Re: Spelljammer and Planescape

> > There's a problem with that.  Age modifiers to attributes (if I remember
> > correctly) cannot take any individual member of a race above their racial
> > attribute limits.  This puts the smartest Elves (Grey Elves, with a Int
> > 19) in a position where they still can't quite make it to the rarified
> > realms of 9th level spells, without outside magical influence.  Ioun
> > Stones, while providing a boost (the only Int increasing magic item I can
> > think of) still top out at Int 19.  This leaves the Elf so close to 9th
> > level spells he can taste it, but he can't quite get there.  (Of course,
> > if I'm wrong about age modifiers, I withdraw the entire argument.)
>
> IIRC, age modifiers can take you up to 20, but no further. Making 9th lvl
> spells possible. Anyway, the whole point is that elves are always
> portrayed as a magical race, yet human opportunists can massively
> out-level them. Doesn't fit, does it?

Yes, elves have always been portrayed as a magical race. Even if they
could not _ever_ gain ninth level spells, though (say you didn't use
ability modifiers) they do have a fascination with magic. This cultural
bias towards the study and practice of magic virtually guarantees that
there will be a higher proportion of mages among elves, especially when
considering their capability to multi-class. This by itself is enough to
guarantee their reputation as a magical race. It's not just the ability to
out-level someone, it's the prevalence of magic within a society. Also
note that it is not required that elves be _better_ at magic than humans,
it must only seem so enough to the common folk to guarantee their rep.

JMT
Hemlcok