D&D (2024) No Dwarf, Halfling, and Orc suborgins, lineages, and legacies

[Remathilis]

Used to be. I think this is either the actual solution, or it is at least going to be mine.

Before, Elves could change shape, their form was magical. After the whole fight between the Elven Gods, that ability was taken away.

But it didnt happen immediatly. As the Elven diaspora moved out into the multiverse, they adapted, magically, to their new environments.

And that is why Sea Elves, are biologically distinct from Wood Elves, are biologically distinct from Astral Elves, are biologically distinct from Drow.

Because Elves were once magical, and as they went out to the multiverse, they adapted, before that ability was lost.

#ScribeCanon.

The blurb on elves in the Multiverse from Mordenkainen basically says this. Elves were shapechangers once, but Corellon locked them into their forms as punishment for Lolth's rebellion. They adapt to their surroundings, but it takes generations to do that. A dark elf doesn't become a high elf for leaving the underdark maybe a dozen generations later his descendants might.

 

[Mecheon]

Green skin etcetera is ethnicity.

Yes, Elves use magic to gain gills. They can use magic to gain wings. They can use magic to gain solid eyes. They can use magic to get spiderweb skin markings. They can use magic to have long ears or human ears. They use magic.

That was in the past, now is purely biological

If I use shapechanging magic to turn into a Tyrannosaurus rex and deliver a 35,000 newton bite to a target, that's not a magical attack. That's physical.

They have gills because Elves are shapechangers. Using magic to shapechange.

No. That's wrong. Aquatic elves are a seperate species. They can't shapechange. Unless they're the Dragonlance ones, but those ones can't change into water breathing creatures given they've got dolphins and otters as their forms, and very specifically can't shapechange from an air-breathing elf form to a water breathing one.

The only thing that defined Elf is that there are over a hundred different kinds of them.


The flavor of magic and spellcasting is what allows all of these kinds of elves to be true − and still part of one same species. While avoiding a racist worldview.

Look, I gotta be completely honest with you, elves are not the ones with the racism problem and this "Everything is spells now" is convoluted, doesn't really work, erodes away the sole interesting bit of flavour, and just makes things more complicated where it doesn't have to be.

I see no benefit. I see no avoiding of a racist worldview. I just see overcomplication for overcomplication's sake.

 

[FrozenNorth]

The blurb on elves in the Multiverse from Mordenkainen basically says this. Elves were shapechangers once, but Corellon locked them into their forms as punishment for Lolth's rebellion. They adapt to their surroundings, but it takes generations to do that. A dark elf doesn't become a high elf for leaving the underdark maybe a dozen generations later his descendants might.

That explanation just doesn’t work with creatures that each live 700 years.

 

[Hussar]

That explanation just doesn’t work with creatures that each live 700 years.

Well, it does work, it just takes a REALLY, Really long time.

 

[Remathilis]

That explanation just doesn’t work with creatures that each live 700 years.

Well, it does work, it just takes a REALLY, Really long time.

Correct. We are talking about a change that is measured in geological ages.

That said, elves reach physical maturity in their 20s and full adulthood at 100. If we assume there are no "pregnant teen" elves, a generation would come every 100 years which is slow but after a thousand years, you could have several generations.

 

[CreamCloud0]

That explanation just doesn’t work with creatures that each live 700 years.

i feel like it would make more sense if there was a line about how all the elf groups took on their current subspecies adaptations in the last moments of having their shapechanging taken away, them adapting to their environments and becoming set in those forms,

 

[Jer]

i feel like it would make more sense if there was a line about how all the elf groups took on their current subspecies adaptations in the last moments of having their shapechanging taken away, them adapting to their environments and becoming set in those forms,

It also works if you just decide that elves are creatures of magic, biological evolution does not apply to them, and the children of the first generation were just born with their new environment impressed on them. Especially when the source of all of it is a curse being imposed on them by their god.

 

[TwoSix]

The blurb on elves in the Multiverse from Mordenkainen basically says this. Elves were shapechangers once, but Corellon locked them into their forms as punishment for Lolth's rebellion. They adapt to their surroundings, but it takes generations to do that. A dark elf doesn't become a high elf for leaving the underdark maybe a dozen generations later his descendants might.

It doesn't say "generations" in the blurb. It says "That blood [Corellon's] is what causes them to evolve after spending centuries (emphasis mine) connected to a particular environment..."

To my mind, an equally likely reading is that any particular elf will change over time to adapt to their environment; a wood elf who spends centuries in a elven city will (or can) change into a high elf; one who resides in the Underdark will gradually become a drow.

I feel this conception goes along with @Yaarel's "magically mutable" narrative; I personally like this idea better, because I think it creates more interesting narratives about elven identity.

But considering how relatively new that blurb from MotM is, I don't think any one interpretation is actually canon now. It's all going to have to be decided for your particular campaign.

 

[CreamCloud0]

It also works if you just decide that elves are creatures of magic, biological evolution does not apply to them, and the children of the first generation were just born with their new environment impressed on them. Especially when the source of all of it is a curse being imposed on them by their god.

i mean that's a pretty similar concept just pushed back a little to it happening to their offspring rather than the first elves themselves, but it being one big change pretty much all at once near the start that then is pretty much set in place for future generations.

 

[Epic Meepo]

Tangent: How exactly is Corellon chaotic good? He's cursed an entire species of his own creation multiple times just because he's having a fight with his ex; he hangs out with a demigod whose entire portfolio is genocide; and he's demolished a populated continent in the Forgotten Realms just to create some primo real estate for his buddies. I'm starting to think Gruumsh was the good guy in the mythical Corellon v. Gruumsh showdown.

To bring it back on topic: Why are the drow the only default elf lineage not under Corellon's thumb? I mean, is Corellon the only deity who can create elves? Multiple deities have created humans, after all. Why can't there be more lineages of elves who have no connection at all to Corellon and his crimes against nature shenanigans?