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Another class I wrote up prior to the release of the Advanced Edition Companion, the Elven Warder is an alternate elf class for Labyrinth Lord and classic B/X Dungeons & Dragons. My hatred of all things table-like in blogging shines through here, and I’ve reproduced the tables from my layout document in graphical format instead of going through the effort of remaking them for this article.

Traditionally, the term Magic-User has been used to describe those who cast spells not channeled from the gods. In this treatise, the Magic-Users have been further redefined based on the magics they wield. As such, the traditional Magic-User is referred to as the Wizard within these pages.

– Introduction, Magical Theorems & Dark Pacts

The elven warders are those elves who have dedicated themselves to the wilderness, becoming warriors of the woodlands and plains, backing up their potent skills with specialized magics from their kin. They may wear any armour and can wield any weapon, and have special magical spells that they can cast while armoured. The prime requisite for elven warders is both Dexterity and Intelligence.

Elven Warder - Table 1

Characters must have an Intelligence of 9 or higher to join the class, and warders with a 13 in both prime requisites gains a 5% bonus on earned experience. An elven warder with an Intelligence of 16 or greater and a Dexterity of 13 or greater gains 10%.

Elven warders have infravision of 60 feet, and have keen eyes that allow them, when actively searching, to detect hidden and secret doors with a roll of 1-2 on 1d6. They are completely unaffected by the paralysis ghouls can inflict. Their woodland skills make them nearly invisible and silent in wooded terrain or even grasslands where the grass is at least three feet deep. They can only be seen 1 time in 6 in such environments unless they attack, cast a spell, or specifically call attention to themselves. Even in other environments they remain nearly supernaturally silent, having a move silent ability similar to that of a thief. Their perception is also incredible, not only at finding secret doors, but they have honed their hearing incredibly also. These abilities are detailed on the spells and abilities table below – the number is the chance on a 1d6 roll that the elven warder succeeds when using the skill. Elven warders can speak their alignment language, common, elvish, goblin, hobgoblin, and orc.

Elven Warder - Table 2
Like wizards, warders carry spell books (although they are lighter than those of their swordmage kin), which hold the formulae for spells written on their pages. A warder can have any number of spells in a spell book, but can only memorize a certain number of spells that he can know off hand to cast at any time. This number increases as a warder increases in class level. A starting warder begins with one level one spell as well as “read magic” in his spellbook.

Warder magic is rarely directly offensive, typically working instead to control the battlefield in order to trap or disable the enemy, as well as a variety of defensive and healing spells to help other elves in harm’s way.

When a warder reaches the 9th level, he is able to create spells and magic items as per the Magic Research rules. However, elven warders cannot establish a stronghold – it is their duty to protect the elven lands and those who live within them, not to expand them.

Elven Warder - Table 3
A few of the spells on the Elven Warder spell lists are not in the core rules, they will be posted tomorrow.
Elven Warder - Table 4