D&D (2024) D&D species article

[Minigiant]

Ackshullay...

Age. Half-elves mature at the same rate humans do and reach adulthood around the age of 20. They live much longer than humans, however, often exceeding 180 years.

PHB 2014

Historically they age to 20 years then slow aging.

I Don't think that the assumption is that they age exactly like humans and then spend 100 years as a elderly person.

 

[Remathilis]

Historically they age to 20 years then slow aging.

I Don't think that the assumption is that they age exactly like humans and then spend 100 years as a elderly person.

5e doesn't have age penalties but 3e listed their age categories as this:


Table: Aging Effects
Race Middle Age Old Venerable Maximum Age
Half-elf 62 years 93 years 125 years +3d20 years

Compared to a human

Race Middle Age Old Venerable Maximum Age
Human 35 years 53 years 70 years +2d20

So they age roughly half as fast as a human (little less). I don't know if that will inherently make them more charismatic, but I guess it's not nothing.

 

[Aldarc]

Is being right worth boring the rest of us with such a banal discussion of aging?

 

[Minigiant]

5e doesn't have age penalties but 3e listed their age categories as this:


Table: Aging Effects
Race Middle Age Old Venerable Maximum Age
Half-elf 62 years 93 years 125 years +3d20 years

Compared to a human

Race Middle Age Old Venerable Maximum Age
Human 35 years 53 years 70 years +2d20

So they age roughly half as fast as a human (little less). I don't know if that will inherently make them more charismatic, but I guess it's not nothing.

It's more that they have more time to learn diplomacy either by necessity or their unique position

 

[Remathilis]

Is being right worth boring the rest of us with such a banal discussion of aging?

Yes

 

[Remathilis]

It's more that they have more time to learn diplomacy either by necessity order unique position

So why don't elves and other long-lived races get free skills? I'd say an elf should have at least four at their age...

 

[Minigiant]

So why don't elves and other long-lived races get free skills? I'd say an elf should have at least four at their age...

Technically they do but it's all useless elven crap.

In modern fantasy, elves are too stuck up and haughty to spend time learning anything nonelfy that they waste decades learning only elven niche topics and skills.

 

[Remathilis]

Technically they do but it's all useless elven crap.

In modern fantasy, elves are too stuck up and haughty to spend time learning anything nonelfy that they waste decades learning only elven niche topics and skills.

Shouldn't that be the player's choice if their elf is stuck up and only interested in elf niche stuff? (Which apparently isn't history, arcana, performance, nature, medicine or religion-based. I guess they spend 100 years contemplating their navels?)

Part of the problem with species that live for decades before becoming an adventurer is that they should have all sorts of practical skills OR skills that far exceed human ability. An elf should have a wide selection of skills while a human should have one or two. A dwarf should have crafting skill as an apprentice that a human master can hope to copy. But game rules say they have the same amount of skills and proficiency because it wouldn't be fair. So dwarves and elves spent 60 to 100 years to learn what a human learns in 20. That's not a slow-lifestyle slow, that's major learning disability slow!

So I'm not buying it unless you're arguing the only way to play an elf is as an arrogant noble/philosopher that wastes 100 years of their life on things with no practical application anywhere.

 

[Micah Sweet]

You really don't get it do you? It has nothing to do with half elves. It is the concept that members of one species (i.e. race) can be better (e.g. more charming) than members of another species that is racist.

They are different species, not different ethnicities though. Everyone on Earth is Human. Elves and Dwarves aren't, but they're also fictional.

 

[Micah Sweet]

So why don't elves and other long-lived races get free skills? I'd say an elf should have at least four at their age...

They should, IMO. That they don't is a gamist conceit.