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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Umbran" data-source="post: 832143" data-attributes="member: 177">Um, Psion, I'm afraid to say it, but you're wrong on this one.  It's not a variant.DMG, pg 36 (bottom of the right-hand column): "NPCs gain experience the same way that PCs do (see Chapter 7: Rewards for details). "--------------------Now, about elves - in the end, how quickly one gains levels isn't about "rules".  It's about the behavior of the character.  When we're discussing an entire race, it then becomes an issue of mass psychology.Look at the age tables in the PHB, pg 93.  People have been talking about how high a level someone would get in 73 years.  That's a bit silly.  By age 73, a human is "venerable", meaning he's an old geezer.  He's lost six points from Str, Con, and Dex.  He's gained 3 points of Wis and Int - meanign that he's smart enough to know that he shouldn't be adventuring!How many old people are likely to be adventuring?  Few, I imagine.  If you're at an age where you'd consider retiring from a clerking job, you're likely to retire from a more strnuous, life threatening job like adventuring.  So, most folks are going to stop running around with swords by the time they reach "old" (about 53, for humans).  After that point, they really aren't up to snuff, and are starting to put their lives in serious jeopardy.  Adventuring is a young man's game.Now. look at those age tables again, but look at elves, specifically.  An elf is looking at spending over half his life as "old".  Now, humans are looking at spending over 40% of their lives as old, not so big a difference, percentage-wise.  But for the elf, we're talking about 250 to 500 years as an old man!  Think about that for a moment.  An elf is looking at spending about the amount of time since Columbus sailed until now as an old man, past his prime, feeling arthritis pain, relaxing in the summer sun, etc.  I seriously doubt that a race with such longevity is going to behave in the same way humans would.  It seems to me that elves simply have more to protect than humans do.  While some PCs may take it upon themselves to do more and be more, the vast majority aren't going to throw that much sweet life away on a lark.  An elf is going to have to see a real need before he gets his butt in gear and risks his life - because he's got a lot to risk.  Even those elves who have PC classes will likely nto be in any rush to plunder the next tomb.  After all, the elf has the option of waiting until the next tomb is dug.Any way you choose to play it - elves are not going to be merely long-lived peole with basically human psychology.  If they have different psychology, they will behave differently.  If they behave differently, they generally won't gain levels the way humans do.</blockquote>

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