D&D General what are the setting functions of elves?

[Zardnaar]

They exist to evolve into whatever niche is needed. Elf in a swamp? Give em a year or two hoom new subrace.

 

[Tonguez]

Elves are the idealised human, beautiful, youthful, idyllic, refined
They are what medieval humans long to be.

it is all illusion and deception for in truth they are soul sucking wraiths who hunger for the reality of life

 

[Immoralkickass]

They are target practice.

 

[dave2008]

They are whatever my player(s) think they are. I typically let my players develop the background for their characters, So what an elf is can change from campaign to campaign.

 

[Mind of tempest]

They are whatever my player(s) think they are. I typically let my players develop the background for their characters, So what an elf is can change from campaign to campaign.

I am not asking for your players' opinion I am asking for yours?

They are target practice.

it is a short list of things that can't be used as target practice

Elves are the idealised human, beautiful, youthful, idyllic, refined
They are what medieval humans long to be.

it is all illusion and deception for in truth they are soul sucking wraiths who hunger for the reality of life

so they are exactly the same as all other life?

in all seriousness I think I have not phrased the question right, I was not asking what the traits of an elf is but the role they eat in the setting like the endless big tough strong peoples what is that role?
what traits of elf are the role and what is only the traits of the elf?

 

[dave2008]

I am not asking for your players' opinion I am asking for yours?

I guess my response wasn't clear. I don't have an opinion on what elves are. I don't think any particular race needs a particular role. Things just are sometimes.

My implied suggestion was to discuss this with your players. Their thoughts and opinion will probably serve you better than ours.

 

[Minigiant]

Stagnation due to Perfection.

Elves hit their Golden Age then stop adapting to the world afterward.

 

[Shades of Eternity]

They can be used as a personification of how the perfect is the enemy of the good.

 

[aco175]

It is hard to change the 'core' races. It is like the topics on what classes do we need and it coming down to warrior, expert, and caster. With the new rules on race it has become less a thing to pick a race to be faster, smarter, more dexterous, etc... So all the races have lost some identity. Then it becomes a question on that race as what it typical or splitting the typical from the lone PC of that race.

So, now elves are generally more XYZ than orcs but this PC of mine is stronger than the general orc. It becomes harder to give each race a thing.

 

[Yaarel]

In my grand quest to make something that can fill the role of elf without being an elf I realised that outside of being overly romanticised and if left in any environment spawning a new type with a retroactive history of ten thousand years.
I do not really grasp outside of being magic call and mystical in a vague sense what they bring to a setting and why a player might play them outside of magic being overly romanticised and being able to outlive most nations.
anyone got ideas as I am lost?

In my view, the elves are either British faerie knights or Norse alfar. Both are personifications of magic itself.

Both are superhumanly beautiful. Anthropologically, beauty turns out to be the most defining feature, crossculturally, which is how sidhe, aelf, and fae all merged together.

Both faerie and alfar use magic as weapons of war. Even the knights are more like fullcasters, using spells for armor and substituting spellcasting ability for sword attacks.

As fates, faerie and alfar relate to life events like, birth, falling in love, having kids, and time of death, as well as luck and good fortune generally.

As beings of magic, magic itself relates to how the fates decide and alter reality.

Their cultures are human cultures, at least the prestigious aspects of human cultures, again relating to good fortune. The elf is humanlike rather than alien.

Fate, magic, beauty, and mythically human. I think that is it.

Other stuff can differ significantly.