D&D 5E MTOF: Elves are gender-swapping reincarnates and I am on board with it

[Jester David]

The rules are there to balance the gameplay.

You don't need rules or stats to tell a cooperative story.

The rules are there for adding random chance and variable success to the narrative. No every RPG is “balanced” like D&D

 

[TheCosmicKid]

I thought that was Moorcock, not Mieville. Or did they both hit the same point? In any case, I am usually a fan of variations on a theme.

I don't think we really needed a critique by an insightful writer to point out that Hobbits are rural Englishmen. Is the Pope Catholic? No idea, let's go see if Neil Gaiman has written anything about the matter!

 

[Sunseeker]

The rules are there for adding random chance and variable success to the narrative. No every RPG is “balanced” like D&D

No, that's what the dice are for.

And random chance isn't really useful for producing a narrative.

That's why so many of the rules exist to mitigate the disastrous effects random chance has on creating a story.

 

[JPL]

I don't think we really needed a critique by an insightful writer to point out that Hobbits are rural Englishmen. Is the Pope Catholic? No idea, let's go see if Neil Gaiman has written anything about the matter!

I'm oversimplifying . . . his point was more that hobbits are a romanticized version of pre-industrialized simple salt of the earth folk, as romanticized by an academic who didn't have much experience with / insight into actual rural folk.

All of which I find interesting (like much of what Mieville says), but I guess it's a little far afield from the point I was trying to make, which is just that the Shire and second breakfasts and pipeweed are all pretty well-worn concepts, and I've appreciated the attempts to do something different with halflings.

Yet having said that, this business in the new book puts a new twist on the cliches by doubling down on them, and saying, maybe it's the blessing of the gods that these little communities of little people manage to live quiet, happy lives amidst a multiverse of conflict.

 

[gyor]

My impression was that this was a change to the fundamental nature of all elves.

But you may want to tweet them for an official answer.

No its a minority of a minority who can physical change sex. Most Elves aren't The Blessed of Corellon, and only a few of the BOCL can physically change sex. But it can occur in any type of Elf.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Better yet, the winner gets to choose. For both.

Otherwise, this is cool!

I don’t think most Orcs would choose to be female: the metabolic costs, the increased vulnerability... that wouldn’t sit well with their mindset, as typically depicted.

If, OTOH, you followed through with your version, that would be an interesting subversion of Storm Constantine‘s Wraethu race as written.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

No its a minority of a minority who can physical change sex. Most Elves aren't The Blessed of Corellon, and only a few of the BOCL can physically change sex. But it can occur in any type of Elf.

IOW, BoCL is kinda the yang to the yin of becoming a Drider.

 

[gyor]

I don’t think most Orcs would choose to be female: the metabolic costs, the increased vulnerability... that wouldn’t sit well with their mindset, as typically depicted.

If, OTOH, you followed through with your version, that would be an interesting subversion of Storm Constantine‘s Wraethu race as written.

Think prison, it isn't a voluntary choice.

 

[Sunseeker]

IOW, BoCL is kinda the yang to the yin of becoming a Drider.

Didn't WotC announce in the recent Drow lore "update" that Lloth can bless men into women?

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Think prison, it isn't a voluntary choice.

In mine, it isn’t.

In Lanefan’s formulation, however, it’s an open question. But realistically, it would be exceedingly rare for a hermaphroditic Orc who wins the mating battle to choose to be female.