D&D General So how do Half-Elfs feel different to Elfs?

[DEFCON 1]

I'd go so far as to say that the cultural differences between half-elf and human and all permutations of elf are far greater than the cultural differences between high elves, wood elves, sea elves, even drow; and yet all these elf "subraces" have their own statblocks and reams and reams of paper have been printed about them over the past 50 years of D&D. Again, I'm biased, I do self-identify with half-elves, but I fail to see how the concept is any more or less legitimate than sea elves.

And there's 48 years of paper spent on half-elves. So you are not hurting for information about them even though they don't get a statblock in the 5E24 Player's Handbook.

 

[DEFCON 1]

Because packaging the half elf as a new species not in the PHB will make people wanna buy the book it appears in?

Then I presume you have purchased Forge of the Artificer then?

 

[Maxperson]

If it's just a mix of the two, then why does WotC need to bother printing it in a book? Why can't the DM just give two human traits and two elf traits to the player to make their "half-elf" and call it a day?

Resourceful
Skillful
Fey Ancestry
Trance

Boom. Done. There's your "half-elf". And you didn't need to wait on WotC to get around to it.

I doubt all racials are created equal, and I know a great many people like things like that to be concrete and not nebulous.

 

[Yaarel]

That might be for the faeries of the Feywild, but elves are flesh and bone.

By "Faeries", I assume you mean the 1e group within the Grey Elves. I equate Grey Elf with 5e24 High Elf, thus the Faeries among them as those High Elves who live on the Fey side of the fey crossings.

The 5e Eladrin are a different Fey elven ethnicity.

They aren't fey anymore. Magic circles don't hedge them, Forbiddance doesn't forbid them.

They are mortals. In their own way, they are like aasimar and tieflings, retaining only part of their planar heritage.

The Elves of the Material Plane are more than matter, flesh and bone, and biological genetic DNA. They are magic energy who chose to materialize in a Human form, and they continue to transmit their magical and planar essence as well. Their trancing maintains cognizance of their nonhuman aspect, even across spacetime: the interconnectivity of their magicality and the fatefulness of their planarity.

Even those Elves who have bodies of flesh and bone are immortal in the sense of eternal youth. Their bodies dont die of old age.

The nonbiological aspect of the Elf species can transmit to their descendants, including the rare Half Elf descendants.

 

[W'rkncacnter]

Because packaging the half elf as a new species not in the PHB will make people wanna buy the book it appears in?

 

[kigmatzomat]

Even those Elves who have bodies of flesh and bone are immortal in the sense of eternal youth. Their bodies dont die of old age.

For a shared discussion of half elves in 5e RAW, elves grow old and die by about 750yro.

If you want to discuss homebrew elves unique to your fantasy heartbreaker, I suggest this thread: AD&D 2E - Fey, but Old Skool

 

[Yaarel]

For a shared discussion of half elves in 5e RAW, elves grow old and die by about 750yro.

Regarding Rules-As-Written, the 5e 2024 Players Handbook says in the Elf species description: "They live for around 750 years."

On average. But there can still be individual Elves who were killed in battle at the age of 20, and likewise individual Elves who were never killed and are still around after thousands of years.

Moreover, most Elves who have reached a hundred years old would be epic levels, which can normally bypass expected lifespans anyway.

There are primordial Elves who can shapechange at will who are still around, and the Astral Elves have no passage of time.

The core description of the Elf is inclusive enough to accommodate various individuals and various settings.

The Players Handbook says, "most species live for around 80 years old", but obviously Humans dont die on their eightieth birthday. The lifespan is only a vague estimation. There are officially Human individuals who are much older.

 

[Maxperson]

Moreover, most Elves who have reached a hundred years old would be epic levels, which can normally bypass expected lifespans anyway.

This isn't the case. You are thinking like a human, not a race that can wait 70 years to see if a tree puts out an albino fruit just because it's curious. Long lived races aren't pressured to get stuff done right now like humans, halflings, etc. are. That 100 year old elf might not even have a class yet.

 

[Ondath]

I'm surprised nobody made a comparison between Half-Elves and Spock in the thread so far (though the gist of the idea was mentioned already on the first page I think): Much like how Spock is half-Vulcan and half-Human, and that allows him to still be relatable but sufficiently alien, half-elves are a good half-way between playing a full-on "inhuman" Elf and a generic human, especially for people just getting into fantasy as a genre. I think similarly it's no surprise that the POV character in the original Dragonlance novels was Tanis Half-Elven for most of the time. Though I think this trend is falling with newer fantasy works openly embracing different archetypes, so new people who get into fantasy are more okay with immediately adopting the POV of more "otherworldly" characters.