By Colin McComb - The Complete Book of Elves (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Player's (2nd Edition) (1993-01-19) [Paperback]

Player's Handbook Rules Supplement #PHBR8

by Colin McComb

The glorious world of elvenkind shines from these pages! Detailed herein are their societies, rituals, and myths - and their physiology and psychology. Description of every kind of elf abound. Rounding out this information are 11 new kits; new optional rules and suggestions for running elven campaigns; and special elven equipment, spells, and magical items. Forget what you thought you knew about elves - The Complete Book of Elves sheds new light on this mysterious race!

Genres: Role Playing Games, Gaming, Fantasy, Dungeons and Dragons, Games, Reference, Fiction

Paperback

First published January 4, 1993

Reviews

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

aka, The Complete Book of the Master Race.

It's hard for me to provide a proper review of this book. On the one hand, it's a mishmash of silliness, in-character racism, out-of-character superiority complex, bad mechanics, and blah mechanics. On the other hand, it's really inspiring and my teenage self got a ton of usage out of it, even if nowadays, the kind of inspiration I drew from it is something I would definitely sneer at.

I mean, you crack the book open, and you're immediately greeted with this:

We do not deign to acknowledge the slanderous propaganda spread by the stunted humans who call themselves dwarves. The little miners have always had a rather, shall we say, biased outlook on history and the true workers of reality. They call themselves the finest creatures to grace the worlds--with bodies like that, we suppose one would have to have an active fantasy life.

For those graced with true vision, Elves comprise the finest race in all the worlds. We are that which other races aspire to be: Our longevity, our beauty, and our craftsmanship are all the stuff of legends. Certainly, each of these attributes can be recreated in some fashion by the lesser races, but theirs is an artifice of face and form and creation--never as fine as those that come naturally to us.

Our lives are long and filled with happiness, for we recognize the impermanence of all things, excepting ourselves. Indeed, we do not suffer death as do the mortals. Only through violence, accident, or disease do we die at all. Although we vanish from the ken of mortal knowledge after hundreds of years of existence in this plane, you may rest assured that we continue on elsewhere. Even those who perish on the battlefield do not truly die, but instead become part of the earth's cycle of growth and rebirth. Our spirits linger on, for we are intimately tied to the world and its core. Indeed, we are the integral part of that core.

We would now turn now to other matters, for to continue on in this vein would, no doubt, lead you to beleive that we are boasting of elven prowess. We do not boast. Anyone who has seen even the slightest fraction of elven ability knows the truth of what we say within these pages.

Yes, we are a proud race, but do we not have just cause? Are we not Elves--creatures of most wondrous might? Simply understand that we are what we are and that nothing you can do will change us--then may we become good friends. But beware: We are a complex race, and the workings of our lives will ever be a mystery to you, our dreams are foreign from yours. You will never truly understand us, no matter how you try.

After that, what I can say? That's the attitude the entire book takes, and if you assume that it's the attitude the elves actually have in the game, then it's fine. I mean, as long as the players can keep the separation between character attitude and player attitude, it can work. The problem comes in that this is so unrelenting that it can easily piss people off. Rereading this annoyed me quite a lot, and I pretty much always play elves in any games they're available in!

I mean, here's another example:

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, elves are not proud of their scars as members of the lesser races so often are. Elves who have these limbs take pains to hide them, for they are ashamed that their lives have not followed the elven way. These individuals wear long gloves, heavy tunics, or thick breeches to hide the fact that their bodies are not perfect.

Hear that, people with disabilities?

The weirdest part is that the book is full of contradictions in order to make the elves the best at literally everything. For example, elves are immortal, so they take the long view and are good at laying plans and schemes, but at the same time, "If the need for haste is urgent, however, elves can move faster and more decisively than most of the other races." They're elves, after all. They can't be allowed to have a downside!

Though going back to Tolkien, elves are basically "like humans, but better," so at least it's true to its inspiration.

So, why does it get three stars with stuff like this in it, then? Well, like I said, it comes down to the inspiration. I mean, the Noldor in The Silmarillion are just as horrible as the elves in The Complete Book of Elves--though admittedly they have the benefit of being written well, so it comes across like a Greek tragedy where their overweening hubris brought about their downfall--but that kind of character can be a ton of fun to play if everyone else is on board. The biggest flaw in The Complete Book of Elves is that it doesn't have that tragic flaw, so instead it just has all kinds of arrogance (as displayed above) without any counterbalance.

If you're willing to get past that, though, it's a great springboard to leap off of, and I have plenty of characters that were inspired by parts of this book, including a bladesinger, which is a bit of mechanics that the author actually apologized for. It's also a good way to provide villains--just play any elves you want the players to hate like they were a character from the The Complete Book of Elves and they'll be out whipping up a pitchfork and torch mob before you can blink.

Do I recommend this book to anyone? No, I don't. The gaming world has moved on, and with good reason. But I got a ton of use out of it back when it was written, so three stars it gets.

[R J Royer · Rating 4 out of 5]

An old DnD book that I really used to love but is now on it's way to what I hope will be a good home.

[Juho Pohjalainen · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's not as bad as old-school folklore would have you believe. The elves as depicted in this book are pretty hilariously overpowered and hardly fit the rest of the game, true, but it still has plenty of good flavour and background hidden beneath the chaff. You just need to go out on your way to find them, and to figure out what parts fit your game and your setting.

But on the other hand, I'd rather keep the elves mysterious and aloof and rare anyway, and this sort of a book does still ruin the mystery a bit.

[Tito the Incognito · Rating 4 out of 5]

While in the midst of organizing and tidying up my room a few weeks ago (an ongoing endeavor, admittedly, that as a recovering hoarder will probably take me the rest of my earthly existence to complete), I happened to find my copy of The Complete Book of Elves underneath my bed. Overcome with nostalgia, I perused this long forgotten manual and the memories of carefree afternoons spent playing Dungeons and Dragons with my friends came flooding back to me. As a teenager, I was a total nerd and so my afterschool life consisted primarily of reading comic books, watching Anime, and playing D&D (and later Magic the Gathering). Thankfully, I had a few nerdy buddies to enjoy these pastimes with (shout-out to Danny, Wes, Eric, Jimmy).

As a huge fan of elves, to say that this book came in handy for me would be an understatement. I played as an elf just about every single time I ever participated in a D&D campaign, so it naturally behooved me to be as knowledgeable of those pointy-eared beauties as possible. The Complete Book of Elves contains essentially every bit of information pertaining to elves that a D&D player could possibly need: their history, mythology, philosophical/religious beliefs; descriptions of the various subraces of elves ie: drow, aquatic, etc; elf-specific "kits" such as spellfilchers or bladesingers. Apart from the info regarding in-game mechanics, there's also some interesting myths/legends to read like the story of Fiona Cassiltenirra, purportedly the first elf vampire.

I'm not sure whether people even still play D&D, but for any D&D players who prefer to play as elves, I'm sure this book would be immensely useful. May it aid you in your fantasy-based quests to seek treasure, wage war upon those evil orcs, and embark upon perilous yet exciting adventures. Writing this review is making me long for the days of filling out character sheets and shopping for new sets of polyhedral dice...ah the good ole days.