Help Balancing a elven subrace?

[Gmmaster42]

I found this race online a while back and I wanted to make it a bit more balance. I've already done a ton of work on it. I really like the race flavorwise, but does anyone have any suggestions? Or did I basically get it down enough to be playable?


Nightstalker Elves

Racial Traits:
Nightvision: Nightstalker elves have 120 foot range darkvision, and can see five times as far as a human in starlight, moonlit, torchlight, and similar conditions of poor illumination and twice as far under normal conditions.
Darkness: Nightstalker elves can cast darkness 1/day per level.
Immunities: Nightstalker elves have complete immunity to all forms of poison, paralysis, and magical sleep spells and effects.
Resistance: Nightstalker elves receive a +2 luck bonus on all saving throws, and an additional +2 bonus on all saving throws vs. magical spells, spell-like abilities, and effects. Nightstalker elves have a +5 natural bonus. Nightstalker elves have SR equal to their HD +11.
Special Search (Ex): A nightstalker elf who merely passes within 5 feet of a secret or concealed door is entitled to a Search check as though actively looking for it.
Skill Bonus: Nightstalker elves gain a +5 bonus to their Hide and Move Silently skill checks, and a +2 bonus to their Search, Spot, and Listen skill checks.
Proficiencies (Ex): Proficient with the longsword, blade boots, rapier, hand crossbow, longbow, shortbow, composite longbow, and composite shortbow regardless of character class.
Quickness: Nightstalker elves have a base movement rate of 40 feet.
Ability Adjustments: +4 Dexterity, +2 Intelligence, +2 Wisdom, and +2 to Charisma.
Automatic Languages: Elven, Undercommon, Common, and Drow Sign Language, Draconic, and Abyssal.
LA: +3
Favored Class: Fighter

[FireSpark]

Now, I mean this in the most understanding and inoffensive way, but stop with the elves.

11 friggen variants is too many already.

No, More. Elves.

[Lappy9000]

Now, I mean this in the most understanding and inoffensive way, but stop with the elves.

11 friggen variants is too many already.

No, More. Elves.

I agree as well, but hey, Gmmaster42 asked for help, so we should give him some help.

First off:


Nightstalker elves have a +5 natural bonus.

+5 Bonus to what?

Otherwise, they're a pretty good +3 LA race. I'd throw in 1-2 cantrip spell-like abilities too, just to give 'em a little more beef that a +3 would need.
EDIT: Nevermind, I overlooked spell resistance.

Just a heads up; most people here are pretty elfed out, and you may not get positive responses for a subrace that's uber-beastly. Mechanically, though, they look fine. Some fluff would be good to make these guys different than suped up drow.

[Gmmaster42]

Thanks for the advice, Lappy9000. Oops that's a natural armor bonus. I think I might lower that to +2 or +3 though.

This is the fluff that came with the race, but I'm probably going to changing it for my own purposes, maybe making them a gift to the truly favored of the drow houses from Lolth:

Nightstalker elves are an elven offshoot created through cruel magical experimentation and the forced interbreeding of elves with tanar’ri, shadow dragons, deep dragons, and other evil outsiders. Over a period of generations of such treatment the elven ancestors of the nightstalker elves evolved into a race of outsiders, native to the prime material plane, which breeds true among themselves and with elven mates.
Not much is known about the origins of those unfortunate elves who became the ancestors of the nightstalker elves. It is believed that they were a mixture of enslaved wild elves and survivors of drow patrols who were captured by the mysterious group of liches whom created the nightstalker elves. What their purpose for creating the nightstalker elves was has never been determined since all of the foul undead spellcasters are believed to have been destroyed when the nightstalker elves were freed through the combined efforts of a group of good-aligned adventurers and the rebellious nightstalker elves themselves. What little evidence survived the conflict points to a long and bitter feud between the liches that created the nightstalker elves and the underdark race known as the phaerimm. It is believed that those who created the nightstalker elves did so in the hopes of creating a race of warrior slaves to wage war against the phaerimm. This would explain the almost spiritual and instinctive hatred that all nightstalker elves exhibit towards phaerimm, something none of them can explain, either to others or themselves.
Since gaining their freedom the majority of nightstalker elves have been drawn to the worship of the drow goddess Eilistraee. A small number of outcasts have began to worship evil gods such as Vhaeraun, these are more directly descended from the fiendish allies and servants of the liches who created their race. Many have served their creators willingly for generations and may even be aiding surviving liches in hiding from their people, for nightstalker elves for the most part desire nothing less than the complete and utter destruction of any and all evil liches.
Both factions of nightstalker elves have established small, fortified, and hidden colonies near the surface where they seek to become completely self-sufficient. Nightstalker elven colonies all have several things in common, including large fungi farms, fish farms, and herds of deep rothe. From these sources nightstalker elves create everything they need to thrive and survive as well as trade with other races. The most common goods created by nightstalker elves are wool, cheeses, leather goods, wines, and preserved meat and fish. Many colonies also have a small number of warriors who hire their services out as mercenaries, good-aligned nightstalker elven warriors have gained a reputation for being honorable and trustworthy when hired by dwarves and/or gnomes. The tradition of hiring themselves out as mercenary soldiers began shortly after they gained their freedom, with nothing more than the clothes on their backs and the weapons wrenched from their former overseers the surviving nightstalker elves had no homes and nothing to finance the founding of a colony. Through hard work and honesty they earned enough to support and finance their colonies during the critical first years while their people were still struggling to survive. Many nightstalker elves continue to serve as mercenaries to help their communities gain funds needed for trade with outsiders, as well as a natural sense of wanderlust.
Nightstalker elves all have coal black skin, gray hair and eyes, sharply pointed teethe, vampire-like fangs, and tend to be taller than drow yet shorter than surface elves. Males tend to be taller and stronger than females, with strong muscular builds. Females on the other hand tend to be short, slender, and yet curvaceous. Both sexes have the lithe, graceful, cat-like movements of trained dancers and voices like liquid starlight, musical and lyrical, full of wind and music.
Nightstalker elves wear various types of clothing depending upon what they’re doing. If at home in the safety of their colony they like to dress in white and silver clothing: pants and tunics for males, skirts and dresses for females. When traveling or going outside of their colony they dress in black woolen tunics and trousers, with black leather boots and belts, and either masterwork leather (for low level elves), mithral shirts (for mid-level), or elven chain (high-level) armor and a sturdy weatherproof cloak. When encountered outside of their colony all nightstalker elves will be armed with a pair of longswords, at least half a dozen knives and daggers, dagger boots, and either a light crossbow (for Underdark travel) or a composite longbow (for surface travel). Both sexes wear their hair long and either tied back in a ponytail or braided into a single braid.
Mating habits among the nightstalker elves can best be described as freewheeling, fun loving, and generally irresponsible. However, if a female becomes impregnated the male becomes highly protective of her. When a child is born among nightstalker elves both parents, and indeed the entire colony, are highly protective of the colonies children. Among nightstalker elves it is the responsibility of the community as a whole to care for, educate, and protect all of the colonies children. Nightstalker elven children do however form a strong and lasting bond with both their mother and father, even if their parents have taken other consorts. Nightstalker elven parents seem able to tell whenever their children are in danger, regardless of the distance between them.

[weishan]

Take a drow and add class levels. I'd suggest avoiding work balancing when it's not needed. You can add a few of the abilities that differ from a drow's (like the extra immunities and skill bonuses for annother +1 LA if you really want). As you can see, I'm one of those "enough elves!" people :smallsmile:. In terms of balance, I'd say it's pretty close to LA +3 (I'd suggest using the half dragon templates as your basis for what an LA +3 creature should look like)