Monstrous Compendium Vol. 1: Spelljammer Creatures
Frozen Sick
D&D Beyond Basic Rules
Basic Rules (2014)
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Monstrous Compendium Vol. 1: Spelljammer CreaturesFrozen SickD&D Beyond Basic RulesBasic Rules (2014)Sign in to view your library & saved favorites.
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If we look at it from a skill perspective, an Elf who takes 50 years to master an instrument isn't 'dumb'—they're likely learning the physics of sound, crafting their own instrument, and mastering 10 different styles! If Elves learned at human speed for 500 years, every Elf NPC would be a level 20 archmage. How do you balance this narrative longevity with gameplay balance in your homebrew worlds?
the freak circus
According to the rules you cant justify or even argue why elves learn so slowly.
Thats why I keep it simple. They are lazy. For the most part they have no outside of themself desires, No desires to rule the other races, no desire to compete.Little desire to be 'first' in anything.
Obviously there are exceptions to the general rule, individuals might adventure for a short period of time then "retire" for a longer time. Then go back to adventuring again later.(after the kids are raised) Save the wealth you gather in a few years to last a few hundred. Live off the land for free to stretch it longer.
Trying to lump a series of communities into metaphorical pink slime shaped & pressed into a lump that resembles a common trait(in this case, mental stats) is NEVER healthy.
OP clearly doesn't like himself being lumped in w/others, as he has stated in the past on different subjects. Why should OP & others make elves, or any other entities, lumps made of processed meat sludge themselves?
DM, player & homebrewer(Current homebrew project is an unofficial conversion of SBURB/SGRUB from Homestuck into DND 5e)
Once made Maxwell's Silver Hammer come down upon Strahd's head to make sure he was dead.
Always study & sharpen philosophical razors. They save a lot of trouble.
I think the point being made by myself and others, is that ascribing "laziness" to motivations like these is itself an inherently humanocentric (and largely uncharitable) bias. Goals like "ruling the other races" are not automatically virtuous/desirable aspirations even if their lifespans and skillsets could make such a goal attainable, so failing to pursue such a goal does not automatically equate to "laziness" either.
My interpretation of why elves aren't the most obnoxious know-it-alls basically boils down to their lifespan skewing their perception of time; there is less of a *need* to master something like a language in the immediate moment given that their lives extend into the centuries.
See now that makes sense.
Okay, first and this isn't related to you. I was not trolling. I goof around but I was seriously asking to see what the responses would be. This has been fun to read.
Second, no, not all elves are the same but as a nation they did some really awful stuff and the biology suggested they might be dumb or have accelerated learning until they mature afterwards they slow down being able to process and learn new things. The rules don't reduce the time it takes to learn a new skill for elves but it also doesn't elongate it. So, I suppose they turn 18 and then by comparison to younger elves become dumb?
I just thought it was fun to think about.
"Life is Cast by Random Dice"
Burn my candle twice.
I have done my life justice
Against random dice.
No it doesn't. Hunter-gathering is not a lazy way of living. If it was, that would mean it's the easiest (or close to the easiest) way, and that would mean humanity would still be hunter-gatherers today. And we aren't.
Elves in most fantasy are deeply in touch with the natural world. That is why they have less developed agriculture.
Elves might have less drive than humans, but that's not because of laziness. It's because they have about 10 times the time a human does and so don't feel a need to rush.
I think this whole discussion would be a lot more productive (I'm assuming, hopefully not wrongly, that a productive discussion is actually the goal here) if you were clear about which setting you're actually talking about, because the above shows you clearly have one in mind. And even in the settings where this could be seen as true, like pre-Cataclysm Krynn, they were hardly the only ones being bad actors - so it still begs the question of why you're singling elves out when other flawed species - including long-lived ones! - exist(ed) too.
For the third or fourth time though, the game rules pertain to talented adventurers. They tell you nothing about how easily or how long it takes average inhabitants of a world to learn anything. Just because an elf adventurer and a human adventurer might pick up skills at the same rate during a campaign, doesn't mean elves and humans learn at the same rate more broadly.
Moreover, as stated in the DMG, The Rules Aren't Physics - you shouldn't be extrapolating worldbuilding concepts like species learning rate from them to begin with, they weren't designed for that. The rules are designed so that the 200-year old elf on your team isn't level 8 while everyone else is level 3, even if that might end up being the kind of disparity you'd be more likely to see if your human character were allowed to take a stroll through Evermeet.
It's awful hard to believe your unprovoked claim to not be trolling when you say you just asked so you can have fun seeing how people would respond. It certainly doesn't help that you invoke gross biological determinism to justify this weird hangup you have with elves. Elves are not one nation - as I mentioned twice already, just like groups of people in the real world they're not one monolithic entity. The fact that several people have pointed out that across fiction there are various elven individuals and groups of elves with a myriad of motivations, attitudes, and behaviors, but you haven't volunteered which elves you're denigrating or given specifics on why doesn't help your case.
Might need a future extension of The Rules Aren't Physics called "The Official Lore Isn't The Law"
Because a LOT of OPs focus seems to be on interpreting someone or some sites' interpretations of Elf lore.
DM, player & homebrewer(Current homebrew project is an unofficial conversion of SBURB/SGRUB from Homestuck into DND 5e)
Once made Maxwell's Silver Hammer come down upon Strahd's head to make sure he was dead.
Always study & sharpen philosophical razors. They save a lot of trouble.