ELVES - PART II - WOOD ELVES

[Previous post about elves here.]

Wood elves are not often seen in Furthermoor, as they generally keep to the deeps of the woods, their communities good eyes among swirling storms of chaos. Their cities are built upon trees with mighty branches and leveled shrubbery, ladders and bridges leading to and fro. The ancient wood elf city of Bonsai, may or may not have been the first city in Furthermoor, or Wild Earth for that matter. Early in Wild Earth history, this unknown fact caused much antagonism between a burgeoning Furthermoor City, and the supposed city of gold in the east, Fezco.

For while the Fez happened upon Bonsai and made friends with the wood elves, or so they thought, the humans knew nothing of them, and in contrast found themselves attacked by wood elves when attempting to establish a port in the swampland across the water from Furthermoor City. Though the Fez at that time divided their worship between that of the Sun and Set, it is quite clear they had great reverence and admiration for the wood elves, as many decorative Fezco reliefs show them greeting them as minor deities.

That Old Dream Green Man by Eric Whollem

One hundred and thirty seven years later Seven Moons appeared. In the far west of Wild Earth, the flickering of rainbow lightning could be seen off and on for a number of years, and during those years, chaos festered, finally spilling into the lands like no one had ever seen. After the great worms appeared, during the years of earthquakes, lawful beings in Furthermoor joined together to construct a wall, from the sea in the southwest, up to the northern icy reaches, just west of the Howling Moors. This division of Wild Earth took hundreds of years to complete and the lands west of the wall came to be known as Kush, land of Kushdar.

Eventually, wood elves found themselves fighting side-by-side with humans and other demi-humans, against evil forces such as orcs, goblins, undead, etc. It is also of note, that during the Fez Furthermoor War, the wood elves made no appearance for its entire seven year duration.

As elves, wood elves harbor the capacity for magic, however, not all of them tap into it. Holmes writes in his characters section, "some elves" have the advantage of "being able to work magical spells." Therefore, many wood elves don't know how to cast magic (90%), though they do have innate magical qualities.*

Appearance-wise, they're similar to high elves, though more rugged and wear foliage for dress, sometimes even wooden armor. A wood elf's skin is green, and as they age, they decline in height and size. The oldest known living wood elf, or elf in general, is the Old Elf/Man of Gold Mountain, said to be 4023 years old. In East Furthermoor, some of the Fez believe that the Old Man, along with a Spider and the Sun, created Wild Earth.

In woods, or near woods, wood elves are mostly invisible to the general eye and they gain surprise on 1-5 of 6, even against high, or half-elves. Also, within maelstroms of chaos, wood elves are able to bargain with ancient chaotic forces unlike lawful, neutral, or other chaotics. Though the lawful have never truly trusted wood elves, the chaotic fear them.

Magic fascinates elves, however, and if they have a weakness it lies in this desire. - AD&D DMG

These creatures are very reclusive and generally (75%) avoid all contact. Wood elves... are unusually strong for elves... but they are not quite as intelligent... They usually wear studded leather or ring mail (armor class 6) and fully 50% of any band is equipped with bows. Only 20% carry swords. 40% of wood elves use spears. - AD&D Monster Manual

When a group of 50 (or possibly fewer) is encountered, they will have a leader (fighter/magic-user) of 2-4 level/2-8 level ability. - Holmes, pg. 25

* There are times when a non-magic wood elf may do something magical effortlessly, without casting etc. More on this at another time, when perhaps wood elf PCs are an option.

HOLMENTZER ELVES

[so I plan to sweep through races for Holmentzer - class & race generally comes from Holmes Blue Book, i.e. Holmentzer Player's Handbook; however, there are a few key spots where Mentzer DMR adds a nuance to make it something singular - this race is a good example]

HOLMENTZER ELVES

Elves are five or more feet in height, slim of build, weigh about 120 pounds and have fair to tan skin. They can use all the weapons and armor of the fighting man*, including all magical weapons, and can also cast spells like a magic-user. They can detect secret hidden doors about one-third of the time. They have infravision; like dwarves, they can see 60 feet in the dark. They are not paralyzed by the touch of ghouls. Elves can speak the languages of orcs, hobgoblins and gnolls as well as Elvish and the Common speech they share with men, dwarves, and halflings. Thus, they have the advantages of both fighting men and magic-users as well as certain special capabilities of their own*.

Elves progress in level as both fighting men and magic-users*, but since each game nets them experience in both categories equally, they progress more slowly than other characters. - Holmes, pgs. 6-7.

*This is true, unless a player decides their elf is a magic-user only, or in place of fighting man, choose a different class, like thief, which has its own limitations, e.g. cannot wear plate armor, etc.

If an elf player wishes their elf to be a magic-user only, they follow THESE RULES for determining spells in their 1st level spell book, referring to the FIRST LEVEL ELF SPELL LIST. Also, they will progress solely on the experience path of a magic-user.

Otherwise, all other elves, which are multi-classed, i.e. Fighter/Magic-user, Thief/magic-user, etc. will follow the Spell Book rules from Mentzer Dungeon Masters Rulebook. The reason for this, is that while all elves grow up learning magic to some degree, those that have focused on other talents, don't have the same magic experience as those dedicating everything to magic. The Mentzer rules are as follows:

When a player starts as a... elf character, the player will ask you what spells the character has in the spell book. The magic-user's teacher is a higher level NPC magic-user, and the spells come from the teacher... The first spell given should always be Read Magic. This allows the character to read scrolls found, and would be a basic part of the character's training... You may give any "second spell" to a beginning elf character. The elf's many talents keep that character class balanced with the others, whatever spells are known. The player of an elf can feel useful in many ways; the spell is an additional bonus, not the character's only specialty. - Mentzer Basic DMR, pg. 18.

If a multi-classed elf has a high enough INT, they have more than two spells in their book at the beginning of a game, e.g. INT of 13-15 = 3 spells, 16-17 = 4 spells, 18 = 5 spells. Also, these spells are selected by the DM, and may not always be from the elf list.

ELVES IN FURTHERMOOR

Like Holmes mentions in his monster section, in Furthermoor, there are both high elves & wood elves. As of now, all elf PCs are considered high elves. For high elves as monsters, I'm using Mentzer's monster description, & for wood elves, Holmes. In addition, wood elves of Furthermoor are green. Currently thinking about this, but it's gotta be good.

ELVES - PART 1

[this post was started a while back, hence the dated nature of items in the post]

With the recent unveiling of the trailer for The Hobbit, an article in the new Fight On! by Walt Jillson titled "Elves as Green Men" + this thread on the OD&D boards, I knew it was time to figure some elf out.

Though I've never seen the Rankin/Bass production of The Hobbit, I owned the 2 LP boxed set w/ booklet & enjoyed it as a young lad. I still have it & here's a picture of it:

The booklet follows along w/ the LPs & contains illustrations from the film. My first visual knowledge of elves was from this booklet: elves are grey, w/ green eyes; the more civilized elves (like Elrond), have green hair & look more human (what later in post would be regarded as "high elves"). Keep in mind, Rivendell is not located deep in a forest, but fairly close to other civilized lands (following image is from my copy of Tolkien's The Hobbit).

 Click to see Rivendell & Elrond over in the West + note Mirkwood

Elrond in Rivendell

 

"Wood elves", on the other hand, will be those elves found in Mirkwood. They have orange (or white) hair & have a more, well, Yoda-esque quality:

Jillson's article in Fight On! #13 is in regard to elves as Green Men & there is a sketch of the wood elf chieftain from Rankin/Bass (fused w/ a bit of Lord of the Flies?).

Jillson points out how the Rankin/Bass production of The Hobbit uses the "Green Man trope" for the elves of Mirkwood, whereas Tolkien himself never distinguished between elves in his books appearance-wise.

This is totally interesting.

So I decided to follow the trail of elves in D&D. 

First, I looked @ Chainmail, then Men & Magic (OD&D Book 1). There is nothing in either specific to elf "types", differences, or appearances; however, one will note that they are in the same class as Fairies.

Next I looked through Monsters & Treasure (OD&D Book 2) & came upon this:

"Elves: Elves are of two general sorts, those who make their homes in woodlands & those who seek the remote meadowlands."

After that the Greyhawk & Blackmoor supplements (OD&D Supplements I & II), respectively:

"Elves: Elves are five or more feet in height, slim of build, weigh about 120 pounds, have tan to fair skin, & are also of various types (wood, high elves, meadow elves)... wood elves being the darkest."

"...akin to mermen as land elves are to men."

Next up was the AD&D Players Handbook:

"There are many sorts of elves, & descriptions of the differing types are found in AD&D, MONSTER MANUAL. Elven player characters are always considered to be high elves, the most common sort of elf."

NOTE: THE MONSTER MANUAL WAS THE FIRST AD&D BOOK TO BE PUBLISHED IN DEC 1977, HENCE THE REFERENCE ---------------- THE RANKIN/BASS HOBBIT AIRED 2 MONTHS PREV OVER NBC FOR FIRST TIME NOV 1977]

MONSTER MANUAL [it would be interesting to see what a first edition MM has for this entry, but for now, the only edition I have, 4th printing]:

"Elves are slim of build & pale complected. Their hair is dark, & their eyes are green. Their garb is typically pastel & of blue or green or violet (but often covered by a greenish gray cloak)."

The MM then gets into more detail regarding diff. types:

"Aquatic Elf... humanoid in appearance, w/ gill slits on the throat & greenish-silver skin & green or blue-green hair."

"Drow... The drow are said to be as dark as faeries are bright & as evil as the latter are good."

"Grey Elf (Faerie): Grey elves have either silver hair & amber eyes or pale golden hair & violet eyes. The latter sort are generally called faeries. They favor white, yellow, silver, or gold garments. Their cloaks are often deep blue or purple. They live beyond the age of 1,500 years."

"Wood Elf: Their complexions are fair, their hair is yellow to coppery red & their eyes are light brown, light green, or hazel. They wear russets, reds, brown & tans. Their cloaks are usually green or greenish brown. Wood elves have a life span of centuries."

So high elves are grey elves?

Anyway, onto BASIC:

HOLMES [originally published in 1977, I have a later printing of this as well]:

Character section: "Elves -  are five or more feet in height, slim of build, weigh about 120 pounds & have fair to tan skin." Monster section: "Elves generally are of two sorts, wood elves & high elves... They are described in the character section."

Notice that up to this point there has been nothing about pointy ears. In D&D, we dont see that description drop until MOLDVAY:

"Elves are slender, graceful demi-humans w/ delicate features & slightly pointed ears. They are 5 to 5 1/2 feet tall & weigh about 120 pounds... prefer to spend their time feasting & frolicking in wooded glades. They rarely visit the cities of men."

Something to note about Moldvay as well is that this is the first rulebook to have the elf be a class in itself: one experience path, abilities of both a fighter & magic-user entwined.

One can assume that Moldvay's elves are high elves, much like it's stated in the AD&D Player's Handbook how all player character elves are high elves.

But why cant players be wood elves? And if they were, what exactly would be different about them?

[more to come]

MAGIC-USERS & SPELL BOOK GENERATION

From Men & Magic:

Characters who employ spells are assumed to acquire books containing the spells they can use, one book for each level.

This implies that though a first level magic-user can only learn & cast one first level spell per day, they have @ their finger tips all the first level spells in one huge tome. You would not lug this into a dungeon.

With the Greyhawk supplement, Gygax limits this a bit, which is wise. This is the same spell book generation that would later be found in the Holmes Blue Book: percentile dice are rolled for each first level spell to determine whether that spell is in the m-u's spell book or not.

Here's the chart:

INT       % Chance to Know Spell       Minimum       Maximum
3-4          20%                                       2                   3
5-7          30%                                       2                   4
8-9          40%                                       3                   5
10-12      50%                                       4                   6
13-14      65%                                       5                   8
15-16      75%                                       6                  10
17            85%                                       7                  All
18            95%                                       8                  All

Example: Jimmy the Hex Master has an INT of 15. To determine what spells he has in his spell book, I go down the list of first level spells & roll percentiles. Every time I roll a 75 or lower, Jimmy adds that spell to his spell book. Once he has 10 spells, he stops (cuz that's his max on the chart for his INT). If Jimmy makes it through the entire list & has 6, he's done (cuz that's his minimum). But if Jimmy only has 5 after going through the list, he starts again w/ the spells he failed to add the first time, rolling until he can add one more to meet his minimum of 6.

This is the way to do it. Not only does it open up magic-users @ the start of the game, but also, it awards players w/ high intelligence for what we could assume is a lot of time & study done before setting out for fame & fortune.

So how was I doing it before?

From Moldvay Basic:

These spells are stored in large spell books... Each magic-user & elf has a spell book for the spells that he or she has learned. A first level character will only have one spell (a first level spell) in the spell book. A second level character will have two spells (both first level) in the spell book...

I always asked myself, why would a magic-user w/ only one first level spell carry around a mostly empty, massive spell book? My guess was that Moldvay wanted to simplify the spell selection process for an introductory game while also holding on to the classic fantasy image of the magic-user's exhaustive tome. So while Moldvay keeps the description of the "large spell book" within his rules, he doesnt go so far as Holmes to say that Magic-users can not bring their magic books into the dungeon w/ them.

So it's a trade off: OD&D/Holmes equip magic-users w/ exhaustive spell tomes that give them a wide daily spell selection, but the location they can study these tomes is limited. On the other hand, Moldvay severely limits the number of spells a magic-user has access to, but they are free to carry the book about as they wish, even into a dungeon.

There are benefits to both approaches, so I've fused the two: while first level magic-users will start per the Greyhawk rules, I think they should also be able to, down the line, purchase a smaller spell book to copy select spells in for possible overnight dungeon travel. However, if any spell book has more than 5 spells in it, it is only possible to travel into dungeon w/ m-u if they have a STR of 12 or more, & even then, there may be other consequences or limitations.

What about elves?

Elves will not use these same rules. As elves know magic inherently, their magic-use learning is different, @ least starting out. For their spell list, they will choose the Moldvay way (plus additional spell or two for high INT). That is, UNLESS, an elf character decides to be a magic-user only. I/o/w, they will not be a multi-classed elf, they will be an elf magic-user.