| Prime Requisite: | INT and DEX |
| Requirements: | INT 9 |
| Hit Dice: | 1d4 |
| Maximum Level: | 11 |
The elven race has a long and glorious history—they have built great kingdoms, learned deep lore and magic, and created wonders—but the height of their glory is long past. Now the great elven realms lie in ruin, and many fastnesses have been abandoned to the wilderness. But as humanity expands and encroaches on old elven forests, they inevitably uncover elven ruins and tombs. Elven magic left untended eventually goes bad, and many elven artifacts are dangerous in human hands. The collectors work in parallel with the Olin Gisir, the Secret Keepers, as agents who seek out elven wonders and bring them to safety.
These elven collectors possess a broad array of skills, including magic, fighting, and thievery, and brave the dangers of wilderness, old ruins, and human society alike to seek out and bring back elven items and magic. They are usually personally obsessed with this task, feeling a calling to the history and treasures of their forebears. While they are often expected to return elven artifacts to the elven people, many feel they are best able to keep such things safe by collecting them personally.
Elven collectors advance in attack throws as thieves, by two points every four levels of experience, and in saving throws as mages, by two points every six levels of experience. At first level, elven collectors hit an unarmored foe (AC 0) with an attack throw of 10+. Elven collectors forgo the use of heavy weapons and armor in favor of being able to save more elven treasures from danger or falling into the hands of other races. They are trained to fight with one-handed swords, daggers, bows and crossbows. They may fight wielding a weapon in each hand. They cannot wear armor or use shields or two-handed weapons. Elven collectors can use magic items usable by mages and thieves.
Elven collectors can learn and cast arcane spells and engage in magic research as mages of their level. They can research spells, scribe magical scrolls, and brew potions starting at 5th level, and can create more powerful magic items such as weapons, rings, and staffs starting at 9th level. Starting at 11th level they may learn and cast ritual spells, craft magical constructs, or create magical cross-breeds (or undead, if Chaotic).
Elven collectors can Open Locks and Find and Remove Traps, as a thief of the same level.
Elven collectors have even keener senses than other elves: they gain a +1 bonus to surprise rolls (increased to +2 when in the wilderness), and can detect hidden and secret doors with a proficiency throw of 4+ on 1d20 when actively searching, or 10+ on casual inspection. (This subsumes the usual elven attunement to nature and keen eyes.)
Elven collectors are usually aided by a familiar, as per the proficiency. The most common familiars are bats, black cats, crows, owls, and snakes, but elven collectors of 5th level or higher may attract more exotic familiars, which are also treated as henchmen.
Elven collectors study ancient annals and legends, and come to possess loremastery, as the proficiency (proficiency throw 18+ at 1st level, reduced by 1 per level).
As they pursue their path, elven collectors inevitably face many challenges, both physical, magical, and social, and develop skills to deal with them. Upon reaching 5th level (Elven Collector), they gain three abilities. The first is a mastery of charms and illusions: when casting charm or illusion spells (such as charm person or phantasmal force), the spell effects are calculated as if they were two class levels higher, and targets suffer a -2 penalty to their saving throws to resist their charms or disbelieve their illusions. Second is the ability to detect magic, as the spell, by concentrating for 1 turn. Third are the secrets of elven blade dancing: when wearing no armor, the elven collector gains a +1 bonus to AC, improved to +2 at 7th level and +3 at 11th level. These bonuses stack with the Swashbuckling proficiency.
Because of their connection to nature, elves are completely unaffected by the paralysis ghouls can inflict, and the target values for all their saving throws versus Petrification/Paralysis and Spells are reduced by 1. Elves can speak the Common, Elven, Gnoll, Hobgoblin, and Orc languages.
Upon reaching 9th level (Elven Meister), an elven collector may choose between constructing a sanctum or a fastness, gaining the benefits associated with one.
Elven collectors who wish to focus on magic research build a sanctum, often a great tower. He will then attract 1d6 apprentices of 1st – 3rd level plus 2d6 elves seeking to become elven collectors. Their Intelligence and Dexterity scores will be above average, but many will become discouraged from the rigorous mental training and quit after 1d6 months. While in the elven collector's service, apprentices must be provided food and lodging, but need not be paid wages. If the elven collector builds a dungeon beneath or near his tower, monsters will start to arrive to dwell within, followed shortly by adventurers seeking to fight them
Elven collectors who wish to focus on preserving elven sites and history build a Fastness in a natural setting, such as a forest or glen. A total of 3d6×10 1st level elven NPCs will move in to help with it and defend the fastness at no cost to the character. A collector's elven fastness follows all the rules for elven fastnesses in the Elven Fastnesses section of Chapter 7 of ACKS.
Elven Collector Proficiency List: Acrobatics, Ambushing, Armor Training, Battle Magic, Beast Friendship, Blind Fighting, Bribery, Cat Burglary, Climbing, Combat Reflexes, Contemplation, Contortionism, Divine Blessing, Eavesdropping, Elementalism, Fighting Style, Illusion Resistance, Laying on Hands, Lockpicking, Magical Engineering, Magical Music, Mystic Aura, Passing Without Trace, Quiet Magic, Sensing Power, Skirmishing, Swashbuckling, Trapfinding, Wakefulness, Weapon Finesse, Vermin-Slaying
| Spell Progression | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Experience | Title | Level | Hit Dice | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| 0 | Elven Amateur | 1 | 1d4 | 1 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 3,200 | Elven Dilettante | 2 | 2d4 | 2 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 6,400 | Elven Finder | 3 | 3d4 | 2 | 1 | — | — | — | — |
| 12,800 | Elven Connoisseur | 4 | 4d4 | 2 | 2 | — | — | — | — |
| 25,600 | Elven Collector | 5 | 5d4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | — | — | — |
| 51,200 | Elven Curator | 6 | 6d4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | — | — | — |
| 100,000 | Elven Antiquary | 7 | 7d4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | — | — |
| 200,000 | Elven Cognoscente | 8 | 8d4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | — | — |
| 400,000 | Elven Meister | 9 | 9d4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | — |
| 600,000 | Elven Meister, 10th level | 10 | 9d4+1* | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | — |
| 800,000 | Elven Meister, 11th level | 11 | 9d4+2* | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| * Hit point modifiers from Constitution are ignored | |||||||||
| Level | Petrification & Paralysis | Poison & Death | Blast & Breath | Staff & Wands | Spells | Attack Throw |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1–2 | 12+ | 13+ | 15+ | 11+ | 11+ | 10+ |
| 3 | 12+ | 13+ | 15+ | 11+ | 11+ | 9+ |
| 4 | 11+ | 12+ | 14+ | 10+ | 10+ | 9+ |
| 5–6 | 11+ | 12+ | 14+ | 10+ | 10+ | 8+ |
| 7–8 | 10+ | 11+ | 13+ | 9+ | 9+ | 7+ |
| 9 | 10+ | 11+ | 13+ | 9+ | 9+ | 6+ |
| 10 | 9+ | 10+ | 12+ | 8+ | 8+ | 6+ |
| 11 | 9+ | 10+ | 12+ | 8+ | 8+ | 5+ |