Elves: The Elven Race in 5e Dungeons & Dragons - Web DM

hey there youtubers I'm Pruitt this is Jim Davis and on today's web DM we're gonna be talking about elves so you can tell that one player why he can't play Legolas let's let's start talking about race finally it's talking about the race of elves the public the race of elves elves are one of those player character races that I personally love to hate even though I do find myself playing plenty of elves it's true why do you like playing else then let's start there why do you like what what do you like about elves I like elves because in theory there's sort of these graceful arcane they suggest a certain gravity of character or era or a nobility or a majesty that if I want to impart that on a character I will now I have some elven characters I play out of legacy I do have characters that I then I remade because I like the concept or like like thinking that you know this character is adventured this entire time I just keep revisiting them at different points in their career dropping back every century or so right and so in that respect elves being long-lived allow me to do that I can send some apprehension so other than the other than their starting height requirements how do L fall short in your opinion it's just think that they're both not talking enough right and to Tolkien that's and so like they just that's a fine right that's a fine edge that I think only an elf could crap craft all right so we've got Tolkien elves and I'm for our viewers I don't I'm not a token scholar I don't the lore is it fascinating but I'm not up yeah it's been a while since I brushed up on it but compared to a layman compared to what so like the elves do you know different kinds of elves are are what they are and have the abilities that they have because they traveled a certain distance toward the light of heaven and some of them made the journey across the sea and they dwelt there for a while and then there was the whole thing with the jewels the silmarils and then the civil war that followed that and Melkor and Sauron of course all that elves are tied up in that setting so much and so intimately at 2:00 just pluck them as a concept out of middle-earth and drop them into Greyhawk drop them into Forgotten Realms drop them over here even if it's really blowing dust a mom put another jacket on it no it's their token nuts when you take them out of the context of middle-earth they lose something else in the earth or their tragic they have a kind of sadness to them and grief is a big part of being an elf right they live forever they have to deal with all of the crap that Melkor and Sauron and every all the other forces of darkness have have polluted middle-earth with that weighs heavily on them that's why tokens elves work and it's difficult to replicate that yeah and it's difficult for just diems who are just trying to come up with a with a thing and they're just trying to do their campaign and they're not linguistic scholars with a huge background in history and mythology and the time and ability to write and craft these worlds they just want a game Abul setting in a game world world but then they turn to these tropes and they turn to these characters and it's just like well it just doesn't work as much like let's talk a bit about what it means to put a new spin on elves so what are some of the qualities some of those things that I liked about it was a certain certain majesty to them certain grace suggestions of a nobility of character an affinity for magic an affinity for magic I like both playing up the Fae traits of the elves including maybe like ascribing some traditional fairy characteristics to elves themselves like maybe they can't lie maybe you know if just chooses not to or lying isn't a part of their culture so they're incredibly truthful but at the same time they're also circumspect so that they don't necessarily give away too much juice right perhaps there's sort of elaborate gift-giving rituals in your you know that you you know used to roleplay your elves or sort of like try to differentiate them so drawing on this really maybe make a faux pas right they have a thin do a fini oath because they just have bizarre elaborate rules of etiquette and just playing up the wildness of them so if they're connected to the Fae wild they are fake creatures then there should perhaps be something dangerous about elves even like high elf dignitaries and Nobles there's just be an edge of just like well there they kind of look like people kind of look like humans there are allies but let's never forget that they live for six or seven hundred years that they have mastered magic to the point where the natural order of things no longer has any real meaning for them right for whatever reason we trust that they see us as our allies we trust that they're not secretly controlling things behind the screen we trust that they are you know that their intentions towards you know nobility and justice and order and everything are true but you can never be quite certain with an elf right right because they're just a little too aloof a little too alien so that's kind of one way you can take it play out their alienists maybe have them actually be not just from the Fae Wilder from another dimension so in my home brew setting that I use a lot that's where elves come from they they ruin their world yeah they had a magical civil war and it created Mad Max over there yeah and they some of them fled and arrived in the campaign setting world maybe a hundred thousand of them at best they're like hey we let's hang out here and so elves remain uh they maintain a distance and they don't get involved in human politics that much outside of a an embassy at the imperial court and so the in that respect it's just a little bit different there are some that take it even to a further extreme where elves are really and truly alien till they get into like the villain category they show up in your dimension or you're on your plane and it's just like yeah we really don't care about who any of you people are we're elves and we're gonna take everything over we're gonna take everything off the Roman Empire basically yeah because they can and so I think that running the light of elves spring lies there elf dumb that's sort of one way that you can take and make elves a little bit different play up their alienness you know if you're playing one yourself find out what it is about being an elf that you really like what is it what is that elf quality that you really like and finding maybe a different way or a different take particularly working with your DM to see like what are elves like in your world can I is there a way to make them a little different so like when you're talking about the the elven culture that is that's in this campaign saying that you're cooking up it's like there's some differences student who they are willing to ally themselves with I wanted an elven Kingdom or you they just reside in this one in immense forest but they are inside the human Kingdom right so it worked out but they have worked it out with them like hey there's the border of these woods are ours will allow some passage through yeah via our system of policing zip lines will allow you know Commerce and you know your your rafts and your your barges of goods to go through our land on the river and we will keep them secure but nobody's on but no is it nobody's on right you know you don't get to just pass through our lands when it's good for them and they're fine with that because hey they have the the cushion the buffer of the human Kingdom protecting them from enemies right and they maintain their autonomy so of course there's aloofness yes with a recognition that they have to exist now there's other reasons right for that and why they're secure in that presumably get to uncover if we play yeah I just thought like that's an interesting way you know and that's I think sometimes it all it takes is just that like is there something different enough that presents them like okay elves traditionally you're seen as standoffish and aloof you've decided like there's a good reason for that and here's how it sort of works out and yeah it's sort of thought out and one of the things that I that that I find with elves that always really gets under my skin is that worldwide there's only one type of elf it's good to say no these are just the elves of this one forest right or this one particular elf Kingdom there may be other elves in other parts of the world that have different a different relationship or different type of culture but well monoculture amongst most do my humans were especially elves just gets kind of under my skin well I was gonna let's go on to the different types because depending on the setting or whatever I mean there's there's taught there used to be tons of types of elves they've kind of like if they've just shrunken down into their three and the players into the three so that's one of the things I like about fifth edition they've reined in the different types of elves at one point they were talking about wood elves and wild elves and son elves and moon elves and gray elves and fails and flying elves and see elves and snow elves and just shadow no shadow elves he's just like all over the place and a drow and dark elves and all these other things it's just like all right now we just got three alpha covers a range of different types of elf what elf covers a range of different types of elf drow presumably can cover more than just drow Furman's of Branson but write a whole bunch different kinds of Dark Elves so I think that in that respect kind of collapsing them down mechanically was a good thing right I think that in terms of role-playing potential and and just to offer variety that as much time as a DM is spending on creating vast and varied and complex human civilizations they should spend that much time doing so with the dwarves elves yeah and particularly an erase like elf which is sort of in campaign worlds or ease of once a great elf civilization that's now fallen or that they are swear the the height of magic use there's none of the Archmage's and high magic and the missiles that they can create you owe it to the two year setting to kind of give it some thought maybe come up with three or four different types of high elf it's like a like a noble cast right and even like a you know hasn't cast of Heil sure which hey because it cuz then you know you I mean you could play up like you know racial inequity or that where the nobles are looking at the the peasant house beliefs you're not human at least should I yes you know play up those guys that's how you want to go with it or antagonistic I think so I you know there's some DM z-- who want to play up those tensions certainly if you're playing in a setting that's more like The Witcher as opposed to traditional deity fantasy the tensions between elves dwarves humans halflings they're all gonna run high right but I think just giving it some thought and so to use an example of from Forgotten Realms like there's the elves of silvery moon there's the elves of sort of ever made and at least there's some variation there and and just take a minute to see like okay what what's what are all the different things that I can do with elves what are some maybe there's a couple of human cultures that you thought up that you can take some ideas from there maybe have two less human cultures to make sort of two different elven cultures and just present something that's more than just one single monoculture right right either you're a high off and you're like beauty and poetry and art and magic are your what elf and you're in the woods and you shoot a bow first of all this is one of those things that you can easily farm out to your players yeah if you just don't want to worry about your like are you no good the only elf in the party I don't plan on having a lot of them feature strongly in the campaign you tell me what the society looks like you tell me what the culture looks like yeah what's your hometown what's it like there all right engage with some collaborative set building up with a setting plus that makes it get your players to be a little bit more engaged in the setting feel like they have some input it gets them invested it gets them interested you know it's no longer like the setting is just this ironclad thing that exists independently of the game but it's something that you come together and make as a group during the game session I don't know there's a lot of things about elven society and elven culture that I'm that I'm curious about and I think what does what does an elven peasant look like how do they live in the forest is it like Robin Hood over there and their own sort of primitive tree shacks or is this like a no they sing the trees into the shapes they need and the forest just gives them you know the the fruits and root vegetables and all you know the animals just willingly walk into their snares if they even eat meat yeah I mean there's just yeah they're like how probably vegan bow string I can't I can't have that leg of mutton I'm on a cleanse right now cleanse right now cleanse so yeah those are little little touches like say how the elves live or what happens when you visit them in their forest are ways that the DM in describing those environments can present a truly unique culture or something that's just a little different or the players can work into their background if you like yeah maybe what elf society is like based on who gets to live in the tree and there are some people who get to live way up here in the tree and other people got to stay down here on the ground and why right that's where you were at in the elven tree hierarchy or something or maybe not right it's like a radical egalitarianism amongst the elves and they're like they share everything everything and they just you know they match it it's just really different how close to Native Americans do you go yeah how living with the land and on the land I mean it's a good basis it's kind of yeah if you are of course you want to be a little sensitive to it you want to make sure you're not you know just like blatantly ripping off stuff but you're inspired by something yeah yeah I want to live and not waste anything and you know concept you know indigenous cultures or Native American cultures is a good is a good starting point for that I can see using like Celtic cultures as well they were sort of like themes that come out that I think would be fun for the elves particularly like their connection with druids banding droids feature prominently amongst say wood Elvin such the civilizations those are things that I might drawn inspiration from just to see like I want something different or I want to be inspired by something a real-world example like Mongolian horse culture yeah maybe we've got a Mongolian horse culture helps in terms of D&D settings my the most interesting elves I can think of the ones that I like the most are ever on and this is probably no surprise to our viewers by now like every I love every one it's one of my favorite settings but the ancestor worshiping necromancy using you don't really get to die because we're gonna bring you back as some sort of undead elves are a really interesting way of sort of interpreting how they would view their long life why they might be like yeah we got we might have really long lines that's a lot of knowledge to just let go and you know we should keep this around and then those elves who sort of take have a different take on ancestor worship it's like we have to emulate the deeds of our ancestors and like actually the act of invading this country is honoring their memory of a battle so long ago so both things sort of play off the longevity of elves and it's the ultimate high school high school football gonna live the glory of your dad right let's talk about the drow okay and what elves and how do you drow like how drow how to travel because of the dress novels yes as a dress that's kind of ease the elephant in the room it's it is healthful an elf oh no that's just not there's this idea that you know draw elves are just evil and twisted and if you want to play a drought that's not you're gonna have to have some kind of how you not become just emo drought yeah yeah yeah I really like drought and I'm not such a fan of the dress but I have I do like that the drow and I like you know Salvatore's contribution to drow culture in terms of D&D lore I like the drow from you know the queen of the demon whip it sort of module or it's like this is the first time the party or anyone else for that matter is encountering these creatures and then you get to their city deep under the earth and you can engage in sort of the political backstabbing of it and so I guess there's some of that with mins of Branson and all that you know take the drought from Grayhawk you transport them into the Underdark of Forgotten Realms course there is an under dark and great on earth I just like it there's something about the civilization and the culture they make good foils to make good enemies I don't see them as all of them irredeemably nasty evil it's like they're under the yoke of this demon goddess who keeps them at each other's throats who promotes the most ruthless amongst them who says everyone else out there hates you yeah it's just you you almost have a there's a part of me that like reads about the drought I go man they're really got the raw end of the stick it's like this one demon goddess has a beef with her crazy androgynous boyfriend over here and he kicks her out and now she's a giant spider and then she's gonna like corrupt the rest of her people with her and so there's a certain tragedy to drow that I like I like playing up the edge cases of them are there drow who were born and just hate the whole thing they never buy into the cruelty and deception and backstabbing and dominance that's in drought society and they go as soon as they can they make a break for yeah so but they're probably not gonna get away without any scars though they're certainly true psychological society you play them and not be emo right I don't know you can not be smoky about it if you know your drought can not be mopey III played a drought who was suspicious of everything I trusted no one other than people who he'd sort of like shed blood with and and he'd learned to trust through their deeds the party aka the party right deferential the female authority right even he was just like a barmaid or whatever you know he just it's an automatic instinct for him and differential the priestly authority and so you almost he would never argue with a priest who usually I'm sure will do that you know but he also sleeps in an anti-magic shell because it's the only place he feels truly safe he you know he he routinely uses disguise self to make sure that no one quite knows where he is on the ship he covers themselves and himself in the amulets of proof against detection location rings mind shielding and distal smack or I mean he's suspicious to the extreme because he grew up in a society and when I and the drought from that particular world apparently weren't even as bad as been to Branson they just you know he no not really they were just there I just saw them as like kind of ruthless ruthless capitalists info brokers right like information is power everybody can get any information you need right and will do and we don't really have any scruples about how we do that it's not really murderous or whatever they'll just they'll do what needs to be done to get the job done yeah so I think if you're gonna play a drow again for him that translated into extreme suspicions yeah I think if you're gonna play a drow and you don't necessarily want to be you know emo drow find a way find a way that you can roleplay out what you see as your drowse the pain that they clearly must feel what have you played a female drought for Menza Branson who escaped and she'd gone through some of the priesthood of wolf she was rejected for some reason set to be turned to add Rider and she like booked it out of there yeah like with the help of some you know clerics of Ellis try she makes it to the surface now she's like she's grown up in a society that's told her she is at the pinnacle of it that everyone and everything that she talks to them must obey her used to using violence to get her way hey but all of that's like she'd like to leave that behind but when things get tense maisha slips back in the old role and whip comes out yeah and on borders start being barked then after it's like hey so daring that fight you were really laying it big yeah just FYI yeah yeah it is a it is a comfortable yes it back on I'm so sorry I didn't mean I mean totally lawful on you yeah yeah you know I don't know what if you play to drow like look at some of the other drought dots and and see see if there's inspiration there you don't have to be evil you don't have to be cruel and even if you are evil or cruel you know for the sake of party cohesion you probably should not inflict that on your Pelt fellow players oh it's you know yeah but I like the idea of a murderous cutthroat demonically influenced Society that's the only place it could be as deep underground cut off from everyone else where they're constantly told the world hates you the world hates you you have to be strong the world hates you yeah kind of like North Korea right and then they get out of there well of course most people do hate drought because they kidnap you in the middle of the night drag you underground and do the kinds of nasty things to you but you know eventually maybe somebody will trust you or get get off that planet and go travel the stars as a drought well it's a sunlight you know you can avoid the Sun light sensitivity let's wrap up with some some archetypes and some ways to play against archetype yes so what are our standard archetypes relish so that mean the two that spring to mind to me our blade singer and ranger like the top two to me and that that's sort of the like high mage I would say that's probably Archmage probably high mage yep definitely and so I mean there's so there's a lot of concepts that I think fit elves very well and in that respect I find the elf a very versatile race which is why I make so many of them because in my mind when I'm thinking of a character concept I'm like okay well it's it's a bard of some kind and then in my mind goes wouldn't it be cool if it was an elven bard or something like that so I think the top one's for me blade singer the the blending of magic and fighting as a law among snails has a long pedigree in D&D going back to the original version of the game they were able to sort of switch between the two classes on a per session basis through the first editions of the game the elves are able to wear certain armors and use certain weapons that are unavailable the human magic users and so there's always been this connection between the blending of the arcane and the fighting arts amongst elves and that's why I'd probably pick it as my top archetype for the elf Rangers just you know there's what's more classic than a you know an elven Ranger would elven Ranger that stalks the edges of the forest hunting down the the threats to his village and you know in the that he calls home but then the Archmage you know an Archmage who's perfected the art of magic over her many long centuries and you know is steeped in it and knows every spell that there could possibly be right judiciously uses her power wisely and so those are kind of top three right Elvin druid there's a lot going on there a lot of good a lot of good conceptual space to mind in terms of maybe a different take maybe if you're human druids are wild and animalistic and embrace the wild side of their their connection to nature that the elves are more like well they care more about the forest than they do the tree any one individual part of this whole system is they care about the whole thing right and they can live long enough to tend to the whole thing right so whereas human druids might be more concerned about that particular herd of the animals or that particular Wolf Pack or whatever that particular grove of trees that's gonna be cut down the elf is like well as long as the forest is tended what matters at the individual part and then of course there's a drow assassin you know the ninja come on what's not to like yeah and get out don't get seen get in get out doing it scene you know there's a lot of different ways to take that mechanically whether you go rogue whether you go mom mix it some warlock for some medium vocations conceptually it's it plays to their strengths and sort of like been sort of reinforces an archetype amongst the drow of course you could go complete 180 and what if you have a drow bard who just you know they just got to sing it out you know maybe maybe I don't know maybe you say like yes Jim I do want to play an emo drow yeah I'm gonna play that emo drow up to the limit yeah you're just like let me let you feel my feels yeah so that would be an awesome concept as well okay so but how would you go against archetype and to make an interesting Elvin character what springs to mind springing to my for like surface elves I think probably it's a it's between barbarian paladin and monk I can think of elven concepts for those three and that play to you played two of those in a minute but yeah like so our elven barbarian is that like what's going on with the elven barbarian an elven monk is I'm sure their elven monasteries where they trained and and physical perfection is just as important as magical perfection I mean how could it be to learn kung fu from someone who like invented it right I mean for 600 years in this this you know style has been passed I'm imagining now having having recently seen Doctor Strange where it seems like there is a first off you having if you haven't seen Doctor Strange this is like D&D magic it's like flashy and they're moving and they've got to say these things it's all these implements that they have to use to use the magic so first off duck strange great for Dini magic I mean I'm thinking like that where they're all like doing their Coty's and their forms and at their monastery well at the same time the way that they move their butt like that they we've semantic components into their kung fu moves I don't know maybe that's your way of the four elements and you've got that's how you see you know a way of the four elements high elf preferably for them we have the four elements still conceptually I would use it and I probably still play the the class out of the PHP just to just because the concept is interesting you've got two characters he said you have an elven barbarian monk my very first third edition character was a was a wood elf or wild elf the camera which one was back that or barbarian his whole thing was he was doing his rite of passage to become a man ah as they worship the Eagles and he climbs up to the thing just supposed to leave a gift and he like I was just gonna do a thing where he just just [ __ ] up just like fell broke an egg this eagle like attacked him and knocked him like you know he lived but like all of his villages are watching him get attacked and rejected by the that they Revere the most yes oh he's an exile they exiled around me he has no honor in this world and all he can do is seek a righteous death like all you can do is say right he's got a seek of glorious debt is redeeming himself yes whenever our our Dragonslayer friend when we interacted with the new true neutral red dragon in a world to save it he was like let's go kill that dress go kill that guy cuz he's seeking an honorable that he's seeking I didn't even have to be honorable ahead to be glorious glorious death in his head he's like red dragon that would be a glorious death sure thing yeah I forgot if he made it past the simulacrum or he fought the actual red dragon she one of the ones that made it past the Dragon Slayer did not make it to the actual truth the Dragon Slayer was amazed right there was I mixed I can't remember if it was me or the Dragon Slayer the guy no he was killed the dragon dragon slayer the dragon killed the drugs he probably amazed you no no he maze me and then bit me in half yeah I remember that so I was actually like kind of just like die fighting I've died in a haze of like mental anguish because I'm a [ __ ] barbarian so you know it's whatever but I role played him how would in my head I'm like we could go this dragon that was a hell of a campaign yeah talking about that's how you TPK do the worst thing prosody BK but and then of course I've talked about Solaris shadow fall my elven monk oh yeah it's just to me it's again I already already said it they just live so long it's like why wouldn't they perfect rattle fighting turning their bodies into weapons absolutely I just don't imagine elves are fanatical about much or if they are fanatical it's like they take it to the next level I don't you know I mean so in that respect I see elves as being more extreme than humans given their responses to things and their reactions to things so like they try to maintain this sort of calm mellow balance because if they get out of whack it's like way over here right right an elf that goes off the deep end it's like we got to get out we got to leave the continent yeah nuke the site from orbit because they have gone off the deep end it's the only way to be sure so so an elven paladin is one of those where I mean obviously paladin of ancients lends itself well to sort of wood and guardians of nature things like that but like what would an elf devotion look like are they dedicated to some sort of principles of core ally and Lear tone or whatever probably pronounce his name the big elf God larathen Baratheon I don't know he's a jerk by the way there's nothing wrong this is the problem with elves right like the problem with elves is that they're just jerks and like all of their gods are like yeah we took the forest for ourselves and the rivers we got the oceans and full large can't have it we took all the magic you guys don't need any yeah there's a screw you guys and he's like plucks out gross his eye it's just like they're just jerks but how do we know that they don't control everything the but it would it be the elf Illuminati or the Illuminati lol flop yeah well I just it's so I don't know you know that's that's where I go with it I I think that yes the High Elves do control everything they live for hundreds of years how could they not control every yeah that's rather not worry that's why they're not worried that's why their net that's why they're always just like it's all right like yeah these people come and go like we'll be here for the next five hundred years like this L this human Kingdom we give it two hundred years yeah what do we care what it does come on the last minute lasted 150 right so I that's just kind of I think that that playing up there arrogant superiority first off and especially if they're gonna be antagonists is gonna drive your players up a wall yeah and if you're a player you'd be careful with that you know be careful with the arrogance and superiority maybe you're still a young elf you could lead to some some good monologuing with Jerry it's the PC you don't want to do that no don't be like don't don't don't be like over it hope you like you have the moment if you have the moment just kill it just kill him make your speech afterwards yeah what's his head in your hands [Music] no sir I don't like it don't like it one bit mr. horse Morty what are you doing seriously all I want is Willem Dafoe and Michael Cera to do an ad for Rick and Morty that's it just do an ad hey there they're going through portals they go to a cart they go to but world they go into a but and then it's Michael Cera and Willem Dafoe step out what is this three dimensions for you just don't think about anyway you've never had depth Morty anyway speaking of lacking depth speaking a lot lack lapping depth laughing it up in depth lacking depths soldiers shoulders all right I'm ready all right let's do this

Channel: Web DM

Views: 261,308

Keywords: Dungeons, Dragons, Role, Playing, Tabletop, Game, 5th, Edition, Elf, Elves, D&D, web dm, webdm, dungeons and dragons, rpg, wizards of the coast, dnd, dungeon master, tips, new character, character, players handbook

Id: a3db_h3NMQw

Length: 31min 30sec (1890 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 30 2017

Reddit Comments

[u/Pocket_Dave]

/u/jpruinc is a heartthrob.

[u/dmsyril]

Absolutely love these guys

[u/shabadabadabada]

These two have such a good chemistry. I may not agree with everything they say all the time, but I could watch them all day.

[u/dndwiz]

You guys always have top notch content with great production value. Since I started playing to today, you guys have always given great insight. Now, I have some more inspiration to bring to my elven characters.

Keep up the great work and thank you! -DndWiZ

[u/TwittMasterJosh]

The boys are pretty charming in person, too. Sometimes I break out in a sweat

[u/BigSpoon223]

Man, a great video. Definitely gonna start seeding rumours of shadowy elven cabals that are behind everything. It'll be a great thread to tie into my civil war plot.

[u/Brother0fSithis]

I always have issues with elves because I don't want them to just be pointy-eared humans. But, I'm never creative enough to make them sufficiently weird and alien to my taste.

[u/AGuyInJersey]

Elves in my DnD world are just cruel high elven jerks that are prim and proper and try to control everything. The only thing that would stop them is that they are small in number (Why procreate if you will never die?)and they do not like getting their hands dirty. My first villain was high elf as a puppet master indirectly antagonizing the party.

I love dis YouTube channel. Hard to top the building a mystery intro but I am waiting for it.

[u/Cat1832]

Loved the video! I'm new to your channel but I've been binge-watching the Monsters and the liveplay stuff. My first D&D character was an elf swashbuckler, back in 3.5e, and she had a Dex of 22. The dice were smiling on me that day. She tore everything up thanks to that "swap your Dex score for your Str score in combat" quirk of swashbucklers, and her ridiculously high Dex made it fun to use Tumble as evasive action in combat. I miss playing her.