Another d20M rule for 3e Revised

[jmucchiello]

'I don't sleep, young creature. I experience my memories in full, glorious recollection. And I am truly sorry that you cannot...'

No, no, no. Try:

"Who was that woman I saw you with at the harvest festival 15 years ago when you were just a lad?"

"I have no idea. It was too long ago to remember"

"To long ago -- to remember? My, I don't think I can really comprehend that. What would time have to do with memory? I just don't fathom you humans sometimes."

 

[Fenes 2]

IMHO, if an elf want to heal he needs to sleep, or at least rest in bed. As far as I can recall, wounded elves don't got trancing around in the bushes, but get bed rest in all novels I have read.

And I would rule that never sleeping would incur never dreaming - and my human PCs would feel truly sorry for the elf who cannot dream...

 

[I'm A Banana]

Well, trancing is basically like sleep, but more efficient. Whatever the human brain does during sleep, the elf brain does *better* and *quicker*. That's why they're not subject to Sleep spells -- they just don't have their minds working in that way.

And, if I remember right, that does mean that elves don't dream. They review their history and past in the span of a blink of an eye.

From the outside, trance is just like having a 4 hour nap that works like a full night's sleep. From the mind of the elf, though, it's a whole new ballgame.

'Why would fritter away my time in sleep fantasizing about unrealities and subconcious desires? There is so much worth seeing and doing out here, in the waking world -- why you humans spend so much of it with your eyes closed, I would never understand. Dreams. Heh. Little midnight delusions for those not blessed enough to be able to preceive the world around them. Sleep. How cute.'

 

[Fenes 2]

Well, perhaps the inability to dream is a cause for the hide-bound nature of the elves, who can but gape at the rate of progress of the humans. The elf may clearly recall the woman the human was with 15 years ago (not IMC, since elves don't have a photographic memory by the books), but the human will have married and got children, saved or founded a town or two and made a name for himself in the process while the elf still plans on how to approach the girl he met at that fair...

And before someone asks: Yup, Forrester sums up my opinion of elves and especially elf-fanboys quite well.

 

[Sniktch]

And before someone asks: Yup, Forrester sums up my opinion of elves and especially elf-fanboys quite well.

Not sure of what you're referring to. I don't seem to have any problems with elf-fanboys in my game. We had to start an all elf game once to get anyone to play with elves.

 

[Fenes 2]

I was referring to Forrester's old thread about elves and their players, in which he put his disdain for the people who think elves should be better than any other race at everything (often refering to "The complete books of elves" or Tolkien as reasons to moan the "shafted" elves of 3E) so much better (and funnier) in words than I ever did.

 

[WizarDru]

If elves don't dream, then Sehanine Moonbow obviously never got the memo.

 

[drothgery]

Elves are capable of interbreeding with humans, and producing fertile offspring. In any kind of internally consistent fantasy world, species which are that closely related can't vary on something that basic, in my opinion. I could buy dwarves not sleeping, or gnomes, or even halflings. But elves (or orcs) not sleeping is just silly.

Your mileage may vary, of course, but when I'm the DM, elves sleep like everyone else. Besides, how are you supposed to give PC elves cryptic foreshadowing if they don't dream?

 

[buzz]

In any kind of internally consistent fantasy world, species which are that closely related can't vary on something that basic, in my opinion.

This would be a great argument if we were talking about Star Trek...

IMC, I'm generally not concerned whether the genetic heritage of the fantasy races is "internally consistent." This is a fantasy game, after all. If it's good enough for Tolkien et al., it's good enough for me.

The trance thing is a simple way to make D&D elves something more than short hippies with low-light vision.

 

[WizarDru]

If it's good enough for Tolkien et al., it's good enough for me.

Quick side thought, here: were there actually cases of elf/human pairings that produced off-spring in Tolkien's world? Did Arwen and Aragorn produce heirs? Not remembering the end of ROTK, I didn't recall those details. I know there had been other cases, but I don't recall that they actually had children, which is why I ask.