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<blockquote data-quote="Philotomy Jurament" data-source="post: 4338327" data-attributes="member: 20854">I run OD&amp;D, so Elves are slightly different from what most D&amp;D players are used to.&nbsp; OD&amp;D gives the referee a lot of room for interpretation with Elves, but here's <a href="http://www.philotomy.com/#class_race" target="_blank">how I handle them</a>:(Note that I'm using the <a href="http://www.philotomy.com/#hit_dice" target="_blank">&quot;roll all your hit dice each time&quot;</a> method for determining how many hit points of damage you can take.)Elves do have many advantages, but some of that is offset by the level caps (i.e. 4th level Fighting Man, 8th level Magic User).&nbsp; However, note that these level caps aren't particularly oppressive, given the <a href="http://www.philotomy.com/#levels" target="_blank">level scaling</a> of OD&amp;D.&nbsp; (In my game, 8th-10 level is high level, and levels above that are legendary figures.)&nbsp; With their multiple classes, Elves also tend to advance slower. One difficulty Elves have in my game is the fact that they are &quot;living in a human world.&quot;*&nbsp; And my game's Elves are not Tolkien-style &quot;prettier and more perfect humans&quot; kind of elves.&nbsp; They're stranger and more wild and fey.&nbsp; Even alien, in some ways.&nbsp; They don't have a unified look, either.&nbsp; Some might look like Tolkien-style Elves.&nbsp; Some might look more like dwarves or gnomes.&nbsp; Some might look like humans with a fox tail, or an animal head.&nbsp; Et cetera.&nbsp; One of the distinctive elements of OD&amp;D is the way Elves choose to act as Fighting Men or as Magic Users.&nbsp; This is an odd rule.&nbsp; But Elves *are* odd and alien.&nbsp; They go off and meditate or commune with the cosmos or something, and come back almost as a different person.&nbsp; Maybe their personality even changes.&nbsp; They're damn weird, from a human point of view.Anyway, this weirdness, and their minority numbers, compared to humans, make them outcasts, in many ways.&nbsp; They're not really evil (usually), but they're so alien and removed from the norm of (human) society that many people fear or distrust them.Not an argument about the effect elves had on the game, over the years.&nbsp; Just my take on elves.&nbsp; So far, it's working out pretty well.&nbsp; <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile&nbsp; &nbsp; :)"&nbsp; data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />* - this &quot;human world&quot; concept is also the justification for demi-human level caps, in general.&nbsp; I like the concept of the &quot;fading&quot; elder races and the &quot;rise&quot; of humans, and the &quot;short lives burning bright/limitless potential&quot; of humans, compared to the &quot;slow, long smoulder&quot; of most demihumans.&nbsp; YMMV, of course, but these concepts fit the kind of fantasy I like and relate to the best.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Philotomy Jurament, post: 4338327, member: 20854"] I run OD&D, so Elves are slightly different from what most D&D players are used to. OD&D gives the referee a lot of room for interpretation with Elves, but here's [url=http://www.philotomy.com/#class_race]how I handle them[/url]: (Note that I'm using the [url=http://www.philotomy.com/#hit_dice]"roll all your hit dice each time"[/url] method for determining how many hit points of damage you can take.) Elves do have many advantages, but some of that is offset by the level caps (i.e. 4th level Fighting Man, 8th level Magic User). However, note that these level caps aren't particularly oppressive, given the [url=http://www.philotomy.com/#levels]level scaling[/url] of OD&D. (In my game, 8th-10 level is high level, and levels above that are legendary figures.) With their multiple classes, Elves also tend to advance slower. One difficulty Elves have in my game is the fact that they are "living in a human world."* And my game's Elves are not Tolkien-style "prettier and more perfect humans" kind of elves. They're stranger and more wild and fey. Even alien, in some ways. They don't have a unified look, either. Some might look like Tolkien-style Elves. Some might look more like dwarves or gnomes. Some might look like humans with a fox tail, or an animal head. Et cetera. One of the distinctive elements of OD&D is the way Elves choose to act as Fighting Men or as Magic Users. This is an odd rule. But Elves *are* odd and alien. They go off and meditate or commune with the cosmos or something, and come back almost as a different person. Maybe their personality even changes. They're damn weird, from a human point of view. Anyway, this weirdness, and their minority numbers, compared to humans, make them outcasts, in many ways. They're not really evil (usually), but they're so alien and removed from the norm of (human) society that many people fear or distrust them. Not an argument about the effect elves had on the game, over the years. Just my take on elves. So far, it's working out pretty well. :) * - this "human world" concept is also the justification for demi-human level caps, in general. I like the concept of the "fading" elder races and the "rise" of humans, and the "short lives burning bright/limitless potential" of humans, compared to the "slow, long smoulder" of most demihumans. YMMV, of course, but these concepts fit the kind of fantasy I like and relate to the best. [/QUOTE]

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