[Gavynn]

Originally Posted by Agemegos

No, but it is of 'lords of the Eldar from beyond the furthest seas' who have 'dwelled in the Blessed Realm'. A noldo born in in Middle-earth (of Exile parents) would not have these capabilities.

I think you want a separate 'Calaquenda' lens for individuals who, regardless of race, 'came into Aman in the days of the Two Trees'. (There is some indication that such individuals literally glow, and can be seen to do so in the dark, eg. Frodo's encounter with Gildor in Book I chapter 3.)

Very true. I was not considering elves born to Exile parents. That should be done. Point taken.

As far as the glowing goes, I believe you refer to the following quote: “They bore no lights, yet as they walked a shimmer, like the light of the moon above he rim of the hills before it rises, seemed to fall about their feet.” I saw that myself and wondered if the was innate to certain branch of elves or if this were elven “magic”. BTW – I am not sure how I want to handle magic in Middle-earth yet. I gave them all Magery One. I seemed to fit regardless of the route I go. That is to be considered later, but is something I want the rules to address in some way or another.

Originally Posted by JoelSammallahti

You have a point about total immunity. Then again, I doubt anything less than a balrog or dragon could scare one of them, and such creatures might well have Terror with the Cosmic enhancement.

Since Fright Checks always fail on 14+, an elf with Will 21 and 10 levels of Fearlessness will only notice a difference if the Fright Check has a penalty of -19 or worse. That's a penalty that eliminates any ordinary human's - even a really extraordinary one's - chance to resist altogether. And since Fearlessness both subtracts from Intimidate and adds to Will to resist, they'll be on even terms with someone whose Intimidate skill is 41! I think they might do with a bit of downgrading.

Okay, so I have to adjust the Will thing. I’ll put the pen to paper and make adjustments in the next version. I did not realize how over the top I was going. I do want to control stat inflation I don’t want to do with higher stats and more abilities than what I can do with something less – and still remain faithful to their portrayal (albeit my interpretation) in the novels.

Originally Posted by Hyrneson

Just FYI, not that your development should stop, but here is how one person did it.
GURPS Rules for Middle Earth Campaigns

RH

Thanks. When I first started this project, that was some time ago, I did consult that source and integrated some components.

Originally Posted by kelly_pedersen

One thing I'd suggest to add to the general elven template is Terrain Adaptation. You could either buy two or three versions (snow, leaves, etc.), or just spring for the Active enhancement, from Powers, which would let elves be light-footed on pretty much any solid terrain.

Interesting. Something like that I think should go in. You know, I intended to have a racial bonus to the light walking skill. That needs to go in the next version.

Originally Posted by kelly_pedersen

Also, to the general template, you should probably add a level of Acute Vision and Acute Hearing. Elves are very perceptive all around, but their hearing and vision seem to stand out particularly.

I did give all elves four ranks of acute hearing and telescopic vision. I thought I had acute vision in their too, but it does not appear so. I’ll adjust.

Originally Posted by kelly_pedersen

Also, I'd add Language Talent to the Noldo template. The Noldor seem to have had a genunine gift for languages - they picked up Sindar very quickly when they returned to Middle Earth, and they were able to understand human speech quite well. They were also responsible for a lot of the writing adaptations and suchlike that the elves used, and they seem to have actively attempted to make their language "better" deliberately.

Interesting again. I had thought about some kind of talent for crafts in the Noldo template, but I was thinking that this might be better represented by high individual skills for those who had learned from Aulë the Smith. Languages, huh? I’ll think on it.

Originally Posted by Rasputin

I'm always skeptical of the IQ bonuses given to elves. I can definitely see Elrond having a high IQ, I cannot see this for the other main example from the core books, Legolas. I cannot see this for Arwen. Maybe I've drank too much of the purple Kool-Aid from Cult of Stat Normalization rituals, but I do not see the race as a whole having better IQ defaults. Never attribute to attribute what you can attribute to points in skill. (And don't use "attribute" too often in one sentence.)

I agree with the sentiment about looking first to skills and then to attributes. I did think a good bit about the IQ bonus. I’ll think again. Elrond’s personally I can see with a high IQ for sure. Hmmmm….

Originally Posted by Kaldrin

This subject is far too complicated for most to deal with. You might be the few that actually have something to put in.

I would note that a few of the representative characters differ directly from what Tolkien described as a generalization for the subsets of the Quendi. To me that means his descriptions might have been almost metaphorical, perhaps the spirit of the race, rather than direct abilities.

It is a difficult subject. This is why I went with the elves first since they are well known and might be the most controversial in some ways to try and stat out. I thought I might try and get the more difficult things out of the way first.

Thank you for the responses everyone. I think I got enough to make a revision. I’ll try posting a second version a little later on…

Gavynn