Elves - Love em or Hate em?

[Sejs]

Hmmm... I find the problem is not cliches, but that people play them like pretty anemic humans.

I can definitly agree with that, and it falls under the same aegis as the 'not playing them well' mentioned above. Drew Hayes did a good job illustrating the point in one of his Poison Elves books; elves, as creatures that (baring misfortune) live for a long, long time are going to have a very different perspective on life than one held by a shorter-lived race such as humans. And that even if a human were to extend their lifespan by a few hundred years via magic or somesuch, they're still likely to spend that time thinking like a human because that's how they're wired to think. Extend it far enough and maybe that person will re-tool themselves enough such that they learn to step back a bit and look at the bigger picture, but it's not how a human's mind works by default.

Take a look at the elderly. Take an eighty year old man, that breadth of experience just living, that patience taught to him over the years, and that wry amusement at just how worked up and passionate younger folks can get over even the seemingly smallest of things.

Take all that, and then put it inside the body of a boy who doesn't look a day over fifteen. And that's just an elf at the awkward, early stages of their life; it just keeps on going from there.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

And that 3e makes them not too appealing, mechanically.

That's weird. Usually, people hate elves because they were so good in AD&D, and keep hating them even though they are fine now (it's the dwarves that are ridiculous mechanically. Never really liked them to begin with, but with them being 3.5's powergamers' dream, I like them much less).

 

[Ravilah]

From a DM's stand point, I get frustrated with elves for their danged 1000 year life spans. The party comes up to a temple abandoned for 450 years: "Oh, hey. I think I came here once on a field trip."

In my present campaign, the elves are extinct!

 

[PJ-Mason]

I severely dislike D&D elves and am not too enamored of any games elves (i'm not real hot on any of the stereotype races in D&D). Unless they are just actually fey or sprytes or something. I don't mind fey some much. Elves are just slightly altered humans, fluff-wise and certaintly mechanics wise. I always thougt the -2 con was very strange. They are immortal or long lived, usually have fluff or mechanics based element resistance, and don't need to sleep much. The lower Con doesn't fit. However a -2 Strength makes much more sense since usually they are smaller, or at least much slightly than humans.

So thats what i do with elves in my campaigns. When i allow elves, that is...which is never.

 

[Wormwood]

Back in the dark days of the Complete Guide to Elves, I hated them with a passion. Game-breaking poncey little twinks.

Now that 3e has come along and nerfed the hell out of them? I couldn't care less about them.

Dwarves are the new elves.

 

[jsewell]

Personally, I hate the bastards.

ditto

 

[Mark Hope]

I don't care for the flighty, fay, "let's run around our treehouses and show everyone how magical and in touch with nature and magical and superior and magical we are" approach to elves. I very much prefer my elves in the vein of Tolkein's Noldor: passionate, vengeful, powerful and utterly self-righteous. My current homebrew doesn't have them, but in my previous one they were a pretty xenophobic lot, dabbling in forbidden mysteries and indulging in all manner of sinister conspiratorial goings-on intended to crush the lesser races beneath their pointy-toed boots. I'm also (surprise) a big fan of the Dark Sun elves - a really original take on the race, imho.

 

[Truth Seeker]

D&D isn't a sport...

If rolling dice isn't a competition...then what is?

 

[Kae'Yoss]

Dwarves are the new elves.

That's what I say, too. Mysterically, there are no great outcries about them...


This gives me new incentive to use my own homebrew world in the Campaign they force me to DM, instead of giving them the choice of FR and Midnight.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

Elves have great potential. They work great as any of the six character classes: bard, cleric, druid, fighter, paladin, wizard. Personally though I wouldn't play an elf with the standard palaldin rules. I'd use the ones presented in Heroes of Code. I think druids can also make excellent mystic theurges comboing cleric or druid with wizard levels, it is the perfect fit. Bards are bit bland presented as core and thus personally would use Monte Cooks alternate bard rules.

My favorite elves of all time are those from Dark Sun.