The Envoy

Time passes quickly outside of an elven kingdom, and the activities of the young races can have a tremendous impact if they are not kept an eye on. The envoy is an elf appointed by an elven community of any size to venture outside, observe all that is happening and report all findings back to the community leaders.

The Quintessential Elf

Author Alejandro Melchor
Publisher Mongoose Publishing
Publish date 2002

He may take the role of an official ambassador to another kingdom, spy, infiltrator or merely a Traveller who takes a lot of notes. The envoy’s main interest is to learn what the other humanoids have been up to all this time, recording past events and developments, new crafting techniques, magic, fighting styles and, generally, anything that the elf considers important. Thorough envoys learn these new skills and methods, while others are content to merely note that they exist, trusting that if anyone in his community is interested, he will go out and learn it himself.

Adventuring: Envoys become adventurers simply because that is what they were appointed to become. They aim to learn all that there is to learn about the world beyond their borders, tagging along with a party for the opportunities – and the safety- of travelling with multi-talented groups. They are not pushed by the acquisition of wealth for themselves, although that might be an added bonus for some. They tend to pursue rumours and hearsay, going after the tiniest scrap of information in order to get the whole picture.

It is common for envoys to multi-class, acquiring a wider range of skills to show off back home. Some of these envoys enjoy life on the road and among other races just a tad too much, and take off as soon as they deliver their findings with the promise to return with more.

Role-Playing: Curious about everything, an envoy can be only elf in his community to have had contact with the outside world, and thus be the fittest to undertake this task. Or he is merely the most curious and enthusiastic about going out. He asks questions incessantly, but has the good sense to know when to shut up and just sit back, observing and taking it all in.

His curiosity can be confused with naïveté if he is candid about it, or with nosiness if he is prodding. He will be the one in the group to vote for going to new places, especially if there is a chance to find some lost knowledge or visit a new culture. However, if one of his findings spells danger for his people, he will insist that they go back and resume their adventure later, once he has delivered the warning.

Bonuses: As long as he keeps to his task and commitment to return to his people, the envoy learns much faster than the average elf. The character gains an additional Skill point at every level, but he must find some time to contact or return home every four levels, or he stops enjoying this benefit.

Penalties: Because they are expected to deal with a wide range of circumstances, envoys must be familiar with more skills if they are to understand how they are practiced by others. At first level, an elf envoy cannot raise any class skill above 3 ranks, or cross-class skills above 1. They are free to reach their allowed maximum on further levels as they seek out more specialised knowledge and train in the skills that call to them.