Are we tired of elves yet?

[Elf Witch]

I like elves if they are handled right and not your sterotypical prissy know it all.

The fact that they are long lived can give them a different view point on things a whole different mindset and that can be fun to play.

In one game I played an elf who was attracted to humans like a moth to a flame because she found her race to be rather cold and sterile. Humans live such a short time but they live with such passion and that passion often caused her to get burned like the moth.

Think of of what it must be like to live or so long that can be a curse instead of a blessing. That is often a theme in vampire fiction.

As for how to handle the elf having more knowledge at first level that is a problem of the game in it self. In the game I play in now when we first started one of the players was playing a human who was in his 30s he was a doctor who had been kidnapped and sold into slaery along with the rest of us. We started at first level he had four ranks of heal which in no way would really represent is knowledge of healing.

 

[Starglim]

Heh heh, what Gothmog said. There are still plenty of things that I want to do with sly, hateful, poisonously evil elves.

 

[Gez]

Elves are a-ok if you do not pay attention to the nincompoop in 2e material, and anything that looks like it that's creeping in 3e.

Also, you need to say "stop" and put an end to the constant flow of elven subraces. You could fill a whole Monster Manual just with elven subraces. Special notice to the Forgotten Realms who seem to want to have one elf race for each element in Mendeleiev's periodic table. Gold elf, Silver Elf, Copper Elf, Mithril Elf, Helium Elf, Hydrogen Elf, Plutonium Elf... People complain about the number of dragon species, but at least dragons have a legitimate claim for sourcebook-hogging, since they're half of the name of the game.

 

[ssampier]

Elves are a-ok if you do not pay attention to the nincompoop in 2e material, and anything that looks like it that's creeping in 3e.

Also, you need to say "stop" and put an end to the constant flow of elven subraces. You could fill a whole Monster Manual just with elven subraces. Special notice to the Forgotten Realms who seem to want to have one elf race for each element in Mendeleiev's periodic table. Gold elf, Silver Elf, Copper Elf, Mithril Elf, Helium Elf, Hydrogen Elf, Plutonium Elf... People complain about the number of dragon species, but at least dragons have a legitimate claim for sourcebook-hogging, since they're half of the name of the game.

That's very true. Someone else pointed out CBE ruined elves for him/her and I'm starting to think that. I still play in a 2e game with my relatives and they have the weirdest ideas what an elf is. When I play an elf, I try to picture what a long-lived creature would respond to human dominance. I generally either play a elf desiring to be like humans or an elf aloof and uncaring about human civilization.

I don't agree about the periodic table, but what elves of the ancient elements, such as Fire Elves, Earth Elves, Air Elves (flying), and of course water elves (sea). Almost reminds me of a cartoon show, Captain Planet....

 

[Wraith Form]

Can't stand elves, dwarves or halflings.

** SNIP **

I just use humans and give no option for races.

I'm with you there. I liked Tolkien's elves, and I don't think D&D, AD&D or D20 has ever captured the essence of them.....so I make them an unplayable race that joins the legion of fey that avoid humankind if possible. Besides, most of the gamers (myself included) that I've seen role-play elves can't possibly successfully convey their ancient, world-weary, knowledgeable personalities. As humans (and usually teen - 30'ish in age, at that) how could we understand--and therefore role play--elves?

 

[Faraer]

I think elf-fetishizing and the backlash from that are two sides of the same coin. I like elves, but the way some people goob over them and neglect dwarves is nothing less than sinister: a nastily unbalanced notion of the best parts of being human that plays to our culture's obsession with youth.

The vaunted 2nd edition overhyping of elves is really limited to PHBR8 The Complete Book of Elves, whose faults Colin McComb has readily admitted.

I've also heard that Elaine Cunningham's FR novels portray elves (and by extention, drow) as being the best at everything they do, but I haven't read them myself so I can't say for certain.

It's not true.

 

[Ibram]

Personaly I'm sick of "Tree hugger elves who are better then everyone else yet somehow in decline." as well as "an elf for every season".

IMC there are two groups of elves... the "True Elf" represents most of the elves tall and long lived they are slowly being pushed out by the more vibrant races (humans and orcs mostly). High/Dark Elves are near immortal creatures whos extremely advanced culture has brought their race to the brink of extinction.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

I don't mind elves so much. The key thing in any game that removes elves is not to include a race of pretty-human types with lots of neat bonuses. I've seen that a couple of times in settings and it annoys me. I mean, why bother?

 

[Mr. Kaze]

My problem with elves is pretty much the same as my problem with dark elves -- in the "all things being equal" D&D world, there's nothing particularly special about them at all. They're supposed to be this great and ancient race with knowledge and wisdom that makes the human race look like a bunch of tree-swinging monkeys (in the traditional Tolkien and more recently Straczynski's sci-fi LOTR redux of Babylon 5). But in D&D they're invariably just the guy with pointy ears that was inexplicably orphaned at an inn (or tree, I suppose) and doesn't even notice that he's trusting his little munchkin life to a pack of stupid philistine humans and dwarves (and half-orcs and halflings and tieflings and genasi and so on).

So IMC, elves live a lot longer. It's been quite some time since the sundering of the elven race (which I constructed based on the Minbari political structure) which resulted in the surface elves teaching humans about their culture and the spirit world before retreating to atone for the betrayal of their warrior caste (the dark elves) who had been starting to consort with demons to defeat the darn humans that were multiplying like bunny-rabbits. Of course, this is only vague rumor and conjecture amoung the humans and nobody's (except for the PCs) seen any elf except for the few vagrant half elves wandering about in the past few hundred years.

And that's how I keep them special.
::Kaze

 

[Kichwas]

Heck, I'm sick of elves, drow, dwarves, gnomes, orcs, halflings, paladins, clerics, and so on and have decided that for me, it's time to start playing fantasy.