"Don't take elves cause if they die you can't use the standard Raise Dead spell on them to bring them back. "

I read this on an IWD game forum and wonder if this is true. I have an Elf Thief/Mage and I believe the only options are for an Elf or Half Elf. Or is this hogwash?

Can't you just reload anyway?

In some of the earliest D&D stuff, elves couldn't be raised. However, in almost all of the later stuff as well as the games, this silly restriction is ignored. Elves get raised just like everyone else. I haven't played IWD1 in a long time but I don't ever remember any problems with resurrection spells. None of the other Infinity Engine games have this restriction, though it shows up in some of the game text (which is largely just copy/pasted from D&D manuals). It's possible (though highly unlikely) that there's an actual in-game restriction, but that wouldn't stop you from reloading.

I generally reload if one of my party members dies in any party-based game.

Raise dead doesn't work on elves (it works on half-elves however), you need the resurrection spell.
While you only need 9 cleric levels (225,000 XP) or a scroll which costs 600 gp to raise dead you need 14 cleric levels (1,350,000 XP) to cast resurrection or have to pay a temple which gets extremely expensive as you level up.

But if your character doesn't die it's no problem, powerword reload works well.

Thanks. I have an Elf Thief/Mage and gave him proficiencies in bows and staves. I wanted to go with both points in bows but the game would not allow it, so I picked staves for a lack of knowledge. I see now that elves get +1 in both bows and longswords and wonder if I should try to reroll and use longswords instead. But man, it took FOREVER to get the sweet roll I ended up with. And a stave does seem more fitting for this type of character. Thoughts? Do staves totally suck? This is in a 4 person party with a Cleric, a Paladin, and a Ranger.

Staves are ok for your most vulnerable character, thanks to the long range you don't have to step close and draw fire, you can backstab with staves and will meet quite some monsters which are more vulnerable to blunt than to slashing weapons in chapter one.

He gets a new weapon proficiency every 4 thief levels so he'll be able to get proficient in large swords and even more weapon types.