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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Felix" data-source="post: 3174837" data-attributes="member: 3929">I don't think this is communicated in Tolkien's books. After all, the elves fought mighty battles against Melkor and his hordes, and while eventually succumbing, I think they were hardly fragile.The problem with templating is that what we don't see in Tolkien's works is an example of an average elf. We don't know that every elf is particularly strong or weak, if they can produce magical musical effects by virtue of their birth, or if they must work to gain these abilities. What we do know is that they are immune to aging, don't sleep, have their fates tied to the world unlike Men, and that they are succeptable to dying from ennui.What class levels produce is the ability for differing skill sets between elves, as well as powerful heroes for the bards to sing of. Restricting access to elves until 5th or 6th level models the quality that the PCs won't really know what 1st level elves are like, much like the reader's experience with Tolkien's elves. It preserves for elves the possibility that every elf is signifigantly powerful (compared to the average human), but it does not make it a necessity the way templates do. And it is also not hard to argue that a template or a LA makes the race more frail due to the loss of HD.</blockquote>