Elven childhood and teenage years

[jonesy]

Elves leave childhood behind roundabout their thirties, become juvenile at the sixty year region, and become adults a bit after a hundred years.

What do the elven kids actually do those thirty years? Study and procrastinate? What about their 'teenage' years? And when do they set out for adventure for the first time (speaking specifically of those who get into that), and how do the adults feel about that?

I'd like to hear where to find the best fluff on all this, and any ideas or experiences from your campaigns. What do those first hundred years really look like?

 

[Warbringer]

Same as all teenagers, nothing that's actually important, but to them feels like its the only thing that matters...oh that and annoy their parents for fun

 

[Altamont Ravenard]

If I may add to the OP's questions, as it is something that has always bothered me, how is it that 100-year old elves don't know so much more than 16-year old humans? Are their brain's development so slow that they can acquire knowledge only at 1/6th the capacity of a normal human? Are they held in stasis for most of their young lives?

I'd be very interested in reading what people have come up with.

AR

 

[Starfox]

This is one part of DnD that I never used - yes elves mature slower than humans, but in 30 years rather than 100.

Another fun note with original DnD age is that elves get old rather early. They live long, but not in their physical prime. They spend most of their lives either as children or as middle age or older. Dwarves actually have a longer mature period if I recall.

 

[tuxgeo]

It depends hugely upon Edition. The 4E PHB says, "Elves mature at about the same rate as Humans, but show few effects of age past adulthood."

So (in 4E), if Humans mature in the age range of 15-25, Elves do too.

That means that, to know the childhood and adolescence of Elves, just look at Humans. (Makes it really easy!)

 

[Savage Wombat]

How do teenage elves rebel against their parents when their parents are Chaotic Good? Join individuality-submersing cults?

 

[Starfox]

It depends hugely upon Edition. The 4E PHB says, "Elves mature at about the same rate as Humans, but show few effects of age past adulthood."

4E did some things right. This is one of them.

How do teenage elves rebel against their parents when their parents are Chaotic Good? Join individuality-submersing cults?

One of the reasons elves can have chaotic as a racial alignment, in my mind, is that they never really grow up. They remain young at heart. But like children of teen parents, I suppose elven children could get to be at odds with their parents over lots of things - like who gets to be the "rebel" of the household.

Elven chaoticness contrasts with dwarf lawfulness in that dwarves are basically born old and stuffy.

And yes, I know this is a rather shallow view of law/chaos, or just one aspect of that dichotomy. This is not intended as an alignment discussion.

 

[ImperatorK]

How do teenage elves rebel against their parents when their parents are Chaotic Good? Join individuality-submersing cults?

They become Paladins or Monks.

 

[steeldragons]

I have always worked (since 1e despite the "racial age table") under the assumption that elves mature, essentially, the same as humans. Interesting to hear 4e actually put this on paper..finally. Perhaps a little slower...but basically en par maybe 20-25...but once they his that level of "adulthood" and physical appearance/development, that's when the elvin "genes" kick in and they stay looking like that, at least until 200 or so.

"Aging" (if at all, I've fluctuated on that through the years) maybe 1 year (in appearance only, mind!) per fifty[ish]. My elves last a looooot longer than the books say. To see an elf that actually appears old (wrinkles, grey/wiry hairs, stooped posture/decreased mobility), would need to be thousands of years old...a great rarity, nearly unheard of, even among elves (I have a single npc like this in the entire world).

In that respect, the childhood and teenaged development could be seen as the same as humans. I always see them more as...I dunno how to explain, "hyper-developed"? Their minds' mature and contain information, recall memories, hand-eye coordination (of course),...all mental faculties are just better, clearer, faster, than humans.

So your 15 y.o. elf is learning history (thousands of years worth in perfect detail), multiple languages, the identification of every leaf, grass, tree and flower, every animal in their wood, every branch, bough, stream and ditch in their home wood, the sounds of the winds and trees, the names of all the stars and moons and their movements, archery and swordplay (if they're a pc, likely) and/or magic use (if its a MU pc)...Then of course there are the "fun"/cultural elf things, like songs/singing, instruments/musical composition, how to hunt, how to dance, feasting, riding deer or wolves and chatting with owls and squirrels...

There's plenty for elves to learn about in their first 20 or so years...or, if you prefer, to have them learn over the course of 100 or 200.

 

[ImperatorK]

Interesting to hear 4e actually put this on paper..finally.

Actually it was so in 3.X also (at least the generic settings, like Greyhawk). Races of The Wild had a sidebar explaining it.