Cloud Elf
The Arrogant but Good-Natured Elves that live in the skies above
Base Racial Traits
Ability Scores: (+4 Dexterity, +2 Intelligence, +4 Charisma, -2 Strength, -2 Constitution): Cloud Elves are supernaturally beautiful and highly intelligent, but lack strength or endurance. Type: Cloud Elves are Humanoids with the Elf and Air subtypes. Size: Cloud Elves are Medium Sized Creatures. Speed: Cloud Elves have a base land speed of 30 feet, and a fly speed of 30ft with perfect maneuverability. This fly speed is a result of innate wind control, generation, and manipulation and is thus Extraordinary. Senses: Cloud Elves can see twice as far as humans in conditions of low-light. They also gain the Mistsight UMR, allowing them to see perfectly through all magical and natural fog, mist, murk water, and the like as if they were perfect clear. Languages: Cloud Elves begin play speaking the Regional Language(See Languages of Zheng-Kitar) that reflects their origins, and either Old Elven or Baltairi. A Cloud Elf with high INT can choose from the following languages:(Auran, Aquan, Aklo, Giant, Elderspeech, Old Druidic, Common, and Necril) Cloud Elven Immunities: Cloud Elves are immune to magic sleep and paralysis effects and gain a +2 racial bonus on saves vs Enchantment effects and against any effect that would dirty, stain, or 'sully' their physical form(Grease, Tar Pool, Etc). Gilded Senses: Cloud Elves gain the uncanny ability to thoroughly and completely analyze another creature to determine their worth - objectifying them so utterly that by studying a creature for a full-round, a Cloud Elf can get how much a creature's body is worth(Healthier or more impressive bodies generally being worth more, GM Discretion) as well as a general estimate of the value of their worn and carried belongings. This also automatically identifies all magical gear they possess and their properties. This worth is translated into the currency the Cloud Elf is most familiar with(Gold Pieces for most). Cloud Elves gain a racial +4 on perception and appraise checks, and gain both as class skills. For 1 minute after examining a creature in this manner, a Cloud Elf gains the following benefits if the sum total of their carried items or nearby possessions exceed the target's:Cloud Elven Magic: When casting spells or using effects with the [Air] or [Electricity] Descriptors, Cloud Elves can originate those effects from any square within a radius around them equal to the natural reach of a creature two sizes larger than themselves(15ft for medium-sized Cloud Elves) as if they were casting or using the effect from that square. They do not need line of sight to the square - only a clear line of effect. Cloud Elves automatically cast such spells at +2 caster level, and apply the Heighten Metamagic to the spell or effect if doing so would be beneficial to them. Wind Spirit Host: Cloud Elves, from a very young age, are inhabited by countless wind spirits - who help regulate their internal air reserves and atmosphere and afford them potent protection from wind. Cloud Elves are unaffected by winds of any level and may move normally within them, and do not suffer penalties for high altitude exposure. Additionally, they can call upon these spirits within them to emit high-pressure airblasts, control the air or atmosphere around them, or accomplish any similar purpose relating to the weather, air, or wind(Possibly fatiguing them with repeated use). This odd biology also makes Cloud Elves oddly resilient to piercing damage - causing them to take half damage from all piercing damage as such attacks pass right through their airy bodies like a gaseous cloud. This only applies to attacks that deal only piercing damage(For this purpose, firearms with B/P damage are counted as strictly piercing damage). Invoke the Contract: Cloud Elves, inhabited by wind spirits, can call upon the power of those spirits in times of crisis - Cloud Elves gain the spells of the Air(Cloud), Air(Wind), or Air(Electricity) Domain/Subdomain(Chosen at character creation) at the same levels a Cleric would gain them as 1/day Spell-Like Abilities. 1/day as an immediate action, they may inhale an AoE spell they are in the area of - taking minimum damage or the effects of one round of exposure(Whichever is more applicable) automatically but otherwise instantly negating the effect. Storm Shroud: Cloud Elven skin, uniquely conductive and electrically resistant, affords them Resistance 15 to Electricity. As a move action which does not provoke, they can reduce this resistance by 5 to discharge the stored voltaic currents within their body into a bolt of electricity as a ranged touch attack with a 120ft range that, if successful, halves the target's movement speeds and specifically drops all fly speeds they possess to 5ft for 2 rounds. This drop in resistance lasts for 1 minute. Taking electric damage or being in an electrically-aligned area increases their resistance by 5 for each damage instance or round they remain in such an area(To a maximum of double their base resistance). Intentionally being damaged to trigger increased resistance does not trigger this ability. Oligarch's Instinct: Cloud Elves may, as an immediate action when they or an ally they can see within 60ft is being targeted by an attack, redirect themselves or another ally into the path of the attack if they are already within range and are a valid target, making the new creature the target of the attack. If there is no such creature available, they may select another allied creature or themselves within 60ft and move the target 5ft + 5ft per 4HD they possess towards the creature being attacked - if this would bring the target into range and/or make them a viable target for the attack, the moved creature is targeted by the attack instead. Peerless Epicure: Cloud Elven bodies, possessing a unique enzyme that reacts in the presence of poison and rot, affords them immunity to poison and disease and allows them to automatically identify if an object or creature they touch and study as a full-round action is poisoned, diseased, spoiled, etc. If they so choose, they can spend one minute thereafter allowing their bodily enzymes to seep into the touched item to remove the contamination - functioning as Purify Food and Drink if used on objects/food, or as Remove Disease/Neutralize Poison if used on another creature(CL = HD+5). These effects are extraordinary in nature. GM has final discretion on how the enzyme reacts when faced with corruption or contamination beyond mere poison, disease, or rot. Supernatural Charisma: Cloud Elves, possessing personalities so strong as to influence their own bodies(Similar to autohypnosis), may use CHA instead of STR for all STR-based skills as well as any 2 DEX-based skills of their choice. They may also use CHA for Fortitude Saves if doing so would be beneficial to them. Cloud Elves also gain a racial +4 on all diplomacy and intimidate checks, and are under a constant supernatural glamour that causes them to always appear as the closest ideal of beauty possible to all who view them - allowing all such creatures, if they can biologically experience sexual interest or romantic attraction, to view them favorably in such ways.
- The Cloud Elf can read the mind of the target at-will for the duration.
- The Cloud Elf can activate their worn, carried, or held magical items as if they were in their possession, benefitting them instead of the target.
- The Cloud Elf's words are supernaturally influential to the target. This is not mind-control - the target merely becomes fearfully deferential to the Elf's words(Finding it difficult to refute or refuse them), but is not forced to obey them.
Basic Information
Anatomy
Cloud Elven anatomy is a truly strange thing, as while they have two legs, two arms, and a head located atop their torso like other humanoids, their entire anatomy is designed around aesthetic and pleasures of all kinds...though none know how, Cloud Elves have seemingly adapted to back up their haughty, arrogant belief in their own perfection biologically...their bodies digest food and all they consume at a highly efficient rate to such a degree that it is biologically impossible for a Cloud Elf to become obese or overweight.
Their blood is almost gaseous within their veins, and on top of that they have a unique organ they have so arrogantly referred to as "Ingsungr's Heart", named after the creator of Giants who they believed favors them so heavily he blessed them with a fragment of Giant's Strength and beauty...this organ allows them to manipulate clouds and air, and gives them their ability to fly.
Biological Traits
Cloud Elves' skin ranges in color from milky white to powder blue. Adult males are about 8 feet tall and weigh around 230 pounds. Females are slightly lighter and around the same height. Some cloud elves can even reach heights of up to 9 or 10 feet, and with their lavish garb and jewelry weigh up to 320 pounds—they are sometimes so bedecked in ornaments that they must rely on their powers of flight to get around more easily. They tend toward muted coloration, with skin of milky white, pale gray, or powder blue. They have fair hair—white, gray, or pale blonde—but richly colored eyes, which are usually gray, violet or blue.
Genetics and Reproduction
Cloud Elves, like most all Elves, are incredibly asexual beings and while they are capable of feeling pleasure and the emotions that are normally associated with reproduction and sex in other races like humans, they almost never have sex and reproduce for the mere act of doing so. They have almost no sex drive and care little about such things, and generally only reproduce when they feel the need to continue their species, not for any simple act of pleasure or emotion.
Adding onto their low sex drives, Cloud Elves, like most all elves, simply do not conceive in the same way as other races do - for a Cloud Elf to come down with child, they have to make a conscious decision to do so and ingest a special natural and herbal remedial concoction designed to stimulate their bodies to allow for reliable conception. So when the times demand it or when they feel the need, Elves gather together with their chosen mates and decide to have children, but otherwise they are mostly incapable of having children otherwise...however, this also explains the origins of Half-Elves, as many Elves often fancy relationships with humans but rarely stop to consider the consequences of an unplanned spontaneous pregnancy without the influence of their herbal concoctions...without them, a full elf cannot be born and a half-elf is the result.
When Elven Females come down with children, they carry the children inside of them for between a year to a year and a half, after which the child is born shortly thereafter.
Growth Rate & Stages
Once they are born, Cloud Elves grow incredibly slowly, and do not come of age into adulthood until they are 50 years old. They hit middle age at 500 years old, become old at 750, and reach venerable at 1000 and die several years later.
Ecology and Habitats
Cloud Elves dwell exclusively in the highest environments of the world, and typically not only subjugate their environments but begin demanding tribute from the nearby settlements of civilized races...if they do not receive their tribute and are not offered gifts and offerings, they are wont to obliterate or humiliate those who refuse them.
Dietary Needs and Habits
Cloud Elves are capable of eating anything they can fit inside their mouths, but are such picky eaters and such haughty epicures that they will only let the finest food and drink touch their beautiful lips.
Biological Cycle
Cloud Elves are so beautiful and believing in their own beauty that they do not show any outward signs of aging. Their bodies remain the same outwardly right up until the moment of their natural death.
Additional Information
Social Structure
All Cloud Elves bend to the rule of the wealthiest and most powerful of their kind, leaders known as oligarchs. Cloud Elves go through a lengthy diplomatic process to determine the tribe’s oligarch. Every 50 years, each family selects a speaker to represent them. All the speakers of the tribe take part in a voting process in which each speaker can cast a number of votes proportional to the value of her family holdings. In the end, the speaker who receives the most votes becomes oligarch of the tribe for that half-century, and has the greatest influence in matters that regard the tribe. When a particularly dire situation affects a whole region, the oligarchs of neighboring like-minded communities gather together to make joint decisions. Oftentimes, these matters relate to declaring war against morally opposed cloud Elves, though particularly drastic circumstances may bring such feuding tribes together to combat a greater foe.
Facial characteristics
Cloud Elves facial features are chiseled, sculpted, and mathematically perfect to all who view them. They are beauty and purity incarnate.
Geographic Origin and Distribution
Cloud Elves are often exclusively found in their mythical cloudtop citadels and in fortresses atop the tallest mountains in the world.
Average Intelligence
Cloud Elves are naturally very intelligent beings, much moreso than the standard Human. Their minds are capable of amazing feats of logic and intelligence such that mortal minds would be astounded at the sight of it.
Perception and Sensory Capabilities
Cloud Elves have eyes specially adapted to life at high altitudes, and they can not only see perfectly in conditions of low-light, but can also see through mist and fog as if it weren't even there.
Civilization and Culture
Naming Traditions
Cloud Elves follow the naming traditions of the Forest Elves, though they lean towards even more flowery and beautiful names.
Beauty Ideals
Cloud Elves find beauty in and love luxury and overt displays of wealth. To a Cloud Elf, nothing is more beauty than gaudy opulence, and the more beautifully opulent a thing is, the better...as for creatures, Cloud Elves are creature that find beauty in nothing but both the exterior of one's physical body as well as the mental prowess of those who possess that beauty. Only these things together are beautiful to a Cloud Elf; One must be both unfathomably beautiful and unbelievably intelligent to attract the attention of a Cloud Elf...as a result, their only mates are often others of their kind.
Courtship Ideals
Cloud Elven courtship is a thing of opulence, decadence, and debauchery. Courtship to a cloud elf often involves reveling in the finest food and drink while admiring the finest and most beautiful artwork and mastercrafted gear...as well as admiring each other's mutual beauty and games of intellectual and philosophical challenge, putting each others minds and bodies to the test against the other to prove they are worthy of one another.
Relationship Ideals
The ideal Cloud Elven relationship is one that is born from and revels in both extraordinary beauty and bottomless opulence and decadence.
Common Dress Code
Cloud Elves of high station wear fine clothing and exquisite jewelry appropriate to their status, while less influential ones don the best they can afford. Many cultivate an appreciation for fine art and adorn their halls with paintings, sculptures, and tapestries, works usually crafted by lesser species. They wear things for the beauty of them, and favor light armor that gives them full range of motion, especially mithral armor when they can obtain it.
They prefer to wear loose fitting and revealing clothing to better display their perfect bodies, and while they will don armor as needed, they often try to keep as much of themselves exposed as possible to give others the privilege of gazing upon them.
Interspecies Relations and Assumptions
Cloud Elves are closely bonded to the Cloud Giants, and the two species are almost always found together as equals and allies, and sometimes even companions.
Alternate Racial Trait List:
Racial Feat List:
Genetic Ancestor(s)
Lifespan
1000 Years
Conservation Status
Cloud Elves are rare due to their tendency to make their homes in the clouds or on the tallest mountaintops, but they are by no means endangered.
Average Height
6.5ft - 9.1ft (2.1 - 2.8 Meters)
Average Weight
175 - 270 pounds (80kg - 122kg)
Average Physique
Cloud Elves are not simply beautiful; They are perfection itself. Not simply in body or in appearance, but in their entire being...their souls, minds, and bodies alike are so utterly and amazingly beautiful that all mortal creatures cannot help but feel attraction to them, even on some subconscious level...whether it be attraction towards their body, mind, or other things, all can find something beautiful in Cloud Elves. However, they are physically quite weak and frail, lacking in both muscle mass and durability.
Body Tint, Colouring and Marking
They tend toward muted coloration, with skin of milky white, pale gray, or powder blue. They have fair hair—white, gray, or pale blonde—but richly colored eyes, which are usually gray, violet or blue.
Related Materials
The Legendary Cloud Castles
Legends speak of grand cities that float high above the world on the very clouds themselves, and of Cloud Elves and Cloud Giants who tread the surfaces of these clouds as though they were solid ground. If such cities exist, few have seen them, and even most Cloud Elves and Cloud Giants dismiss them as idle fantasies. Yet some among their kind see a glimmer of truth buried within these myths, and comb the world for signs of the legendary floating cities and their cloud-dwelling kin - these cities are things of myth and legend, and though many Cloud Elves and Giants may claim to come from such places, specifics or details are almost always left out. So has these Cloud Castles, these Sky Cities, said to be great marvels of Cloud Giant engineering of many eons ago are things of great myth and legend - spread as heresay throught the world, the rumors surrounding their origins almost infinite and numerous. Some claim the Cloud Castles, these 'Sky Cities', were built by ancient Cloud Giants in mimicry of the Sapphire Elves and their floating cities - yet still others claim them to be older than the Sapphire Elves - relics of a time when Cloud Giants could sculpt the very air itself and used such gifts, now lost to time, to form great castles in the sky to serve as ultimate citadels to protect them against their enemies. Whatever the case, the legend of the Cloud Castles and Sky Cities has remained as a wondrous rumor sought out by many.
Beauty Undescribable
Few creatures can truly fathom the beauty of the Cloud Elves - to associate them even with other creatures such as the High Lamia or Lamia is a grossly unfair comparison, for Cloud Elven beauty is not merely skin-deep, it permeates their entire being and sublimates them from the tops of their head to their toes - not one inch of a Cloud Elf is not beautiful. They are almost semi-divine in their beauty, and to see them is to glimpse upon one's own ideal of physical and spiritual perfection, the light illusion that covers each Cloud Elf working to make all who gaze upon them see them slightly differently - in an idealized vision that creature thinks of as perfect. As such, few can do anything but stare and gape the first time they lay eyes on a Cloud Elf in person, and for good reason - to be confronted with one's own personal ideal of physical perfection is something that most creatures are never prepared for or even experience over the course of their lives - and combined with a Cloud Elf's royal demeanor and willingness to accept any and all creatures as vassals and servants if they but kneel, and their even-handedness and zeal with which they treat and strive to protect their 'treasures'(Their servants and vassals and physical items all), many creatures thus see them as creatures worth serving with all their being, for a Cloud Elf will almost always repay their loyalty a thousandfold.
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