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Old 06-24-2020, 12:47 PM   #101
Flyndaran
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Default Re: Assumptions about Elves

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Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl View Post
Centuries of experience in warfare is key. Old elves are likely to have a wide range of very attributes and many very high skills within multiple fields. A 500 year old elf should be a 1,000+ CP character just through living their life.
This seems to assume they're as a species highly motivated and have effective photographic memories.
Give me a 1000 year lifespan, and while I may learn quite a bit, I will forget most of it long before then. And I would never approach 1000 CP.

I think there could easily be vast differences between those motivated individuals, average elves, and partiers/slackers. Almost as if they were different species.
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Old 06-24-2020, 02:55 PM   #102
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Default Re: Assumptions about Elves

As an aside, I ran a game centered around a group of elves to flesh out the history of my primary fantasy world. Basically play a couple of scenarios and when things get slow, jump forward decades or even centuries.

My approach was to handle skills was somewhat akin to modular abilities, with very slow changing of what skills are currently "active". The reasoning used was, Yes elves have time to become incredibly talented at a skill. But interest fades over time and the body loses the conditioning required.

There was some jiggery-pokery done to allow the players options on having a wider range of active skills or fewer higher level skills, as well as a few other switches and point buys.

Depth of skill was also encouraged so that related subjects were covered, a weapon skill for example would have accompanying art, philosophy and armoury skills.

Examples of the idea can be seen in some doctor who episodes where the Doctor spends quite a while trying to remember how to dance or needing a companion to help him categorise his knowledge.
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Old 06-24-2020, 03:30 PM   #103
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Default Re: Assumptions about Elves

Modular Abilities (Slotted Cosmic Powers) [7 CP/slot plus 5 CP/CP/slot] would be a valid way of representing depth and breadth of knowledge. If we assume 1 CP per year going to the Modular Abilities, a 500 year old elf could easily have with two slots with modular 48 CP each [494 CP]. They would have developed more mental advantages and mastered more skills than any human could imagine, but they could only benefit from two at a time because of limited bandwidth.

In fact, that would not be a bad ability to have in an Elf template. Modular Abilities 2/2 (Slotted Cosmic Powers) [34] would give the starting elf a broad range of capabilities. With Magery 0, it would allow them to access any basic spell without difficulty or any two skills without difficulty (they could also access any two 2 CP mental advantages or any two combat, mental, or skill perks). It would give them a breadth of capabilities which would result in non-elves greatly overestimating their competence.
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Old 07-07-2020, 06:33 PM   #104
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Default Re: Assumptions about Elves

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Originally Posted by Flyndaran View Post
This seems to assume they're as a species highly motivated and have effective photographic memories.
Give me a 1000 year lifespan, and while I may learn quite a bit, I will forget most of it long before then.
There's something in a GURPS book that addresses this. It deals, I believe, with loss of effective skill with disuse when several points have been spent in a skill. I don't remember the details or where it is in what book.

Does anybody know where that is?
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Old 07-07-2020, 06:46 PM   #105
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Default Re: Assumptions about Elves

GURPS Social Engineering: Back To School has a skill maintenance rule on p6.
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Old 07-07-2020, 07:15 PM   #106
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Default Re: Assumptions about Elves

The rules for skill upkeep are narrow enough that they don't really solve anything for elves. In general learning rates decline with age, partially compensated for with a large base of available knowledge so you don't actually need to learn as much to pick up skills related to what you already know, but if you extrapolate that to elves (say, learning rate inversely proportional to age) they're kind of unplayable as PCs. Making immortal races that are both finite and playable as PCs probably requires a model where they have periods of normal learning rates, separated by periods where they learn normally. For example:

Unaging (Stagnation, -40%): the race can choose whether they age or not. During periods where they are Unaging, they also suffer from Cannot Learn (physical abilities as well).

Unaging (Reset, -40%): the race is immortal but finite. Upon reaching their first aging threshold, they undergo a renewal process that resets their age to young adult, but in the process lose half of non-racial attributes, advantages, disadvantages, and skills. Can be combined with Stagnation for a net -20%.
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Old 07-07-2020, 07:16 PM   #107
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Default Re: Assumptions about Elves

Seeing as this thread popped up again.
What's people's opinion on having temperature tolerance as an elven assumption?

I feel temperature tolerance may be a bit of a stretch but Legolas was lightly walking on the snow.
If temperature tolerance was too extreme, improved clothing and cloth would have a similar effect.
(Yup, I'm way down the minutiae rabbit hole)
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Old 07-07-2020, 08:24 PM   #108
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Default Re: Assumptions about Elves

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Originally Posted by Alden Loveshade View Post
There's something in a GURPS book that addresses this. It deals, I believe, with loss of effective skill with disuse when several points have been spent in a skill. I don't remember the details or where it is in what book.

Does anybody know where that is?
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Originally Posted by Anaraxes View Post
GURPS Social Engineering: Back To School has a skill maintenance rule on p6.
Thanks, although that's not the book I saw it in. I seem to remember seeing it years before that book came out. Anybody know another place that's mentioned?
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Old 07-07-2020, 08:28 PM   #109
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Default Re: Assumptions about Elves

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Thanks, although that's not the book I saw it in. I seem to remember seeing it years before that book came out. Anybody know another place that's mentioned?
I understand it first appeared in Special Ops.
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Old 07-07-2020, 08:29 PM   #110
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Default Re: Assumptions about Elves

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Originally Posted by (E) View Post
Seeing as this thread popped up again.
What's people's opinion on having temperature tolerance as an elven assumption?

I feel temperature tolerance may be a bit of a stretch but Legolas was lightly walking on the snow.
If temperature tolerance was too extreme, improved clothing and cloth would have a similar effect.
(Yup, I'm way down the minutiae rabbit hole)
Personally, I don't see Temperature Tolerance as a standard elven Advantage. In many version, elves live in a relatively stable environment where there's probably not a great deal of temperature change.

Of course there are exceptions (and Legolas is exceptional).
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