Elves in forgotten realms and 5e - what is the official source?

[Ancalagon]

Is there a need to know the precise origin and story for the elves, or rather aren’t conflicting, differing tales a good thing, as it represents the mythology of the people. If we are talking about something that happened several thousand years ago then I’d like a bit of mystery along the way. I definitely wouldn’t expect a PC to need to know a precise history.

Granted that history and myth could be vague...

But this is about *right now*. If an FR character is Eladrin, is she celestial or Fey? And if she's Fey now, how come she was celestial 20 years ago?

 

[UngainlyTitan]

Granted that history and myth could be vague...

But this is about *right now*. If an FR character is Eladrin, is she celestial or Fey? And if she's Fey now, how come she was celestial 20 years ago?

Ya know! one thing I am beginning to like about the use of Volo, Mordenkianen and Xanathar as the alleged writers of these sourcebooks, is that any changes in canon can be written off as the result of unreliable narrators and the DM as final arbiter of the Lore.

 

[gyor]

Granted that history and myth could be vague...

But this is about *right now*. If an FR character is Eladrin, is she celestial or Fey? And if she's Fey now, how come she was celestial 20 years ago?

Neither, playable 5e Eladarin are humanoids, Fey Eladarin are NPC only. Celestial Eladarin are only hinted at in the DMG for 5e and to lesser extent MTOFs.

In 4e all playable Elves, Gnomes, Drow, and Eladarin we're Fey along with Satyrs and Hamadryads, but I think that can be safely ignored as weird side effect of the spellplague reversed with the Sundering, except for Satyrs and Dryads of course.

 

[Ancalagon]

Neither, playable 5e Eladarin are humanoids, Fey Eladarin are NPC only.

I meant "origins".

 

[TheSword]

Granted that history and myth could be vague...

But this is about *right now*. If an FR character is Eladrin, is she celestial or Fey? And if she's Fey now, how come she was celestial 20 years ago?

That choice I would say comes down to the player and DM. Which would you prefer it to be?

- Celestial - your parentage comes from Arvandor/you were born and raised in Arvandor
- Fey - your parentage comes from the Feywild/you were born and raised there.

We know there have always been eladrin in both places.

 

[Demetrios1453]

That choice I would say comes down to the player and DM. Which would you prefer it to be?

- Celestial - your parentage comes from Arvandor/you were born and raised in Arvandor
- Fey - your parentage comes from the Feywild/you were born and raised there.

We know there have always been eladrin in both places.

This is the case even in 5e, as MtoF states that some eladrin have been accepted back on Arvandor by the Seldarine. These would presumably be the celestial versions that were in previous editions, even if they haven't been officially described as such in the current edition.

 

[cbwjm]

I wouldn't worry about Eladrin in your FR game. The Eladrin of 4e were used as the sun and moon elves from memory, both of which have reverted back to the high elf in 5e. You could cut out a lot of the elven subraces and just run with the high, wood, dark, and sea elf subraces. 5e FR seems to be much more in line with pre-4e FR, though it does retain some of the cooler aspects of 4e.

 

[Wrathamon]

They were fey in 3rd edition ... shadow fey from the plane of shadow. Shadow Fey / Shadow Elves. They got rid of the 4e version

 

[gyor]

They were fey in 3rd edition ... shadow fey from the plane of shadow. Shadow Fey / Shadow Elves. They got rid of the 4e version

They didn't get rid of the 4e versions, Raven Queen is from 4e originally, as is there ability to teleport with resistance to damage. Maybe even some of the other stuff. So the merged the 4e and 3e origins, they split the difference between fey and human origins, and made them elves, humaniods with Elven Ancestory.

I just wish they'd offered more advise on integrating 5e Shadar Kai with the previous lore, in 4e Shadar Kai we're a big deal in the FR setting, and even appear in 5e novels.

I would suggest that Prince Riven made a deal with the Raven Queen, in exchange for Shadar Kai souls being reincarnated into the bodies of new born babies born to human parents with a link to the Shadowfell, such as to Shadovar parents, Riven would open a door way into the FR shadowfell, so the Raven Queen could spread her influence in FR.

 

[SkidAce]

"Several thousand" in this case is actually 25,000 to 30,000 years before the present in the setting. That's several dozen elven generations, so no present day elf's grandparent could have seen it...

My bad, was going with several thousand being like one or two....carry on...