drunkonduty

This. So much this.
 
I am sorry if this comes off as sharp, but... The initial question -- What can you do with elves, dwarves, and other D&D-ish multiple races, that hasn't been done to death -- is the wrong question.
 
The correct question is: If you are not, in fact, playing D&D, why are you making everything just like D&D?
 
As I have said before, I quite like 5th ed D&D. I find the rules, well, adequate for doing what they are supposed to do. Embedded setting elements that I don't like I find easy to alter or remove. (Like, my game has a completely different set of other planes -- which is a possibility the 5e books themselves suggest.)
 
But I don't imagine that because D&D did something a particular way, any other Fantasy game must follow its lead.
 
As has been noted here, folklore, myth and Fantasy fiction have portrayed many different versions of faerie-folk whom we might fairly describe as "elves." Other games have, too.
 
Take Exalted, for instance. In Exalted, the "Fair Folk" -- also called raksha -- generally follow the familiar pattern of beautiful, pointy-eared humanoids. Though they don't have to. But they are creatures of primordial Chaos that have taken a semblance of form in order to enter the world and destroy it from the inside. They eat souls. They are masks without faces behind them, playing at being people, but not. Part of their survival and predation method is to play roles, and beguile mortals into playing along. As the emotional interaction gets more intense, the raksha feeds, untio the mortal is left an empty, mindless, soulless husk.
 
And this version of elves has jumped from game to Fantasy fiction. Genevieve Cogman, who as a game writer did much to develop Exalted's Fair Folk, now writes a Fantasy fiction series starting with The Invisible Library. I've started that first book, and am amused to see that her faieries follow the Exalted model.
 
"The forms and themes of poetry do not become outworn or exhausted. The exhaustion is in the individual poets." -- Clark Ashton Smith. One could say the same about the tropes of myth. It's only the particular executions that become cliche. Dig down into the raw ore of myth, and you can forge a new version.
 
Dean Shomshak

So, I apologize if this is obvious nd has already been said repeatedly:
 
Like any other perplexing perennial dysfunction endemic to our hobby, It's all D&D's fault.
 
The vast majority of us come to the hobby through D&D, and it forms our expectations for good or ill.
Tolkienesque Elves are just another annoying part of that.
 
And, if you just can't stand that or anything else about D&D, you probably just walked away from the hobby after a session.

"Today is my 1111th Birthday!"-Bilbolas Bagleaf
 
 

Well, In Gygax's defense.... D&D (Or at least AD&D) did eventually come up with other sub races of elves even back when Greyhawk was king of the settings:  Grugach, Valley Elves, those pesky drow just to name a few.
 
Ironically, there are now SO many sub races of elves in this or that setting that I've actually heard some joke about it. Arctic setting? We got Snow or Frost elves. Jungle Elves? We got them too. Winged elves? Yup. Desert Elves? YES. Dessert Elves? Probably working with the keeblers
 
 

Actually I see Island Elves kinda claming the "sea elf" moniker, cause they would be a fishing society which bends their lives and magic into fishing and sea plants. Again "high elf" and "wood elf" subcategories for what is basically a fishing community. 
 

Well, I do sorta give my elves "subraces" in that there are different ethnic groups with distinct appearances, they tend to live in different regions, and one template tends to predominate -- but the "subrace" templates represent early interest and training. So, the pale Taishomanae live in the coastal mountain ranges of this particular part of the world, and they are big on studying magic so most of them become "high elves." (They like the term. Other folk often prefer to call them "mountain elves," but the whole "high elf" term comes from Taishomanae living at high altitudes.) The copper-skinned, dark-haired Rhovistae live in small forest kingdoms such as Fracasta, Lyrnais, Tegyria and Zyrrhene; they are trained early in woodcraft, and so other folk often call them "wood elves." But a young Rhovist who's interested in magic might become a "high elf," and a Taishoman who practices woodcraft can become a "wood elf." (And since the famous Rhovistae elf mage Treon, last surviving hero of Panopticon's War, became ruler of Tegyria, magic has become prestigious and quite a few young Tegyrians are becoming high elves.)
 
The desert-dwelling Usmantae also tend to become high elves, for they are nearly as arcane and even more reclusive than the Taishomanae; but while the Mountain Elves are haughty, the Desert Elves are full of cryptic maxims and significant silences. The jungle-dwelling Chulangkorae tend to be wood elves, for fairly obvious reasons.
 
The Drow, of course, are mythical and so not an issue. But if there were actually Dark Elves whom I claimed were mythical in order that their appearance come as something close to a surprise, any young elf raised in the equally mythical Underdark could become a Dark Elf, and a young Drow raised anywhere else could become a high elf or wood elf.
 
All very tidy, and then WotC published official Sea Elves. <Grit teeth, ponder.> Okay, the Shelansae and Assushtae are overwhelmingly likely to "breed true" as sea elves because they flipping live underwater and so young elves don't have much choice but to bend their magic in that direction. But if they didn't...
 
Oh, and in the multi-species Plenary Empire where the campaign is set, some elves now live in cities among other folk and have less cultural reason to follow any of the established paths. This results in a new template, Street Elves, who resemble Wood Elves but are attuned to the urban environment the way Wood Elves are attuned to forests.
 
There seem to be several dialects of "Elvish," but this is not strictly true. Elvish is a complex language with several grammatical modes optimized for various purposes and classified by environment: Mountain Mode is precise, analytical, and well suited for both law and wizardry. Forest Mode is exuberant, expressive, and well suited for emotion and vivid description of the natural world. (Yes, I'm inspired by Jack Vance's The Languages of Pao.)  And so on for Desert Mode, Prairie Mode, Swamp Mode, Shore/Ocean Mode, and Cavern Mode.The full subtleties can take decades to master, and other folk rarely manage to do so. Well, one must make allowances.
 
Dean Shomshak

Here's the abstract for the campaign I described above, in case anybody is interested.
 
"In 2022, the shining metropolis of Millennium City stands as a beacon of determination, resilience and the power of community. Thirty years ago, the city of Detroit, Michigan stood in that same spot. But old Detroit was destroyed in the titanic clash between the most powerful supervillain who ever lived, the aptly named Doctor Destroyer, and the virtual army of heroes who stood against him. 
 
Today, Millennium City is the most technologically advanced - and many would say, most enlightened - city on Earth. It is also at the center for the superhuman community and the headquarters of many of the world's most important corporations and organizations. Millennium City is the proverbial phoenix, risen from the ashes. 
 
But that's not your city. Your city is the aged, gasping old hound that was put to sleep by the Battle of Detroit. Your city is the Detroit that grew up at the crossroads of ancient trails and far-reaching waterways, at the heart of the land that would someday be called North America. She grew up fighting for scraps as ancient peoples and mighty empires fought over her. She's been taken by one power after another for centuries, and she's been used hard until she's been all but used up.
 
Nobody's fighting over her anymore. The Arsenal of Democracy and the roaring engine of the US automobile industry is sputtering, on its last fumes. The rich and powerful climb over the less fortunate on their way out of the pit that they've dug.
But that pit is your Detroit.
 
It's the beginning of 1988 and it's the beginning of the end for Detroit. If nobody else is going to fight for this hollowed-out city of the desperate and the scavengers who feed on them, you will."

The Praetor is... impressive. Good luck to your heroes.

In our exciting 13th episode -->
 
The team discussed whether they should regroup and how they should deal with the Mars base - eventually deciding they needed to deal with them now, to reduce the possible deaths in the mission the bad guys were about to intercept.
 
Solar and Capt. Force waited until the D-Soldiers left to attack; then, Solar desolidified and inviso'd them both, and then snuck into the base.
 
When they were ready, Capt. Force attacked the console with his band, turning it into Styrofoam.  Then Solar dropped a massive STUN only blast into the mentalist alien, knocking him out.
 
Capt. Force then stepped up and challenged Outrider; throwing a big punch.  Outriders armor reacted by putting a helmet on him (making him look like a massive Juggernaut {slitch}!), and he was able to withstand Capt. Force's first shot.
 
As the fight started, a speedster zoomed into the room and started running around the parameter, creating an area of effect entangle (whirlwind).
 
Solar, trapped in the entangle, used her bands to turn the air in the path of the speedster into Aerogel, slowing him to a stop...  She then pulled all the oxygen out of him, knocking him unconscious (NND attack).
 
Also entering the room, was a desolidified mentalist (one of my favorite bad guys types).  But, Solar created a desolidified affecting STUN only blast from her VPP, and knocked him out too.
 
Meanwhile, Outrider had thrown a couple punches at Capt. Force, but missed; while Capt. Force had landed a couple more, continuing to whittle him down...
 
Solar used telepathy to warn the Men in Black team on earth, so they could defend themselves against the D-Soldiers.
 
Finally, Solar turned visible just in front of Outrider as she flew at him, saying "Heeeeeere's Johnny!" and landed a super heavy punch, which didn't knock him out by itself, but when Outrider flew into the wall, the knockback rendered him unconscious.
 
And with that, the crew was finally defeated!
 
In our upcoming final episode, the team will take the final battle to the Empress' massive space-shipyard, the Star Forge - where they will finally face, THE PRAETOR!!!
 

I can't wait to see them fight the final fight against The Praetor!
 
To say Gladiator (Praetor in my game) is Marvel’s superman, is underrated…  From Wiki:
 
Gladiator's name, Kallark, is a combination of Superman's Kryptonian and human names: Kal-El and Clark Kent.
 
Powers and abilities
Gladiator possesses a number of superhuman capabilities as a result of his unique alien physiology including superhuman strength (capable of shattering a planet, ripping apart a black hole, and holding off the Destroyer armor), superhuman speed, stamina and durability (capable of withstanding the heat emitted from the Phoenix Force, a blast comparable to the full power of Odin, direct attacks from Thor and Mjolnir, point blank planetary explosions, and an explosion equivalent to a supernova), reflexes, microscopic and telescopic vision, X-ray vision, heat vision (stated as "hotter than a star"); super-breath, "frost breath", super-hearing (capable of hearing sounds from light years away in space), a regenerative healing factor, psionic resistance (capable of withstanding mental attacks from telepaths to a certain degree), and warp speed flight (measured as "a hundred times the speed of light", and shown moving across galaxies before Heimdall could blink). Gladiator's abilities increase and decrease in accordance with his level of confidence and he is vulnerable to a certain form of rare radiation. Gladiator also has advanced longevity, having survived for centuries with very little aging.
 
His character sheet is attached...
 

Praetor.pdf

In our amazing 12th episode -->
 
THE WAR HAS BEGUN!
 
The marshal called Solar and told her, though she "didn't hear it from him", that an Empress Strike Group is racing to Sol Sector, to decimate the sector's fleet, before the hero's can intervene.
 
The team rushes to Empress space, so that Solar can experience the drive signatures of one of their Strike Groups.  With that, the team use the bands to augment her Detect power, so she can determine where the Strike Group on it's way so Sol is.
 
Once they determine where it is in hyperspace, they race to get in front of it - then, using all the bands, they create a gravity well to force them out of hyperspace.
 
The Strike Group is made up of the following (all with their OCV and DCV at +10):
 
1x - IVV (Imperial V’hanian Vessel) Heavy War Ship; The Vae Victus 1x - IVV War Cruiser; The Fidelis 1x - IVV Carrier Cruiser; The Dies Irae 30x - Fighters 3x - IVV Escorts; The Fata The battle begins by the team splitting up; Solar and Wuxing focus on the Vae Victus, while Capt. Force and The Aqua Man tie up the rest.
 
Solar is first - using her band she turns the air in the top two floors of the command tower into chlorine, effectively knocking out C&C (Command and Control).  On her second round, she turns the air into Nitrous Oxide, so the enemy crew wont die, but will remain unconscious.  We discussed that some of the aliens may not be susceptible to either or both gases, but the chaos would be enough to cause the same effect.
 
Wuxing turns himself into an energy being (desolidified) and flies into the ship - there he finds the largest power source, and turns the energy off; in his next round he shuts down the second power source - effectively shutting down the ship.
 
Meanwhile, the Fata all got missile shots off on the other two heroes, but it did little damage to them (some stun).   And The Aqua Man used his bands to turn all the liquid in one of the Fata into Nitro Glycerin - so when the ship attempted to fire, it actually blew itself up!
 
Capt. Force used his band to expand the bay doors of the Fidelis, so they could not open, so the fighters could not launch.
 
Eventually Solar joined the team and turned all gases used in all the super lasers into oxygen, disabling all the lasers.  While Capt. Force, flying along the surface of the Fidelis to prevent other ships from targeting him, moved around to the back of the ship - then using his band, grew to 640 feet tall, and simply crushed the engines in the back of the ship!
 
The Aqua Man did his Nitro trick on the last of the Fata, which blew itself up, and the fleet was defeated!
 
The heroes allowed the crews to abandon ship, then the destroyed all the ships.  They then transported the shortrange lifeboats to Somewhere, where the crews would have to buy their way back to the Empress' territory.
 
As the team was enjoying their victory, Col. Rage contacted them and asked that they come home immediately - there was an issue.
 
The team teleported home, where Col. Rage explained that they had a problem; either their communication had been cracked (which Silvercloud insisted was impossible), or they had a mole!  Every major operation had been countered by an elite squad of D-Soldiers, and they always seemed to know where to strike to do the most damage.
 
The team reviewed various possibilities, but couldn't determine definitively if it was compromised communication or a mole.  Eventually, their investigation led them to Mars.
 
There, Capt. Force and Solar did a recon, and found a base the D-Soldiers were operating out of, and to their surprise, they found out how the Empress' team was planning their attacks so effectively.  They had a super-powerful alien mentalist, who was reading the minds of Col. Rage and his teams, allowing the D-Soldiers to always have the tactical advantage - but, that wasn't all; as they watched, the villain Outrider was leading the team, but he had been augmented since they last saw him, with huge, tech gauntlets, boots and a belt.  Additionally, they brought up on a huge screen, their commander, who they referred to as, the Praetor!  (Gladiator from Marvel.)
 
In our next episode, we will pick up with the heroes having to deal with the Martian base and Empress' team.  Then, the final battle will ensue, with the Praetor himself!
 
AND THAT is where our exciting episode ended!
 
 

Liking the replies so far.
 
I suppose I should add one of my own, but this shouldn't be taken as an indication of what I am looking for. It's based on an old character of mine from from a sadly short lived game, way back in the 80s, with some more recent frills.
 
Runcible Teach is an astrologer and soothsayer. He also works as a tutor to the children, mainly sons, of the gentry. A gifted mathematician, he also had a brief military career as an architect and Master Gunner.
 
A philosopher and scholar, he rarely uses flashy magic, aside from making disturbingly accurate predictions of the future.
 
This has led to him being accused of being a charlatan. But on those rare occasions when push has come to shove...
 
One of his more distinctive possessions is a rather strange looking hat. If he is pressed,he will mutter something about flying monkeys from the Moon, which tends to cause people to doubt his sanity 

What sort of magic level are you looking at?  That would help narrow down what information or suggestions would potentially be useful to you.  Lord knows my wizards aren't going to help you at all! 
 
It's funny- and thanks for this thread, by the way-- but until I read the responses, I thought I was the only one who did this.       I don't play "magic users" very often, and when I do, they tend to be druidic, shamanistic / totemic, hoodo / sympathetic or the rare clerical types of magic.
 
My wizards have always-- and I mean _always_-- been one-hundred-percent frauds.        Thanks, guys!  It's wonderful to be part of such excellent company.   
 
Now this that said, and without any idea of just what you're looking for magic-wise or even what might be allowable within the campaign, I will offer a few lines about my typical wizard, starting with a preface:
 
About the only time I play a self-proclaimed wizard is in low-magic settings where magic has a fierce reputation, and it _does exist_ in some form or other, but the idea of a single powerful sorcerer is more myth than reality, though everyone has heard the legends of and seen the left-overs of the handiwork of X, the sorcerer or the Wizard Y, who strode these lands for a thousand years before disappearing not a hundred years ago, blah-blah-blah.....  TL; DR: everyone believes that they exist, and are incredibly powerful; everyone has heard of one, but no one has actually _seen_ one.  They might even know a guy who knew a guy who saw one, but they haven't seen one themselves.
 
Wizards are incredibly rare, and almost one-hundred-percent of them are con men and grifters with phenomenal skills of oration, persuasion, and their incredible acting talents.  They tend to have high Presence (augmented by their other skills, of course), and even an extra die or two of Presence Attack (if that's something your group does).
 
They are extremely learned and knowledgeable-- while they may not have much formal education, they have all sought to learn as much as is possible about what the world-of-the-setting understands about science, and physics in particular.  This helps them immensely with their other, most necessary skills: Sleight of Hand and Stage Magic.  If possible, they even have a bit of skills at pyrotechnics.  They have vast knowledge of-- well, probably not actual magic or manipulating the forces from which the universe is made, but of what people believe such magic to be.  They have memorized a thousand (useless, but well-known to those who "know such things") spells and curses and phrases and terms to give even the Gods pause about the true nature of the mortal and immortal realms, and often even the king's own most learned men pale in knowledge next to a ...  >ahem<  'wizard,' and they will understand that the wizard knows this, as he can see through them.
 
Wizards They carry themselves with the grim seriousness of Diogenes himself, as if the whole of the future rests upon them and their decisions, and appear to always be greatly concerned about matters so far above the understanding of mere mortals that even the thought of accidentally interrupting their thoughts appears... unsafe.  but all of this--
 
It's all part of their armor.  It's part of selling themselves, and selling the con.  The opportunity to be near one so wise and learned is usually worth a meal or three, perhaps even lodging.  Watching him summon lightning (flash paper) to create a bird from thin air--   such a miracle!  And the off-handed way in which he does it, as if he can take no joy, and perhaps regrets whatever damage he has done to the fabric of the world for this incredible feat....
 
They are masters of philosophy, such as is possible in the world at hand, and will work any questions about magic into a long journey to discover the absolute truths of the universe, always with cautions that such thoughts and such actions should not be pursued, "for I was once as you, a thousand years ago, and as I wended my way through the words behind the creation of the gods and dined on knowledge from beyond the stars in the heavens, I found that each tiny burning mote of pure sorcerous ability cost just the tiniest bit of my happiness; my joy...  until there was nothing left but the quest for more and more absolute power, and in the end, even my soul was no hard price to pay for the power in my body, and the knowledge in my mind..   Away, you!  Away, I say, from such pursuits, lest the gods mark black against you, as they have done for me, and leave you to wander the earth forever, unwilling champion of their ten-thousand causes...."
 
And words to that effect. 
 
Again, they are gifted at sleight of hand and stage magic in a way that no modern magician could dare to dream, and are always absolutely prepared to perform instant miracles, as if on accident, unthinkingly.
 
They are also extremely resourceful, and adept at coming up with plans and schemes on the fly: there's more than one reason they like studying physics, tactics, philosophy, and whatever passes for psychology in the setting.  A well-timed strike with the butt of a walking stick to dislodge a keystone in a stone arch bridge-- while igniting a tiny bit of paper and pumping his arms and elbows in tight to himself, sending a puff of air through his cloak that momentarily ruffles his hair in a windless cave all while chanting the Ancient curses "Get off this path!"-- leads to the collapse of a bridge, across which a mighty enemy strode....
 
and it was _magic_! 
 
 
 
I have absolutely no idea if that helps or not, but man does it feel good to know I'm not as horrible a person as my fantasy GM thinks I am.  Or at least, I'm not the only guy in the club. 
 
 
 
 

I always default to con artist.
 
My wizard is a con artist. Most of his spells help him in some way of being able to accomplish pulling of the con and make people trust him. He's more into the spirit of pulling off the con rather than necessarily making money off of the con. He deeply wants to be popular and to leave each and every mark liking him at the end (rather than being out for his blood).
 
Young, healthy, charismatic (but in more of a subtle manner than a televangelist manner). Some combination of Acting, Charm, Conversation, multiple languages if that's needed to interact with NPC's in the campaign area, Persuasion.
 
A small Transform as a mending and repair (or breaking) spell which can be used on clothing, houses, and carts or just to keep himself looking nice. Or which save his marks enough time and effort to gain their gratitude. Or to break something so he can later repair it in order to gain gratitude. He uses this very liberally to help people because it always helps to have friends.
 
A reliable offensive spell. Probably fire based so it can be used for starting campfires.
 
Some Mental Illusions.
 
An Aid spell with variable result, usable on others. Gives him a way to assist his comrades or make his horse/cart move faster.
 
A ranged shielding spell usable on others, something more flashy than Aid if there's still points available for it. I've preferred something like Force Walls in the past but if magic is frowned upon or feared, it'd be more likely to be a boost to PD or ED.
 
If there's something campaign-specific, perhaps a spell to deal with that. Like a desert campaign would leave him needing a spell to create water and another to dissipate heat. 
 
Other than that, it's all interacting favorably with NPC's and trying to amuse his traveling companions.
 
He doesn't see himself as a nice person even when he's actually being a nice person. He sees himself as conning people into thinking he's a nice person. If he mends someone's clothing and they offer him a drink of wine, he's sees that as "I conned someone into giving me a drink of wine".
 
He wants to be remembered and to develop a favorable reputation.

Don't forget the Tuatha de Danaan got their butts kicked by humans, which is why they literally went underground.
 
I just bought this book from DriveThruRPG. It details different types of elves, dwarves, and goblins. It's completely system neutral (no game stats, just descriptions) so you can use them in any system or for writing stories.
 
I also recommend this classic. I wasn't sure it was still in print. It is a collection of folklore from around Europe.

In Glorantha (a Runequest setting) elves are sentient plants and are collectively called the Aldryami. Various types of elves exist and can have significant differences.
 
Of course, there's nothing wrong with using folklore as a reference.
 
 

Carnovoric. They are meat eating plant based people.  They are what they eat, after all.

Use Dresdenverse elves. Good take on classic Sidhe tropes moved to modern times.

Steal from Terry Pratchett of course. The elves in Lords and Ladies are exactly this.

And/or steal from Three Hearts and Three Lions. I'm pretty sure Pratchett did.

If you do include them, I'm glad that you're doing so thoughtfully, and not as some sort of almost tautological requirement of the genre.  

I know some will say this is over the top, but if you only have one template for your humans, you are shorting yourself. Factions exist within groups, groups themselves have different cultures with a regional area (country or otherwise), which change as you get to larger regions with commonalities and differences affecting conflict, trade and all the other human interactions that are important to RPG's. Your other "races" should be just as complex and nuanced.
 
- E

Urban Fantasy: As in, "Modern world with myth and magic secretly alongside"? In that case, an easy place to start is actual folklore. Your elves aren't elves: They are the Sidhe, or the Tylwyth Teg, or huldra-folk, or youkai, or celestial maidens, or, um, whatever Filipino elves are called. Pick a culture, or cultures, read up on the folklore, and decide what parts are true, what's false, and what's a mortal misinterpretation.
 
Dean Shomshak

I don't have a lot to add on elves specifically, but I prefer games without the typical D&D racial tropes or even hard skew racial bias toward morality or immorality. The campaign I am currently working on has some non-humans, they pre-existed the humans and are animal hybrids of various types. They are largely in hiding now due to conflict and prejudice having driven their numbers down to a level that does not let them subsist in open conflict with humans.
 
As to what alternate races allow us to do that having humans alone does not... nothing if the players and GM are open minded enough. But it does allow people who are less open to confronting their own internal biases to see those played out among a different kind of "other" and potentially a safe environment for them to change their minds and become more accepting of their fellow humans of other ethnicities, gender preferences, social classes, etc.
 
- E

Could make elves magical vampires; they subsist on mystical energy and it makes them stoned and, well, elfy -- that faerie, otherworldly behavior.  Without it they start to become vicious, cruel, heartless, and even predatory.

Besides Poul Anderson's Three Hearts..., you could also look at his novel The Broken Sword. The latter gives a broader picture of elven culture. Note that his elves are beautiful, sophisticated, and magical, like Tolkien's, but like classic folkloric elves they're extremely fickle, generous or cruel as the mood strikes them.