Holiday Present - The Elf PHB entry

[med stud]

EDIT: Removed post due to being off topic.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Group Awareness: You grant non-elf allies within 5 squares a +1 racial bonus to Perception checks.

If my dwarf is surrounded by 10 elf buddies, do I get a +10 bonus?

+1 racial bonus. Unless the rules for stacking change strongly in D&D 4, no, you just get a +1 bonus.

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

300 years ain't ancient history though. 3000 years? That's a different matter.

And frankly, in a world where you've got races that can live from 700-2500 years (or more), even that isn't much. Have you looked at the Grand History of the Realms? There are things in there that were occurring 33,000 years before the present day.

Yeah, I left a 0 off that. It was intended to be 3000.

Wonder WHY timelines in published campaigns have to be retardedly long? Why humanoids in D&D are apparently flat out stupid and uncreative compared to Earth when it comes to technology? Its because they have a race thats lifespan is an era of history, so the numbers have to be inflated to allow for "ancient" events that you cant go and ask your local elf about.

 

[Reynard]

Wonder WHY timelines in published campaigns have to be retardedly long? Why humanoids in D&D are apparently flat out stupid and uncreative compared to Earth when it comes to technology? Its because they have a race thats lifespan is an era of history, so the numbers have to be inflated to allow for "ancient" events that you cant go and ask your local elf about.

There is an ebb and flow to social and technological development. Assuming we would call the 13th century the typial D&D time-frame, there's 4000 years of human civilization to account for, some periods of which were more advanced socially and technologically that the "modern" time.

 

[Amrynn Moonshadow]

I have to disagree here. BMI most often can't be used without looking at the patient as well but at the limits set by the medical community as being unhealthy (above 30, below ~17) BMI is pretty much always accurate.

I don't think so . . . BMI isn't 'pretty much always accurate' in my medical opinion. Just take a look at a few professional athletes. Mark Eaton was a bean pole, but his BMI is over 26. Karl Malone, who has 2.3% body fat, is also overweight by the BMI scale, the two time MVP of the NBA has a BMI over 27. I agree that BMI by itself is not as good as it is with other diagnostic tools, however is that more a product of the 'other diagnostic tools' being useful, and the BMI being the Gnome bard of the medical diagnosis toolbox (it's loud, everyone has heard of it, and has an opinion of it, but not everyone understands what it means) or that the BMI's use is augmented by further examinations?

 

[Szatany]

I love the elf entry. Absolutely perfect for what I want out of elves.

My only concern is the +1 to allies within a certain distance thing, and I'm only concerned because those type of abilities could be annoying to track if there's a lot of them. But my small concern about that is vastly overshadowed by my happiness at the racial entry.

Agreed, it should rather be a +5 bonus for all allies for one Perception check, usable once per day.

 

[Kintara]

Group Awareness: You grant non-elf allies within 5 squares a +1 racial bonus to Perception checks.

If my dwarf is surrounded by 10 elf buddies, do I get a +10 bonus?

No, I just don't think that makes sense because why would non-elves benefit vastly more than elves? I can understand a +1 because elves get a racial bonus of +2 already. I can see sharing half of that bonus with a non-elf.
--
Anyway, I'm trying to remember where I saw it, but I remember hearing one of the SWSE developers making a comment that he thought it was unlikely that they'd be using the skill system from that game. D&D has different priorities than SWSE had. It'll probably bear some semblance to it, but I wouldn't assume too much.

 

[WayneLigon]

Wonder WHY timelines in published campaigns have to be retardedly long? Why humanoids in D&D are apparently flat out stupid and uncreative compared to Earth when it comes to technology?

Typically, D&D campaigns have a slightly higher level of technology than we did at the midieval period. Remember, the last 100 years or so is not the norm for how technology has progressed on Earth - you have 5000+ years of people basically grubbing in the dirt with sticks, only the sticks change every 500 years or so. And we have not had magical disasters wiping out all progress occassionally. The closest we come is the fall of the Roman Empire and it plunged Europe into 1000 years of darkness. One of the few things that kept learning alive was a unified Church and not many D&D worlds have that.

 

[Banshee16]

I don't think it's particularly difficult, but I find it kind of silly. Your average heroic adventurer elf has spend 70+ years singing songs, writing poetry and picking flowers but hasn't really learned anything of use?

One day a week practicing with sword and bow for 70 years and they can still get beat down by a human who's only been able to lift a sword for 3 or 4 years?

It really stretches my disbelief suspenders.

As mentioned in my post above, they don't need to be 70 years old to be an adventurer. They could easily be one by 30. They'd just sort of be looked at by their family as the red-headed stepchild...the one who moved out at 17...that kind of thing.

And at 30, they wouldn't be any less competent than many humans are at that age...still lvl 1.

I find it humourous to discuss suspension of disbelief with respect to elves living a long time, when they're in the middle of putting demonically or devilishly blooded human crossbreeds, and walking humanoid dragonfolk into the game

Banshee

 

[Banshee16]

Regarding age of races, there is a nice line in Races & Classes about Eladrin that goes like this

Nice

Banshee