WHY are elves so danged cool?

[Voadam]

Never underestimate the power of Pretty.

You never see a fat elf, a short elf, a skinny weakling elf.

They're only five feet tall. They've got a lot going for them but height isn't one of them.

 

[Klaus]

Wow. I'd heard plenty of bad things about the Complete Book of Elves (I sorta stopped playing D&D before it was published), but that's still surprisingly cheesy.

You think that's bad?

According to the CBoE, elves can speak two sentences at once, but the secondary speech can only be heard/understood by another elf; they can pull off a "BILLLBO BAGGINS!" moment, like in FotR when Gandalf imposes his presence; and of course, that's when the "trance" thing came up.

 

[Orius]

In 1e you could cast spells without penalty while wearing elven chain mail (just another example of something being better because it's made by elves), which elves would not give to a non-elf. In 3e, elven chain armor is simply made of mithril (and so has a lower arcane failure %). I don't recall how elven chain mail worked in 2e.

Yeah, elven chain mail was the exception. But since it was a magic item, it was under the DM's control.

 

[Alcamtar]

in OD&D(1974) they couldn't wear armor and cast spells.

The rules (as I interpret them) say otherwise...

The whole plethora of enchanted items lies at the magic-users beck and call, save the arms and armor of the fighters (see, however, Elves); Magic-Users may arm themselves with daggers only.

This passage suggests that elves are an exception to the weapon restrictions of magic-users. If elves functioning as Magic-Users were limited in this regard, there would be no reason to call this out as an exception.

Elves can begin as either Fighting-Men or Magic-Users and freely switch class whenever they choose, from adventure to adventure, but not during the course of a single game. Thus, they gain the benefits of both classes and may use both weaponry and spells. They may use magic armor and still act as Magic-Users.

This passage explicitly says elves can combine weapons and spells, and that they can cast spells in armor.

At the very least, it says that when functioning a magic-user, and elf can use weapons and armor as a Fighting-Man.

My interpretation is that when functioning as a Fighting-Man, an elf cannot use magic. When functioning as a Magic-User, an elf can still use his weapons and armor while casting spells, but must use the "to-hit", "saves" and other class features of a Magic-User. Also, that experience accrued only applies to the currently functioning class.

Thus an elf functioning as a Magic-User (which is probably the normal function, esp. given level limits) is very much like a BD&D elf. That is to be expected, as BD&D is (officially at least) a later edition of the OD&D rules. BD&D races and classes follow OD&D very closely and might be seen as a commentary on what the designers intended.

 

[The Grumpy Celt]

They hang around all night wearing sunglasses and smoking cigarettes and wearing leather biker jackets. Of course the drow are cool.

 

[Emirikol]

I heard it was because they were just so dang fabulous!

jh
http://www.unmoderated-forum.com/unmoderated-rants-f8.html

 

[Bob the Destroyer]

I like D&D elves because I still associate them somewhat with the elves in the Silmarillion.

I just wish they weren't so goshdarn short.

 

[Bongo Bigguns]

According to the CBoE, elves can speak two sentences at once, but the secondary speech can only be heard/understood by another elf; they can pull off a "BILLLBO BAGGINS!" moment, like in FotR when Gandalf imposes his presence; and of course, that's when the "trance" thing came up.

I thought I heard my name called.

I like elves because their ears are pointy. And their shoes, too.

 

[Thurbane]

I'm pretty sure that was the case in all the pre-3e rules. I know for a fact that they couldn't cast while wearing armor in 2e if they were fighter/mages, and I'd imagine it was the same with 1e.

Elven Chain, baby!

[edit]Oops, already posted[/edit]