Do'oh, after being one of those chanting "i want elf book for things like high elf magic careers", I was reading my pdf of Career Compendium from 2nd edition.

It's clear there that its approach was that elves can be wizards just like humans, taking the same careers, and only when they get to Wizard Lord rank are they ready to enter Tower of Hoeth and learn "real magic". They mechanically use the human careers but without any college-based social requirements etc.

Teclis taught humans the "juniour, training wheels" one-colour of magic elves learn in grade school (so to speak) and master before learning true elven multicolour magic. Given their lifespan, that makes sense. An elf can "start out" by developing what takes a human a lifetime and move on from there. In the 3rd edition's "rank sense", a Tower of Hoeth graduate would thus be 1-2 ranks or more above the highest rank Hero's Call has in the system. So a Hoeth graduate would be an epic NPC not a player character. That fits nicely with the historical fluff about Teclis and others being so powerful, if they are masters far beyond the common Hoeth graduate.

For player character high elves in 3rd edition that means, I could see them taking the normal wizard careers. It might be nice to do "slight variants" of advancement options in the careers to reflect the different cultural approach. The 2nd edition approach also provides an automatic "character retirement" explanation for high elf wizard - after they finish last career they go home to Ulthuan to "learn real magic".

I think that means only Wood Elf Spellsingers really need special treatment.

Apologies to any who already arrived at these conclusions/realizations.

Yeah, I think that would work.

Yepesnopes fan-made high elf compendium has some really nice rules for high elf magic as well if one wants some more elaborate rules fro high elves. His compendium comes with cards as well.

gruntl said:

YEPESNOPES fanmade High Elf Compendium is AMAZING.

That's been in my house rules for some time now and that's how I interpret the WFB books. Elves start in a school of magic and eventually learn the high stuff (after a hundred years or so). I'm not sure why FFG got so hung up on limiting high elves from being wizards (just to whiz on it I guess). That translated into RAW-paralysis that infects so many game groups.

jh