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

[Parmandur]

Well, now THERE we agree. GURPs, the Hero System, and Chaosium pioneered the separation of "here are the mechanics" and "here is the setting" back in the 1980s. D&D *still* hasn't joined that revolution. PHB provides classes, races and spells suitable for play in the Forgotten Realms, and easily adjusted for Greyhawk. Not so easily adjusted for Middle Earth where "wizard" means something very different (and arguably not suited for PCs), and "cleric" should connect with Valar and/or Maiar rather than with Pelor or Lavanthar.

But, that isn't what people want from the game.

 

[Mouseferatu]

I do not get this. At all.

I've played every single numbered edition, as well as BECMI. I've familiarized myself with every SRD, for professional reasons.

I see nothing--nothing--that makes 5E any harder to customize, or "bakes in" any more 5E flavor, than in any prior edition. And in fact it's easier to customize than some.

 

[Riley37]

Drow don't map to the standard 3e elf.

Asked and answered!

On one hand, that's an improvement, insofar as 5E offers one more option.

On another hand, I dislike some of Gygax's decisions when he created the drow in the "Against the Giants" series, much as I dislike the color-coding of draconic alignment... but that's not really a 5E-specific issue.

 

[Riley37]

But, that isn't what people want from the game.

There's consensus on what "people" - all seven billion of them - want from the game?

Whether by "the game" you mean 5E, or all the editions through 5E, I disagree. Many people have wanted many different things from D&D. Many of them have achieved the things they wanted, often by creating variations, such as Spelljammer. Others created separate games, such as Empire of the Petal Throne, or Tunnels and Trolls.

There are things I want from TRPG, and things I want from D&D, and things I want from 5E. If what I want, isn't what you say people want from the game... does that mean I'm not in the category of "people"?

(shrug) This is a bigger question than the OP. I'm happy that the Blessing is available, in a WotC publication, for those who choose to use and include it. Meanwhlle, I'm free to pursue different and divergent things, using as much of the 5E chassis as suits me and my goals. If I want Vancian magic, or if I want Hogwarts style magic, then I'll change the interaction of spell preparation and spell slots; I'm okay with that.

My point was that 5E is not nearly so setting-neutral as a dictionary, nor as Fantasy Hero, nor many other books. (If you don't want to consider books by publishers other than WotC, then leave the dictionary out of this thread, eh?)

 

[Yaarel]

Only present in the cleric class, which was also in 3e and which you stated expressly you had no trouble dropping.

3e supports nonpolytheistic settings and nonpolytheistic clerics. 3e clerics can fit seemlessly into most settings. The 4e cleric was the problem that got extirpated. Even so, the rest of 4e is very easy to build campaigns like lego pieces.

 

[Warpiglet]

The biggest issue is when something becomes a standard assumption. Some few elves are like corellon? Guarantee not a person in my group would choose the option. However, it's a select few or so I hear. That is easily ignored or accepted.

Dwarves in your setting are 7 feet tall and hate conflict? That is going to get push back. Options are fine by my warrior prince sometimes turns into a princess (because all elves do it?) not acceptable. We could house rule it but if everyone you encounter expextsygis it changes the game.

Yes we can change it back but it's nice if we have some basic assumptions intact in my opinion.

 

[Hussar]

What is the cost to me?

The part of D&D tradition that I care about now lacks support. The inflexibility of core rule mechanics, the baking-in of core rule flavor, and the lack of customizability generally, require me to rewrite the 5e rules. Because of this and other issues, the necessary amount of rewrite is formidable. Currently, I have aborted a strong effort to rewrite. But it isnt worth it. D&D is no longer fun for my play style. And the effort required to make it fun is no longer appealing.

I have lost D&D.

Because of failing to allow for personal preferences, the 5e designers have murdered 20 years of a game that I once loved.

But, it's already been pointed out to you, repeatedly, that the "D&D tradition" that you care about NEVER EXISTED. D&D elves NEVER were strong Magic Users. Not in core anyway. IIRC, your other major issue was with clerics, another element that was never actually part of the game.

It often baffles me how people can get so wrapped up in their own interpretations of the game that they are completely incapable of understanding that these are simply their own idiosyncratic interpretations of the game and not what the game actually says.

 

[Hussar]

By this point, I hope you realize I was never talking about the 3e high elf. I am talking about support for certain other elf subraces.

But, those sub races were never part of the SRD. You needed to go into setting specific material (namely Forgotten Realms) to use Sun Elves.

 

[Hussar]

3e supports nonpolytheistic settings and nonpolytheistic clerics. 3e clerics can fit seemlessly into most settings. The 4e cleric was the problem that got extirpated. Even so, the rest of 4e is very easy to build campaigns like lego pieces.

How so? The Greyhawk gods were baked directly into the 3e ruleset. You were presumed to be using a polytheistic setting, same as its been presumed since day 1 of D&D. Your 3e cleric had to choose domains, same as 5e.

Really, really not seeing the problem here.

How is this any different from 5e?

 

[TwoSix]

I liked it better when dwarven women didn't shave their beards....

That's between you and your personal deity, friend.