TheCosmicKid
Hero
Heaven forbid humans actually be good at stuff...
D&D 5E MTOF: Elves are gender-swapping reincarnates and I am on board with it
Yaarel
He Mage
I have played older editions.
The 1e grey elf enjoys a +1 Intelligence in a gaming system where in 1e a +1 to a mental ability score for a spell caster is considered broken even by 1e standards.
The 1e grey elf has extremely powerful intelligence.
The 3e grey elf is +2 Intelligence. (The Pathfinder elf, likewise, is +2 Intelligence.)
I remember the 3e sun elf, standard in Forgotten Realms and is +2 Intelligence and −2 Constitution. (It lacks Dexterity improvement.)
I remember the 4e eladrin elf, +2 Intelligence and +2 Charisma. Finally an elf that is actually is good at performance checks to write poetry, sing songs, charm others.
The 5e Players Handbook claims the mediocre intelligence of the high elf is the same thing as a grey elf and a sun elf. Fail.
The 5e elf sucks.
The AVERAGE 5e human gets +1 to all ability scores. The 5e elf is either average or crap.
The 5e grey elf is fail.
The 5e sun elf is fail.
The 5e eladrin elf is fail.
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MonsterEnvy
Legend
The Average human adventurer. Were did 5e Eladrin get +2 Int and +2 Cha.
Tales and Chronicles
Jewel of the North, formerly know as vincegetorix
In use the PHB elf stats for now because I have a new group I didnt want to change the basis too much, but in my usual games, I use the Aasimar base race with the addition of the elves subraces to create the kind of almost-angelic elven grace I seek.
You get:
+ 2 Cha (+1 another stat from the subrace)
Healing Hands
Resistance to 2 damage types
I add the Fey Ancestry trait.
MoonSong
Rules-lawyering drama queen but not a munchkin
Personally, I don't care. If this makes some people around happier, more power to them. As a DM I'm not interested into someone else's flavor, and if one player really felt pretty strongly about it, I would allow something like that anyway without needing a book to tell me I could. As a player I don't care as long as this isn't imposed on my character by the DM -and I'l never be desperate enough to allow a DM to intrude into my character anyway-. So overall I'm meh about this. This isn't something that would make MTOF a must buy for me, but it isn't a dealbreaker either. (I'm not getting the book either way, but I decided that long ago)
Sacrosanct
Legend
I don’t think you have played 1e, because this makes no sense at all.
delericho
Legend
Well... since, as you say, for most people gender and sex match, you'd expect that most characters who don't have a fixed sex would indeed be gender fluid.
Presumably, it will be like when Peter Capaldi regenerated into Jodie Whittaker and the Doctor's trousers magically changed size as well. Maybe elves use spandex in all of their tailoring?
Either that, or they just retain an almost identical build in both cases. That would explain why they don't change height or weight, and can't use this ability to help escape bonds, or similar.
TheCosmicKid
Hero
It might explain why they are often depicted wearing long, flowing robes.
The thing I loved most about the AD&D books - specifically the Monster Manual and Deities and Demigods - was that it gleefully ripped off just about every culture on Earth. Sure, like you said, the basics are rooted in European history and fantasy, but it quickly expanded beyond that. It made it clear without outright having to say it that AD&D was a fantasy game that could incorporate all cultures if the DM desired.
Agreed, but initially it was importing these ethnic monsters into a default setting that was still overwhelmingly Northern / Western European. As early as 1st Edition, it progressed to cover fantasy versions of Africa, Asia, etc. . . . Kara-Tur was surely a big step. And then over time, it's gotten to where many parts of Faerun are assumed to be ethnically diverse.
It's a bit like these live-action Disney remakes . . . "Beauty and the Beast" isn't historical Europe, it's Once Upon A Time in Fairy Tale Land. Why shouldn't there be a diverse cast? They even took a little baby step forward and let LeFou dance with a guy.
I'll mention that ever since I read China Mieville's criticism of Tolkien, I've wondered if halflings need shaken up a little. Mieville points out that hobbits are a romanticized version of a rural Englishman, with Bilbo in particular a sort of country squire / local gentry who enjoys "the simple life" without really doing any work. I like that the new book leans into it, and suggests that the gods have put a special protection on the halflings which seems to protect their little enclaves of burrows and fields and frequent meals. But I also like the attempts in 3rd and 4th edition to set up some alternate halfling cultures, crafty nomads without being just straight ripoffs of "gypsy" stereotypes.
