Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 brimstone Jan 19, 2005 10:37:26	According to the PHB and DLCS a half-elf gets Common and elven as their automatic languages. It seems like it'd make more sense that it's common, elven and their regional language (if they don't live in an elven kingdom). Or at the very least it should be common and regional language. How do you all handle this?
#2 cam_banks Jan 19, 2005 10:44:40	According to the PHB and DLCS a half-elf gets Common and elven as their automatic languages. It seems like it'd make more sense that it's common, elven and their regional language (if they don't live in an elven kingdom). Or at the very least it should be common and regional language. How do you all handle this? I'd give them their regional language if they were raised by humans, sure. I don't sweat this kind of thing too much. Cheers, Cam
#3 jonesy Jan 19, 2005 10:46:28	...it'd make more sense that it's common, elven and their regional language (if they don't live in an elven kingdom). This is the way we have it.
#4 brimstone Jan 19, 2005 11:38:26	I'd give them their regional language if they were raised by humans, sure. I don't sweat this kind of thing too much. Yeah...I know, I shouldn't. That's my biggest fear is becoming like a neurautic DM and making a big deal out of these little things. heh heh We did have our first session the other night, though. Unfortunately, one person didn't show up...so we just kinda screwed around that night doing mock battles and such. They were two clerics and a sorcerer so I had them battle 2 baaz dracs...they mopped the floor with the dracs, so when the last one dropped I had a kapak drop out of the trees. Yeah, they manhandled him too. I couldn't make a hit to save my life and they couldn't miss. Not to mention they made every single save for death throes and poison (except the kapak death throw...I think I got them with that). Either way...neither cleric was hurt very much...the sorcerer was close to being out of spells (because it took a while before he realized that the spells weren't working because of SR ) but for the most part...they didn't have any problem with the dracs. That was a little disappointing...but I can see how it could have completely gone the other way if my dice just hadn't been broken that night. Anyway...thanks for the info. (and sorry for the anecdote)
#5 wolf72 Jan 19, 2005 11:47:23	and then there's the days that you roll golden, and the pc's ... well they bleed a lot and run (hopefully)
#6 rath_the_ranger Jan 20, 2005 13:20:46	We did have our first session the other night, though. Oh, I see how it is, you finally start DMing a DL game and I'm not invited?!?! HAHAHA, guess you didn't think I'd make the 5 hour drive to come down.
#7 rooks Jan 21, 2005 2:37:58	and then there's the days that you roll golden, and the pc's ... well they bleed a lot and run (hopefully) Which, my good man, is why I always bring a large knife to the gaming table. Roll too many natural 20's? I cut ya. Make too many saves? I cut ya. Touch my dice? I cut ya. It makes for a fair and terrified group of players.
#8 jonesy Jan 21, 2005 2:45:53	Which, my good man, is why I always bring a large knife to the gaming table. Roll too many natural 20's? I cut ya. Make too many saves? I cut ya. Touch my dice? I cut ya. It makes for a fair and terrified group of players. And makes your players start using weighted dice. Weighted so they never produce a 20.
#9 brimstone Jan 24, 2005 9:40:45	Oh, I see how it is, you finally start DMing a DL game and I'm not invited?!?! HAHAHA, guess you didn't think I'd make the 5 hour drive to come down. Well...we haven't acutally started playing. So...if you can make it here on the 16th of Feb...you're golden! Which, my good man, is why I always bring a large knife to the gaming table. Roll too many natural 20's? I cut ya. Make too many saves? I cut ya. Touch my dice? I cut ya. Dude...sometimes, you scare me. LOL! While there has been no bloodletting in the Hackmaster game I play...we have threatened on occassion to hold down our DM while we take his d20 out and ritualistically smash it with a crowbar then dance around the remains naked in the rain chanting to the devils to keep their blasted evil d20 in the depths of hell where it belongs. We haven't made good on that promise yet... :D
#10 brimstone Jan 24, 2005 10:03:41	(double post)
#11 true_blue Jan 24, 2005 10:35:42	Do any of you really see people play Half-Elves that much? Unfortunately they always seem like they are just watered down. I rarely ever see one in my campaigns, but granted, my players like cool abilities more than anything else. They just seem to be so lacking, its a wonder anyone really plays one. I was sadden to see the Half-Kender given the same treatment. I played a Half-elf for a little bit because even though I was the DM, I thought my group could use a little bit more support. He really didnt do much, just hung around the group lending aid. But I got rid of him when one of my other players moved back here. He had his ears shaved off and everything =p Sometimes I think the main reason anyone really plays half-elves is because of Tanis. Just think, he's probably the role model for half-elves heh. I wonder just how many less people would play one if it wasnt for him.. kind of sucks. I've always taken a liking to mixed breeds in different worlds. I hate to see them just seem like watered down versions of their parents. Wish they were given something unique.
#12 cam_banks Jan 24, 2005 10:39:06	Plenty of people play half-elves, and it isn't just because of Tanis. Half-elves make great characters. I think we all bring our own experiences to these message boards and have our own biases, and in this case one of them is your experience with fewer half-elves (and a party of evil PCs, which just freaks me out, but is clearly no problem for you.) Cheers, Cam
#13 zombiegleemax Jan 24, 2005 20:16:17	I have to admit that before I read DragonLance, I never really considered the consequences of Half-Elvishness. To the point of being of "two racesa nd neither" or such. So when I saw the way it was presented by Tanis, the discrimination he had to live thru, it really, really was eye opening to me. Before that, I did not difernentiate between Elf and Half Elf like that. not to mention the way Half Elves were presented in the Elven Nations trilogy
#14 zombiegleemax Jan 24, 2005 22:25:37	I have two half-elven PCs in my game, one elf and one human. Both of the half-elves are half-Qualinesti, which I think is probably the easiest kind of half-elf to play in DL. I don't think many people take on the difficult background of being a half-Silvanesti which in the AoM is probably going to be more common than it ever was in the previous eras. Being a full elf, yet half-Qualinesti and half-Silvanesti might be an interesting social dynamic to roleplay (possibly more common due to the displacement from the homelands in the AoM as well). TamoraAmberleaf
#15 zombiegleemax Jan 24, 2005 22:52:26	Both of the half-elves are half-Qualinesti, which I think is probably the easiest kind of half-elf to play in DL. I think Tanis HalfElven would disagree with that..... I don't think many people take on the difficult background of being a half-Silvanesti which in the AoM is probably going to be more common than it ever was in the previous eras. Being a full elf, yet half-Qualinesti and half-Silvanesti might be an interesting social dynamic to roleplay (possibly more common due to the displacement from the homelands in the AoM as well). TamoraAmberleaf Well, it depends on when in the past you do it. I can imagine that a Half Elf in Silvanesti AFTER THE KINSLAYER war would be the hardest, though......
#16 darthsylver Jan 25, 2005 8:16:21	Personally with regards to the first post, the one about language, I give the player a choice: they receive the same languages that the race that raised them would get. Hence if raised by HUmans they get common and a regional, if raised by Qualinesti elves they get Elven and Common, Silvanesti raised get Elven (that's it. Silvanesti Half-elves being a rarity as it is anyway), and Kagonesti raised get Elven and Sylvan (no common, the Kagonesti do not normally speak it). Now if someone wants to makes a case for a special reason I am willing to listen to it. For instance if a Half-elf had both parents as Half-elves, or if raised by an elf who lived in a human community I might be willing to let them have common, elven, and a regional language (I do not tell them this but what to see if they raise the issue). I might even be willing to let a half-elf raised by a not common speaking Elven community take common as a starting language if they can give me some good reason behind it. What you need to see is that in the worlds I play language is a huge roleplaying aspect. I even have the Players make up their characters seperately and they must explain to me why they take certain languages. For instance if I have an Qualinesti elf who was raised to be a border guard ranger (on a border shared with Throbardin) and only has 1 bonus language, but wants to take Ergot, he must have a good reason. Most of my games are based more around role-playing and problem-solving then combat so Language becomes a big thing.
#17 zombiegleemax Jan 25, 2005 10:24:56	Two things. First:I have two Half-Elves in my game. Clary is a Knight of the Sword by now(He might be Knight of the Rose by the end of the campaign). He's a good Roleplayer and has been there since the 1st session, unlike every other character. The other one is Thethu(Called that since i can't pronounce OR spell her full name) who is just there to roll the dice and is a Fighter. Not much of a Roleplayer. Second:For me, Half-Elven Knights of Solomnia don't get discriminated against much by the other Knights of Solomnia, given that for the 1st time in their entire history, a Half-Elf is leader of the Knights of Solomnia.(The story is complicated).
#18 clarkvalentine Jan 25, 2005 10:44:26	Do any of you really see people play Half-Elves that much? I played a half-Elf duelist in a long running campaign run by Cam. He was a great character, directly inspired by Cunningham from the film Rob Roy (with less of a cruel streak). He's still my favorite PC of all time.
#19 true_blue Jan 26, 2005 4:26:46	heh the same day I wrote about how I probably won't see a half-elf in my campaign, one of my players came to me and showed me the write-up for his next characters. I always have them have another character ready just in case they die during the adventure. Sometimes I'll add the person in during the night, just so that person isn't sitting there doing absolutely nothing. Found it pretty funny though that right after I wrote in, he told me about his plans for his half-elf character if something should happen to his minotaur. Cam, heh I dont really know why a party of evil PC's would freak you out. Evil people adventure too :D You havent DM'd till you've seen your PC's backstab an NPC, purchase slaves, steal from beggers, want to have their druid shapechange into a horse and resell her every town they go to, etc. Its amazing what people will come up with if you give them literally unlimitless options. I did find it funny that one of my PC's purchased two slaves. One of the PC's took one of the slaves, a dwarf, and was going to free him, but subsequently got killed in her sleep because she went to sleep and left the slave unattended around all her possessions... and weapons. *shrug* it happens. Now I have a player playing a Sivak.. should be interesting what kind of trouble they cause. My players seem to look more at Races for abilities and such than classes. Kind of a little different. Which is why I guess I see more "monster races" if you will. While I do allow a lot, I still try to maintain the "Dragonlance feel" of what I believe it should be. That causes some grumbling... but there really isnt much I ban, besides races I dont think fit and stuff like psionics(although I really like psionics I dont have them in my campaign).. so they cant argue too much. Whats kind of funny is most characters I've ever played have been good. Whenever I play I end up usually playing Chaotic Good. And not the "I'm good but can still do whatever i want" kind of character. Actually pretty Good characters. So who knows.. hey its their game.. let em do whatever they want heh. There's always consequences ;) Two of them are new to D&D anyways and they are always just wanting to go do whatever they want. I'm figuring after a few years of playing this will fade down. But who knows. I'll just have to chill and see. Back on topic though... I've always liked half-elves. As I said before, I like mixed breeds a lot on most campaigns, one of the reasons why I'm such a fan of Dark Sun. I just wish the half-breeds would get some cool abilities that are unique, and not the "watered down" versions of their parents. It never comes out quite right. Tanis and Arilyn Moonblade(sp?) from FR I would say made half-elves popular. But I might feel like that just because they made them popular for me heh I wish Half-elves would have been a little different in Dragonlance, with different abilities or whatever. But I figure WoTC would want to keep them similar to the PHB anyways. Was kind of dissapointed about the Half-Kender. Half-Ogre I think worked out well, so I dont have a problem with that. Wouldnt mind seeing a Half-Irda eventually popping up.