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Jayngfet
2008-04-19, 09:53 PM
a thought occurs, most race ages in the PHb and MM are a lot olonger lived than humans...


..and yet they need even longer to learn to do magic, fight, or even get mad and beat you with a sitick...

...this would be an annoyance on it's own but then one wonders, isn't the point of all those mental stat bonuses with age showing you getting smarter and wiser with time, and the average elf starting age is positively ancient compared to a human or half-orc, so shouldn't they have like +4 or so wisdom at least, but then thanks to biology they get no negative aging traits till they head to krusk the fifths funeral.

Kyeudo
2008-04-19, 10:00 PM
Most books address the longer learning time as a racial quirk. For example, elves are physicaly adult at around age 25 or so, but not considered an adult until 100 at the least. They spend that time learning their trade skills by focusing on one skill at a time, to the exclusion of the others.

Tsotha-lanti
2008-04-19, 10:44 PM
No, because that would be mechanically unbalanced.

It also doesn't make sense that a character can survive falling 200 feet and getting impaled with spears multiple times.

Also, aren't these the same thread? (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=78283)

FlyMolo
2008-04-19, 10:45 PM
No, because that would be mechanically unbalanced.

It also doesn't make sense that a character can survive falling 200 feet and getting impaled with spears multiple times.

Also, aren't these the same thread? (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=78283)

There's three threads now. Elves, elves, and "longer lived races".

EvilElitest
2008-04-19, 10:46 PM
No, because that would be mechanically unbalanced.

It also doesn't make sense that a character can survive falling 200 feet and getting impaled with spears multiple times.

Also, aren't these the same thread? (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=78283)

hey its a thread started by whats his face, the one with the ego
from
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Smiley_
2008-04-19, 11:12 PM
It's cause elves are too busy being 'superior' and dwarves are too busy digging and halflings are lazy and the only people to actually get anything done are humans and orcs and other races with shorter lifespans. That's why an average 20 year old human is as smart as a 125 year old elf.

Stereotypical? yes, but it explains this phenomena.

Jayngfet
2008-04-19, 11:51 PM
and gnomes?

one of these day's I'll invent a race of super motivated techno dwarves that do more than make sharp sticks with the metal they mine.

Wooter
2008-04-19, 11:53 PM
and gnomes?

one of these day's I'll invent a race of super motivated techno dwarves that do more than make sharp sticks with the metal they mine.

You mean like in Arcanum?

Anon-a-mouse
2008-04-20, 06:22 PM
Elves do gain wisdom with age at the same rate humans do, but they started out with lower wisdom scores. This is why they chose a +1 dex bonus over a free feat.

Eldariel
2008-04-20, 06:42 PM
It could help out with Humans being so stupidly good compared to almost any race (the only examples I can think of are Whisper Gnomes and Strongheart Halflings - others can sitiuationally match Humans in certain jobs, but generally even in those, they're only on par with the master race), but it wouldn't have much effect in terms of game mechanics since games rarely last long enough for any characters to attain age categories and when following PHB guidelines, no character is going to start even near the first age category.

So all it would cause is everyone wanting to start playing older characters when playing the longer-lived races, and in NPCs being a bit stronger as they don't tend to have the same sort of PC limitations in age. Overall, I don't see it having much of an impact, but I don't think it would really be that helpful.