Twilight Isles – Shadow Elf Houses III

   Here we have a few more of the Shadow Elf bloodlines / houses.

   Brinial

• House Talents: +2 Str, +3 on all craftsman’s skills (Appraise, Craft, Disable Device, Forgery, Knowledge/Architecture and Engineering, and Open Lock), Fire Resistance 5 and can accomplish all metalsmithing and forge-work in only half the usual time.
• The Brinial bloodline possesses a practical, if unspectacular, set of gifts, and can credit their successes more to hard work and cooperation than to magical power. Their abilities are, however, well suited to keeping them in the middle class – which provides a reasonably secure base for them to recover from setbacks. Brinial who rise to prominence usually do so as warriors or as warrior-craftsmen.

   Fanachfaid

• House Talents: +2 Wis, +3 on all wisdom-linked skills, True Strike, True Skill, True Save, True Dodge, and True Initiative (each providing a +20 insight bonus on an appropriate short-term roll) twice per day for one of them of the player’s choice and once per day each for remaining three.
• The Fanachfaid bloodline is prone to minor, but quite unreliable, precognitive visions – a talent which often allows them to pull through in pinch, but which tends to desert them if they call on it too often. The line tends to rise spectacularly when conditions are good, and the occasional vision suffices to navigate through life – but tends to fall equally quickly when conditions are too stressful, and the occasional flash of precognition will not suffice. Even more annoyingly, the excessive use of precognition tends to drive it’s user’s mad – making it impossible (or at least undesirable) to improve their talents. The Fanachfaid tend to be overconfident and rarely plan ahead, since they tend to rely on their talents to pull them through.

   Offyrdyn

• House Talents: +2 Str, +3 bonus on Climb, Craft, Disable Device, Escape Artist, Forgery, Open Lock, Survival, and Use Magic Device, and unlimited use of Create Implement (creates some a basic hand tool or implement for one minute per level).
• The Offyrdyn commonly find work in the wilds, or as adventurers, or in any other field where one is likely to need some offbeat tool on the spur of the moment without the convenience of having a pack-train or workshop handy. It’s difficult to overestimate the quiet convenience of always having a hammer and some wedges, or a crowbar, or saw, or the perfect lockpick, or a blade, or pretty much any tool or simple weapon you could want, instantly to hand when you need it. It’s rare for an Offyrdyn to rise to any great heights of public power, but rather more of them have risen to substantial heights in the underworld.

   Sharalaes

• House Talents: +2 Con, +3 bonus on priestly skills (Decipher Script, Diplomacy, Heal, Knowledge/Religion, Knowledge/The Planes, Perform, Profession/Priest, and Speak Language), and unlimited use of Dispelling Touch (as per Dispel Magic, but only affects the target touched).
• Members of this house are extraordinarily difficult to affect with magic for long; even the best spells tend to crumble within minutes when applied to them, they disrupt other spells on contact, and they can even neutralize magical devices – at least temporarily. Unsurprisingly, most Sharalaes act as priests, advisors, emissaries, or magical researchers. They rarely go looking for major positions themselves, preferring to be members of the entourage of more prominent figures.

   Raignedyr

• House Talents: +2 Str, +3 bonus on strength-based skills, unlimited use of Scalywrath (from The Practical Enchanter, page 91).
• The Raignedyr can shapeshift into a reptilian combat-form, wherein they are equipped with claws and fangs, tough scales, some minor physical boosts, and a rather awkward tail (requiring special adaptions in their clothing and armor). They’re often employed as semi-concealed bodyguards, since they don’t need to actually carry weapons and armor to be effective. Oddly enough, those with the potential for higher levels rarely specialize as warriors; most of them find it more useful to rely on their natural talents in a fight and spend their efforts learning abilities which are useful in daily life – often more general magical abilities. Powerful Raignedyr often show really odd personality traits, withdrawing from social contact, focusing on accumulating wealth and power, and becoming reclusive reptile-wizards.

   Riadda

• House Talents: +2 Con, +3 bonus on wilderness skills (Climb, Handle Animal, Knowledge/Nature, Knowledge/Local, Move Silently, Survival, Swim, and Use Rope), unlimited use of Pass Without Trace.
• The Riadda sometimes act as scouts, but they make the best use of their talents as troop leaders – since they can lead several hundred people, or an adventuring party, through the wilderness and still leave no trace of their passage. Noble Riadda often extend the tendency, engaging in careful manipulations but being careful to leave few traces of their operations.

   Yrnsriad

• House Talents: +2 Cha, +3 bonus on assassin’s skills (Bluff, Disguise, Escape Artist, Forgery, Hide, Move Silently, and Sleight of Hand), unlimited use of Delay Poison (they’re effectively immune to poison).
• The Yrnsriad are notorious as assassins and poisoners, but are actually rather more often found working as alchemists, refining metals, harvesting dangerous plants, collecting natural poisons for other uses, and in any other job which requires massive exposure to toxins – or at least is easier to manage while accepting such exposure. As nobles, the Yrnsriad rarely make progress too quickly – but going into one of their strongholds without your own form of protection from poison is asking for a lethal dose of something or other. When a family sees nothing wrong with dealing with vermin by sprinkling toxins over everything, visiting gets risky. Of course, half of that is cultivated reputation as well – they Yrnsriad nobles do have servants after all – but it suffices to discourage potential attackers.