Elves and Half-Elves willpower

[capmarvel]

In the description of Elves you say:

They often have no problem waiting decades for a plan to come to fruition.

Yet, Elves have -3 Willpower.   And Half-Elves are at -2.

And Willpower is:

Willpower (Will) - This is a measure of the character's control of the mind over body, his ability to stay focused or push harder in pursuit of some goal, or to draw upon the inner reserves of determination. It is sometimes referred to as mental strength or power, self-discipline, mental fortitude, etc.

So....how does a creature with "low Willpower" wait decades for plan to come to fruition?

[Fidoric]

I seem to remember a long thread on this topic in another forum...
Why not give them a -3 to constitution instead, making them swift and agile but frail. That should help explain why they often favor missile weapons.

[imported_Rasyr]

Don't mistake willpower for patience. Willpower is more of an immediate focus type of thing.

[capmarvel]

So for the Elves the -3 in WillPower may be from the fact that they live so long and therefore are not as driven as a typical human (knowing they have time to get to the task later).

[imported_Rasyr]

that is a good way of looking at it....

[imported_Raf Blutaxt]

And yet, it is a bit of a problem that elves get -3 on willpower which is the stat for spellcraft. So elven mages have a distinct disadvantage compared to, say dwarves.

[capmarvel]

That's a good point...I always pictured Elves as being more magical than humans and therefore should have more WillPower not less.   

[imported_Rasyr]

First off, let's not forget that the stat modifier is not a modifier to the stat bonus, but to the stat itself. This means that Elves can have a maximum stat of 17 for Willpower, while Dwarves can have a 20.

2 characters with the same final stat have the exact same bonus, so that -3 won't come into play there.

Now, I would be willing to change the enhanced senses to a affinity to magic (change the +2 from Perception to Spellcraft), or to split that +2 modifier between the two (+1 to Perception and to Spellcraft).

That alone would make elves be "more magical" in nature because then with equal stats and skill ranks, the elf would be better. Then again, why should ALL elves be better at magic?

If a player wants to be "a magical elf", he can always take the Natural Ability talent for Spellcraft.

[imported_Raf Blutaxt]

I accept your argument, but I have the feeling that maybe the general stat modifiers are too much. At the moment they are +5/-5 on stats. Now I would be completely happy with only +/-3, say +1 on Charisma, +2 on speed, -2 on willpower and -1 on strength. After all, the elves need to work them longbows, which requires some strength

[gamewizard]

Actually, in most Old School games, Elves used Short Bows (or Self Bows in some systems).

If you are going to run a Tolkien game then the Elvish stats will need to be adjusted slightly, as well as making Elves' average height way above 5'.

[samwise7]

We thought the same thing about Elves, but the rules might change so that it doesn't matter as much.

[imported_Witchking20k]

Elves tend to be the first race to change inside of a setting too.....so, i wouldn't worry too much about it.