Let's talk elves for a second and no, not hippie forest dwelling Elves. But like what elves used to be, eldritch, dark, alien. I cam up with a concept for a story a while back but I'm trying to find a decent picture of the fair folk. Something that captures their fickle, dangerous alien, savage otherness.
Pic not related as I don't Eldar really match the feel I'm looking fer.
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>oldest race
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Creepy pupil-less eyes, staring emptily, dwellers in overgrown forest caves that skulk in darkness and snatch children.
I had a thread about OG elves not so long ago. It's here if you want to give it a read
Also Fairy Rings
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IRL oldfag here. When me and my friends played Dungeons and Dragons in junior high, there wasn't a single one of us that thought of elves as super cool dudes that were better than you. It was hard to, as by the time our group moved on to Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay there were like ten different kinds of elves, and wherever you went there could reasonably be an elf living there. In addition the existence of half-elves really only reinforces that elves are just humans with pointy ears that live a long time, instead of "eldritch, dark, alien" creatures.
Sorry gramps, but OP is talking about mythological and folktale elves, not D&D elves
What were elves in oldschool D&D?
Creepy Pratchett elves and suchlike?
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They were very powerful kender.
Elves in AD&D (or possibly just basic D&D, been a while) were always just agile, thin people that were flighty and mercurial, considering that they could just switch class between Fighting Man and Magic-User every adventure. We had one guy who would switch every adventure because he thought the rules said that he HAD to.
>But like what elves used to be, eldritch, dark, alien.
Wrong.
When you say 'old', how old are we taking here? 1st edition D&D? There on the ground floor old?
I was born in 66, and I remember my friend that was one year older introduced me to it when I was in 7th grade. I don't remember what edition it was though, just that it had just come out and his dad got it for him.
>I was born in 66
Elfs should be better at everything, also they shouldnt be playable unless in a monster as pc campaign.
Were you or your friends chewed out for playing D&D? There was a big mess early on that the game 'promoted devil worship' and the like, the creators had to retcon and remodel the whole thing for a while
Not really. I lived in Florida, and it wasn't a particularly religious area. One of my friends had to stop playing, but it was because the DM smoked pot instead of anything Satanic.
There's a lot to dig from. You have to look into German or Celtic folklore.
More specifically, only humans could reach past level 10 in a class, other races had to multiclass, and were limited. An elf could be multiclassed between Fighter, Magic user, Thief, and I think Cleric.
Also, it was pretty important to have at least one elf and one dwarf in the party. Back then elves got pretty good abilities at the cost of being unable to get past level 20, such as having a 1/6th chance to passively detect a hidden door or portal, and a 1/3rd chance if actively searching. Not to mention Dark vision, and stealth bonuses if not wearing armor and a certain distance away from other races besides halflings who also got this advantage.
All in all, demihumans were great to have in the party even if they weren't the powerhouses humans were.
Personality wise, it says they're phlegmatic yet more likely to enjoy watching clouds or dance, and like ornate aesthetic things like fine jewelry more than actual wealth.
>eldritch, dark, alien
>eldritch
I swear to god, if I see this term used to describe old elves one more fucking time...
Elves have been a ton of things. The term 'elf' was first used to describe the radiant, beautiful servants of a particular Norse deity. Since then, in different parts of the world, it's been applied to literally thousands of different spirits and supernatural beings, from huldra to faun stand-ins to gods-turned-folk-heroes. I don't think there's a single sort of elf that in mythology that is eldritch in the sense we understand that term today, however, and those of the dark and alien demeanor are by a fair margin the minority. The elves in fact most often said to be this way, those of Gaelic and Old English origin, are in fact some of the most benign in the vast majority of their appearances.
Stop this fucking eldritch elves meme. Or rather, have fun making elves eldritch as fuck, but don't pretend this is somehow how they originally were or are supposed to be.
That said, here, I'll lend a hand.
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>tangling kids' or animals' hair as they sleep
>getting trapped in a shoe some peasant left in a chimney
Yeah, real dangerous spooky stuff.
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tolkien elves or bust faggola
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You mean folktale elves then? Because fantasy elves from their conception in Tolkein's works were never eldritch, dark, or alien.
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I think that's it from me.
But here, have two traumatized elf manchildren fighting an ultimately fruitless battle.