In fantasy settings in general, I have always felt that Humans always feel strangely weak or like odd compared to the other typical races. Example, Elves. Typically they live forever, have extreme wisdom and intelligence, etc. Humans? Live for like 70 years and usually? Usually have less physical prowess, mental prowess? So what exactly allows a human to excel beyond other races or rather, what would be a trait of a human that other races would envy?
Mediocre at everyting + decent adaptability + relatively high reproduction rate.
Wouldn't elves or even dwarves reproduce in basically the same way and same capacity? Or is it more that a human would come of age sooner? Like what the hell would a 18 year old elf even be like? Basically an infant effectively?
>Like what the hell would a 18 year old elf even be like?
180 or 1800 year old.
110-115 years I think
>what the hell would a 18 year old elf even be like?
Like a human 18 year old, but when adults of your kind live centuries or millenia, then there is a higher level of expected maturity and intellectual development placed on an individual to be considered "Adult"
>what the hell would a 18 year old elf even be like?
really hot and still legal
I'd say that Elves 'mature' at a slower rate. The 'coming of age' at... What? 16? 17? Maybe as early as 14 or 15? (Dad went bankrupt and I had to get a job) Happens for Elves in their early twenties. Then their maturation slows down immensely. Or at least, that's what I do.
My headcanon for all elves in any setting is that they're more concerned with magic and nature n shiet than worldly material affairs, so reproduction, land acquisition, etc are only undertaken when necessary. Basically Kant's ideal human who's just an autistic superhuman of pure reason. They have better things to do than mindlessly frick and war all day, and thus would be right to look down on lesser races that do so.
Based although you replied to a botspam thread and probably don't play games
I can't speak for all these "settings" you're going on and on about, but in my fantasy games, humans aren't weak by comparison to other races, and are sometimes the only playable race.
Lifespan isn't a factor in my games, because gameplay only pertains to heroes who are healthy and able to maintain a lifestyle of constant battle and exploration.
My elves tend to not be "like humans but" like those numerous "fantasy settings" you're referencing; they're more ephemeral and closer to personified concepts than living animals in a society.
All the playable options in my games tend to be around similar levels of power; instead of a "plus one strength", one of my races may have horns to assist in rushing attacks.
You could make anything the way you want; maybe other races envy humans for superior rotator cuffs or the dexterity to tinker with fine tools. Maybe humans are envied for their ability to unify the other races, glib tongues, generosity, etc. Maybe humans have God-given providence to rule, with unique clerical powers associated with their station.
There's tons of shit you can do, that doesn't have to fit into "colloquial perception" or how people think it "should" be done.
I have also kind of considered humans to be able to be a bit more care free I guess. Since humans live for a shorter amount of time, you have fewer humans in top rank positions(kings etc) living forever and never changing shit. I imagine elf kings are probably complete fricking aids to deal with with. Especially if you have a bad one. Imagine a bad king that lives for 3000 years or some shit? Sounds complete ass. At least with a human king, that mother fricker will be dead in by the time he is like 80.
People like to play humans, regardless of if they're boring or weak compared to the other races of the setting.
Regardless of the game or medium, the most played character race is always either going to be human or some type of elf.
I don't want to figure out the effects of high altitude airship flights on dwarves or elves and I'm too autistic to handwave it.
Humanity is the only species horny enough to frick everything.
>IN fantasy settings, what is the point of humans?
Relatability
furthermore
>fantasy castles are cool
>fantasy knights are cool
>fantasy kings and lords are cool
>fake vikings/ crusaders / real world culture X are cool
>playable human myth are cool
In the real world, God created humans to be caretakers of His footstool, and demons are furious they were given the divine form.
In Tolkien's legendarium, the origin of fantasy fiction, humans were created as free children of who's ostensibly God, unlike the elves and the dwarves who're forced to remain in the world they're bound to.
In my settings, they're the divine form given flesh, which is why orcs, dwarves, elves, and demons strive to diminish them.
They are the defacto protagonist race meant to simultaneously ground the setting, serve as a reference point and relatable/self insert.
I feel the exact same way.
Except I include elves, dwarves, orcs, etc in "human".
>IN fantasy settings, what is the point of humans?
You autistic homosexuals struggle to portray the generic human male fighter yet you always demand more esoteric and outre "interesting" races
>outre "interesting" races
I don't think I've ever heard of those.
What is an outre race?
Humans are industrious and technologically advanced.
Humans are the only species that takes concepts and ideas seriously enough to have advanced philosophy and politics. They are also the only ones that wage ideological and religious wars. And once they start with one of those they are practically unstoppable.