Signup
Welcome to... Canonfire! World of GreyhawK
Features
Postcards from the Flanaess
Adventures
in Greyhawk
Cities of
Oerth
Deadly
Denizens
Jason Zavoda Presents
The Gord Novels
Greyhawk Wiki
#greytalk
JOIN THE CHAT
ON DISCORD
    Canonfire :: View topic - Distribution Of High And Sylvan Elves?
    Canonfire Forum Index -> World of Greyhawk Discussion
    Distribution Of High And Sylvan Elves?
    Author Message
    Adept Greytalker

    Joined: Apr 26, 2002
    Posts: 538
    From: Canada

    Send private message
    Mon Feb 08, 2021 9:38 pm  
    Distribution Of High And Sylvan Elves?

    I was reading through the 1983 boxed set books the other day, and I noted how many encounter tables listed sylvan elves, and how few listed high elves. High elves only seemed to be common in places like Highfolk and the Principality of Ulek, despite the 1E PHB saying that they're the most common kind of elf.

    Are sylvan elves more common and widespread than high elves, then, despite Greyhawk correlating so much with 1E's handbook and sources?
    Adept Greytalker

    Joined: Sep 20, 2004
    Posts: 580
    From: British Isles

    Send private message
    Tue Feb 09, 2021 3:34 am  

    It's also worth keeping in mind that those encounter tables don't indicate numbers just how likely you are to encounter such creatures in relation to other creatures dwelling in those areas. They also mostly apply to 'open terrain' within those regions and I think that the intent is that when you encounter 'Elves, High' for example you refer to the entry for elves in the Monster Manual. If you check out elves in the 1e MM, you assume that you have encountered 20-200 elves with a 10% chance you have encountered them in their 'lair'. If encountered in their lair you add an equal amount of females tot he number and an extra 5% of wee elven bairns. If you happen to meet wood/sylvan elves they will attempt to avoid contact 75% of the time. So there's two main reasons why high elves may still be more common than wood elves in the Flanaess;

    i) It's possible that although sylvan elves are found in more numerous locations than high elves their numbers are still smaller. The high elves are concentrated in much larger numbers but in fewer places perhaps.

    ii) Sylvan elves are most prevalent in forests & woodlands as opposed to the high elves that are most likely to be encountered within actual settled kingdoms like Geoff Ulek Duchy & Veluna. Even if you happened to be trapsing through a forest, the sylvan elves are 75% likely to avoid you. So although found in more places human contact with them is still less than that of high elves. Even is sylvan elves are indeed more populous, high elves could still be more common, not in numbers but simply in the fact you're more likely to meet one.

    At a glance, your chance of encountering a high or sylvan elf is as follows;

    Sylvan
    Axewood (30%)
    Menowood (30%)
    Silverwood (30%)
    Celadon (22%)
    Oytwood (15%)
    Horwood (15%)
    Celene (15%)
    Rieuwood (15%)
    Dreadwood (10%)
    Gambodge (10%)
    Gnarley (10%)
    Western Vesve (10%)
    Dm Forest (9%)
    Keoland (8%)
    Grandwood (7%)
    Welkwood (7%)
    Medegia (7%)
    Highfolk (5%)
    Adri (5%)
    Duchy of Ulek (5%)
    Felreev (5%)
    Verbobonc (3%)
    Greyhawk (2%)
    Ratik (2%)
    Nyrond (2%)

    High
    Geoff (15%)
    Highfolk (12%)
    Northern Isle - Spindrifts (10%)
    Duchy of Ulek (8%)
    Hestmark Highlands (8%)
    Veluna (7%)
    Celene (5%)
    Western Vesve (5%)
    Yeomanry (4%)
    Gambodge (3%)
    Keoland (1%)

    There are a few areas that simply list encounters with 'demihumans', so in some these places there's a good chance this could include high elves such as the Celadon Forest, Dim Forest, Hornwood, Oytwood, Gnarley, Welkwood, County & Princ. of Ulek, Lendore Isle, Sunndi, Perrenland, Sterich, Greyhawk, Verbobonc, Dyvers and Nyrond.

    There are some really interesting nuggets from this. In Keoland you're 7% more likely to see a sylvan elf than a high elf implying that the maybe the sylvan elves from all of Keolands surrounding forest are much less reclusive than regular sylvan elves. Also its interesting that Medegia has a decent population of sylvan elves outside of the bordering forest.

    This has been interesting to look into! Thanks for the topic!
    Master Greytalker

    Joined: May 12, 2005
    Posts: 933
    From: Woonsocket, RI, USA

    Send private message
    Tue Feb 09, 2021 9:12 am  

    Also consider that all the “Use standard encounter tables” results refer you back to the DMG, where only the standard “Elf” (presumably high) may be encountered.
    Display posts from previous:   
       Canonfire Forum Index -> World of Greyhawk Discussion All times are GMT - 8 Hours
    Page 1 of 1

    Jump to:  

    You cannot post new topics in this forum
    You cannot reply to topics in this forum
    You cannot edit your posts in this forum
    You cannot delete your posts in this forum
    You cannot vote in polls in this forum




    Canonfire! is a production of the Thursday Group in assocation with GREYtalk and Canonfire! Enterprises

    Contact the Webmaster.  Long Live Spidasa!


    Greyhawk Gothic Font by Darlene Pekul is used under the Creative Commons License.

    PHP-Nuke Copyright © 2005 by Francisco Burzi. This is free software, and you may redistribute it under the GPL. PHP-Nuke comes with absolutely no warranty, for details, see the license.
    Page Generation: 0.31 Seconds