The Elf: BTB

[Falconer]

I know there have been threads about the Elf PC before, but they have been so mixed with opinion and alternate Greyhawk/Holmes/AD&D rules—which is great. But the purpose of this thread is to help me understand how the Elf of the OD&D LBBs actually works.

Here is how I understand it. Let me know if you think I have it right. Note that this assumes OEPT-style re-rolling of all hit dice at each level. (A valid, in fact literal interpretation of OD&D as written.)

The Elf starts as both Veteran and Medium. His begins with 1d6 + 1 for hit points like any Veteran. He creates two columns in the Experience field on his character sheet: one for his advancement as a Fighter, one for his advancement as a Magic-User. At the beginning of each session, he declares whether he is adventuring as a Fighter or as a Magic-User, and for that whole session abides by ALL of the restrictions and benefits of his class, with a few exceptions. So a Hero/Theurgist adventuring as a Magic-User will fight according to the "Level 1-3" column (as a Theurgist) instead of the "4-6" column (as a Hero). Also, he can only use dagger or staff. And, obviously, if he were traveling as a Fighter he would not be able to cast any spells, but he would have an unlimited weapons range and better attack table.

On the other hand, when he is a Magic-User he is still able to wear armor, provided it is magical (?). Also, the Elf does NOT keep separate Hit Point totals for his two classes. At the end of the session, all experience earned will go towards the class in which he was adventuring. Upon attaining a new level in any class, he will roll the hit dice for that level in that class, and that will become his new hit points total if it is higher than his previous hit points total. Thus, if our Hero/Theurgist of 16 hit points attains the level of Thaumaturgist as a Magic-User, he can roll 3d6, which will probably not yield a higher total than 16 (but it could). Certainly he will have a better chance of beating his Hero hit dice upon reaching Enchanter and Warlock levels.

Does that sound right to you? Thanks.

[coffee]

It does sound right to me. It's the clearest single description of the Elf that I can remember seeing, especially since it incorporates the re-roll of all hit dice.

This deserves an exalt.

The only problem I can forsee is that players might balk at this. Having been conditioned by years of later versions of the game, they might see it as unnecessarily restrictive.

To which I'll simply say, "Hey, that's the price you pay for playing an elf!"

[jrients]

Falconer, I agree with your interpretation. I think my idea of rolling hit points every session fits better, but OEPT supports you and not me on this point.

[Falconer]

So, in the “reroll each session” model, what hit dice would the Elf roll? I suppose by whichever class he was adventuring as that session.

[jrients]

falconer said:

I suppose by whichever class he was adventuring as that session.

Right on the nose.

[ffilz]

Hmm, an interesting artifact of this, you can play a single class elf magic user who can wear armor (possibly only magic armor depending on how pedantic you are)...

Personally, I plan to go with the later multi-class interpretation, but this interpretation is interesting.

Frank

[jrients]

ffilz said:

Hmm, an interesting artifact of this, you can play a single class elf magic user who can wear armor (possibly only magic armor depending on how pedantic you are)...

I agree that's a weird side effect. To avoid this possibility I have considered randomizing the class that receives the evening's XP.

[sham]

That's fairly close to the way I've interpreted the rules. I've made some slightly different assumptions, though.

I take the first sentence in the M&M description, concerning which class Elves begin as (and freely switching, but not during an adventure), as the method in which they choose to gain experience.

So, Elves do start as Veteran/Medium and use two seperate experience point pools, and at the end of an adventure, when experience is awarded, the player chooses which pool to add all of this experience to. (This is slightly lenient, because the player should actually declare beforehand which class will be gaining all of that adventure's experience. That said, I think that selecting at the end is easier to keep track of).

Hits are rolled with each new level, and I use the OEPT HP interpretation.

Thus, an Elf might put all of his experience into F-M, and could neglect M-U and end up as a 4/1 F-M/M-U, for example.

I take the second sentence literally, that being "Thus, they gain the benefits of both classes and may use both weaponry and spells." In other words, Elves fight as F-M, and if they are wearing no armor, or magic armor, may cast spells according to their M-U level during the same adventure.

Also, I don't find the "They may use magic armor and still act as Magic-Users." strange at all. It's *magic* armor, after all, and Elves are inherently magical.

~Sham

[philotomy]

My take on the Elf:

In my game, Elves start as both Fighting Man and Magic User (i.e. Veteran and Medium). For starting hit points, the Elf rolls 1d6+1 (i.e. Veteran hit dice) and 1d6 (Medium hit dice), taking the higher of the two rolls. He tracks experience for each class separately. At the beginning of each adventure session (loosely defined as the from the start of an adventure until XP is awarded in a safe place), the Elf's player declares whether he is adventuring as a Fighter or as a Magic User. During that session, the Elf's earned XP goes to the declared class, and he fights and saves as the declared class. Regardless of declared class, the Elf can use any weapon, and may cast spells if he is not wearing armor, or if he is wearing magical armor. The Elf maintains a single hit point total. When the Elf advances a level, he rolls the total hit dice for his new level (e.g. if he advanced to Hero, he rolls 4d6), and takes the greater of his roll or his current hit point total). Elves are, of course, limited to 4th level Fighting Man (Hero) and 8th level Magic User (Warlock). The Elf abilities from Chainmail are translated as +1 to hit against kobolds, goblins, and hobgoblins, and orcs (the greater bonuses in Chainmail are interpreted as coming from magical weapons and from mass-combat tactics against certain foes). Elves possess infravision and can see in the dark (however, this special vision may not work in supernatural or mythic underworld settings). Note that while Chainmail mentions elvish invisibility, this is not translated as an individual ability, but as the use of magical elven cloaks or invisibility spells.

[driver]

I'm currently working on my interpretation of the BtB Elf for my upcoming 3LB campaign. I'm not using "elf information" from rules sources other than 3LB and Chainmail.

I'll probably use something like Philotomy's interpretation of the Elf (I've already stolen his WFRP-style "impact die" for 2-handed weapons). I give Elves, when armed with enchanted weapons, an additional +1 vs. wights, wraiths, lycanthropes, and "the giant class" (roughly per Chainmail, to reflect the bonus to which Men & Magic refers). My Elves don't have Infravision, although my Dwarves do (again, per Chainmail).

Getting into the spirit of embracing the OD&D elements that seem odd, I've decided that my campaign's Elves are inscrutable and weird, and sometimes between adventures they creep off to sit in a toadstool ring or whatever, and come back as a virtually different person.

For physical characteristics, again, I'm using only 3LB, which provides no information about Elves' appearance. Some Elves are tall, some are short, some are bearded, some are effete, some are beautiful, some are ugly, some have buck-teeth and donkey ears. It's mostly up to the players -- if they want to play to some particular image of Elves, I don't really care.

Most NPC Elves will have stereotypical "Treebow" type names, e.g., Darkblossom, Mossmarsh, and so forth. The default NPC Elves in my campaign are closer to creepy folklore Elves than Tolkien Elves.

Basically, I'm using the "dual class" rules as a highlight of how Elves are different than Men, and not to be entirely trusted by right-thinking folk. There's something about a guy who fights alongside you as a valiant warrior, and then disappears into a hill and comes back out as a skulking hooded sorcerer.

[Finarvyn]

Personally, I prefer the blend of F-MU rather than the "pick one and have the restrictions" rule, even though it certainly looks like the "pick one" option is what Men & Magic clearly wants a player to do.

I've always hated that "sorry, but I forgot all my spells today; maybe tomorrow" thing.

[philotomy]

Driver, that's a great interpretation of the OD&D Elf. I love it. (And I'm stealing it for my game, immediately.)