Memes aside, how do you actually feel about Elves and Elf-life races?
>>43520291
I feel pretty good about elves. Thank you for asking.
I dislike the stereotypical player who gravitates towards elves. Not the actual players, mind you, but that vague stereotype of the arrogant douchebag looking for an excuse to play an arrogant douchebag.
That said, I love elves. Most people I actually play with who play elves are good folk, and there's something uniquely charming about their design.
Not really excited but anything interesting in their background is appreciated. Particularly if it takes 'accepted' elf traits and manipulates them into something that makes sense in setting and feels fresh enough.
>>43520291
That girl needs less bangs.
>>43520291
Tolkien elves are easy to hate because they're too perfect and arrogant assholes about it, and it's really hard for fantasy writers to break free of that.
>>43520291
I have ambivalent feelings. I don't like them and I'm jealous because they're immortal Aryans with superior magical abilities and elitist attitude. On the other hand I like the idea of being a pet monkey of some cute elf sorceress.
>>43520291
>how do you actually feel about Elves and Elf-life races?
Bad influence
>>43520291
I like them.
Tolkien elves make good friends and respectable allies.
Manga elves are good for wanking.
>>43520369
>Arrogant
>extremely jealous of men because they get to die as opposed to slowly fading out of existence
>>43520291
>Memes aside
Where do you think you are?
>>43520508
Oh look, it's the guy who literally can't stop being a faggot.
I've liked them for as long as I've liked fantasy, and /tg/'s dorf and human wanking has only made it easier to like them.
>>43520508
>forced elf.jpg
You're like a living embarassment.
>>43520291
If I were actually put into a fantasy world I would elect to be one. So that's hard to ignore.
They're not that bad in science fiction either, especially when they're given to a good writer.
>>43520596
That 40k eldar strategy game, Rites of War, is on GOG now btw
[shilling intensifies]
>>43520486
>>43520411
>Tolkien elves make good friends and respectable allies.
I really like Tolkien's elves, they have a flavour to them.
A lot of D&D-settings elves on the other hand are bland, they are just hauty/isolationist humans with a natural bent and Star Trek-esque pointy rubber ears.
>>43520291
Like them if they are close to their mythological counterparts: Either fairy-like, strange, mysterious, beautiful, often mischievous and very much not like humans except superficial appearance - or when they are this creepy "hidden" or people that somehow exist just on the edge of human world.
Hate them when they are generic "totally like humans except +Bow skills and +Magic skills and long ears and also smug". Even worse are the attempts to make them come across like a fantasy version of native Americans.
I have no issue with their common perfection, actually, as long as the perfection makes them considerably different from humans. What annoys me is the laziness that often comes with them in fantasy fiction.
Come to think about it, the only classical fantasy work where I liked Elves was the original Lord of the Ring / Hobbit - mostly because Tolkien is a good writer, and hand a knack on what made their particular mythological counterpart appealing.
So yeah: Elves as a mythological creatures are all kinds of fascinating. Elves as a standard high fantasy trope are absolute shit.
>>43520291
If they were real they'd be my fetish.
...I know, I know, but you were all thinking it.
>>43520775
>So yeah: Elves as a mythological creatures are all kinds of fascinating. Elves as a standard high fantasy trope are absolute shit.
I have the opposite opinion.
I love elves, and I'm one of the people that always vocally defends them. I completely agree that most writers don't seem to get them, but I can't help that.
>>43521256
>I have the opposite opinion.
I guess it's a matter of the level of expectations. As I said: I don't have an issue with the idea - I don't have an issue even with what most people have an issue with - the perfection and immortality that makes so many people jealous and insecure. Actually, I find the idealism refreshing and healthy.
But what annoys me is that they are simply poorly executed in almost all fiction. So often they are boring, dull, one-dimensional.
Elves - in their thousand different forms, from tiny winged fairies that fly around blossoming flowers like bees, past the Islandic hidden folk that are almost identical to humans except their invisibility and their ability to turn barren places into prospering homesteads, to the folkloric germanic elf as malvolent ugly pixie that causes nightmares and suffocates those who sleep - all represent something that is slightly out of human reach. Something that is fundamentally incomprehensible and mysterious to humans.
And I feel like absolute majority of fantasy simply fails to actually translate that into their vision. And I think roleplaying games are the worst at this, because "humanization" and transforming them into something mundane is often explicitly required to make them playable and balanced.
Memes aside, all elves are still pricks. Can't get past it.
>>43521423
>All elves are Faenor
>>43520291
I sell Elves and Elvish products.do you want an Elf (not that one, that one is mine), or a Cloak of Elvenkind?
![latest[2].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/IcRvebZ.jpg "latest[2].jpg")
Like them a lot but get overwhelmingly disappointed when they usually turn out to be "humans who live longer" or "humans except smarter" or whatever. Burning Wheel Elves are my favorite that I've seen in a game so far
They are two kinds of elves: the female fantasy and the male one.
The female fantasy elves are beautiful/handsome, elegant, graceful, intelligent, artistic, skilful at everything and their males have exceedingly big cocks.
The male fantasy elves are a white male parody of Asians, effete males with tiny dicks, and female sluts who hunger for human (aka white) cock.
>inb4 insecure whitebois bitching about how "arrogant" elves are,
Tolkien elves were hyper-competent demigods, which is just like how ladies like them.
I think any of the long lived races can bring a cool perspective to the table if done right.
>>43520291
2d>3d
>>43521714
>They are two kinds of elves
No, there's several thousands of different kinds of elves.
And, the rest of your post is equally stupid.
>>43520291
I like them just fine, particularly Wood Elves for Rangers and the like. I don't usually like High Elves as much, since I'm not a big fan of Elves being wizards, but they're fine.
>>43521812
>And, the rest of your post is equally stupid.
Not that I disagree, but feeding him the attention he so obviously craves is not helping...
>>43521714
>They are two kinds of elves:
with oversized, mobile, horizontal ears, and without.
I'm playing a high elf character in an upcoming game, it's an original setting the DM cooked up where elves were almost pushed to extinction by a nation of fiend worshipers like a thousand years ago. I'm playing an elf who adventures because he's trying to unearth what elvish culture and history is left in the world. It's interesting because to him this war was a relatively recent event in history but to most humans it's like exceedingly old news.
>>43520291
As i feel about every other race, culture, setting or fucking anything ever in any media: If it's well written or interesting in some other way i wouldn't care even if it was a race of sentient fa/tg/uys and their waifu-pillows that are able to get pregnant.
>>43520291
I don't like putting in races that could be mistaken for humans. Most of the times elves are just humans with pointy ears that live for a thousand years and are good at archery.
Elves make the best healsluts
>>43521336
This. In most stories other than random magic powers the elves could just be a subspecies of humans, or even just another nation.
In my setting right now, I just have dark elves. High elven exiles who stuck their ground in the tradition of drawing in the ancestor's power instead of worshipping the elven god-king. The first liches (and undead) were made from binding powerful dark elf ancestors into magical items.
With the high elves now dead, the dark elves retreated back into their dark forest to continue their ancestor worship, while trying to fend off the undead army the high elves left.
>>43520637
That game is horrible.
>>43520291
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5gSbQX6CI8
¿How accurate is this?
I like the idea of long lived individuals, but as entire races or culture I can't seem to have found a single good example.
>>43520291
They are stuck up snobs. I hate them, but I love being them.
>>43522057
Nobody gives a shit.
>>43520291
I cheerfully accept any opportunity to play an outsider to the typical standard human society in games and elves are one such opportunity.
I like elves a lot. Honestly, if I were to pick one fantasy race above all others as a must-have, it'd be elves (dwarves being a close second). Though, like any of the classic fantasy races, it's best if there's some serious thought put into their identity and how they fit into the setting, rather than just haphazardly slapping in a bundle of obligatory cliches. Even if the general traits used are fairly cliched, at least make them well thought-through cliches.Also, anime style ears are mandatory. If they aren't at least 4 inches long, horizontal, and mobile, it's not a proper elf.
>>43520555
Dorfs are uniformly just shit
HFY is absolutly haram uberwanking
Elves are where its at
>>43521714
I don't even know where to begin here
>>43520313
I read it in his voice and now I have to go back and watching this AWFUL FUCKING MOVIE THAT I LOVE
Elves can be cool if done right, I'm fine with them.
I like Elder Scrolls elves with freaky golden supremacist bastards, cannibal tree freaks, grey skinned mutant edgelord xenophobes, quasi-pseudo-asian niggers, straight up morlocks and fedora-tipping arrogant shits who now exist solely as skin on a robot god.
I also like the idea they are so immortal, so ancient, so powerful, they've achieved all a physical race can achieve and they just fell into decadence and stagnation - they're so far gone they barely resemble original elves anymore. They hit a singularity and then that singularity itself fell into stagnation. Dusty crystal databases of elven souls, vast caverns of temporary mechanical or biomechanical bodies, extremist purist cults living as bizarre isolationist luddit savages away from everything in far places or far underground, so much so they don't know about the outside world and haven't for millennia.
>>43520356
If by bangs you mean photoshop, yes.
>>43520584
>forced
what does this mean in meme lingo?
Elves aren't real. There's nothing to their existence BESIDES memes.
>>43521961
Kind of makes you think, what about a setting where all the nations are just different people, but with different ethnic powers?
Their arrogance and "better than humans at everything and anything" trait is a big turn off.
The dark elves from the eldar scrolls are the only elves I've ever seen done well.
Traditional eleves that follow the elf rules are kind of easy and boring.
When you add a nice spin to them they're alright. I've always been a fan of the Bosmer for taking "love of nature" and running so far with it they're primal savages that eat each other because their gods will ruin them if they dare to harm a plant.
>>43523675
It means you should kill yourself.
>>43523753
>kek
>>43523790
Redguards have a penalty to be thinkin good massa
>>43520291
More often than not they are:
1. Have superiority complex on racial scale
2. Maresuish with such plot-armor kind of things like innate affinity to magic
2. Yet a dying race losing their positions in every field, even in magic itself
3. Caused more catastrophes than any other non-inherently evil race
If they are presented differently in a setting - I have no beef with them.
But they aren't.
>>43525591
I was thinking more along the lines of the old Irish sagas, where the different tribes are quite magical and different.
>>43520394
More like this?
>>43520291
Trite, overdone shit.
Elves are cute.
>>43520291
Far too often they are portrayed as (Humans+1)
this makes them boring and its always baffling that they cant handle their own shit when they have centuries of expertise, planning, and resources to draw on.
I'm running a homebrew right now that is low fantasy setting with some schizo tech, and a handful of immortal humans scattered throughout the world.
ONE of them appeared once during a campaign because the players were faced with a really shitty position mainly due to poor rolls and good RP so I had one show up, it was near insane and scatterbrained because living that long is not good for mental health. Though it basically solved the situation and ran away.
>>43520369
Didn't those motherfuckers get into multiple nigh-genocidal wars that very nearly fucked the world upside down? Because if so, they sure as hell aren't 'perfect'.
>>43527332
/thread
>>43527332
>filename and image
Holy fucking shit
I like most elves as long as it feels like they are in the near human family.
For instance, the human family are humans, elves, dwarves, hobbits, etc. The other races should have families like this to, so they feel like ethnicities of the same 'race'.
Currently my setting feature elves as the magical fuck toys for troll kings who changed humans over generations into the various castes that are identical to fantasy standard races. So dwarves are laborers, hobbits are farmers, etc.
The rest of the humans in the setting think these races are off putting at best, even in an attractive way.
>>43520291
Eh. Elves are okay. It's not like I'm jealous of their lifespans or anything.
>>43520596
i already got pointy ears.
But i think i would prefer to be a hobbit.
less trouble with dangerous adventures.
>>43525679
Considering the irish and welsh/bretons considered themselves to be related to their equivalent of elves, it wouldn't make that much of a difference.
>>43528158
>thinking the Shire can protect you from Fate
Worked out sooo well for Bilbo and Frodo, right?
>>43524250
But Dunmer are the most arrogant dicks this side of Mundus
I really liked Elves in Dragon Age. Super in tune with nature, magically skilled folks, but they still got crushinated by humans because 1) being super in tune with nature doesnt really help defend against a huge, modern (contemporarily speaking) army, and 2) being super in tune with nature/free spirited leads to lower levels of government and intertribal coordination. Thus, the only elves that havent been completely culturally assimilated live in an asscrack forest thats almost too magically nature-dangerous for even the elves.
In my setting, "common" elves were basically absorbed into the culture and though mostly regarded as equal, have basically no culture of their own. Sea elves and ash elves have a bit more strong a cultural identity, but still live under the umbrella of the human cultures. Elves aren't these amazing perfect beings that live forever, they're just a bit more sprightly than humans, and age doesn't wear them down that much until shortly before they die at ages from 90 to 110, most of the time.
>>43520291
I genuinely do dislike them. I find their unnaturally "poised"
demeanor unsettling. I think they are usually douches. They
just give off this creepy vibe to me, and they sort of fall into
this uncanny valley with their whole "perfect beauty" thing.
This might be why I generally gravitate toward either towards
dwarves or some sort of "lesser" race.
>>43520291
Considering I have a pointy-ear fetish(No, an actual fetish). I like them.
It's such a damn shame that the patreon bullshit has made it increasingly hard to find porn I can actually fap to. All my usual artists now want me to pay them, and my wallet belongs solely to games workshop and chinaman.
>>43528466
They sorta had corporeal gods living among them at the time we got to see their culture in depth which sorta gives them some seriously big heads. But they're not nearly as dicks as the Altmer or even the Bretons.
>>43520291
>>43520322
Pretty much this. Any player/setting that applies the template of "everything elven is better, now were off to jerk eachother off in our sacred glade and you're not invited" you best believe I hate elves. Outside of that they're pretty good.
For all the stereotypes of elves being arrogant and aloof I think humans are depicted the same way, just more crass.
The only elf archetype I like are the old as fuck wizard one, with a huge beard. The one that's old even by elf standards and he's really critical of elfs while being laid-back otherwise.
That and the lingerie wearing elfs from Lineage 2. Boy, would I dick those elves day and night if I could and if they existed.
>>43528646
Elves being depicted as superior is pretty much HFY applied to a different race. It's always annoying to have one race that's the best at everything and can do no wrong.
>>43520291
I don't understand the question
I want to play a game in a setting where elves are basically just (slightly retarded) dwarves with a genetic defect who have been abandoned outside of their strongholds to fend off for themselves in the wilderness.
Ofcourse when a race lives undergroud and relatively isolated from other dwarf communities some problems start to arise, expecially in smaller communities where nearly everyone is your uncle, cousin or something.
Sometimes to the parents' horror babies get born ..different. Cursed with a tall, misshapen bodybuild. Pointy, elongated ears. Lack of proper dwarven bodyhair and difficulties growing a beard. Lack of alcohol tolerance.
These offspring are often hidden and bring dishonor to their families so sometimes they tend to "disappear", getting abandoned by their parents aboveground, outside safety of their mountainhomes. Most die or go feral but some survive and band up, seeking safety in rudimental communities in forests and valleys, trying to imitate the home they lost or never knew, never again feeling the safety of rock and mountain above their heads.
Cursing their fate they often start despising or even hating their dwarven brethren who did this to them. Similar distaste towards them is harbored by the dwarves who see them as a reminder of their darker, unspoken deeds.
Ok, sounds pretty stupid and forced though
>>43529519
The hate's pretty forced, yeah
>>43529519
That's awful, they're just deformed dwarf teenagers who hate their parents and are rebelling by being treehugging fops?
>>43529519
That seems a bit weird, unless you made it take place so long ago that nobody remembered, in which case you just have a typical setting where Elves hate Dwarves for no reason.
I've been thinking of an elven civilization for a game, sort of influenced by Byzantium with a single city as the hub of their empire. If the city is Constantinople, then it's predecessor in Rome was the true heart of the Elven civilization. The current holders aren't really pure Elves, they're half-Elves that are really mostly human and just live longer than normal. Human tribes helped bring this Elven Rome down and then moved in and claimed the mantle for themselves, intermarrying with the survivors. Yet their society is obsessed with restoring the lost glory of this previous empire.
So Half-Elf Byzantine. How does that sound for a setting? Suggestions?
>>43529519
Sounds familiar actually.
Maybe you can make the entire Dwarf community very hush about the ordeal. Make it so that, rather then "disappearing" they hold a big ceremony - a coming of age thing that they never expect the them to survive.
When they finally reach the "destination," then they find the rudimentary communities that the others reached.
>>43520639
>I'm a virgin. I guess it comes natural when you're shy around most men.
I like elves, but I feel like most game setting don't sufficiently differentiate them from humans.
They are physically and culturally dependent on magic. That ought to be better established as their vulnerability.
>>43531128
Using physicality as the downside of elves is always a bit weird though, especially when its the wood elves who are supernaturally graceful hunters and duelists, which makes any lack of physical strength or endurance seem rather minor or nonexistent.
>>43520394
I would break my dick off in half inside of her.
>>43520291
PURGE ELF
PURGE ORC
PURGE HOBBIT
PURGE DROW
PURGE CATGIRL
PURGE LAMIA
PURGE DEMON
EXTRA PURGE KENDER
Gnome and Dwarf can stay. They're cool. Giants can stay too if they're the forging experts type and not the killy type
>>43531494
>Wanting both Gnomes and Dwarves
>Wanting Giants to be a mono-culture of smiths instead of ranging from peaceful craftsmen to barbaric savages
>Wanting the only humanoid races to be humans and humanoids of different heights known for craftsmanship
What's it like having such shit taste?
>>43531257
If they're physically dependent on magic like that anon was saying, though, wouldn't that mean something akin to elves constantly relying on buffs to get around? They have to use magic for everything, and they're good at magic, so it looks like they're good at everything.
Imagine an spindly elf before you. Tall, impossibly thin. They move with preternatural grace and skill, but something seems... off. Like there's some sort of delay or lag, there but almost imperceivable. Then there's the constant whispering and muttering, it's just so unsettling. It doesn't help that elves are so damn aloof, maybe they wouldn't creep people out as much if they bothered to interact with other races instead of ignoring them.The elf is using telekinesis to move its body around. It is so weak that it cannot move under its own physical power. Every motion, every flick of a finger or tilt of the head, seems impossibly graceful because the elf is dragging the body part around; if they aren't careful and tug a limb in a way it's not meant to go...
The muttering is it constantly maintaining the spell, and they seem aloof because they are forever concentrating on controlling their own body like a puppet on a string. Elves meditating instead of sleeping? They can't sleep, that's true enough, but they also aren't meditating; they're letting their spell fall silent for a bit to rest and recover.BRB writing up a racial template
>>43520291
I hate arrogant douchebag elves. Not because they're racist, but because they're not fucking good at it.
The elf who runs around calling humans dogs and scum and being blatantly racist probably wouldn't even get very far.
Instead, an elf should appear to be friendly and a little bit contrite. "Well as an elf, I grew up hearing hearing stories about how humans were nothing more than savages... but besides being a little quick to judge, you guys don't seem nearly as bad as my elders told me..."
That is right up until they get an opportunity to backstab the party for the glory of the elven master race, of course.
>>43531893
I usually prefer Elves to be the more subtle type of condescending. Quick to point out their taste for things of finer Elven make, though finding some human attempts at them 'cute' or 'adequate'.
They shouldn't really hate most races actively or spit in their faces or whatever, but just naturally consider themselves better and act accordingly.
>>43531602
Not so much shit taste as a butthurt martial who's in denial that magic objectively beats pointy metal.
>>43531494
With all the purging, I'd figure you'd welcome the killy types.
>>43532327
Ah, so you're a troll then.
How exactly does the ability to spend an hour chanting to light a campfire beat someone stabbing you in the face? Since y'know, magic doesn't inherently have to be 'snap your fingers and make reality your bitch'
Honestly, they're fine, so long as you make them basically "humans who naturally use magic" and go from there.
In my setting, the elven country is literally just the Jim Crow-era South: High Elves are Whites, Wood Elves are Blacks, Drow are Hillbillies.
>>43523790
That's pretty much what one of my modern fantasy settings is. Humans, elves, dorfs, halflings, etc. are just different subspecies of the same species that diverged with different magical effects due to reasons I didn't think of because they weren't important.
>>43520291
Extremely overused element that in the end is just humans with pointy ears and/or nasty character traits and/or superiory complex
I like 'em. They accomplish the basic aim of being a race of immortal, supernatural beings without the baggage of angels, genies, etc.
More often than not they end up as Human+. And that plus is usually so marginal it turns them into just humans with slightly strange tertiary appearance elements - your average Star Trek aliens get more depth.
Depends on the setting. A lot
Basically the higher the fantasy, the better it is for elves. Because in low fantasy they are nothing more than humans with pointy ears and at best slightly longer lifespan. High fantasy at least gives them all those supernatural traits that even if overused and, well, boring, are still better than just humans with pointy ears.
And if it counts still as elves, then fae, but done in tune with actual folklore, are great. I'm not talking about lolsrandom bloodbath fae that end up in the games, but the cunning, yet obnoxious and mean things from the tales.
>>43529958
Good job. You should either make literally elf-saber who fights for her friends, or meme uptight elf who is secretly lewd. Sorry for the shit suggestions, but no one's responded.
>>43529958
Sounds actually pretty good, aside of the "restoring lost glory". If you want to emulate Byzantines, focus more on internal politics, especially court intrigues. As far as everyone is concerned, after Justinian, nobody cared anymore about restoring anything and then it was just defense of own borders
>>43529958
>Elves as Rome.
I actually used this concept once, with formerly sprawling Elven empire that was eventually being overpowered by human client kings after bankrupting the empire fighting the Dwarves (Parthia/Sassanids). The Byzantine-based kingdom was actually the only one that was ruled by full-blooded elves, all of the other kingdoms were essentially entirely human and ruled by humans claiming descent from the original empire and fighting among themselves for the title.
The historical Rome used very little direct administration of their territory outside of Italy, instead preferring to rely on local elites to maintain order and pay taxes; I imagine that that an Elven empire would probably be administered in a similar manner considering their lower population growth and general distaste for getting their hands dirty in the lesser aspects of administration.
Bunch of dagger eared, daisy eating keebs in this here thread. Round elves watch yourselves.
Elves can be done well like in Warhammer (pre end times at least)
and elves can be done less well like in Dragon Age
Elves can take the victim role when it's done well, like in the Witcher, but even then there should be individuals that remind the other races of their former glory and martial prowess(wild hunt)
>>43520291
Fucking hate earniggers.
I play my elves as outsiders.
They are elegant, sophisticated, but they are NOT something that can be understood by mortals.
They exist as something above mortal races such as men, and while they may come off as haughty, they are not really self centered as much as they are just alien to all those who attempt to understand them.
Their faces are smooth, almost too smooth, and their noses don't have a bridge dip, instead their brow just tapers off. It's nigh impossible to see where their lips are, since they are so fine and their color is the same shade as the rest of their complexion.
Their hair almost seems to be a continuation of their flesh, and it's difficult to tell where the hair ends and the forehead begins. They wear strange gems and jewelry that accentuates their almost frail constitution. The most unsettling part of an elf are indeed their eyes. Large, mostly pupil, and with eyelids that appear slightly slanted, if an Elf even decides to blink that is, that seem to see more than anyone else around them.
Nobody knows where they came from, or where their cities are, but when Elves appear, they bring strange, exciting, and often dangerous crafts with them. You see, my Elves create things that exist in more than one form, but are compressed onto a single plane, which is the same as non-euclidean shapes, which makes them both beautiful and dangerous to those attempting to perceive it. For some, Elvish art stirs a strange sense of peace, that will cause them to simply want to observe it until they eventually starve or die of thirst. For others, the sheer sight of such art can cause irreparable damage to their psyche.
Above all, my Elves are not evil, but they are not good.
To me, the idea around Elves is the 'strange familiar', an uncanny valley that stirs something in you that makes you think "I should know what this is, but I feel like something is off"
>>43534378
The lost glory thing would be a sort of formal motivation for the internal politics. Think Londo Mollari and Centauri.
>>43535321
>I'm poorly read
>>43535321
Excuse me Prince, but isn't a Shield that long a disadvantage on a horse?
>>43520322
I feel like this post hits the nail on the head.
>>43522511
That's not anime style, that's like Tolkien! He said they had ears like leaves! Who's to say he didn't mean fronds that were Lanceolate or Linear?
>>43520291
Aroused
>>43539253
You better cut that out now.
>>43520291
They're fine, if a little overdone.
>>43520291
I like dwarf fortress elves. slightly haughty and arrogant, yes; supernaturally connected to nature, yes; but capable of being ferocious, feral, cruel in defense, and all at the expense of being technologically backward
>>43520322
The why are dwarfs much more accepted considering those have even a more cliched image?
I dare say dwarfs are even more annoying douchbags. At least elves are passive arrogant. Dwarfs never shut up how they everything not dwarven is so much inferior.
>>43539475
>dwarves
>more accepted
I find that not having a dwarf in the party is a lot more common than not having an elf in the party, at least based on laying D&D, SR and Earthdawn.
Dwarf love is literally just a meme in some online communities mostly because they're self-inserts for the grosser part of the player base.
>>43520291
If they all looked like that whore, I'd pound them into the ground! Unf.
>>43520291
>Memes aside, how do you actually feel about Elves and Elf-life races?
Depends on their rendition. I like elves to be at least vaguely alien in nature and not just longer-lived humans with a superiority complex and sharp ears.
>>43539475
>Dwarfs never shut up how they everything not dwarven is so much inferior.
But it's (usually) all couched in the fact that they're hairy, dirty, vertically challenged, miserly, grumpy alcoholics with a stiflingly rigid culture who live in caves and never have fun, whereas elves are often painted as naturally gifted at everything, intelligent, and beautiful. Dwarves are usually seen as being allowed some arrogance, I think, just because their lives are so fucked up
as an npc? they're ok generally as long as it's not magical realm
as a pc? generally they're played by people who are shit and whine a lot, but mechanically they're fine in most systems.
that said, I enjoy the classic dorf and elf adventuring party drama
>>43539278
Sorry, can't resist
>>43539537
That's because a picture of a dwarfs as you just showed is even more narrow minded than that of an elf.
Now tell me again why elf cliche is bad but dwarf cliche is ok?
>>43539604
dorf is a bit self-deprecating
elf is a bit self-overvaluing
>>43539604
Because it's flattering to the basement dwelling part of the fanbase.
>>43520291
I generally like them. I don't like what DnD has turned them into with a snowball effect, though. Ice elves and all that stuff is just lame.
>>43520291
>>43539551
>No hits on google or iqdb
Pls senpai
>>43520291
>"elves in this game are really different guise!"
>perhaps elves are brutal ass vikings with war paint and all that sweet shit
>maybe they're the petty and proud bastards in Tolkien mythos
>maybe they're brilliant inventors and have created marvelous machines to fly and solve complex calculations at a moment's notice
>nah
>they have katanas
every goddamn time. I hate closet weebs with a passion
>>43541773
>Ctrl-F katana 1 match
It's just you, you self hating faggot.
>>43541773
I don't think I've ever seen Elves represented as Japanese. At best, they have a few eastern influences what with the focus on fast swordsmanship, archery, and self-improvement, but I don't think I've ever seen them just outright be ninjas and katana users.
>>43531836
Stealing this. Thanks, anon.
In my game, Elves live for a long time but arent very hardy, relying on their thin, agile frames to dodge.
They're more religious than the other races, preying multiple times a day, washing themselves in running water ala Islam.
They pray to the Goddess of water and as such have a preference to Hydrokinesis than any other form of magic.
The eldest elf of each village is elected as the leader, this leader is known as the Root of the settlement. A village is known as a Puddle, a town as a Pond and a city as a Lake, but collectively all settlements are known as Puddles.
Different denominations of Elves vary in solidarity but all Elves will pick a single mate for life and will, if a choose is present, will travel with only another traveller for company (usually their partner). This is due to the customs of elves meaning that they should travel in two's much like the elven hero Ellawyn and her lover, Altanis.
I think i fleshed Elves out the most in my realm because i usually hate elves and i didnt want to hate them this time around.
>>43541637
its done by shia, search voyager on hentai foundry
he's got like a million pics so have fun
>>43520369
Found the guy who never read Lord of the Rings
>>43520369
Confirmed for moviefag.
>>43532387
Because that hour chanting into that campfire can fell entire armies in a second, son.
Face it, magic has more variety and inherent power that weaponry ever will
>>43545374
>Because that hour chanting into that campfire can fell entire armies in a second, son
You misread, you're not chanting around a campfire. You're chanting around a pile of tinder to light it in the first place.
Because again, magic doesn't inherently have to be 'snap your fingers and make reality your bitch'
Here's an idea: stop playing Forgotten Realms.
>>43543753
He wouldn't need too? He'd just need to read the Silmarillon.
>>43531128
Cold iron normally fucks their day
>>43542266
40k. Eldar are fairly Japanese influenced.
>>43547912
40k Eldar have a lot of influence from many ancient and traditional cultures.They have Shuriken pistols, but they also have Jetbike Knights.
Still, they don't seem to fall into the Katana Weaboo style he was complaining about.
>>43545414
You're right, I misread that, sorry.
Magic takes just as much, if not more, talent, skill and learning to use.
A novice with a sword can swing it and hurt someone, but can't parry, can't dodge right with the weight, can't repair or clean or mend the blade.
A novice with magic can either really hurt someone or do nothing at all.
The sword novice learns all the tricks of martial arts, how to keep a blade, how to fight and becomes a master, a whirling wind of death. But can only do so much as a single person.
The magic novice learns how to bend the forces of magic to their will, how to make small things happen, then larger things, and if they're careful, smart, cunning and wise, they can do so, so much more than a master of the sword ever will. Entire legions of creatures and the dead at their command, the basic elements of the universe, the wills of spirits, the enemy's mind and body - where there is a will there is a way.
Swords work one way. Magic works many ways.
>>43550838
>Magic works many ways.
But not all at the same time. That's the point. Harry Potter can't summon an army of skeletons. The most powerful combat spell they have kills one person. One. And it requires them to be able to speak, point at them, and can be dodged or blocked by ducking behind a wall.
The assumption that Magic is inherently better than martial skill at EVERYTHING in EVERY setting is blatantly wrong.
Take the campfire example. Is that fairly useless in a combat heavy game? Probably. Is it completely useless though? Not really. You can light a fire in a survival situation with little difficulty, or set up a carefully timed trap. The ability to conjure fire from nothing might even lead to a religious cult forming around it, the ability to 'pray' for the fire being a symbol of their faith.
The idea that magic needs to be incredibly powerful and able to devastate armies is flawed. You don't need powerful magic to have magic be useful. Magic can always be useful. Even if you had to spend 5 minutes chanting to cast a Magic Missile, you still get an attack that ignores all armor, can't be dodged, and deals enough damage to kill most people.
>>43551059
A five minute magic missile is kind of a poor example though, since you can just get stabbed in that time.
If you want magic that isn't of the army-destroying power level, it's better to focus on non-combat utility, perhaps with "battlemages" using magic to augment martial skill, because otherwise it's just kind of pointless.
>>43551298
All that means is the focus then becomes not being stabbed. A 5 minute magic missile can turn someone into a very effective sniper, one that's also hard to track as there would be no weapon on their person.
But I digress. The point is that any amount of magical power can be useful, but arguing that it should be inherently stronger than mundane means in all situations is just ludicrous.
>>43551402
Magic Missile has shit range.
>>43551059
Well, no, magic doesn't have to be all powerful forever or necessarily immediately stronger than material weaponry, but I think it's inherently more useful and varied than weapons and more creative, even if material weaponry is more direct and sometimes faster. It doesn't HAVE to devastate armies, but it CAN if you use it right. Magic works in many ways, some good, some bad.
Take the campfire example again. Imagine a whole bunch of experimental alchemical explosives set up under an enemy fortress, ready to blow the floor out and collapse the place on the enemy army stationed inside. With patrols in the sewers and drainage systems every few minutes, we were lucky enough to get the bombs in there anyway and lighting them is a suicide mission. A wizard can spend half an hour chanting a spell to light that fire from base camp a mile away and the enemy would never know. It's the sheer level of utility in usage of destruction it has.
That's to say nothing of what a prepared and learned sorcerer can accomplish. It takes training and practice and patience to be an immediate threat.
In the end, though, magic is different in basically every setting, so it has hard to make a general consensus.
>>43551499
100 feet isn't too bad, especially not for a weapon you can't search people for, before or afterwards.
>>43551540
Exactly my point, which was to contest posts like >>43532327 which I see far too often.
>>43551540
>I think it's inherently more useful and varied than weapons
Most weapons are also good circumstantial tools, and magic is more of a means than an end; there's a lot you can do with wood, steel, and a good day's work and that's the means of a martial weapon.
>>43551661
Well, I honestly thing magic can do just as much as a weapon can. Again, depends on the setting.
Take Elder Scrolls magic for example, an energy source to be harnessed into a form or reaction or gateway or alteration. Light a campfire with flint and steel or a burst of flame. Conjure a Bound Weapon in place of an axe to cut down a tree, or a dremora to do it for you. Heal the mortal wounds of a soldier better than a doctor ever could.
There's a book in Morrowind about a guy who learns a spell to boost his Intelligence so high he mathematically proves some other guy doesn't exist and said gut poofs out of existence. This of course is one of those high end game breaking exploits, but nonetheless an actual feasible feat one can achieve. You can boost your own stats so high they're meaningless and kill living gods with mechanics IN the system, nothing is changed by an outside third party of any kind.
The funny thing is you could brew a potion or create a spell to just make you better with weapons.
>>43529958
>Byzantine politics
>where the people playing live for centuries if not millennia
>>43529958
That's more like a half elf version of fascist Italy. Byzantium was ethnically Greek and was a greater and more glorious city than Rome by every measure.
>>43555174
>Byzantium was ethnically Greek
And these people would be ethnically humans/half-elves, not Elves themselves
>>43520322
Agreed. I also hate the Orc or Dwarf player stereotypes. Walking, talking, 'no true scotsman' trope.
Elves arent all that bad when used in moderation. Or to quote a close friend of JRR Tolkien, Oh Fuck not another elf.
>>43520291
>Playing on a Shadowrun 3E board.
>Every one is an elf.
>ALMOST not metaphorical. People like the pretty.
>Decide to make an ork
>Decide to make a full ork shaman
>Brutal charisma. Lots of intimidation. Being orkish means my stats are pretty darn good, but skills are where its at.
>De-optimize. Give him a pegleg. Shaman of the sea = Magical Pirate.
>Very little nuyen, so using cheapest gun and armor until I can build up some cred.
>Grew up among orks, so smoothers and hezless breeders look 'weird'. Prefer ork women - no one playing an ork woman. Just RP, so it's character flavor, amirite?
>Get ERP requests constanty from elves. Of both genders.
Apparently, elves love brutal ork cocking? So, I'm okay with elves.
>>43560894
I don't know why but for some reason this story makes me feel happy deep down in my very soul.
>>43551059
>>43545414
>>43532387
What this guy is saying: the norm is that magic is instant, effective, puissant, and low cost, and we are wrong to default to this norm when we discuss magic. We should check our White Wizzard privilege and give credence to the possibility of low-power magic as an equally acceptable standard for wizard dickery/cuntery/xuntery. We as cis-scum need to get PC and acknowledge, nay, go out of our way to endorse, his worldview.
>>43520291
I always find it difficult not to find Male elf characters to be incredibly dull. Regardless of the medium i'm engaged with.
Like the only thing ever going for them is that they are elves - other than that regardless of background and personality they always seem just...bland. The only remotely entertaining one I know of was that gay elf from Dragons Dogma and thats because I got the mod where you can call him a faggot until he finally breaks down and cries.
Other than that - Elf girls are always big titted arrogant cunts who secretly long for a good ramming.
In hindsight I have an incredibly immature attitude to them.
>>43528249
but for 99% of the other fat hobbits.
All they do is celebrate, eat , and make more fat hobbits.
>>43560894
Mine brother!
I had a similar experience in a 'social' shadowrun game played on skype between about 8 people. I made a former docwagon medic turned runner... found out afterwards the whole game had been focused on elves being dicks to the other races... ended up with most of the group trying to get involved with my character, to the point of fights breaking between players. ;.; I spent two months in that game, before giving it up as pointless.
>>43562020
>Dragons Dogma
>elves
wot m8. Can you imagine elves in DD?
However,
>big titted
Busty Merchant isn't an elf but...goddamn, son. Speaking of DD.
>>43520291
Their cultures can be decent to boring, but the thing that often bugs me is how they tend to be just "humans with pointy ears" and at best "humans with pointy ears, and features"
Urist likes elves for their grace
>>43520394
Holy shit, that's fucked up.
>>43520394
Is there a story behind this crazy girl?
>>43561054
>What this guy is saying: 3.5 magic a shit
FTFY
Personally, I usually hate them except as norse fantasy elves (alien and brutal) or my favorite, as basically rednecks. Only a few writers have done them that way, but I love the idea, and the contrast to D&D elves. Just a buncha hillbilly elves living off the grid, brewing moonshine (elf-y name) and huntin'
>>43520639
>flaws
>these could all be fetish fuel
for god sake a big dick isn't a flaw
>>43558284
They'd be the same as their progenitors, ethnically speaking. Mixing and drift doesn't change ethnic definitions. Also, that would only fit if the Elves themselves looked up to the humans/half-elves before forming their empire and considered those guys to be a wiser race than their own, and had conquered and enslaved them specifically to profit form their wisdom. Which kinda doesn't fit.
>>43566798
That's the point.
>>43520291
inb4 trap
>>43562910
Halflings are made for _____ ?
>>43567497
cuddling.
>>43567497
enslavement
>>43567497
adventures
>>43525591
soes does nords because thinking is dildoes.
>>43531836
so the gray elves are just grays now? ayyy
>>43531893
>>43532001
"No, you see, we really don't think we're great. It's just that you all really, really suck."
>>43534201
What if they're literally Human+ ?
Elves aren't some ancient forebearers, They are the new race, with magic powers beyond the mere men they once were. Faster than a speeding bolt, able to leap over tall castles with a single bound, you should see where i'm going with this.
>>43520291
I honestly do think Elves are cool as shit, and not cuz of the ears. I like the high elf stereotype where they were at one point the greatest civilization there ever was but in the present time of whatever series/setting they are a former shadow of themselves. This way high elf characters technically get access to the coolest shit possible, but is thanks to the fluff balanced to where they aren't OP so for example if you're playing Eldar in 40k you have to be smart to use the limited amount of greatest shit ever you have on you. Not to mention their cities are grand and beautiful as fuck full of magic and this is why Bethesda needs to set the next Elder Scrolls game in Summerset Isles.
I also like Wood Elf type characters, too. Living in trees is a bit too tree hugging for me, but if the trees look cool as shit and not generic trees it's fine. I am also a big fan of how they become friends with other living things around them so a stereotype wood elf society has a variety of beasts. They are also gods at ranged combat, and I know everyone's sick of that Legolas type character, but everyone's sick of it now because the entire world knows that it is the most badass type character dodging everything thrown at him/her while s/he accurately shoots arrows/guns just in the right places of the enemy to take them down.
>>43520394
>>43520291
Kinda looks cute; a pity she went that far with her ears though cuz she doesn't need those to look good.
>>43567497
>>43569564
This has no right being as insanely cute as it is. Fuck I don't even care for weeb shit, but god damn this is too fucking cute. Ugh this is the part where I start getting the urge to rewatch Azumanga Daioh and Non Non Biyori. Stupid retarded weeb shit being irresistibly cute.
>>43570639
You'd always known you were different, it's why you always aspired to more in spite of the fact that as a mere human, your life was sure to be one that was short, brutish, and full of horror.
A few days after your coming of age day, your ears started to feel funny, they had begun to change into the long, tapered things they were now.
The dwarves came into town, demanding ale, slaves, and male whores as was dwarven custom. Their leader demanded that your father fellate his tiny greasy cock, and that was when you had enough. You punched that hairy little sodomite so hard he didn't appear in town until next week, and when he did, he had arrived to a world that had changed. His comrades were strung up around town to a man, and you were waiting for him. You were the first of what sages now call an enchanted lifeform, or an 'elf' for short.
------------------------------------
You are one of the middle children of elf history. You were born into a time when humans love you for being what you are - you are their greatest defenders and champions, and you and yours conquer every horror that humans simply cannot handle.
------------------------------------
Things aren't like how they used to be. Your forebearers would go in and clear up any problem and situation and be lauded for it. Nowadays, preachers and kings rant about "elven brutality" or "fae perversion." You still do the job because you care, and you'll be damned if they stop you.
------------------------------------
You were one of the later elves, born after much of humanity grew complacent about the horrors they once faced and decided they didn't like having the "immortal knife-eared freaks" around anymore. While you have powers beyond those of mortal men, you're nowhere as impressive as the first ones. You were exiled to the forest where some of "your kind" were "allowed" to live, and have been learning how to use your powers. Perhaps its time your kind fight back.
>>43523675
A forced meme is a meme that people are deliberately trying to make into a meme. Viral marketing campagins for example, are always forced memes. Pretty much every advice animal ever is also a forced meme. Forced memes aren't always a bad thing, but most forced memes exist because exactly one person thinks it's funny.
>>43566798
>for god sake a big dick isn't a flaw
Actually, it can be. And it would sure be more of a flaw than the ones listed in that image.
Feral wood elves are the best.
>>43527286
Depends on the elf.
>>43570736
>Ugh this is the part where I start getting the urge to rewatch Azumanga Daioh and Non Non Biyori. Stupid retarded weeb shit being irresistibly cute.
I concur about Non Non Biyori, but Azumanga Daioh is actually funny and worthwhile in other ways. Nichijou is likewise really cute and funny (and not just "anime funny" but actual, legit funny) but even further shifts the emphasis away from cuteshit and towards humor.
Basically, what I'm saying is, watch Nichijou.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2-JMl5skzY
>>43571271
>implying she's not cute
>>43520369
They're actually some of the most screwed up bunch there. The Silmarillion has God knows how much Elvish fuck up in there.
>>43572220
Cut things can stop being cute if they get too annoying
Depends on the elves. Most tolkein variants are just pretty magic humans with a snobby attitude. If we're going bog standard, I prefer Dwarves.
Dunmer, however, are surly, insect riding, xenophobic Daedra worshippers with living breathing God(s), and a hatred of other Mer only surpassed by their own self loathing. They're great.
