| Shardik | 31 Mar 2014 3:57 a.m. PST |
I lost my original white D&D boxed set 30+ years ago, so I got hold of Swords & Wizardry for a bit of nostalgia. Reading through the Monster Manual section, I saw that elves have a 1+1 hit die, compared to dwarves and men who have only 1 HD. Any reason for the bonus, considering that elves would presumably be of a slighter build? Higher fighting skills, or dodging skills? |
| Who asked this joker | 31 Mar 2014 5:28 a.m. PST |
The author loves elves? I suppose they've been a live a lot longer so somehow will have more experience than the latter two. From what I remember though, Elves had just 1 HD. |
| Landorl | 31 Mar 2014 6:02 a.m. PST |
Maybe it was based on the Tolkien elves. They are taller and hardier than humans, so it might be ok to do that for them. Personally, I have never like the D&D "different but equal" approaches to races. If you have a positive, then there must be a negative to offset it. Some races are simply more powerful than others (In a fantasy setting that is) |
| Happy Little Trees | 31 Mar 2014 6:40 a.m. PST |
FWIW- in the Original it is 1+1 as well. |
 Sgt Slag  | 31 Mar 2014 6:50 a.m. PST |
Elves, Dwarves, and Gnomes, as races in AD&D, were all first level -- no 0-level members of those races existed. They were superior to Humans, and Hobbits in that way. Perhaps Gygax thought that warranted the 1+1 HD? I have not read their entries in the original books, for many years. I could be off, but I know they don't have 0-level characters in those three races, for sure. Cheers! |
| Who asked this joker | 31 Mar 2014 7:24 a.m. PST |
FWIW- in the Original it is 1+1 as well. Thanks for the clarification. Figures it would be something Mr. Gygax would do. Elves are apparently more frail than other races…except when they are not.  |
 Parzival | 31 Mar 2014 9:35 a.m. PST |
I pulled out my "Basic" Dungeons and Dragons Cyclopedia to look the stats there up for fun. Dwarf, Elf, Man and Orc were all one hit die critters. But what I found amusing was that right under the Elf listing was the Faerie listing— 1+1 ! That's right, in Basic D&D, a three-foot tall fairy is tougher than a Dwarf, an Elf, a Man or an Orc!  |
| Space Monkey | 31 Mar 2014 11:13 a.m. PST |
Like Landori I feel that some races, even some sexes, just oughtta be more capable than others. Those creatures are scary in fairy tales and legends because they're weird and powerful. So I figure they should have some statistical advantage (I figure Elves/Fairies should have some inherent low-level psionic abilities as well).
Happily I'm not the sort of player who would choose to play one just because of the better stats… and generally favor them being NPC races to keep an air of mystery around them. |
| Patrick R | 31 Mar 2014 1:13 p.m. PST |
Pathfinder gives most races a net bonus rather than D&D's approach of taking away several points if you are a half-orc or a dwarf. |
| Ratbone | 01 Apr 2014 8:48 p.m. PST |
AD&D always treated elveses as generally better than everyone else on balance. |
| Ethanjt21 | 09 May 2014 5:55 p.m. PST |
Looking at my AD&D 2E Player's Handbook and it lists the racials as: Dwarf: +1 Con / -1 Cha
Elf: +1 Dex / -1 Con
Gnome: +1 Int / -1 Wis
Halfling: +1 Dex / -1 Str
Human: N/A / N/A Elves and Dwarves seem to have the most racial abilities, but humans can be any class and rise to any level in that class. Other races are limited in that respect. Just realized the OP asked about hit dice. As far as I can tell by my 2E book, hit dice are class based. |
starts his new Amazon army at the top, with an airborne general!
