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

[Maxperson]

And for an elf - do they remember where they were when the heard Archduke Ferdinand was assasinated?

Or when the War of the Roses broke out.

 

[Misanthrope Prime]

I think the easiest solution to the "elves were present for too much history" problem is just to also make elven society tacitly ok with habitual marijuana use. Was your elfin prince alive to see the Beatles on Ed Sullivan? Sure. Does he remember? Lmao.

 

[Necropolitan]

I think the easiest solution to the "elves were present for too much history" problem is just to also make elven society tacitly ok with habitual marijuana use. Was your elfin prince alive to see the Beatles on Ed Sullivan? Sure. Does he remember? Lmao.

Or they just weren't there for it.

 

[Charlaquin]

Or they just weren't there for it.

The problem isn’t that any individual elf saw any particular historical event, it’s that for any given historical event, there are living elves who saw it.

EDIT: This also isn’t just an elf problem. Lots of species have long enough lifespans to make what should be ancient history into living memory. Elves are just the most egregious example.

 

[Misanthrope Prime]

The problem isn’t that any individual elf saw any particular historical event, it’s that for any given historical event, there are living elves who saw it.

EDIT: This also isn’t just an elf problem. Lots of species have long enough lifespans to make what should be ancient history into living memory. Elves are just the most egregious example.

Lots of species decriminalize weed then. Problem solved.

 

[Charlaquin]

Lots of species decriminalize weed then. Problem solved.

 

[Necropolitan]

The problem isn’t that any individual elf saw any particular historical event, it’s that for any given historical event, there are living elves who saw it.

EDIT: This also isn’t just an elf problem. Lots of species have long enough lifespans to make what should be ancient history into living memory. Elves are just the most egregious example.

This isn't the modern age. A thousand year old elf is only going to know about what they personally witnessed or heard about and it's not like there's mass media in most D&D worlds.

 

[Charlaquin]

This isn't the modern age.

Not as such, but magic like teleportation, scrying, sending, etc. enables almost as effective mass communication.

A thousand year old elf is only going to know about what they personally witnessed or heard about

Yes, but what one thousand year old elf knows is irrelevant when there are hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of elves in the world. The long lives of these species means that an “ancient temple” isn’t really ancient, if it could easily have been built within the lifetimes of half the party. It doesn’t matter if none of them were directly present when it was built, what matters is that with so many peoples in the world who live so long, people’s relationship with time is different.

and it's not like there's mass media in most D&D worlds.

Again, the concern is less who knows what, it’s what constitutes being old.

 

[cranberry]

I've only played a half elf, never an elf.

I imagine there is more opportunity for a tragic backstory with a half elf.

I certainly played it up.