Elves - Love em or Hate em?

[MacMathan]

Personally I just find it hard to get into the almost immortal mindset of Elves.

It is difficult for me to figure why I am going to go crawl down into a dangerous hole to risk my life for gold and material gain when if I just stay at home in the forest I can live for a thousand years.

I guess it just feels like the campaign needs specially tailored motivations to the elven characters for them to be adventuring in a believable fashion. I do not find that as much with the other races.

Overall now that 2e has passed I am neutral on their existence in the game world, prior to that I was very Talislanta

 

[Psion]

This is probably because dwarves aren't that amazing as spellcasters, and casters rule the roost in D&D RAW.

They are better than elves. At least they have a con bonus.

The only 3e race that makes a worse caster than an elf is a half-orc.

 

[William Ronald]

They are better than elves. At least they have a con bonus.

The only 3e race that makes a worse caster than an elf is a half-orc.

The elves of 3rd edition do not seem especially magical, so perhaps this is something that might change in a future edition. However, gray elves (+2 to Intelligence and Dexterity, and -2 to Constitution and Strength) can make very effective spell casters. So, Wizard as a favored class works well for them.

Perhaps having intelligence as a bonus score and strength as a penalty might work in future editions for elven characters, if races still have favored classes.

 

[Wormwood]

This is probably because dwarves aren't that amazing as spellcasters, and casters rule the roost in D&D

Well, since 3.5 came out, I've seen more dwarf spellcasters than elf spellcasters.

(Con bonus + bonuses vs. ALL spells vs. Con penalty and immunity to sleep spells)

Elves, we hardly knew ye.

 

[William Ronald]

Well, since 3.5 came out, I've seen more dwarf spellcasters than elf spellcasters.

(Con bonus + bonuses vs. ALL spells vs. Con penalty and immunity to sleep spells)

Elves, we hardly knew ye.

Hmm, then a possible solution in a future 4th edition might be to have the elven substandard ability changed to strength and a bonus assigned to intelligence or dexterity. (Possibly include gray elves as a variant in the PHB.)

So, for those who debate betwen dwarven and elven arcane spell casters it could be


(Con bonus + bonuses vs. ALL spells vs. Dex bonus and immunity to sleep spells vs. Int bonus and immunity to sleep spells)

(For those who don't think you can include two racial variants in a single core entry in a game, the faen in Monte Cook's Unearthed Arcana have two varieties -- one (loresong faen) that has an intelligence bonus and the other (quickling faen) that have a dexterity bonus.

 

[CronoDekar]

I have an irrational hatred of elves as a race in general. I can't exactly pinpoint what I don't like about them -- I think it's some combination of their haughtiness, longevity, and portrayal as super-awesome. Drow also bug me, but I think that's less because they're elves and more because they're overused, or something.

That said, in my general Eberron fanboyness, I do like how that setting has treated elves (drow are okay).

 

[mhacdebhandia]

Tolkien elves = suxxor

Interesting elves = roxxor

Since only a handful of games apart from Eberron have done elves in an interesting way, I voted "hate em".

 

[Li Shenron]

I voted "don't care", because I neither love them or hate them.

 

[Gez]

Elves are annoying because overdone and overhyped.

That said, I loathe a certain aspect of each race. The Überalf (one with magic, one with nature; smarter, wiser, more knowledgeable than man; master/tamer/slayer of dragon; with advanced empires back when other races where just naked savages; with innate telepathic powers; immune to disease and scars and stuff; and so on) is especially loathsome, as it is big cheesy pile of immature "kewlness" tacked on without rhyme or reason.

I also dislike any rendering of elves as people bound by old, unchanging traditions -- dammit, that's not what I call chaotic good! Likewise for haughty, snobbish elves, they just beg for a good slapping.

But I also dislike dwarves (when they're rude, crude, unwashed berserkers), halflings (when they're kenders), gnomes (when they're tinkers), and humans (IRL).

 

[remial]

I hate elves...

they are trying to bring about the end of the human race through the practice of breeding half-elves.

liik at a typical issue of dragon magazine. Many is the issue featuring half elf women in chain-mail bikinis! and where are the human women? NOWHERE!

ok sure the elves SAY they dislike these half elf children, but secretly they are overjoyed because every one of these half-elves only means that humanity is one step closer to being bred into history.

the only way humans can survive is to rise up. Rise up I say, we must begin the cullings!

kill all elves!

proof? you need proof?

very well...

are there any half halflings?
half dwarves?

I think not!

the only ones who have seen the path that humanity is being led down are the Orcs. so celebrate. Join our orc bretheren in steming the tide of elven breeding progroms!

remember only you can save humanity!