Good idea? [Archive] - Wizards Community - Pages Merged by Solauren

Good idea? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
When
03-08-04, 09:56 PM I jsut made an elf mage. I was thinking as a background that he would be relatively young (a teenager) that just got out of training, loves to party nd socialize (having a char of 18) and can never pass up the chance to show of his skills (to an extent eg. not taking over a whole battle) good idea? any ideas or things to take away?
Hengwrt Ellesmere
03-08-04, 10:01 PM Depending on what kind of elves live in your campaign world, a young elf could actually be pretty old.
Wizard
03-08-04, 11:35 PM Yeah...a teenager would be a baby. And a "teenager"---that stage of life in elf years---would probably be at least 100.

It's a cool idea, though---too rash for the mainstream elven society, striking out on his own...
Amethyst_Rage
03-09-04, 02:44 AM Yeah, the whole elven thing is a little much.

Why not just go for a human?
Snow in August
03-09-04, 02:57 AM Yeah, elf is a bit much. Elves are serene for a reason - namely, they get all these years to think about stuff and calm down. Human would make more sense.
the_heart
03-09-04, 09:31 AM sounds like a cool idea, run with it. not all elves are serene. and many enjoy a party. IIRC elven teens are likely to be closer to 40 than 100 in a standard campaign (give or take a decade :) )

maybe play up his showing off with an underlying arrogance (or hiding insecurity, could go either way) especially around non-elves.
bahamut_0
03-09-04, 09:59 AM Well, it really depends on how old he is. If he would be say 14, then 40 or 50 would seem right. But if he was aiming for more an 18 year old, nearer 100 seems about right.
adiaven
03-09-04, 10:12 AM elves like to party. They love dance and song... do it all the time.

doesn't seem to over the top.
Slivvy Gaidin
03-09-04, 10:16 AM Would probably take the sorceror class as opposed to a wizard, just for that extra bit of individuality and free-spirited-ness
William_2
03-11-04, 12:53 PM Elves must be 14 at some point, literally, not just in “dog years”. I don’t have the impression that they remain babies for a dozen years as some sort of scaling relative to humans. My take is that elves probably mature physically at much the same rate as humans. As a result, even though they live much longer, they probably go through exactly the same teen years as humans. By the same logic, I imagine a 50 year old elf to be much the same as a 50 year old human, not some kind of frozen adolescent.

I think it is a very interesting idea to explore such a character. Maybe an elf in their first two decades of life is not so serene, after all. I don’t see any reason why a character could not have this quality. It is role-playing, not anything to do with game mechanics.
Thorak
03-11-04, 01:13 PM William; from the PHB, page 15; "An elf reaches adulthood at about 110 years of age..." Considering adulthood for a human is defined as about 15, that means that an elf of 110 is about as physically and mentally developed as a 15 year old human, barring of course cultural and such things.

The PHB isn't specific on childhood, but there's two views you can take; that they are indeed babies for several years, and their general maturation rate is about 7 times slower than a human's, or they mature pretty much the same at very young ages and then freeze for 100 years before they continue maturing. IMHO, the former makes one whole heck of a lot more sense.

An 'adult' in D&D terms is still an adolescent by modern terms. So no, standard elves aren't going to be on an even keel with humans the same age as them; a 35 year old human is middle-aged, a 35 year old elf probably acts like a human 5 year old.

Sure, this raises the question of "Why can't elves learn more in their youth than humans can, since they've got so much more time?" My best answer is, and always has been; elves are lazy. Sure, they could apply themselves and learn more, but it's hard enough with human kids to get them to settle down and pay attention; imagine if they knew full well that skipping off for 10 or 15 years probably won't affect their education too much.

And my constant addendum; Feel free to change whatever you dislike in your own games. I'm not going to argue about how the game should be played. However, when the core rules do say something, changing it is houseruling around it. So changing Elvish aging as William_2 suggested is entirely a houserule, and bears no resemblance to how the core rules present Elves.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
When 03-08-04, 09:56 PM	I jsut made an elf mage. I was thinking as a background that he would be relatively young (a teenager) that just got out of training, loves to party nd socialize (having a char of 18) and can never pass up the chance to show of his skills (to an extent eg. not taking over a whole battle) good idea? any ideas or things to take away?
Hengwrt Ellesmere 03-08-04, 10:01 PM	Depending on what kind of elves live in your campaign world, a young elf could actually be pretty old.
Wizard 03-08-04, 11:35 PM	Yeah...a teenager would be a baby. And a "teenager"---that stage of life in elf years---would probably be at least 100. It's a cool idea, though---too rash for the mainstream elven society, striking out on his own...
Amethyst_Rage 03-09-04, 02:44 AM	Yeah, the whole elven thing is a little much. Why not just go for a human?
Snow in August 03-09-04, 02:57 AM	Yeah, elf is a bit much. Elves are serene for a reason - namely, they get all these years to think about stuff and calm down. Human would make more sense.
the_heart 03-09-04, 09:31 AM	sounds like a cool idea, run with it. not all elves are serene. and many enjoy a party. IIRC elven teens are likely to be closer to 40 than 100 in a standard campaign (give or take a decade :) ) maybe play up his showing off with an underlying arrogance (or hiding insecurity, could go either way) especially around non-elves.
bahamut_0 03-09-04, 09:59 AM	Well, it really depends on how old he is. If he would be say 14, then 40 or 50 would seem right. But if he was aiming for more an 18 year old, nearer 100 seems about right.
adiaven 03-09-04, 10:12 AM	elves like to party. They love dance and song... do it all the time. doesn't seem to over the top.
Slivvy Gaidin 03-09-04, 10:16 AM	Would probably take the sorceror class as opposed to a wizard, just for that extra bit of individuality and free-spirited-ness
William_2 03-11-04, 12:53 PM	Elves must be 14 at some point, literally, not just in “dog years”. I don’t have the impression that they remain babies for a dozen years as some sort of scaling relative to humans. My take is that elves probably mature physically at much the same rate as humans. As a result, even though they live much longer, they probably go through exactly the same teen years as humans. By the same logic, I imagine a 50 year old elf to be much the same as a 50 year old human, not some kind of frozen adolescent. I think it is a very interesting idea to explore such a character. Maybe an elf in their first two decades of life is not so serene, after all. I don’t see any reason why a character could not have this quality. It is role-playing, not anything to do with game mechanics.
Thorak 03-11-04, 01:13 PM	William; from the PHB, page 15; "An elf reaches adulthood at about 110 years of age..." Considering adulthood for a human is defined as about 15, that means that an elf of 110 is about as physically and mentally developed as a 15 year old human, barring of course cultural and such things. The PHB isn't specific on childhood, but there's two views you can take; that they are indeed babies for several years, and their general maturation rate is about 7 times slower than a human's, or they mature pretty much the same at very young ages and then freeze for 100 years before they continue maturing. IMHO, the former makes one whole heck of a lot more sense. An 'adult' in D&D terms is still an adolescent by modern terms. So no, standard elves aren't going to be on an even keel with humans the same age as them; a 35 year old human is middle-aged, a 35 year old elf probably acts like a human 5 year old. Sure, this raises the question of "Why can't elves learn more in their youth than humans can, since they've got so much more time?" My best answer is, and always has been; elves are lazy. Sure, they could apply themselves and learn more, but it's hard enough with human kids to get them to settle down and pay attention; imagine if they knew full well that skipping off for 10 or 15 years probably won't affect their education too much. And my constant addendum; Feel free to change whatever you dislike in your own games. I'm not going to argue about how the game should be played. However, when the core rules do say something, changing it is houseruling around it. So changing Elvish aging as William_2 suggested is entirely a houserule, and bears no resemblance to how the core rules present Elves.