I was going through the careers of the Core Set and I observed that there isn't any spellcaster-like career for the High Elves !

Am I missing something?

Nope. High Elves present a balance issue. A High Elf wizard can control all of the winds, at once. Which is at odds with a Human wizard who is lucky to control one.

No priests either.

Someone proposed a houserule, that allowed High elves to keep taking app. wizard career over and over till all colours were covered...

Thus the upside would be that they could cast everything, the downside being they would need to be rank 9 or so, before they can assend to acolyte (and use rank 2 spells) and go over all colours once again...

This does though makes sense, considering that high elves take hundreds of years to master high magic (all colours).

I like that only humans can become spell casters. For me a high elf spell caster is in a totally different league than a human spell caster and as such would either be severely over powered or a freak of nature.

Try my house rulebook..it covers this stuff for ALL races dl.dropbox.com/u/167876/WFRP3%20Hafner%20house%20rulebook%20v1.docx

Jay H

Thanks a lot!

At some point, I wouldn't be surprised if FFG put out elf spellcaster rules. However, at this point in the game's life cycle (ie, it's pretty darn new), there are other more important and desirable careers that fit in better with other expansion material.

Perhaps when FFG makes an "Elf" supplement, focused around elves. No word on such a supplement as of yet.

Who's to say that it doesn't rake a hundred years to master a particular wind? If that is the case why not allow a player to have one and say that the elf is spending a generation mastering one aspect?

I believe a lot of the lore implies that the Elves do not use individual winds, but use them always in combination. There are even some implications that the idea of individual winds is something imagined just for humans (with ether good or bad intentions).

High Elf Wizards are pillars of their society. The reason the game doesn't include a High Elf Wizard career is the same reason is doesn't include a human "Emperor" career.

GullyFoyle said:

I'm fairly certain Elves do use individual winds at times but can also combine them, which is what is called "High Magic".

Darrett said:

That is 100% correct.

In fact, the entire magical college system that the Empire uses is a creation of the High Elven Mage Teclis. He taught humans how to see all of the different winds but how to manipulate only one. I imagine that there is likely some resentment among human wizards for denying them the ability to manipulate more than one wind. You can find this and more in the Tome of Mysteries book, pgs. 5-6.

That is what High Elves told humans but it is sometimes implied that it is not completely true. Teclis told humans what he thought would help the elves the most in there current struggle. Its quite possible that he thought telling them the "truth" would be problematic for the elves, or humans or both. So the concept that High Magic is a literal combination of the winds of magic is really heresay, you can't really trust those elves .

edit:

To expand on this for a second. Magic tends to work the way any given culture thinks it should in Warhammer. It works one way for greenskins, it works differently for dwarves, it worked in yet a different way for the first necromancer, and it quite possibly works differently for priests (though you'll be hunted to death for mentioning it). IF Teclis knew this, its quite possible that he established the rules for how it worked for humans, and in doing so he did it to the elven advantage ... but this is open to debate because Warhammer often has an unreliable narrator.

GullyFoyle said:

And that's why I love magic in this setting. I love the sheer variety of ways that magic seemingly work, it works one way for the Elves, another for the Empire. Even different human cultures have different ways of using magic. See Kislev's Ice Magic and Brettonia's Damsels. Everything from dwarven Runesmithing to Ogre Gut Magic. Imperial and Elven High Magic is just scratching the surface of what the setting provides magic wise.

Though for my upcoming game I'd probably allow an elven mage, but they would be just starting out in their studies of a single wind, and on some errand for a master back in Ulthuan. But even then I'd encourage a human wizard over an elf if for no other reason than simplicities sake down the line once that elf has "mastered" their first wind and wants to start studying another.

I believe that it is referenced in the books (WoM maybe) that human wizards can, and have occasionally, used a wind other than their specialty. It is very dangerous (for humans), and the Colleges have severe restrictions & punishments for all but the highest ranked wizards even contemplating trying it.

Kosem said:

I love this too ... granted, I would probably do the same if a character really wanted to play a High Elf caster (learn one wind at a time), but I like that how magic works can be very subjective. <tangent> The game in general allows a lot of play which I think is the opposite of many current systems </tangent>

Crap. I just got the core set today and went on here to ask the same question.

Well, this sucks. I hope some sort of expansion for elves comes soon.