Races of the wild and Elves

[Suzaku]

I noticed that races of the wild said elves reached physical maturity at the age of 25 (humans reach physical maturity at age 20) and from a glance not even another elf can tell if s/he is 25, 50 or even 100. Only after a few minutes of conversion could they tell but they also go on to explain some elves can carry himself or herself like an elf of 100. However Elves reach adult hood at the age of 110 or so according to the PHB. Then again it also states that human adulthood is just 15… So what’s the earliest time you could play an Elf? I would have to say sometime around 110.

[Jefepato]

Whenever your DM says you can.  If your DM doesn't provide any input, I'd default to whatever the random age tables say.

[Vandren]

That'd definitely depend on the setting.  Remember that not all Elves are D&D Elves, nor necessarily Tolkien Elves.  Personally, in most of my fantasy settings (both for fiction and gaming), Elves tend to live 3-5x longer than Humans, with correspondingly longer maturation times (generally basing on "adulthood" as 18, so 54-90 years or so), though sometimes I remove that, leaving them aging the same as Humans.  For settings where Elves are virtually immortal, that'd be the setting creator's call.

[National Acrobat]

I tend to use the age tables from the 1E ADnD DMG no matter what version of the game I am running. I just think it's a great table.

[Zaer Darkwail]

I would say humans are 'young adults' at 15 age and fully mature at 20 age (like in RL). Elves are physically fully mature at 25 (so 15 year old elf girl looks very young, barely 10 year old examply). Elves are 'young adults' at 100-110 year while fully mature only at around 200 (based on FR novels where say when elf has not lived over over two centuries elf is either child or young adult).

At least this way I determine elves. So elf marrying a human at 25 age (humans can grow attracted to physicall mature elf) is seen childish behavior from older elves. But also I read somewhere (cannot recall where, probably FR novel or forum discussion in FR forums) that 'flowering' period, period when elf youths are most sexually active happens before they turn 100 (normaly around 50-75 age).

[Vandren]

I would say humans are 'young adults' at 15 age and fully mature at 20 age (like in RL). Elves are physically fully mature at 25 (so 15 year old elf girl looks very young, barely 10 year old examply). Elves are 'young adults' at 100-110 year while fully mature only at around 200 (based on FR novels where say when elf has not lived over over two centuries elf is either child or young adult).

So elf marrying a human at 25 age (humans can grow attracted to physicall mature elf) is seen childish behavior from older elves.

These equivalencies seem a bit funky.  Based on the physically mature at 25, a 15 year old Elf would look 12 by Human standards (5 years Human to 4 years Elf).  Based on physically mature at 200, the 15 year old Elf would look like an 18 month old Human, the 25 year old Elf would appear 54 months old (2.5 years; 10 Human years to 1 Elf year).  Or, taking the average of the "YA" and "Adult" spots, 8.5 years Human to 1 Elf, brings the 15 year old Elf to 21 months old in appearance and the 25 year old to about 3 years old in appearance.

Of course, this could just be another manifestation of one of the reasons I fled TSR games . . . lack of internal consistancy.

Then again, I'd put the onset of young adulthood at 12-13 years for Humans (based on the average onset of puberty IRL) and the onset of adulthood/physical maturity at roughly 18-19 (again based on average IRL medical data).  Which throws off all those ratios, slightly.

[Zaer Darkwail]

No, fully mature I meanted same as elf turns 20-25 in mental maturity. All elves are physically mature around 20 year age (but are far from mentally mature and they turn young adults at 110 age and are considered full adults at 200 year). The reason for such long termed mental maturity is that elvne culture is very complex and elves are very far sighted. A 110 year elf haves some idea how to behave elf (and most cases behave like one) but full 200 year old elf haves full foresight and tought depth of elf (and this point most 200 year old elves give up their more short living friends which they gained via adventuring from 110 year to around 200 age and start get only elven friends).

[King_Furby]

I have always wondered like do different types of evles age differently? There are alot of different types people have created, so i was wondering.

[Zaer Darkwail]

I think that most elves mature and age similar manner but I think sun/grey elves live longest generally (but not as rule) while drows mature emotionally faster thanks their harsh culture which favours 'mature fast as you can to survive'.