A question about races : elfs and half-elfs

[Stardama69]

Hello all, I know very little about DD or Baldur's Gate but I very much wanna try this game. Could someone explain me the practical difference between an elf character and a half-elf, assuming both are "wood" (cause that's what I want to do) ? Briefly summed up, what are the pros and cons of each, with which classes would you rather play them, and what's your favorite ?

TY very much ! Take good care and have a nice day. Cheers.

[NotMisty]

Short summary: Elves get dex +2, half-elves get char +2 and you can add another +1 to 2 ability scores of your choice.

Both have Mask of the Wild (Stealth prof), Fey Ancestry, and dark vision.

Full wood elves get an additional perception prof.

Ngl, if you're building a skill monkey, you're better off with Wood Elves. There are no cons playing wood elf especially if you're going ranger/rogue.

Who gives a ♥♥♥♥ though? It's a 199% fact that Half-Elves are better and no, you can't argue with me because they just are. :P

[Lomyril]

Looking at the wiki may help.

https://baldursgate3.wiki.fextralife.com/Races

[BW022]

All would have darkvision, fey ancestry (resistant to charms, immune to sleep), fleet of foot (35' movement rate), and mask of the wild (free stealth proficiency)

Full woods elves get +2 dexterity, +1 wisdom, weapon proficiencies (bows, longsword, shortsword), and keen senses (free perception proficiency).

Half-wood elves get +2 charisma, +1 to two other attributes of your choice.

Both are fine. Wood-elf might be slightly better for a rogue, ranger, or (dex-based) cleric. Half-elf probably for any warlock. For the other (wizards or strength-based anything) half-elf is probably good since you could put attributes into strength, constitution, and/or intelligence. However, they are pretty close and it typically comes down to wanting/needing the choice of attributes vs. the weapon proficiencies.

[Stardama69]

Lomyril lähetti viestin:

Looking at the wiki may help.

https://baldursgate3.wiki.fextralife.com/Races

I have, but there wasn't quite enough info there for my linking, I wanted some player input, nothing replaces that. I'd like to make a ranger btw.

BW022 lähetti viestin:

......

Ty. Sounds like full elf would be indeed better suited to the kind of character I wanna make, albeit less original (the elfes in this game look a bit tropey to me, skilled with bows, condescending, distrustful of other races etc).

Do you know if weapon proficiencies can be acquired during the game or if it's strictly a starter attribute ?

[Nismu]

stuff above and more importantly .. Beards for half-elf

[kalendraf]

Stardama69 lähetti viestin:

Lomyril lähetti viestin:

Looking at the wiki may help.

https://baldursgate3.wiki.fextralife.com/Races

I have, but there wasn't quite enough info there for my linking, I wanted some player input, nothing replaces that. I'd like to make a ranger btw.

For ranger, the elf +2 DEX would be signficantly more useful than the half-elf +2 CHA. The half-elf is better suited to classes that rely on CHA like Warlock (and eventually Bard, Sorcerer and Paladin whenever those get added).

[Stardama69]

kalendraf lähetti viestin:

For ranger, the elf +2 DEX would be signficantly more useful than the half-elf +2 CHA. The half-elf is better suited to classes that rely on CHA like Warlock (and eventually Bard, Sorcerer and Paladin whenever those get added).

Great intel TY !

[asdf]

kalendraf lähetti viestin:

Stardama69 lähetti viestin:

I have, but there wasn't quite enough info there for my linking, I wanted some player input, nothing replaces that. I'd like to make a ranger btw.

For ranger, the elf +2 DEX would be signficantly more useful than the half-elf +2 CHA. The half-elf is better suited to classes that rely on CHA like Warlock (and eventually Bard, Sorcerer and Paladin whenever those get added).

Wood elf is only significantly better if it's a class that uses both wisdom and dex - if the wisdom is being largely wasted, then the +2 DEX by itself is weaker than +1 of 2 stats of your choice (either way you get the same stat total, but with +1 on 2 stats you can raise both of them to 16, and 17 isn't really any better than 16 so the +2 DEX isn't particularly meaningful beyond saving stat points that you'd save either way).

[Stardama69]

asdf lähetti viestin:

Wood elf is only significantly better if it's a class that uses both wisdom and dex - if the wisdom is being largely wasted, then the +2 DEX by itself is weaker than +1 of 2 stats of your choice (either way you get the same stat total, but with +1 on 2 stats you can raise both of them to 16, and 17 isn't really any better than 16 so the +2 DEX isn't particularly meaningful beyond saving stat points that you'd save either way).

But the wood-elf gets weapon proficiencies while the half-elf gets none, surely that gotta matter