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Jelennet
Learned Scribe
Russia
131 Posts |
 Posted - 10 Jul 2011 : 14:09:12
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Of course elves typically have pointy ears. But in my favorite game Baldur's gate two halflings (Alora and Montaron) and a dwarf (Korgan) have pointy ears.
1 Which races can have pointy ears (humans, gnomes, aasimars, dwarfes, halflings, etc)?
Is it typical or it is a rare trait?
2 Can elves have natural round ears?
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Bladewind
Master of Realmslore
Netherlands
1280 Posts |
Posted - 10 Jul 2011 : 15:22:49
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Tel'Quess and Hin always have pointed ears.
Gnomes and Dwarves don't. I can imagine some clans of gnomes might have slightly pointed ears, and subsequently some dwarven clans that have had gnomish intermingling having pointed ears aswell.
Humans with pointed ears have some elven blood in their family, and when its noticable typically are half-elves themselves.
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Druidic Groves
Creature Feature: Giant Spiders |
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Ayrik
Great Reader
Canada
7969 Posts |
Posted - 10 Jul 2011 : 18:58:59
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1) 2E Planescape artwork depicts aasimar with elongated ears tapering off to fine points. All manner of artwork in and out of the Realms and D&D shows dwarves, gnomes, halflings/kender, orcs, goblins, centaurs, and other humanoids sometimes having pointed ears, sometimes not. 3E and later descriptions of aasimar, tieflings, genasi, and dragonborn typically do not have pointed ears (some apparently don't have ears at all) although they sometimes have slightly or highly exaggerated pointed ears.
I suppose that a variety of possible ear shapes might exist within any given D&D race yet be consistent within isolated populations, ethnicities, and family groups. Ear pointyness, along with colouration and other cosmetic qualities, can be arbitrarily assigned by the author/DM/players for no purpose other than to identify one particular group from all others. Magic, curses, divine fiat, surgery, mutation, and strange ancestry can easily explain appearance different from the norm; the modern method of D&D thinking seems to involve remarkable individuals (such as PCs) possessing traces of this-or-that blood/genetics from a god or hero or extraplanar fiend or dragon or whatever, and that trait expressing/manifesting once particular conditions/environment trigger it (ie, exposure to some kind of magic, high enough experience level, etc). The factors which shaped human ears on our world do not necessarily apply to humans, nor any other race, in fictional D&D worlds.
Note races from other worlds can vary considerably in cosmetic and substantive ways. The Forerunners from whom the Gith races descended were described as essentially being slender humans with pointed ears.
2) I expect pureblooded elves would have rounded ears about as often as pureblooded humans would have pointed ears. |
[/Ayrik] |
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Aryalómë
Senior Scribe
USA
666 Posts |
Posted - 10 Jul 2011 : 21:50:25
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| I believe that the only people who have pointy ears are the fey or those of fey decent. Though, I believe I've seen old pictures of genasi with pointy ears. I don't believe I've Aasimar with pointy ears though, but I don't really go around looking for what kind of ears they have. |
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Penknight
Senior Scribe
USA
538 Posts |
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Gouf
Seeker
USA
75 Posts |
Posted - 10 Jul 2011 : 22:50:13
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| Per the Forgotten Realms 2e box set, page 13: "To the far South there is said to be a nation of halflings called Luiren, whose inhabitants have pointy ears." |
"Why is the torch burning blue?" |
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Aryalómë
Senior Scribe
USA
666 Posts |
Posted - 10 Jul 2011 : 23:53:27
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| Hmmm, maybe they are a half breed: halfing and gnome? And the Eladrin are celestrial fey, so that makes sense that they have pointy ears. |
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MrHedgehog
Senior Scribe
688 Posts |
Posted - 11 Jul 2011 : 03:56:31
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| I find pointed ears aesthetically unappealing and prefer not to imagine anything but elves (which I find aesthetically repulsive) having them, even if art has depicted them otherwise. |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36779 Posts |
Posted - 11 Jul 2011 : 04:25:59
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| I prefer to limit pointed ears to elves, and I prefer those pointy ears to be approximately the same size as those of a human. I really dislike elves whose ears can be tied in a knot and/or used as a convenient handle. |
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Penknight
Senior Scribe
USA
538 Posts |
Posted - 11 Jul 2011 : 04:41:08
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quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
I prefer to limit pointed ears to elves, and I prefer those pointy ears to be approximately the same size as those of a human. I really dislike elves whose ears can be tied in a knot and/or used as a convenient handle.
I agree completely, Wooly. Certain art of late makes elves look like they're half-rabbit or something. I don't get it. They look... well. Bad. We'll say that and move along.  And when I think of pointed ears on elves, I think of Lord of the Rings style. Classy.  |
Telethian Phoenix
Pathfinder Reference Document |
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31701 Posts |
Posted - 11 Jul 2011 : 05:28:15
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quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
I prefer to limit pointed ears to elves, and I prefer those pointy ears to be approximately the same size as those of a human. I really dislike elves whose ears can be tied in a knot and/or used as a convenient handle.
Usually, I'll limit elven ears to about the same size as a Vulcan's ears [using Spock as an example].
However, I do like to differentiate between certain elven sub-races on some worlds. Like the pure-blood Silvanesti and the elven/human descendants among the Qualinesti. In my campaigns, the Silvenesti tend to have more pronounced and longer pointed ears, while Qualinesti ears will often show some hint of the roundedness of their human [Ergothian] ancestry.
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Dennis
Great Reader
9933 Posts |
Posted - 11 Jul 2011 : 05:34:36
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quote:
Originally posted by MrHedgehog
I find pointed ears aesthetically unappealing and prefer not to imagine anything but elves (which I find aesthetically repulsive) having them, even if art has depicted them otherwise.
We're on the same boat. |
Every beginning has an end. |
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MrHedgehog
Senior Scribe
688 Posts |
Posted - 11 Jul 2011 : 05:41:36
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| I hate warcraft elf ears the mostest |
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Alystra Illianniis
Great Reader
USA
3750 Posts |
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Aryalómë
Senior Scribe
USA
666 Posts |
Posted - 12 Jul 2011 : 04:53:39
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| I limit pointed ears to FEY people, as all fey have pointed ears. I like them to be larger than humans ears, but not stupidly long. I like the ears that are on the Elves of Lord of the Rings a lot. |
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Eltheron
Senior Scribe
740 Posts |
Posted - 12 Jul 2011 : 05:01:02
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Most (all?) of the Fey'ri, and some Tieflings (depending on their specific ancestry) also have pointed ears.
Goblinoids and orcs as well. |
"The very best possible post-fourteenth-century Realms lets down those who love the specific, detailed social, political and magical situation, with its thousands of characters, developed over forty years, and want to learn more about it; and those who'd be open to a new one with equal depth, which there just isn't time to re-produce; and those repelled, some past the point of no return, by the bad-taste-and-plausibility gap of things done to the world when its guardianship was less careful."
--Faraer |
Edited by - Eltheron on 12 Jul 2011 05:11:27 |
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Aryalómë
Senior Scribe
USA
666 Posts |
Posted - 12 Jul 2011 : 05:04:41
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| I forgot to mention people of fey descent as well. |
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Aryalómë
Senior Scribe
USA
666 Posts |
Posted - 14 Jul 2011 : 16:56:55
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| Goblins are fey as well. Not so sure about orcs. I don't think they are. |
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Eltheron
Senior Scribe
740 Posts |
Posted - 14 Jul 2011 : 18:43:48
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quote:
Originally posted by Erendriel Durothil
Goblins are fey as well. Not so sure about orcs. I don't think they are.
In some places in popular culture, and to some degree in Tolkien, goblins/orcs might be considered corrupted fey. But not in D&D.
In D&D, goblins are in the class of "goblinoids" which also includes hobgoblins and bugbears. At one time in older rulesets, orcs were included in the "goblinoids" but this isn't the case any longer.
"Fey" includes things elvish and the faeries, nereids and pixies and the like. Goblins and their kin were never accounted as "fey" in D&D.
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"The very best possible post-fourteenth-century Realms lets down those who love the specific, detailed social, political and magical situation, with its thousands of characters, developed over forty years, and want to learn more about it; and those who'd be open to a new one with equal depth, which there just isn't time to re-produce; and those repelled, some past the point of no return, by the bad-taste-and-plausibility gap of things done to the world when its guardianship was less careful."
--Faraer |
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Aryalómë
Senior Scribe
USA
666 Posts |
Posted - 15 Jul 2011 : 02:53:01
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| Hmph, I read somewhere that golbins were from Faerie, but oh well. I just checked the wiki (I know, it's not always to be trusted....) and it said they were natural humanoids. I just checked the wiki again under the Feywild/Faerie page and it says that the natives to Faerie are Fey and Goblins...... |
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Eltheron
Senior Scribe
740 Posts |
Posted - 15 Jul 2011 : 03:30:56
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Fomorian giants and Firbolgs are also in the Feywild.
From Manual of the Planes, 4E:
quote:
Goblins
Goblins are not fey, but they are hardy, fast breeding, and well established in the rugged corners of the Feywild. Over the course of centuries, goblin armies from the mortal world have established many strongholds in the Feywild...
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"The very best possible post-fourteenth-century Realms lets down those who love the specific, detailed social, political and magical situation, with its thousands of characters, developed over forty years, and want to learn more about it; and those who'd be open to a new one with equal depth, which there just isn't time to re-produce; and those repelled, some past the point of no return, by the bad-taste-and-plausibility gap of things done to the world when its guardianship was less careful."
--Faraer |
Edited by - Eltheron on 15 Jul 2011 03:31:33 |
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Aryalómë
Senior Scribe
USA
666 Posts |
Posted - 15 Jul 2011 : 04:25:41
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| Ah, I wish I had the manual of the planes. When I read through it at Barnes and Noble, I mainly concentrated on the Eladrin :3 |
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Ayrik
Great Reader
Canada
7969 Posts |
Posted - 15 Jul 2011 : 05:31:14
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Gruumsh One-Eye has pointy ears, and he most certainly is not and has never been any sort of sissy fey creature. Most fiends and many extraplanars have pointed ears, including many planar/outsider humans.
D&D goblins and kobolds were perhaps loosely modelled after those of folklore (and even Tolkien) back in the First Gygaxian Age, but it seems to me that they've evolved into something else entirely shaped by popular media images and D&D itself. Orc origins are also unclear, even Tolkien presented several conflicting versions within his work ... and in a way, the many impossible and conflicting D&D mythologies explaining the origins of elves and dwarves and orcs and men in some antediluvian era forgotten to history on any world is itself the most realistic and ideal manner of presenting such stuff in the setting. |
[/Ayrik] |
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Dennis
Great Reader
9933 Posts |
Posted - 16 Jul 2011 : 04:11:53
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Some fiends with pointed ears look okay because the ears serve to look like horns. |
Every beginning has an end. |
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Zireael
Master of Realmslore
Poland
1190 Posts |
Posted - 16 Jul 2011 : 11:33:41
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quote:
Originally posted by Penknight
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
I prefer to limit pointed ears to elves, and I prefer those pointy ears to be approximately the same size as those of a human. I really dislike elves whose ears can be tied in a knot and/or used as a convenient handle.
I agree completely, Wooly. Certain art of late makes elves look like they're half-rabbit or something. I don't get it. They look... well. Bad. We'll say that and move along. And when I think of pointed ears on elves, I think of Lord of the Rings style. Classy.
So do I *laughs out loud*
On topic: interesting stuff. |
SiNafay Vrinn, the daughter of Lloth, from Ched Nasad!
http://zireael07.wordpress.com/ |
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Pointy ears?
