Quote Originally Posted by Some View Post
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The longer the lifespan, the greater their potential.

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Fenris's strategy doesn't work for humanoids.
Unless it is not the length of a life but the intensity of a life that matters. In core D&D, the elven communities are never better endowed with spellcasters and, since 2nd ed, average elf and average human NPCs have been exactly the same.

Ironically, considering this discussion, in 1st ed AD&D, both goblins and humans were 'less than 1HD creatures. (And Men was an entry in the Monster Manuel.)

Consider the summer we spent in The Vault of the Drow and Queen of the Demonweb Pits. In a three-month campaign our level 8 characters topped level 16, (there were deaths along the way,) and above level 10 was back then considered the way epic is now.

So, at least two elves, a dwarf, an assortment of humans and a gnome illusionist gained levels at the same rate, which was far in excess of what NPCs in towns could do.

Given the warlike tendencies of the goblin culture, they should have many mid-level characters. In fact, they should have as many as are in all of the surrounding civilizations combined because they will have earned their exp fighting each other.

Fenris is smarter than he looks on paper.