Let’s roll…an Elf! Character generation and development in BECMI Dungeons and Dragons

The sixth in my "Let's roll..." series, where we generate and develop each of the BECMI character classes through the ranks, demonstrating how they work, what abilities they gain, and when. I hope you enjoy the series.
Link to my BECMI Dungeons and Dragons playlist: • BECMI Dungeon and Dragons
Let’s Roll… playlist: • Let's Roll...a BECMI C...
Elves of Alfheim: • Gaz5 The Elves of Alfh...
Weapon Mastery: • The Master Rules - Wea...
Rules Cyclopedia: • The Rules Cyclopedia -...
Character sheet front page can be found on Dragonsfoot at the following link, credited to Jesse Walker: dragonsfoot.org/php4/archive....
Supplementary character specific pages are my own creation.
BECMI Berserker logo and artwork created and gifted by the very generous Steve Young, contactable at [e-mail] Thank you, Steve!!
If you like my channel want to support me further, please consider buying me a coffee at: www.buymeacoffee.com/becmiber... Your support is greatly appreciated.
Contact:
Instagram: D&D RPG fRe&k
Email: [e-mail]

[@becmiberserker]

I’ve been congratulated several times on the artwork but the real credit is in the video description but I’ll pin it here as well. Thanks to @steveyoungwork [e-mail] for some wonderful artwork and logo production. It’s obviously much appreciated by the community, as well as me. Thanks again!

[@luisroberto9416]

i cannot find that @steveyoungwork anywhere, man could you please post a link so i can find them?

[@steveyoungwork]

@@luisroberto9416 I am here! :)

[@magnuscolable]

I'm shocked how much this picture looks so much like me, but I guess unkempt bearded dudes all look the same

[@myrdelgonway5119]

Ghoul paralysis comes from chainmail’s wargaming roots. Ghoul soldiers got to make paralysis attacks. Elven infantry was given immunity to this attack to keep them balanced as an elite army (few in number but greater in quality).

[@becmiberserker]

Thanks for the insight!

[@goblinrat6119]

In fact, elves are not only immune, but their touch can release others from paralysis as well. In many respects elves are portrayed almost as singular characters, akin to the Hero figures. Also, their fighter-mage niche is probably at least partially due to the fact that they can turn invisible in the wargame, and have a notable inclination for wielding magic swords (having special rules unique to them when wielding such weapons).

[@myrdelgonway5119]

@@goblinrat6119 that’s pretty cool! Thanks for sharing.

[@TheActionAce]

This is my current favorite RPG series on KZbin. I appreciate the obvious effort you have put into each video. I am going to be so sad when it’s over 😭

[@becmiberserker]

Wow, thanks! Try out my Known World Series if you haven’t already. I will eventually get to the modules.

[@Arthineas]

I really love that elf picture from the red box too. Of course it was drawn by most favorite artist of all time Larry Elmore 👍

[@wyattweber9983]

My first D&D character ever was an Elf played out of an old beat up Basic red box.

[@ericpaisley8501]

That is awesome.

[@mrmustachio6297]

I played a thief out of the same.

[@AXSLA3]

I know this goes off the scope of the character creation you are presenting, but I use to open the chance for my playing characters to have the options shown in Elves of Alfheim or Dark Elves Gazeteers if they had an elf character. Imagine there were two elves in the group. Upon reaching 10th level, one could opt to advance Attack Ranks while the other could decide of freezing these Attack Ranks and raise magical ability instead until peaking at 20th level magical ability as presented in the gazeteers just mentioned. Also allowing them to choose spells from the elven spell list instead of the Magic-Uer one, these lists (elven) mix-up M-U spells with clerical spells, allowing the elf to cover up more scope, now he can be a decent healer without being a cleric, and we are still under the BECMI rules.

[@matthewesch8758]

0:15 love that new logo!

[@becmiberserker]

Me too!

[@joeeager495]

I love how BECMI balanced classes over time instead of each level. Trying to balance at each level always means one or more classes suffer

[@probably_not_a_warlock]

Heh I mean they don't really balance over time either. Quadratic wizards linear fighters and all.

[@philipmorris9928]

The new Logo looks great!

[@ricardojuanlopeznaranjo6651]

Desdilen, a male Elf, was my first character, straight out of the Red Box, the first RPG translated to Spanish. He reached Level 4, defeating even a Minotaur along with Red Tiger, a Warrior, Raven, a female Cleric, "Grasshopper" a Halfling and Prosperus, the Magic User. Before retiring (he came back in ACKS 34 years later) he was able to collect a pair of boots of elvenkind paires with a similar cloack and Gauntlets of Ogre Power to help him wield his double handed Sword and his spells. Great class indeed.

[@becmiberserker]

What a great story!

[@Sanguivore]

Sounds like a really fun character! :D Boots of Elvenkind are epic!

[@YorkshireMatt]

I liked the Jim Phillips esk logo. New one looks great too.

[@EriktheRed2023]

I always liked the versatility of the elf class. Leveling a magic-user can be frustrating in early fights, where you have to conserve your spells and carefully stay out of the line of fire. Conversely, a fighter can feel a bit limited when there is no actual fighting going on - which is frankly the optimal scenario for low level adventurers. Elves can do a bit of both, and they can usually find a way to contribute in most cases. Clerics have a lot of this going on as well, but let's face it - magical spells are more fun. 😄

[@Jinks44]

Just wanted to say I love these videos. I started tabletop with 3.5 and the past year or two Ive gone back to the beginning as its more entertaining to me.

[@becmiberserker]

I’m always interested in people’s journey to old school when they started post 2nd edition.

[@Syndicate_01]

@@becmiberserker I started in 3.5 as well, about 20 years ago. Felt it was fun as a teen, especially considering most of my friends in high school who played with me were primarily Warhammer players, so the system lent well to complex combat with tons of fiddly numbers and whatnot. But after being dissatisfied with 5th, and having tried a bunch of other TTRPGs by that time, I decided it was time to look backwards into D&D's history. Apart from the rare 5th Ed one-shot that one of my BX players does (more as a party over her house in which we also happen to play D&D), I just personally don't have much desire to play or run any D&D version released later than 1st Ed or BECMI. Huge shout out to the retroclones - although I use the original books now too, the retroclones like OSE and OSRIC were essential in making this shift palatable to me and my players. I still struggle with the the formatting of some of the older texts (modules especially), so the re-stated versions serve as something as a missing link. They're vital to getting new people into those systems as stepping stones in my view, speaking as someone who's introduced well over a dozen 3.5/5th Ed players to Moldvay Basic via OSE (which i realize BECMI is a not entirely the same of course, though I have the RC and the DTRPG PDFs of the CMI books).

[@Denimwizard]

I was eager to see this video as i have been playing an Elf for three years now in OSE (BX clone). He is almost level 10 now and we are discussing using BECMI rules to allow him to advance further. I am not sure if we will use RAW or variant. Also you should talk about Record of Lodoss wars its an anime based on a BECMI game back in the 90’s.

[@CountLuciferLeviatha]

Love the new look! The elf is definitely a beefy wizard, and worth the wait to become powerful. One of my players is an elf and loves it. Last one is Halfling cannot wait for that to drop!

[@becmiberserker]

Not long to wait now.

[@tommo9757]

Blimey. I just came across this as a suggestion from YT. I have all the sets in a box in my garage, but I had completely forgotten about them! I have to say that the characters became so OP once you got to Masters level that being a DM became a serious pain. I only bought the Immortals set for completism. It was just a different game at that point!

[@becmiberserker]

Welcome to the channel!

[@meatballwanger]

This is the best thing I ever saw, but I miss the old logo.

[@anarionelendili8961]

The Elf exemplifies my biggest peeve about BECMI rules: The level-balancing between the character classes. Up to level 10, the Elf is equal in magic to the Magic-user, and not much behind the Fighter in combat potential (same THAC0 and AC, albeit possibly lower STR and HP, although the AC and missile THAC0 might be better for a ranged/DEX option). Saving throws blow both of the others out of the water. There is clearly the BEST character class to play, and that is the Elf. By contrast, the Magic-user is the redheaded stepchild who often gets assigned to lantern-carrying duties since they have just a few spells (or even just one). Sleep is a HUGE equalizer, but they can only fire it off once per day, assuming they even have it. And as said above, the Elf can have Sleep too, while also being able to mix it up in Melee if they have to. However, play a high-level, 20+, game, and the situation is very different. Now the Magic-user has dozens of spells, very powerful ones at that, while the Elf has clearly lagged behind magically. Sure, they are still capable, just that they clearly cannot match the Magic-user in magic, and they are also lagging behind the Fighter both in fighting ability and durability. Also, the saving throws of the fighter have become better, too. In short, if the campaign is expected to happen on levels 1-10, you clearly have the bad option (magic-user) and the good option (elf). Other demihumans get plenty of special abilities, too. There is no reason not to play a Dwarf instead of a Fighter if the campaign is expected to cover levels up to 12. To put this in other words: Thanks to this unbalance between the character classes, the player who choose a magic-user will be punished with a boring character at low levels, with the promise of greater potential at somewhere in the future. Whereas demihuman characters rule at low level campaigns, but if the campaign continues, then they get punished by running into a brick wall, advancement-wise (sure, the skill slots and the attack ranks help, but you know what I mean). It would be much better if the classes were better balanced so that the magic-user can feel useful at low levels, too (save for one or two Sleep spells), while the demihumans get nerfed a bit at low levels but then have advancement at higher levels. In our house-rules, we started from the no-level cap optional rule in RC, but I also rewrote the Saving Throw progression for demihumans.

[@swirvinbirds1971]

Except for the fact you rolled your characters and didn't choose your class. Stat Requirements for the class meant fewer characters qualified to even play one making one rare. The problem is people stopped actually rolling up their characters.

[@anarionelendili8961]

@@swirvinbirds1971 Sure, you might roll poorly and not have the minimum requirements, 9+ in one stat (except for a Halfling). The chance of that is about 37.5%, so call it one in three, leaving the majority, 62.5% (~ 2-in-3) able to play an Elf or a Dwarf. However... The minimum requirement for an Elf is INT 9+. So if you have the INT to make a good Magic-user, you have the INT for an Elf. And usually, for a Fighter, you want STR and CON, same abilities as you want for a Dwarf. So in practice, if you have the rolls to play a Magic-user, no reason you wouldn't pick an Elf instead, or a Dwarf instead of a Fighter.

[@dartanionbrallk9805]

Another good one. Love playing an elf. Thanks for the refresher.

[@phildicks4721]

Once I got my Rules Cyclopedia years ago and started running BECMI Games, I used the optional rules it had for allowing human and demihuman characters to reach level 36. Even though Elves kinda got a little more powerful(more spells), it didn't affect my game much. Then again, most of my players would get bored when their characters reached about 15th level and would semi retire them to create new character. Every once in awhile I would run adventures for the higher level semi retired character. I think that when the group broke up, most of the group was around level 24, and begining to consider if they wanted to strive to become Immortals.

[@becmiberserker]

Nice sounding campaign!

[@Gaurelin]

Another great video, and the new look is fantastic! The first character I ever rolled (over Christmas break in '83) was a Red Box Elf, named Fleetwynd. He made it to about midway between 2nd & 3rd level before he died to a trap which dropped him into a pool of magma. It was absolutely the idea of playing a "swordmage" character which drew me to the class, and it remained a favorite trope, as I have played many multi-classed elf PCs in the various iterations of AD&D over the years.

[@becmiberserker]

Thank you. Poor Fleetwynd. Good times though I’m sure. Sometimes it’s the short sharp careers that we remember most poignantly.

[@Gaurelin]

@@becmiberserker Well, it was the incident which inspired me to start my own GMing career, as there was neither a saving throw, nor any means of avoiding his fate offered me by the DM, as he was angry with me for something out of game. I thought, "I could do this better, and more fairly than he does." and set out to do so. FWIW, I am indebted to him, and as we were all around 12-13 years old, I think he can be forgiven for being a bit childish. 😉

[@matthewesch8758]

27:58 no, not repetitive. I thought it was a good balance between the information needed without redundancy.

[@anarionelendili8961]

Ghoul Paralysis I don't have any sources to back this up, but my guess is that this is coming from the Lord of the Rings, Legolas being unafraid of the ghosts of the Paths of the Dead.

[@EriktheRed2023]

Legend has it that it comes from wargaming. Elf units were very powerful and expensive, and therefore few. When someone came up with an undead ghoul and gave it a paralysis ability, the elves were particularly hard hit (no pun intended), as large percentages of their side would end up paralyzed by the much cheaper ghouls. So they patched the rules to deal with that, and since then elves have been resistant to ghoul paralysis.

[@anarionelendili8961]

@@EriktheRed2023 Makes sense.

[@solomani5959]

I like the race as class as it really differentiates the demihumans from humans and explains why humans are so successful.

[@becmiberserker]

Indeed. If you combined improved versatility with the lifespans of demihumans, they would obviously be running things. That actually sounds like a great campaign idea. Oppressive demihuman regimes keeping the poor human down. Hmmm.....

[@solomani5959]

@@becmiberserker the Netflix movie bright has something like this. The elves were manipulating things in the background the entire time.

[@rasvyn]

Loving the new Berserker!! And of course, awesome video, as always.

[@anarionelendili8961]

My main house-rule for an Elf: Change bonus abilities to INT and DEX: fits better the idea of graceful, slender, relatively small, archer & magic focused fighter. Also, reduces overlap with the Dwarf and the Fighter.

[@becmiberserker]

I like it. The link to Fighter Combat Options kind of forced the requirement for high strength, but it seems out of step with the image of a graceful elf.

[@anarionelendili8961]

@@becmiberserker Not really? The only option where high STR is very useful (apart from just having a higher bonus) is Smash. By contrast, high DEX helps with Disarm. So the high-level Elf Lord is less likely to just Smash the opponent, but Disarms him, again fitting with the graceful elf style.

[@becmiberserker]

@@anarionelendili8961I think I crossed the wires. 🙂 I meant to say I like your suggestion.

[@solarus2120]

Loving the new font, and images. Will you be covering the Mystic class as part of Let's Roll? It wasn't a Red Box class, but it is in the RC.

[@becmiberserker]

Yup. The Mystic and Druid will get honourable episodes.

[@justjunk3803]

After watching both of your videos on demihumans, I was inspired to try to apply the same old-school concepts to demihumans in my game to make them seem more mysterious and interesting: They're rare, with most Human cultures in the world not even believing they exist, and it's only possible to roll one if you're in a part of the world where they live, so only Elves are available at the beginning of the adventure due to the party's proximity to a magical forest they reside in. I also made it more difficult for them to speak languages, with the benefit of being able to communicate some intentions and meaning empathetically to other creatures through magic. So they're effectively mute, but very expressive beings, especially towards their allies. I always thought the odd "secret class" in a game was a very enticing concept.

[@becmiberserker]

From just how you frame this, your world is already becoming more interesting and raising positive questions. Love it!

[@echoarty8123]

Hello there! Great Videos, since I was mostly caught up shortly after Xmas, always looking forward to the next one. Left B/X when the BECMI system was taking over, so didn't fully realize the differences (or probably thought why bother when AD&D was there) and moved fully to AD&D. After several years left The whole TTRPG world behind, but have been making my way back for a few years now. Sad to see what has become of the modern versions, but always have the older (and better 🤣) versions at hand. And rediscovering what I had missed with the BECMI system is great. Keep up the great work!

[@becmiberserker]

Thank you.

[@Sanguivore]

What a great series! Thank you for making these. :D

[@spartaninvirginia]

I like the new logo.

[@mykediemart]

Great overview.

[@albertcapley6894]

As far as in lore explanations the oldest version I know of is that Doresain is the first ghoul, and blah blah blah, eventually seeks the aid of the elven gods on account that Doresain used to be an elf, and they take pity on him, but also wrangle the elf immunity from ghoul paralysis out of the deal... Which... Leave a bit to be desired as an explanation, IMO, but it works well enough unless the ins and outs of it become somehow relevant to a particular module or campaign, also IMO, lol.

[@robbabcock_]

Great video! And the new look/logo is pretty sharp!🧝⚔🪄

[@lobomarks007]

My favorite class Great job 💪🏻🐺

[@Frolmaster]

Love the new art! Is that yours? Its very good! If its not, you should credit the artist who made it!

[@becmiberserker]

Thank you. I have credited the artist in the description of the video, which will remain persistent. I might do a quick short though…

[@EriktheRed2023]

Whoah, that's a very realistic berserker right there! 😀 Edit: I know you warned us, but I was still surprised!

[@magus2342]

Playing the Elf is like playing nearly anything else in basic. The PC arrogantly attacks a foe, gets a short sword to the side, immediately dies. On the other hand, if you get lucky, then you become a real powerhouse for a long time!

[@andrewhaldenby4949]

Fantastic series ty!

[@becmiberserker]

Thank you!

[@steveyoungwork]

As usual very informative!

[@becmiberserker]

Ah! I have been waiting for you to show up. THIS IS THE GUY WHO DID THE ART! I’ve been congratulated several times on the artwork but the real credit goes to @steveyoungwork for some wonderful artwork and logo production. It’s obviously much appreciated by the community, as well as me. Thanks again!

[@steveyoungwork]

@@becmiberserker Thanks BECMI It was fun and a pleasure doing it!

[@anarionelendili8961]

That berserker is definitely on some mushrooms.

[@becmiberserker]

🤣

[@Phsstpok]

this elf will not so much firing from range for a few levels, but will order her elven archer squad to open fire... charisma 18... wow...

[@becmiberserker]

Anyone who calls Charisma a dump stat isn’t doing it right.

[@Phsstpok]

yeah, I guess the main reason would be that all of the other skills have one way or the other to affect combat. INT and WIS at least from the divine or arcane magic perspective. Plus, WIS as spell save and INT for languages/skills. But CHA orginally had no impact for the one thing people needed specific numbers and were interested when you were young - combat. And the reaction roll as a measurement of haggle, persuasion, deception, as any interaction even after a roleplayed situation would have been beneficial in filtering player acting through the abilities of the character.. just as you would with the high INT of a wizard compared with the low IQ and knowledge of the player. Sure, it determines the retainers, but - I don't know how it was with you back then - we were jealously guarding our treasure - magic items, gold pieces and experience - and would have rather died than to share it with npcs. This combined with the experience that often npcs were revealed as the enemy within led to a certain paranoia which left us without retainers and therefore CHA without an impact. At the same time we struggled and cursed the laughable adventure modules with 6-10 characters level x-y. 6-10 players?! How we were supposed to find these, let alone play with them. That it wasn't players but characters we neatly overlooked. I think one of the better revisions of later editions was the attempt to detach willpower from WIS and connect it with charisma as "force of personality". That way some features of classes were able to be based on CHA, like turning undead. But they went overboard with it. All in all, I think it would have been better, when TSR would have published more on how to use the existing rules creatively than rewriting them and introducing more elaborate rules systems.

[@williamlong4909]

very nice

[@AXSLA3]

Nice new logo!

[@becmiberserker]

Thanks!

[@johndoucette6085]

You made an error when talking about Prime Requisite bonuses - you said if an elf had STR 13 and INT 16 they would NOT qualify for the +10% bonus, but that is incorrect. As the chart shows, they would qualify.

[@becmiberserker]

I just re-read the chart and you’re right! The Strength only needs to be 13-18 and the Intelligence had the 13-15 and 16-18 criteria. This appears to be a change from the Basic Red Box, but happy to be corrected again. Another one of those things that I read a million times and glanced over. I’ll edit this out of the video. Thanks.

[@FelipeVerdugodaSilva]

I love your videos : ) BUT......I am mega curious to see you tackling the Halfling next, not gonna lie. BTW, have you heard, seen or played the CAPCOM Arcade D&D games? Honestly, the best Mystara games there is, IMHO.

[@becmiberserker]

I used to play them as a kid. 🙂

[@davidbrennan660]

Nice new avatar BB.

[@ShadowRadiance]

Ooh new graphic

[@StarkMaximum]

Hey Zerker, I've got an odd question for you. Let's say I'm interested in running a campaign that's very "slice of life", for lack of a better term. Combat to an absolute minimum, barely even going out to adventure, just rolling up some fantasy characters, inhabiting a fantasy city, and just embodying that life for a few hours each week. It's just the day to day life of mundane conflicts and little victories, with elves and dwarves and magic and stuff. Do you think BECMI would make a decent backdrop for that, or do you think it might make a few too many assumptions that you're going to be fighting and adventuring and getting treasure?

[@becmiberserker]

Hello. Due to your campaign seeming very character driven rather than combat driven, I think BECMI can be a wonderful edition to support this. With so little focus on ‘the build’ in terms of optimisation, it’s the character that determines the difference between…erm…characters. Also, the Gazetteer series offers wonderful cultural elements that can be added to any campaign. So, you could have cultural quarters to your own city design. I hope this helps.

[@anarionelendili8961]

BECMI can work, like he says. I would very much encourage taking a good look at the skill rules in the Rules Compendium, as they become quite important if you are running a more non-fighty campaign. If levelling up is not going to be a big issue, you might want to increase the number of skills a bit, and ensure that everyone has a 'profession' skill that they use to make ends meet.

[@Sonicracer100]

If you don't mind me asking, what house rules do you use? Do you use all of them in your games? And how often do your players have characters that die.

[@becmiberserker]

I'll be making a video about this in the next few weeks.

[@dagdamar2000]

For me it made no logical sense why at 10th level elves can not gain any more spells but can progress as a fighter. So I just kept the progression going for both.

[@becmiberserker]

The options in the Alfheim Gazetteer does a great job of this.

[@dagdamar2000]

Picked it up after watching this vid. Have not finish reading it yet, so that is cool. I wonder how close I got to the actual rules@@becmiberserker

[@batou1976]

So does BECMI not have half-elves? If not, has anyone homebrewed one? 🤔

[@becmiberserker]

I believe there was a half elf option published in a Dragon Magazine article. Can’t remember which one.

[@brentnorton1602]

So will you do The Five Shires book before The making a Halfling video.

[@becmiberserker]

Probably not, as I still have Northern Reaches to do and there's no point stopping this series to wait for The Five Shires.

[@wytchkraft3479]

Do elves still get immunity from ghoul paralysis in BECMI?

[@williammoore9794]

Yes.

[@TheLordUrban]

So I think you might be misinterpreting alignment for this edition. It’s not so much a reflection of a character’s personality as a statement concerning their allegiance to cosmic metaphysical forces.

[@becmiberserker]

I think that’s more the AD&D perspective. I talk about this in my Alignment in BECMI video.