Eladrin, why?

[Wormwood]

It's not entirely fair to blame 4e on this since the love affair with elven sub-races started way back in 1e and blew out to ridiculousness in 2e. 3.x and 4e just continued the tradition.

Even I look back with embarrassment at 2e's elf fetishism.

 

[Matt James]

Since the dawn of D&D, elves had two conflicting identities:

- "Sylvan" elves, who were good with bows and wise in the ways of nature. This image stems from Legolas, the archetypcal elf in Lord of the Rings.

- "High" elves, who were chaotic and excelled with magic and sword. This image comes from Poul Anderson's stories, including Three Hearts & Three Lions and The Broken Sword.

Gygax was a fan of the second type of elf, but D&D players were fans of the first type. Over the years, many elf "subraces" cropped up to cover these: high elves, gray elves (Galadriel-inspired, perhaps?), wood elves, wild elves, etc.

When 4e rolled out, it was decided to make the distinction clearer and, in order to avoid "subraces", the "high" and "grey" elves became the eladrin.

Beat me to it, my friend!

 

[Dice4Hire]

I am very glad we only have three versions of elf in 4E.

3.5 with its one-elf to break every single rule got kind of annoying.

 

[Crazy Jerome]

And yet games like Character Law/MERP still created a separate "Half Elf" designation, making the benefit of virtual immortality be based on philosophy, alone. The physical aspects of the two paths, for a Half Elf, seemed to be the same. Or so one would take from reading the stories, that these games are based upon.

In mythology it tended to be a touch of Fey blood, that conveyed various benefits and penalties.

I have no objection to there being creatures in the game that are effectively "half elven" or "part elf" or "my great, great grandfather was an elf--and still is--and I guess I got a bit of that."

I do have an objection to using the "race" mechanic to model that, simply because it says "race" on the mechanic. It is already a relatively poor fit for modeling racial differences by blood as it is, but you can kind of see it for major delinations. But for "sort of elf", it is typically just a waste of space. If feats didn't conceptually remove the need for a "half-elf" race in 3E, the 4E backgrounds should have finished them off. Right now, it is running on inertia alone.

Ever heard the story of the grandmother that always cut about an inch off the roast when she cooked it. The daughter and granddaughter faithfully followed this practice, assuming it had something to do with the way the juices cooked, or the herbs got in, or something. They didn't really know. Then one day the granddaughter had the grandmother over for dinner, and fixed the fabled roast. The grandmother asked her why the ends were cut. The daughter was surprised and explained. The grandmother said, "I always cut them off because it didn't fit in the pot."

Half elves in 4E are roasts with the ends cut off for no good reason.

 

[Mengu]

I am very glad we only have three versions of elf in 4E.

Depends on how you count... There is Elf, Eladrin, Drow, Half-elf. Then there is Sun Elf, Moon Elf, Wild Elf, Wood Elf (respectively eladrin and elf variants). Then there are Revenant elves of all sorts. Then there is the short tricksy elves who call themselves gnomes, and the even shorter elves with wings, who call themselves pixies. If the tree hugging elf trope is not enough for you there is also now the tree hugger elf supreme, the Hamadryad, and the elf who grew barkskin and became the mobile tree, the Wilden. And while it's not a race per se, we can have vampire elves of all sorts, not to mention gypsy elves, and shadow elves, and christmas elves. You even have to be an elf to become a Sith Lord (though they use the elven spelling, Sidhe). I think we pretty much have elves coming out of our ears.

And here I thought humans were supposed to be the most diverse race... They are all turning werewolf these days. Yawn. At least their skin doesn't sparkle.

 

[Jools]

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).

Thats very interesting. What are the differences between these groups?

 

[Ryujin]

I have no objection to there being creatures in the game that are effectively "half elven" or "part elf" or "my great, great grandfather was an elf--and still is--and I guess I got a bit of that."

I do have an objection to using the "race" mechanic to model that, simply because it says "race" on the mechanic. It is already a relatively poor fit for modeling racial differences by blood as it is, but you can kind of see it for major delinations. But for "sort of elf", it is typically just a waste of space. If feats didn't conceptually remove the need for a "half-elf" race in 3E, the 4E backgrounds should have finished them off. Right now, it is running on inertia alone.

Ever heard the story of the grandmother that always cut about an inch off the roast when she cooked it. The daughter and granddaughter faithfully followed this practice, assuming it had something to do with the way the juices cooked, or the herbs got in, or something. They didn't really know. Then one day the granddaughter had the grandmother over for dinner, and fixed the fabled roast. The grandmother asked her why the ends were cut. The daughter was surprised and explained. The grandmother said, "I always cut them off because it didn't fit in the pot."

Half elves in 4E are roasts with the ends cut off for no good reason.

That may well be a discussion for 5e, where backgrounds are concerned, but that mechanic didn't exist when 4e was first released.

 

[Klaus]

Thats very interesting. What are the differences between these groups?

Bralani, Ghaele and Tulani are nobility titles among the eladrin. In the MM these three have different powers that suit their portfolio (autumn winds, winter and summer, respectively). The MM2 offered the coure of mischief and strife (another nobility title). The shiere are the knights-errant of the eladrin. The coure sprite familiar from Heroes of the Feywild is more like a minor fey attendant. The shiradi champion stands outside the eladrin hierarchy, answering directly to the Queen of Summer, and serve as her personal champions.

 

[Jools]

Bralani, Ghaele and Tulani are nobility titles among the eladrin. In the MM these three have different powers that suit their portfolio (autumn winds, winter and summer, respectively). The MM2 offered the coure of mischief and strife (another nobility title). The shiere are the knights-errant of the eladrin. The coure sprite familiar from Heroes of the Feywild is more like a minor fey attendant. The shiradi champion stands outside the eladrin hierarchy, answering directly to the Queen of Summer, and serve as her personal champions.

Thank you very much.

 

[Argyle King]

I'm glad half-elves are in 4E. It's by far my favorite race.