Eladrin, why?

[jonesy]

But 2E Eladrin were a group of beings, not a singular race. The 4E eladrin are closest to Ghaele Eladrin from Planescape (in look). So why not just use the Ghaele? Why get rid of all the variation?

 

[TerraDave]

The Eladrin have existed in all previous editions of D&D. They're just a player race now.

No

I think also that elves were both seen as aloof wizards and wild hunters and that it could be interesting to explore both types without having to look over the shoulder.

They are elves. 4E took the five classic elf subraces--high, grey, wild, wood, and dark--and turned them into three distinct races. High and grey elves merged into eladrin; wild and wood elves merged into 4E-elves; dark elves became (remained) drow.

To elaborate, "eladrin" elves in 4e are grey/high /magic/galadriel elves, while "elf" elves are wild/wood/legolas elves.

It also responds to a player complaint about 3e elves, who had wizard as a favored class but racially were much better rogues or rangers. With class restrictions removed in 3e, the old elf's niche as F/MU disappeared, and the racial abilities didn't offer any compelling reason to be take wizard levels.

Yes


I do agree/think that recycling the name eladrin was confusing and somewhat pointless. Recent changes--int bonus for elves--have also undermined the distinction. I have a very effective elf wizard in my party. With racial utilties, you could easily fold the eladrin back in, just allow them to choose fey step at level 2.

 

[havard]

Thanks for the feedback everyone!

To elaborate, "eladrin" elves in 4e are grey/high /magic/galadriel elves, while "elf" elves are wild/wood/legolas elves.

It also responds to a player complaint about 3e elves, who had wizard as a favored class but racially were much better rogues or rangers. With class restrictions removed in 3e, the old elf's niche as F/MU disappeared, and the racial abilities didn't offer any compelling reason to be take wizard levels.

I actually thought this was a design feature rather than a flaw in 3E. The fact that the ability score modifiers suggested a rogue/Ranger type and the favored class was Wizard meant that the Elf would indeed do well with either option, just as intended.

-Havard

 

[tuxgeo]

Here is one more minor distinction between 4E elves and eladrin, namely their normal place of residence, as follows:

With the introduction of the Feywild as a place of its own, there could be both "elves staying fey" and "elves gone to nature" -- with the "Eladrin" being the elven race who remained as fey as their race began, and still live in the Feywild, and the "Elves" being the elven race who started living almost completely in the prime plane, and who slowly modified their traits to fit more comfortably there.

 

[Siberys]

This isn't that odd considering other fantasy properties, either.

Frex, take the Elder Scrolls series of video games. Those have Altmer (High Elves, good with magic), Bosmer (wood elves, natury archers), and Dunmer (Dark elves, sorcerers, though these are more fire and less spiders). As I vaguely recall (could be wrong on this one), the Tamriel setting of these games was based on an early 90s 2nd edition campaign someone ran.

 

[caudor]

I was pleased with the inclusion of Eladrin, but it took me a few months before I discovered the correct pronunciation.

I've always had problems with getting the correct pronunciation of D&D terms.

 

[Dausuul]

I actually thought this was a design feature rather than a flaw in 3E. The fact that the ability score modifiers suggested a rogue/Ranger type and the favored class was Wizard meant that the Elf would indeed do well with either option, just as intended.

Actually, what it meant in practice was they were bad at one and only tolerable at the other. Lack of Int bonus + Con penalty = lousy wizard in 3.X; with that d4 hit die you really can't afford to take a -1 every level without some sort of compensation, and +1 to AC, Reflex, and touch attacks wasn't enough. When dwarves make better wizards than elves, something is seriously wrong. And gnomes blew elves out of the water.

Elves were okay as rogues or archer-rangers, as long as they didn't multi-class.

 

[Klaus]

But 2E Eladrin were a group of beings, not a singular race. The 4E eladrin are closest to Ghaele Eladrin from Planescape (in look). So why not just use the Ghaele? Why get rid of all the variation?

The variation is still there. You have bralani, ghaele, tulani (all in the Monster Manual), shiere (as a paragon path in PH2), coure (as a familiar in Heroes of the Feywild) and I brought back the shiradi in Heroes of the Feywild (formerly seen in the 3e Book of Exalted Deeds).

 

[Ryujin]

I think that Wil Wheaton said it best; "Elves are the Eladrins' hillbilly cousins." Take an Eladrin out of the Feywild, for 10,000 years or so, and you get an Elf. Same race. Same physical appearance. Less innate magic. You play an Eladrin if you want to be an inscrutable and mysterious otherworldly being.

... or if you just want to be superior to everyone else. Like Wil also said, "... because we deserve to look and feel pretty."

 

[Pour]

I like the idea of a teleporting race, but why do they have to look and feel almost exactly like elves? Other than the game mechanical features this race seems really unnecessary.

What have I missed?

-Havard

I kind of like them. They are what elves once were, before they sullied themselves in the mortal world. They are intimately linked to the Feywild, and fit the popular niche of high elf. Eladrin overlap elves in many ways all the same- but that's probably because they are the combined elves of past editions. It seems impossible to not represent that side of the elven ideal in D&D, though.

Had they wanted to kill another sacred cow, which I often times advocate, I think they could have chosen wood elves as the only sort of elf, then named eladrin 'sidhe' outright, kept some of the angular, elven quality to them, but broadened the look as would befit mutable fey. One better, they could have rolled the sidhe and changeling into one race (I actually did this in my home brew) and had the beautiful/tall/aloof/nearing alien look largely decided by the individual player- whether elven, horned, albino- while at the same time giving more love and identity to the doppelganger race.