I am referring to a 5e chart that someone calculated out:
High Elf
• Average height: 5'5 • Height range: 4'8 to 6'2
• Average weight: 123 lb • Weight range: 92 lb to 170 lb
So, officially, no, elves cannot be fat.
I like it that way for flavor reasons.
I like my elves tall, but at least officially I can keep them (both males and females) about 6 feet.
Do you really think a 4'8", 170 lb. elf isn't going to be fat?
The way the 5e chart works, the 4'8 elf cannot reach 170 lb.
To determine the height is 4'6 + 2d10. So a short 4'8 is possible.
However, to determine the weight, you then take this same 2d10 roll, which here is 2, then multiply it by 1d4. Then add it to base 90 lb.
So the max weight of a 4'8 elf is 98 lb.
Officially, the High Elf is slim. Every one of them.
Okay, so the height and weight ranges you provided are correlated. I would have said that in the beginning, but that's neither here nor there :p
Your conclusion is still incorrect. Nothing about the PHB's random height/weight generation tables suggests that its ranges encompass "every one of them." In fact, what it says is "You can decide your character’s height and weight, using the information provided in your race description or on the Random Height and Weight table." Nowhere does it dictate how you're to use that information.
I just meant "officially" in the sense of flavor.
Of course, a player can do whatever one wants with their own character.
Personally, I have never rolled a random height-weight. I always assign things like that based on the character concept.
As I mentioned, I like the elves tall (both as DM and as player), and I am glad 6' is within the official range.
BMI isn’t even an accurate predictor of obesity for humans, let alone for elves. It’s being seriously questioned in the medical field and was originally developed by insurance companies, not doctors. Just my 2 cents.
Honestly I think any race or creature can be fat or skinny or muscular or whatever body type. You mean to tell me if a elf eats nothing but cake for a year that it will not get fat? Like it can just eat its weight in chocolate and never be fat??? So d they just drink magical slimfast potions or what? D&D is a fantasy game and if you want a fat elf then make one. Simple.
BMI isn’t even an accurate predictor of obesity for humans, let alone for elves. It’s being seriously questioned in the medical field and was originally developed by insurance companies, not doctors. Just my 2 cents.
Seriously, as an exercise physiologist, I hate, hate, HATE BMI.
It's nowhere near an accurate measure of body composition. The ONLY useful thing to come from it is the use of waist-to-hip ratio as a predictor of cardiac risk. Other than that, it simply cannot take into account skeletal size and density, or the proportion of visceral, musculoskeletal, or adipose tissue someone is carrying.
Why medical charts even include it (and not percent body fat) is baffling to me.
My little PSA: That said, everyone work on getting your body fat down. You'll feel better, live longer, and have more time to play D&D with your grandkids! (Exceptions are folks with genetic/hormonal disorders, and extreme power athletes, who need extra stored fat for performance and rapid recovery. And don't listen to the "healthy at any size" advocates. Most of the time, they are 100% wrong on the science. That said, don't body shame. Be helpful and compassionate, not mean and judgmental. I can tell you from personal experience that folks are FAR more likely to be exercise compliant if you treat them with kindness and compassion).
Thanks for indulging me! ;)
I know Arnold Schwarzenegger using BMI is morbidly obese even in his glory days as Conan.
Since an official answer has come out recently, I figured I’d copy/paste:
HEIGHT AND WEIGHT^
Player characters, regardless of race, typically fall into the same ranges of height and weight that humans have in our world. If you’d like to determine your character’s height or weight randomly, consult the Random Height and Weight table* in the Player’s Handbook, and choose the row in the table that best represents the build you imagine for your character.
You can decide your character’s height and weight, using the information provided in your race description or on the Random Height and Weight table. Think about what your character’s ability scores might say about his or her height and weight. A weak but agile character might be thin. A strong and tough character might be tall or just heavy.
If you want to, you can roll randomly for your character’s height and weight using the Random Height and Weight table. The dice roll given in the Height Modifier column determines the character’s extra height (in inches) beyond the base height. That same number multiplied by the dice roll or quantity given in the Weight Modifier column determines the character’s extra weight (in pounds) beyond the base weight.
For example, as a human, Tika has a height of 4 feet 8 inches plus 2d10 inches. Her player rolls 2d10 and gets a total of 12, so Tika stands 5 feet 8 inches tall. Then the player uses that same roll of 12 and multiplies it by 2d4 pounds. Her 2d4 roll is 3, so Tika weighs an extra 36 pounds (12 x 3) on top of her base 110 pounds, for a total of 146 pounds.
I'm not sure no difference either way. They apparently take in calories to endure, actually like each and every other humanoid and creature species in the dreamland.
I'm expecting they work on the very substrates that every other person does: fat, protein, and sugars. Consequently, fat stores would be a thing.
I'm speculating that most types of mythical beings incline toward lower muscle to fat ratio as per usual, however I would envision they would have curvier exceptions, also.
Me? I'm a fanatic of the 7-foot-tall mythical beings from Athas. :D
Yes, yes they can absolutely be fat, the fat ones just don't tend to go out and about and so are not seen as much.
High Elves in my world are largely a decedent, Hedonistic, self obsessed race who look down on all who are not elven. Think ancient Rome only even more over the top. The rich drink to excess, eat until they vomit and take all sorts of drugs and engage in various sexual acts regardless of gender, species or race. Therefore there are "Fat" elves, in fact they get carried around on Palanquins as they are too fat to walk themselves.
When a race can live as long as elves can I find it hard to believe they are all pure beings who focus on knowledge and self enlightenment, some of them just want to waste their lives having a big old party and getting glutnous. The great thing about that, it opens them up to the corruption of chaotic forces :).
I had this theory that fantasy races were highly inspired by ectomorphs, mesomorphs, and endomorphs. They used to have a whole suspected psychology sets for each body type, and I can't help but feel that it inspired these fantasy creatures, which leads to the common depiction of elves as being ectomorph-like.
Actually quite petite. (Petite means short.) I think why you were going for was “svelte.”
The beauty of loan words. Technically, petite means small and is referring to a feminine noun. But when they enter foreign usage, they take on meaning the foreign language users attribute: e.g. fight, in Japanese, faito, means more like persevere and is an imperative. "Keep fighting!" Or "Go!" In English. That doesn't mean that Japanese is wrong. Loan words are not foreign words. They are legitimate instances of the new language, even if they don't precisely mean the same thing as the original.
The figures given in any version of the rules are a general guide for what are common physical features for the races. Any humanoid is still a creature and even with traits from fey ancestry elves eat food just like other races. If an elf gluttonously gorges themselves on food and isn't physically active, the massive calorie intake will eventually overcome their metabolism and "default" build. They can get fat. Demanding citable rules to back this up is absurd and gets into the type of ubernerd territory that is what most negative stereotypes about gamers are made of. Please don't encourage negative stereotypes and just use some common sense.
Coran, the elf from Baldur's Gate current description from Murder in Baldur's Gate:
While most elves were slender or athletic, Coran's exuberance for luxury and excess lent his appearance a certain "pudginess". This was exceptionally apparent in his later years of life.
I think everything's been said already on this, except for this: from outside the fiction, elves are usually thought of as thin because they're supposed to be beautiful, and they were popularized in a time and place when and where thinness was beautiful. But that's not been the case throughout all of history, or indeed all of the world's cultures.
I think there's interesting things you could do by reimagining elves from the perspective of other times and places, and the standards of beauty of those points in space-time.
But also, from inside the fiction, you could have your elves and their bodies be just as various and malleable as ours -- even moreso, wouldn't be out of line with the lore -- but have them adhere to an anachronistic beauty standard to reflect their agelessness. In the same way that vampires are often depicted wearing old Victorian fashion long after the Victorian era is over. So, if humans are at the stage where they really prize slender, waifish figures, elves might value thick muscle, or whatever.
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Yes, the random Height and Weight is there for those that want it, but nothing prevents a player from deviating from the averages provided.
Except maybe the DM.
She/Her Player and Dungeon Master
I just meant "officially" in the sense of flavor.
Of course, a player can do whatever one wants with their own character.
Personally, I have never rolled a random height-weight. I always assign things like that based on the character concept.
As I mentioned, I like the elves tall (both as DM and as player), and I am glad 6' is within the official range.
he / him
I stand by my usage of the word, thank you... He is small, but not trim.
Fair ‘nuff.
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But honestly, it’s 2020. Any PC of lineage can enjoy a healthy body image of any height:weight proportion they choose. No body shaming.
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BMI isn’t even an accurate predictor of obesity for humans, let alone for elves. It’s being seriously questioned in the medical field and was originally developed by insurance companies, not doctors. Just my 2 cents.
Wizard (Gandalf) of the Tolkien Club
If I tell you which book to read, then it would be a HUGE spoiler.
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
-Ilyara Thundertale
Honestly I think any race or creature can be fat or skinny or muscular or whatever body type. You mean to tell me if a elf eats nothing but cake for a year that it will not get fat? Like it can just eat its weight in chocolate and never be fat??? So d they just drink magical slimfast potions or what? D&D is a fantasy game and if you want a fat elf then make one. Simple.
I know Arnold Schwarzenegger using BMI is morbidly obese even in his glory days as Conan.
Somebody needs to read Larry Correia's Monster Hunter International [spoilers].
Overall a great resource for ideas on race and it has adventure hooks.
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
-Ilyara Thundertale
Since an official answer has come out recently, I figured I’d copy/paste:
*Height and Weight^^
Height
Modifier
Weight
Modifier
You can decide your character’s height and weight, using the information provided in your race description or on the Random Height and Weight table. Think about what your character’s ability scores might say about his or her height and weight. A weak but agile character might be thin. A strong and tough character might be tall or just heavy.
If you want to, you can roll randomly for your character’s height and weight using the Random Height and Weight table. The dice roll given in the Height Modifier column determines the character’s extra height (in inches) beyond the base height. That same number multiplied by the dice roll or quantity given in the Weight Modifier column determines the character’s extra weight (in pounds) beyond the base weight.
For example, as a human, Tika has a height of 4 feet 8 inches plus 2d10 inches. Her player rolls 2d10 and gets a total of 12, so Tika stands 5 feet 8 inches tall. Then the player uses that same roll of 12 and multiplies it by 2d4 pounds. Her 2d4 roll is 3, so Tika weighs an extra 36 pounds (12 x 3) on top of her base 110 pounds, for a total of 146 pounds.
^^(https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/basic-rules/personality-and-background#HeightandWeight)
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I'm not sure no difference either way. They apparently take in calories to endure, actually like each and every other humanoid and creature species in the dreamland.
I'm expecting they work on the very substrates that every other person does: fat, protein, and sugars. Consequently, fat stores would be a thing.
I'm speculating that most types of mythical beings incline toward lower muscle to fat ratio as per usual, however I would envision they would have curvier exceptions, also.
Me? I'm a fanatic of the 7-foot-tall mythical beings from Athas. :D
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Yes, yes they can absolutely be fat, the fat ones just don't tend to go out and about and so are not seen as much.
High Elves in my world are largely a decedent, Hedonistic, self obsessed race who look down on all who are not elven. Think ancient Rome only even more over the top. The rich drink to excess, eat until they vomit and take all sorts of drugs and engage in various sexual acts regardless of gender, species or race. Therefore there are "Fat" elves, in fact they get carried around on Palanquins as they are too fat to walk themselves.
When a race can live as long as elves can I find it hard to believe they are all pure beings who focus on knowledge and self enlightenment, some of them just want to waste their lives having a big old party and getting glutnous. The great thing about that, it opens them up to the corruption of chaotic forces :).
It's safe to say that elves are not supposed to be fat. But drow are not supposed to be good either. Playing against type is a whole thing.
A fat elf would be interesting because it deviated from the norm for some reason. Presumably part of your backstory would be why.
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm
I had this theory that fantasy races were highly inspired by ectomorphs, mesomorphs, and endomorphs. They used to have a whole suspected psychology sets for each body type, and I can't help but feel that it inspired these fantasy creatures, which leads to the common depiction of elves as being ectomorph-like.
The beauty of loan words. Technically, petite means small and is referring to a feminine noun. But when they enter foreign usage, they take on meaning the foreign language users attribute: e.g. fight, in Japanese, faito, means more like persevere and is an imperative. "Keep fighting!" Or "Go!" In English. That doesn't mean that Japanese is wrong. Loan words are not foreign words. They are legitimate instances of the new language, even if they don't precisely mean the same thing as the original.
The figures given in any version of the rules are a general guide for what are common physical features for the races. Any humanoid is still a creature and even with traits from fey ancestry elves eat food just like other races. If an elf gluttonously gorges themselves on food and isn't physically active, the massive calorie intake will eventually overcome their metabolism and "default" build. They can get fat. Demanding citable rules to back this up is absurd and gets into the type of ubernerd territory that is what most negative stereotypes about gamers are made of. Please don't encourage negative stereotypes and just use some common sense.
Coran, the elf from Baldur's Gate current description from Murder in Baldur's Gate:
While most elves were slender or athletic, Coran's exuberance for luxury and excess lent his appearance a certain "pudginess". This was exceptionally apparent in his later years of life.
I think everything's been said already on this, except for this: from outside the fiction, elves are usually thought of as thin because they're supposed to be beautiful, and they were popularized in a time and place when and where thinness was beautiful. But that's not been the case throughout all of history, or indeed all of the world's cultures.
I think there's interesting things you could do by reimagining elves from the perspective of other times and places, and the standards of beauty of those points in space-time.
But also, from inside the fiction, you could have your elves and their bodies be just as various and malleable as ours -- even moreso, wouldn't be out of line with the lore -- but have them adhere to an anachronistic beauty standard to reflect their agelessness. In the same way that vampires are often depicted wearing old Victorian fashion long after the Victorian era is over. So, if humans are at the stage where they really prize slender, waifish figures, elves might value thick muscle, or whatever.