Quote from: The Traveller;570485Nice, somewhat like the Minbari in Babylon 5 or Buddhists with a better memory.

In gaming terms the most useful would probably be the transfer to trees, what kind of weapons, ships or artifacts could be made from wood like that assuming you could get some? Can elves transfer a small part of their essence to their own bows and arrows, or plants maybe, to control them? Wood lore starts to take on a whole new meaning!

When the druid introduces you to her weapons as "My grandsire and granddame" it's time to be respectful of the intelligent artifact weapons

A mighty oaken throne gifted to a line of great kings, to grant them wisdom and power, and cement the friendship between the humans and the people of the trees. But does this potent gift have a darker side, forever whispering in the ears of the lords of men? The rabble rousing demagogue Missionaries of the Sacred Flame coming over the eastern borders seem to think so, and the exiled Prince agrees!

"The dark whispers of the demons in the trees shall be cleansed by the Mighty Flame of Our Lord!  Repent, o soulless heathens of the forest, 'ere you burn eternally in his lake of fire!"

-Inquisitor Errant Malfrose


"No matter where you stand, the smoke always gets in your eyes."

- Illimar the Blind, Executor Major of Dillispar

I think it depends on the game I want to run.  

On old-style D&D games, I subscribe to the slow development and aging rule.  On the MERP games, I let them age normally until adulthood, then aging stopped.  On the new-ish or 4e type of game, I kind of hit the middle ground of aging normally until adulthood, then they age slowly; not 4000 years slowly, but more like a couple of hundred years slowly.

I can see that in some games I let the other races have the same lifespan as Humans, but I haven't tried that yet.

In High Valor, they age much as humans do until they are an adult. After that point they age slowly, but over those years they begin taking on features of their Elven name.   Great sorrows, or great joys, and some magics can cause them to age faster and take on traits sooner.


Examples: Hyulvier (Owl) grows feathers on his head instead of hair as he ages, as this continues he grows fine down over his body and his eyes widen, over more years he can turn his head nearly 360 degrees, and finally he loses his "human" like self and becomes a huge owl.

Elves names are always true (except in a few specific cases, where they fall to evil, or the like, even then they may have had an appropriate name, before their fall.)

Elves of course have names all over the map. Some are named for animals, some for plants, some for elemental forces, and a few get odd names that mean "Dewdrop sprite" or similar things. Elves explain all fairy lore in High Valor that way, from cow tailed hollow backed maidens who lure men to death, to happy cheerful winged sprites that sing amidst the flowers.

Quote from: Melan;570447Without grace. After a life of fun and frolic, the fae suddenly get dorian grayed, and spend their last years carrying the horror of all the old age they had so far avoided, shunned by a society that puts beauty and the illusion of carefree hedonism above personal worth.

Wow, Melan.
I'm pretty set in my Elven lore of my homebrew, but I may yank that for another long-lived race in the future (heck, Dragons make good canidates!).

In my games, they do have a long infancy, childhood, and adolescence. It's part of the experience of living in the mortal world, and elves love experiences.

When an Elf reaches a certain advanced age, they feel drawn to return to the Feywood, a mystical realm tied to but seperate from the Prime Material Plane. There, old elves become trees, and are thence reincarnated into a new life as a babe. Elves killed out of the Feywood are forever lost, the cycle of reincarnation forever broken. (it's also why elves "reverie" in my game, rather than sleep. Sleep opens your subconscious up, which is dangerous as all those past lives try to assert themselves...)

Elves are also the source of magic in my gameworld; meaning if you killed all the Elves, magic would cease to exist (does anyone smell, plot point?). Half-elves have to decide at character creation, whether they have human or elven souls, which has a mechanical effect for spell-casters.

In my Pathfinder campaign, they mature a bit more slowly than humans, but not much, until reaching physical adulthood. They "settle in" to a physical age between late teenager -> mid 30s equivalent, depending on their disposition, as they approach "campaign" age. Really old ones may take on some 'aging' qualities if they've lead very difficult lives.

Until they are campaign age, they are treated as youths by elven society and parents.

Quote from: Panzerkraken;570441Elves aren't stupid, by any means, nor lazy, but when they're in a purely elven environment things just move slower.  "Oh, she's taking a nap, come back in a week or so" is a valid response to an unexpected visitor.

This. I like the idea of an extremely long-lived Elf being able to sleep for a week without dying from hunger or thirst. Maybe some of them could even enter a state of suspended animation, where their "dream selves" can astrally project or something...

I like to make elves immortal. I feel that is by far what makes elves different from humans.

There is something grand and tragic about an immortal being that might die from an accident or act of violence and lose thousands of years of life, past and or future.

Quote from: Melan;570447Without grace. After a life of fun and frolic, the fae suddenly get dorian grayed, and spend their last years carrying the horror of all the old age they had so far avoided, shunned by a society that puts beauty and the illusion of carefree hedonism above personal worth.

:eek:

misterguignol? Is that you?

(loved this!)

Quote from: Panzerkraken;570484I really like Kevin Crawford's take on them in Red Tide, they're truly immortal, with their souls being recycled into a set population over and over again.

Yeah, I like that too. It hasn't come up yet in-game, but after flipping through Red Tide, that's how I'm going to make 'em in my LotFP campaign. But I also like that elves in LotFP don't have souls... hmmm. Guess I can just wing it and say, "it's magic, bro. Doesn't have to make sense."

I was going to give a flippant, "they get more foppish and dandyish as they get older."

Quote from: Panzerkraken;570484I really like Kevin Crawford's take on them in Red Tide, they're truly immortal, with their souls being recycled into a set population over and over again.

That has its origins in Tolkien's Elves. When they die they return to the Hall of Mandos in Valinor fully resurrected. Although for some the process is traumatic enough that they don't reintegrate themselves with the other elves living in Valinor for a long time. Glorfindel is probably to be the only known elf to have died and return back to Middle Earth.

Anyway that the take I adopted for the Elves of the Majestic Wilderlands as well. They do have children who age at a normal human rate until adulthood when they stop aging. MW Elves can show signs of environmental stress which can leave them looking aged although their physique is still of a human in their early 20s.

As far as learning goes the issue with immortality is that unused skills are lost through disuse. An Elf is at peak performance operates at a inhuman level of skill but it takes hardcore dedication to achieve that. If they slack off they lose their edge and if they take up another activity then they may lose any expertise in the skill.

The same with Elven memories, while some remember things going back centuries or millenniums, in practice unless they use memorization techniques, like when a bard or singer memorize songs, the details fade.  However if an elf really want to refresh their memory of a long ago time, there are involved meditations and rituals they can use to refresh their memory and restore what they know. Unfortunately for physical skills they still have to undergo extensive training to get their full ability back.

I'm in for the "as humans, then it stops/slows to imperceptibility".

If you go for something else, yet still allow half-breeds, don't forget to factor that in...  Otherwise you would have fifteen year old toddlers.

EDIT:  I should add that I actually see humans as aging this way, too - except they decay.  My mid-thirties self isn't much different than when I stopped maturing, except for all the damage, white hairs, and teeth that haven't survived the abuse...

For elves I think it makes total sense to just remove the decay-while-still-alive part of aging.

Elf   175 years   263 years   350 years   +4d% years

That is middle age, old age and venerable age from the 3.5 SRD.

That's how Elves Age. Dead by 400.

But the question is whether a 50 year old elf looks like a 10-year old human, or a teenage human, or a 20something human already?

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