The Wondrous - The Greylands alternative to the Elf

I have been doing some worldbuilding and/or refining of ideas in my head about my Greylands setting and one of them is to lean a bit more into getting rid of your Tolkienesque stuff like dwarves and elves and lean into more human-centric stuff. I am also working on a replacement of sorts for Dwarves and Halflings, but more on that in the future.

I still like the “Elf” in B/X as the powerful intersection between Fighter and Mage (balanced with very slow leveling), so I figured I’d try a different spin on it. As such I am leaning into the many stories of children born from mortal mothers and a dragon, zmej or other serpent as a father, or heroes such as Krali Marko who was nursed by a supernatural mother like Vila Samodiva.

The Wondrous

Requirements: Minimum POW of 9
Hit Die: 1d6
Maximum Level: 9
Weapons and Armor: Wondrous can use all non-black powder weapons and all types of armor.

Description

While Chaos has been observed to produce many strange things such as naturally occurring dungeons, fell beasts, the Little Folk, mutations, magic and worse, its effects are not always as dramatic. Often it simply just makes people that are strange, weird or just kind of off.

The Wondrous are those people. Born of a mortal parent and a supernatural being of some kind, the Wondrous are obnoxiously competent compared to most of humanity. Being innately magical due to their heritage and close relation to Prima Materia grants the Wondrous the ability to master and cast spells, while most of them also being very adept at combat. The downside, however, is that the societal perception of them as being too full of themselves does make them advance slower in its arbitrary measurement of one’s place in the hierarchy (a.k.a. gaining levels).

The Wondrous are rare, but not unheard of, within the stable and mundane parts of the world, but seems to be a very steady phenomenon in more Chaotic zones, perhaps due to humanity’s never-ending propensity to have sex with supernatural creatures.

Outwardly most Wondrous look just like normal humans, however there is something off or strange in their eyes that betrays their true nature.

Abilities

Spellcasting: The Wondrous can cast spells similarly to magicians, but due to their inherently magical nature they also can learn a new spell every time they level up, without needing to devote time and resources to research or learn it from a teacher. Of course, they can still do those things if desired.

They can not learn any Healing or Law-associated spells, as those are the domain of the followers of the Sun God.

Inability to use firearms: Again due to their personal connection to Chaos the class can’t use firearms or other gunpowder-based weaponry. It simply doesn’t quite work for them.

Immunity to energy drain: A Wondrous often has a very strong personal aura, and are immune to the effects of energy drain (which in my game will make you lose stats, rather than levels, cos fuck that noise!).

Keen senses: The Wondrous are only surprised on a roll of 1, instead of a 1 or 2. They can also spot secrets or traps with a 2-in-6 chance even when not actively looking.

Level Progression

As Elf. Duh.