Thank you, Fifth Element. A big thank you.
Elves:
Adulthood: 110 years.
Middle Age: 175 years.
Old: 263 years.
Venerable: 350 years
1. At middle age, -1 to Str, Dex, and Con; +1 to Int, Wis, and Cha.
2. At old age, -2 to Str, Dex, and Con; +1 to Int, Wis, and Cha.
3. At venerable age, -3 to Str, Dex, and Con; +1 to Int, Wis, and Cha.
These are core RAW.
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One thing is stated in the above: all the races suffer the same penalties at each age category.
The RAW are stating that elves suffer the effects of aging in a manner similar to humans. Their stats change just like those of the other races.
Another thing is stated clearly above: adulthood 110 years.
I'm afraid, folks, that this is a heavy blow against the elves. It doesn't mean they are doomed, but it sure hurts, and here's why:
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There is something called the Mortality Rate per Year, or MRY.
In real life, it comes from infant mortality, child mortality, teenaged recklessness, accidents, age related illnesses, and so on. It can also arise from war, plague, and famine, or even injuries that become life threatening and prove fatal.
In any game where there is the slightest lethality (even one Player Character per 100 games killed) there is a MRY.
And if there is a MRY for PCs, there is a MRV for NPCs, monsters, and most everything else (not those immortal celestials and fiends, in theory ...)
What is the rate of this MRY? I don't know. It would vary from home campaign to home campaign, from setting to setting. It would vary from culture to culture, civilization to civilization, nation to nation, race to race.
For example, the MRY of the Silvanesti elves has proven to be much higher than the MRY of the elves of Evermeet. The MRY of the human population of Rauxes in Aerdi is much higher than the MRY of the people in the city of Greyhawk. The MRY of drow seems to be much higher than the MRY of the halflings of Luiren.
But regardless of the rate, there is - in any campaign with any sort lethality factor (which is nearly all D&D campaigns) - an MRY.
Where is there not an MRY? Well, if Melkor had not messed Valinor up, followed by the Numenorians, then Valinor would not have had an MRV ... except wait, the wife of Finwe died having Feanor, so even Valinor has an MRV.
Get my point? ALL places have an MRV, except places where all things are immortal.
Now ...
This means both humans and elves have an MRY.
But HUMANS grow up quickly and start having children at 15 (the chart says they become adults at 15.)
ELVES grow up more slowly and start having children around 110 (the chart says they become adults at 110.)
MRY is cumulative per year. If the MRY rate is 1 in 1,000 per year, then one rolls a 1,000 sided dice, and if one's number comes up, one dies (of course, it's due to a specific event, not a roll of any dice ... so that's a metaphorical descriptor.)
Every year, both the human and the elf must roll that dice. Each year, the chance in the metaphorical descriptor is the same: 1 in 1,000
But as you all know, if I could take 100 of these dice and roll them, the chance of that number coming up is much greater than 1 in 1,000. (If I roll 3d6, the chance of my rolling one 6 is greater than 1 in 6. If I roll 10d6, my chance of rolling one 6 is much greater than 1 in 6.)
Thus, there is a significant lethality, a significant MRY danger, for anyone sticking around for 100 years, if the scenario has any real level of lethality in it (which is the case in most D&D games, for PCs and NPCs alike.)
The danger level in a scenario is up to the DM, but the numbers I am quoting (humans reaching adulthood at 15, elves reaching adulthood at 110) are RAW. Canon. 3rd Edition core.
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Thus, before an elf can have his or her first child at the age of 110, he or she must have survived 110 years of MRY.
The human man or woman must have survived only 15 years of MRY, before they begin having children.
And while it is quite true that the MRY will take it's toll on the humans, if they were to manage 2 surviving children per couple and these children survived to have 2 surviving children themselves, on average ... and so on, generation through generation, for 110 years ... with generational turnover occurring over 40 year periods ... in 110 years 2 humans would produce approximately 8 surviving offspring.
Meanwhile, the 2 elves have only just grown up, and haven't had any children yet.
That's 8 to 2.
And that means the humans have 8 contenders against the MRY, while the elves only have 2 attempting survival.
In D&D terms, this is a crushing blow to the elves.
It does not mean the elves are doomed. But it means they have a serious problem. A real serious problem.
If the MRY in the setting is high and elves are humans are sharing it equally, the humans will survive long after the elves are gone. If the MRY is very low and the elves escape most of it while humanity shoulders the brunt of it, the problem is not so bad ... but it is still there.
In the old 'classical' approach we discussed, where elves started having children at 100, and had maybe 2 or 3 children per 1,000 years, the MRY advantage of humans would be so overwhelming, so crushing, that the elves would be quickly eclipsed.
The MRY problem the elves face is worsened by the rapid reproduction rate of orcs and other humanoids of that sort.
These jokers reproduce like bunnies, in the 'classical' scenario. Thus the orc hoards hundreds of thousands strong every hundred years or so (rolls eyes.) And other humanoid hoards.
The MRY amongst these humanoids is astonishingly high, but their birth rate and overpopulation rate is so great that it overcomes even the MRY, and they produce these colossal hoards of monsters.
And then the poor elves (and humans also) have to deal with these guys.
What is worse yet, far worse, is that in 3rd edition every race may have a class.
This does not mean they DO. This does not mean that every orc is a barbarian or every kobold a sorcerer.
But it *does* mean that these abominations could exist, and if they do they have no level limitations or class limitations. I think the 3rd Edition RAW even suggest that some of them are proficient in certain classes, and one will find those classes within that race.
And once more, the poor elves (and humans also) have to deal with them.
The drow are stronger in 3rd edition, because the level and class limitations on them were dropped, thanks to the RAW.
Thus, if the 2nd edition drow do not change their behavior of launching assaults on elves, in 3rd edition (and nothing in the RAW suggests the drow have changed) then the elven MRY is further increased.
Also, there are logistical problems with having and raising children. For the elven couple who wishes to have 65 children (1 per year, for 65 years) they are going to face serious obstacles (obviously) in their family planning.
Thus, if the elves attempt to 'keep up' with humans (much less orcs) in procreation, they are going to have to be clever and creative and adjust their society to cope with large numbers of children and adolescents.
They can do this. I'm not saying they can't. It would make for an alien civilization (since humans do not raise families of 65 children) of note.
Thus, elves are doom ...
... elves have a king sized headache, maintaining their race in the face of their slow reproductive rate versus their MRY.
