Do Elves Dream of Elven Sheep?

[Yair]

What do elves do when they enter a 'trance' instead of sleeping? Not having the PH at hand to work from, the SRD says:

The Elf racial description
Immunity to magic sleep effects

(what about non-magical sleep effects?)
and

The dream spell description
Creatures who don’t sleep (such as elves, but not half-elves) or don’t dream cannot be contacted by this spell.

(Can I conclude that elves don't sleep, but do dream? )

How is it played in your games (if at all)? Do they reflect on the day's events? Do they meditate on their bodily sensations (the only meditation form I am familiar with)? On imaginary objects? Or repeat a mantra? Do they just think of nothing?

What do elves do when in 'trance'?

 

[maddman75]

IIRC, in the 2e Complete book of elves it said that they entered a reverie, contemplating events in their long lives. It was a way to deal with their extraordinarily long lives.

 

[Gez]

No. It's not quite what they do with elven sheep.


Elves don't dream. Ever. It's something they don't understand. Instead, they spend their time looking nostalgic and mournful, saying that their time is gone, and that yesterday was better than now, and that tomorrow will be even worse. They feel the whole world is a ugly nightmare, and long for the time when their pitiful existence in this loathable place will finally end.

Elves live in forest, because they are full of icky-wicky ferocious beasts that keeps the other races at bay.

When they do are among the other people, they are envious of these free spirited folks. People who still like life. People who have dreams and ambitions. Elves hate all this joy and merriness and hope. They do everything they can to crush it (usually by insulting them, saying that the best realizations they could make would not even compare to the glorious craft of the elves, and that now with clumsy idiots like humans, dwarves, gnomes, halflings and the others all hope of seeing beauty again are gone because nothing could hope to beat the elves, yadda yadda, don't even try, your lifelong work would suck compared to what a sick elven toddler could puke).

In Changeling: the Dreaming terms, elves would have a +7 racial bonus to their Banality rating.

The mere idea that they could be related to fey just because they have pointy ears is laughable.

In fact, elves behave like goths. They're all mighty-like and tragic-like, but it's merely attention-whoring. They want other people to look at them elves rather than themselves, and to stop doing anything. To stop dreaming, hoping, creating, living.


If elves were fay-like, they would be free-spirited and good-hearted. They would frolic in the woods with other people, rather than being self-absorbed, full of themselves and obsessed by ideals of racial superiority and purity of blood. They would enjoy sleep and dreams. They would be easier to enchant than others -- and inversely, be more apt at enchanting than others.

But they aren't. They are sour, hearless husks that crave despair and crushed dreams, and that thrive to inspire hopelessness in all.


(Who can tell I find the "elves don't sleep" rule intensely stupid? Who can tell I dislike muchly the AD&D2 Complete Book of Überalfen?)

 

[Yair]

@Gez: LOL

I find the rule cumbersome too, but it has already entered my campaign and now I am thinking on its ramifications...

On the up side, planning guard duty is much easier when most of the party needs only 4 hours of 'sleep'.

 

[Matafuego]

Gez, you practically described the elves in my campaign
Of course there are no woods, but they're the politicians of my world and they don't sleep because of an old fight with the God of Dreams (which later died and gave some Dwarves a blessing of... 12 hour sleep per day!!)

 

[Krug]

Anyway, are elven sheep long-lived? Do they taste good in stew?

 

[Hand of Evil]

They don't dream, the focus and contemplate.

But it does make one wonder...

So, what does an elf see when he goes to the plane of dreams?

 

[Yair]

They don't dream, the focus and contemplate.

But it does make one wonder...

So, what does an elf see when he goes to the plane of dreams?

Actually, that is sort of the in-game problem that started me thinking... although in my case it hasn't happened just yet, but it looms on the horizon as a tangible possiblity...

 

[WayneLigon]

Non-magical sleep effects (such as drugs) work on them just fine, since the line states magical sleep effects. Of course, most drugs and such really produce unconsciousness rather than sleep (two very different things), so that also works.

I say they dream (a state they can create without sleep, through meditative techniques), mainly because in most worlds I've run, dreaming is a very important thing and there are a number of spells and affects that require a dreaming mind to work correctly.

If dreaming is not a requirement, I'd say they simply open their mind up to the natural world around them, to re-connect with it on a level most humans never reach. They almost-kinda go to that place Druids go to when they renew spells.

 

[Shallown]

I developed a lot of the history of my world around a revolt of the slave races over the demons/devils who ruled 2000+ years ago. It required a huge ceremony etc and major sacrifices from each of the races.

Some humans/fey mixed to become halflings
Dwarves gave up part of their personality and lives.
the humans gave up many, many lives
And so forth

the elves being lacked so in numbers that they wished to avoid sacrificing half their population (like the humans did) so they sacrificed partof their souls.

So once a year for 48 hours elves sleep transporting thier souls to the demon realm and holding/destroying/lessening the demons powers so they cannot return. Most elves return from this war unaffected a small percentage never return, some return with battle scars etc. Nasty bit is, man, woman child make this trip which leads to some unfortunate deaths among the children.

The side affects are elves don't sleep. they don't wantto sleep. Also they were long lived before but this side affect has lengthened the time they live so once living to like 150 now live to 600-700. Since no one but the elves no this happens every year they have to remain aloof and apart so the racial secret stays a secret. they expend a lot of effort preparing for this most vulnerable time.

It is a little more complex but that is the gist of it. I thought it was a little different. And BTW Drow do sleep they were the elves who didn't revolt but stood by the Demonic spider queen and therefore did not make a sacrifice except for basing their whole society on a demon queen demi-goddess.

Later