Where are the High Men/Dunaden?

[Storm Raven]

I dunno if they're meant to rule other races, but they tend to be wiser than others (Denethor craziness nonwithstanding). I think that they believe themselves fortunate in the same sense that many well-off people think themselves fortunate compared to those not so well-off.

Denethor was so far removed from the line of Dunedain that he was basically just an "ordinary man". Pretty much all of the Dunedain remaining were either part of Aragorn's retinue, or hid out in the southern lands as bad guys.

 

[davidschwartznz]

Aragorn did a few things in the books that can be attributed to his innate abilities as a Dunedain. For one thing he could heal not just regular ills but supernatural ills

That's just Aragorn casting a few ranger spells.

I think the best way to do 'high men' would be to use racial levels (a la Arcana Unearthed). A PCs can take a few levels of 'human' to represent him getting in touch with his inner ubermensch (your PC can go from guy we met in a bar to king of men just like Aragorn).

 

[William Ronald]

Denethor was so far removed from the line of Dunedain that he was basically just an "ordinary man". Pretty much all of the Dunedain remaining were either part of Aragorn's retinue, or hid out in the southern lands as bad guys.

As I recall, Gandalf said that by some chance the Numenorean blood line ran nearly true in Denethor as it did in Faramir -- but not Boromir. Also, Sam recognized some similarity in Faramir's rangers to Aragorn.

I think that something like the Dunedain were not included because this is a pretty specific to Middle Earth. The Dunedain benefitted from both traces of elven and Maiar ancestry, and living close to the Undying lands. (The Edain, the ancestors of the Dunedain, were the men of Middle Earth most closely allied to the Eldar. )

Some of the Dunedain did come to bad ends, such as those who became some of the Ringwraiths. So, they were far from perfect.

 

[nimisgod]

Denethor was so far removed from the line of Dunedain that he was basically just an "ordinary man". Pretty much all of the Dunedain remaining were either part of Aragorn's retinue, or hid out in the southern lands as bad guys.

Hmm... true.

I remember reading about a few people and places where the blood of Numenor was not so diluted. Faramir and Imrahil of Dol Amroth (not really of the line of Numenor, but they have a trace here and there, I think).

 

[danbuter]

It's still an idea of "superior race of men." I'm not saying that this is bad literature, I'm just saying that I personally don't care for an actual game-mechanic representing this in my campaign; being a liberal modern American, I've been raised with the idea that people are people and that a king is no "better" a human than the rest of us. Just look at the royal family of England: Not exactly proof of superior breeding...

I don't ignore hereditary titles and stuff in my campaign, but it's a social factor, not a racial factor. Though now that I think about it, there is an excellent example of a "special ruling race of human": the Inspired from Eberron (ooh, how about Lord of the Rings meets Eberron... it turns out that Aragorn is a quori-possessed inspired who's part of the Dreaming Dark's conspiracy to control the world...)

Well, Tolkien wasn't a liberal, modern American. Most modern ideas about equality are less than 100 years old. Women haven't even been able to vote for 100 years.

 

[Staffan]

As I recall, Gandalf said that by some chance the Numenorean blood line ran nearly true in Denethor as it did in Faramir -- but not Boromir. Also, Sam recognized some similarity in Faramir's rangers to Aragorn.

Rolemaster has a lot of Middle-Earth-inspired stuff, probably because it was used (along with "Rolemaster Light", aka Middle-Earth Role-playing) by ICE for their licensed Middle-Earth setting. In RM, there are basically three types of humans: High Men (Dunedain, pretty much), Common Men (regular folks), and Mixed Men (who aren't quite as good as High Men, but better than Common Men). If I were translating LOTR to Rolemaster, I'd make Aragorn a High Man, and Boromir, Faramir and Denethor into Mixed Men.

 

[lukelightning]

Correct. But what surprises me is the number of moder people who get all these romantic notions about Tolkien's world... "oh isn't it wonderful to have a king...." blah blah blah

Well, Tolkien wasn't a liberal, modern American. Most modern ideas about equality are less than 100 years old. Women haven't even been able to vote for 100 years.

 

[Goblyns Hoard]

Tolkie wrote somewhere (don't have reference to hand - will try and dig it up) that the only real difference between elves and men was a matter of spirituality. Thus the Dunedain that grew up in a culture more similar to that of the elves shared some of their characteristics.

How to model that in D&D terms? Well the simple option is that Dunedain are half-elves. Doesn't really model it accurately given that Elrond is only a half-elf, but it gives you a basis. Another option could be that you actually dump elves and use the Aasimar instead or a celestial bloodline to represent the elves. Maybe use a modified half-celestial as the elves, and the aasimar for the Dunedain.

In many ways this will model Middle-Earth much better as the elves were a truly spiritual race (all glowing good and exalted and that), where the dwarves were a truly 'earthly' race - hence their conflicts. You could continue to use the D&D elf race to model the wood elves of Mirkwood.

 

[The_Gneech]

Doesn't really model it accurately given that Elrond is only a half-elf, but it gives you a basis.

Well, Tolkien's half-elves weren't really a blend; they lived as an elf or as a mortal, as they chose.

-The Gneech

 

[wingsandsword]

I'll agree that the Tolkienian idea of inherent racial superiority of some types of humans is really disagreeable, almost outright offensive to many modern, 21st century audiences. I certainly wouldn't create a ubermensch race in any fantasy world I created (at people might think they are superior, but not really.)

If I was going to model the Dunadain into D&D, the Human Paragon class from Unearthed Arcana is most likely what I would use, but you have to start with at least one level in Human Paragon. Elves would have to take all 3 levels of Elf Paragon, while Half-Elves (i.e. those of mixed blood who chose to live as elves) would be Half-Elves who would also have to take at least one level of Half Elf Paragon.