, so a human turned into an elan becomes a level 1 character again, no matter how strong they were before. The most unique aspect of elan culture is their use of personal titles amongst themselves; Freshly transformed elans have the title of Newmade; those who have lived at least a few decades after transformation have the title of Made; and those over a century old have the title of Eternal. Those who belong to the council that chooses new elans have the title of Culler.

Elans were introduced in the "Expanded Psionics Handbook" for [[Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition]].

==PC Stats==
::-2 Charisma
::Aberration
::Medium
::Base land speed 30 feet
::Normal vision
::Naturally Psionic: 2 bonus psionic power points at 1st level.
::Trance: An elan completes a 4-hour long meditative trance instead of sleeping for 8 hours to perform its daily rest, like an [[elf]].
::Resistance (Su): Elans can use psionic energy to increase their resistance to various forms of attack. As an immediate action, an elan can spend 1 power point to gain a +4 racial bonus on saving throws until the beginning of her next action.
::Resilience (Su): When an elan takes damage, she can spend power points to reduce its severity. As an immediate action, she can reduce the damage she is about to take by 2 hit points for every 1 power point she spends.
::Repletion (Su): An elan can sustain her body without need of food or water. If she spends 1 power point, an elan does not need to eat or drink for 24 hours.
::Automatic Language: Common. Bonus Languages: Any (other than secret languages, such as Druidic). Elans’ past lives expose them to wide ranges of language.
::[[Favored Class]]: [[Psion]].
::[[Level Adjustment]]: +0.

==Dark Sun==
When a 3.5 edition update for [[Dark Sun]] manifested in the pages of [[Dragon Magazine]] #319, elans were added to the world of Athas. On this world, they were creations by "The Order", a mysterious secret sect of psionicists who seek to preserve the status quo. Unfortunately for the Order, the first Elans were not inherently loyal to them, and the majority of them have since struck out to make their own way into the world. At the time in which the Dragon version of Dark Sun was set, elans have only existed on Athas for 25 years, having first been created in Gulg.

Mechanically, Athasian Elans are all but identical to the standard elan above, except they gain a +2 Wisdom ability score modifier and, consequently, suffer a [[Level Adjustment]] of +1.
[[File:RacesDramagAthaselans.jpeg|thumb]]

==Eberron==
Elans are mentioned in passing in the 3.5 version of Eberron as being living prisons for Quori who have committed crimes against the Dreaming Dark. Since such hosts would almost always be Reidran, they believe that they are helping to purify a dissonant spirit and return it to grace through good deeds. The Quori, meanwhile spends most of their time angsting over being a glorified battery for a mortal, or playing the little voice of dissent in the back of the hosts mind. The host is as immortal as the Quori after all, they have nothing but time. Elans usually end up as Edgewalkers.

Similarly, there's a prestige class called the Quori Mindhunter. Their fluff is basically a bunch of tinfoil hat conspiracy theorists who are a) correct, and b) psionically capable. They imprison a Quori in their minds and syphon power from it. Mechanically Mindhunters gain most of the same traits as they progress through the class, effectively making them self-made Elans. Just... don't expect one to ever sleep again.

==Nentir Vale==
Amazingly, elans appeared in the [[Nentir Vale]] setting as well, introduced in the Psionic Power splatbook for [[Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition]]. Here, they are created from any race, rather than just humans, and belong to an ancient, secret order that seeks to oppose the machinations of the [[Far Realm]]. Elans were created as a way to psionically transcend former weaknesses, creating a stronger being that could more readily battle the [[aberration]] menace. Through powerful and dangerous psionic rituals, an elan's physical matter is stripped away, leaving only the mind and soul, which are then assisted in building a new body from ectoplasm; thus, elans appear as idealized versions of their original form, free of body hair (unless they were from a naturally hairy race, presumably) and disturbingly cool to the touch.

Mechanically, being an elan is handled as a Bloodline Feat chain, a set of feats stemming from a single race-modifying feat called "Elan Heritage". This changes the character's origin to Immortal and grants them Telepathy to a range of 5 squares (25 feet) and the racial encounter power "Elan Resilience", an immediate interrupt that lets them reduce damage taken from an attack by their Intelligence modifier (increasing by +3 at 11th level and +6 at 21st level). This feat unlocks access to the feats and a unique [[Paragon Path]] called Psionic Incarnate.
'''Feats:'''
*"Body Fuel" (Paragon-tier feat for any psionic class capable of augmentation that allows the recovery of a Power Point whenever you use a [[Second Wind]] once per encounter)
*"Boon of the Made" (Whenever Elan Resilience is used, gain Resist all equal to Intelligence mod)
*"Diverse Focus" ([[Psion]]-exclusive feat that allowed use of powers from a second Discipline)
*"Elan Mental Onslaught" ([[Monk]]-exclusive feat that allows one attack made after using Flurry of Blows to target Will instead of whatever NAD it normally attacks)
*"Elan Protection" ([[Ardent]]-exclusive feat that adds +2 to all defenses for anyone under your Ardent Mantle whenever you use Elan Resilience)
*"Elan Retribution" ([[Battlemind]]-exclusive deat that deals  damage equal to your Constitution mod whenever you use Elan Resilience)
*"Gift of the Eternal" (Epic-tier feat for any psionic class capable of augmentation that recovers a Power Point after the first round)
*"Psionic Discorporation" (Epic-tier feat that renders you Insubstantial once you hit 0 HP, but the moment you recover HP from there, you gain +2 to hit with any psionic power for that turn)
*"Returning Resilience" (Paragon-tier feat that recharges Elan Resilience whenever you use Second Wind)
*"Untraceable Flurry" ([[Monk]]-exclusive feat that makes Flurry of Blows deal psychic damage that ignores Insubstantial)

"Psionic Incarnate", the [[Paragon Path]], works to add some extra staying power with whatever (presumably psionic) class you work with. Just by entering, you get 2 additional ''Paragon Power Points'' (a mandatory feature for all psionic paths that aren't for the monk), ''Psychic Resilience'' to gain an innate resistance to psychic damage equal to 5 + 0.5*level, ''Returning Action'' allows you to spend an Action Point and forgo the additional action to regain 2 Power Points, and ''Repletion'', which is essentially fluff that renders you immune to starvation, thirst, and enables you to stay awake while sleeping. At level 16, you gain ''Perfect Resilience'', which gives you resistance 5 to all damage whenever you get bloodied. Your two powers are the e11 Discorporate Retaliation (An Encounter immediate interrupt that renders you insubstantial when you get hit and then gives you a blast attack keying off any mental stat with a hefty add-on. By augmenting it with 2 Power Points,  your blast gains a bit of extra spread), the u12 Elan Recovery (An Encounter minor that gives +5 to all saving throws on that turn), and the d20 Hidden Reserves (A Daily attack that lets you use any at-will, augment them to their max, and add +5 extra damage to it).

==Pathfinder==
When Dreamscarred Press updated the 3.5 Psionics rules to ''[[Pathfinder]]'', it made a few chages to Elans to reflect the higher average race power (Meaning they realized humans were by far the best at everything and buffed everyone else) of the new system. Fluff remains mostly the same, though Elans are now explicitly immortal instead of merely long lived.
::+2 to any ability score. (Like a human)
::Humanoid with Aberrant subtype 
::Medium
::Base land speed 30 feet
::Aberrant Nature: Elans take a -1 penalty on charisma based skills against non-Elans.
::Naturally Psionic: Gain Wild Talent as a bonus feat, unless you have levels in a psionic class then you gain Psionic Talent instead (functionally the same as +2 PP either way)
::Trance: An elan completes a 4-hour long meditative trance instead of sleeping for 8 hours to perform its daily rest, like an [[elf]]. (Yes, that bit remained untouched even though PF elves don't trance)
::Resistance (Su): Elans can use psionic energy to increase their resistance to various forms of attack. As an immediate action, an elan can spend 1 power point to gain a +4 racial bonus on saving throws until the beginning of her next action.
::Resilience (Su): When an elan takes damage, she can spend power points to reduce its severity. As an immediate action, she can reduce the damage she is about to take by 2 hit points for every 1 power point she spends.
::Repletion (Su): An elan can sustain her body without need of food or water. If she spends 1 power point, an elan does not need to eat or drink for 24 hours.
::Psionic Aptitude: When an elan takes a level in a favored class, he can choose to gain an additional power point instead of a hit point or skill point.
::Automatic Language: Common. Bonus Languages: Any (other than secret languages, such as Druidic). Elans’ past lives expose them to wide ranges of language.

Aside from charismatic Elans being possible, the most significant change that wasn't system wide is their type. In 3.5 the main uses of Elans was abusing the Aberration type, so that was completely removed. Pathfinder removed most of the ways to abusing it anyways (Polymorph spells now work completely differently), so the main consequence is that Elans are now vulnerable to spells that only work on humanoid creatures (such as Charm Person or Enlarge Person).

[[Category: Dungeons & Dragons]] [[Category: Dungeons & Dragons Races]]
[[Category: Pathfinder Races]] [[Category: Aberrations]]