Tolkien's Elves

[ZephyrTR]

Sometimes I wonder how much people know DnD was based off of Tolkein's middle earth. For those that don't know, elves are a sundered race, which means they have many different tribes.

In the original Forgotten Realms Campaign book, they explored a series of elves not unlike Tolkein's elves, including Moon, Wood and Sun Elves, but the kind I found most interesting are the Sindar, or Gray Elves.

Does anyone use this race anymore, and, if so, how? Traditionally in DnD, they considered themselves the noblest of elves and were often powerful wizards, and usually uninterested in the goings on of other races.

In Tolkein mythology, they were the elves that did not make the full journey to Valinor, and so were not considered Light Elves (those that saw the light of the two trees) nor Dark Elves (those that refused to journey to the trees).

In a nod to Tolkein, I like to kind of think of them as somewhere between Elves and Drow, a contemplative and neutral folk, so I give them +2 to INT and CHA, among other things.

 

[Paul Strack]

If you wanted to do Tolkien's elves in 4E D&D, I think the simplest option is:

Noldorin (Light Elves) = Eladrin
Sindarin (Grey Elves) = Elves
Avari/Moriquendi (Dark Elves) = Drow

The above assumes that the Avari are "evil" somehow. Perhaps the evil Avari get their spider taint though worshiping Ungoliant or something. More friendly groups Avari (such as the Sylvan elves of Mirkwood) could be treated as Sindarin, since there was considerable intermingling of those two groups, at least in western Middle Earth.

While we are at it, I am pretty sure "Eladrin" is a nod to Tolkien's Eldarin (meaning Elvish).

 

[Zaphling]

Are you a 4e player? Just asking.

If so, I think the eladrins would rightly fit your descriptions here, the gray elves. They, gray elfs and eladrins, prefer using and playing with magic. And they are mostly neutral and don't care about what happens to the world, hence they mostly live in the feywilds unlike their 4e elf cousins.

 

[ZephyrTR]

I play a heavily customized 4th Ed, with my own 9 base races that don't include outsiders, like Eladrin (and yes a lot of old DnD material is a nod to Tolkein -- Halflings were reskinned hobbits, originally, cause of litigation. They appear as they do now because a race that doesn't like adventuring can't fit very nicely into an adventure RPG).

I suppose some of you don't remember the elven distinctions in 3rd ed, then? So you can see how I broke Elves up, this is what I have as my working draft:

Elves are broken down in to Vanyar (Fair Elves), Laiquendi (Wood Elves) and Silvan (Green Elves). All have the same stats, but slightly different ethics and virtues.

Drow are Avari, which doesnt make total sense since Tolkein avari aren't evil, but w/e

Half-Elves are now called by the quendi distinction Peredhil.

And I've brought back Gray Elves (Sindar) to 'replace' Eladrin (who should remain an outsider race IMHO) and they act as a morally ambiguous, more magically inclined elf, and can easily be reskinned as a Half-Drow!

I also snuck in Falmari as a way to bring back Aquatic Elves for my players to possibly bump into along their travels.

 

[Andrew D. Gable]

The way I understand it, I think a case could be made for making all the variant types of elves more of a "faction" division than a mechanical one. I'd think only the Noldor would be mechanically different, and even they IMHO would be a slight variation on the elf entry, redoing stat bonuses and such. Eladrin could be those elves which stayed in Valinor (I don't think they all left with Feanor?) or alternately minor Maiar. If that's the case, one could say that Gandalf was an eladrin, maybe...

 

[ZephyrTR]

I dont think I can count Gandalf as an Eladrin, and you're right -- most elves ought to just be a different shade of "Elf", which is what I've done for most.

I guess I was just trying to get a little more creative with Elves, who're one of the more popular races.

I gave Sindar a +2 INT and CHA, which I think is a neat twist. I don't like the idea of all elves being so nimble. Some of them are too contemplative, indoorsy types for that.

 

[ColonelHardisson]

(I don't think they all left with Feanor?)

No, they didn't. The elves that stayed in Aman were the Vanyar. The Vanyar were the elves who traveled to Aman right away, with no hesitation, and were descended from the first elf to awaken. They also were the smallest in number, but the greatest in power. They stayed closer to the Valar and Maiar than other elves. They only left Valinor once, to fight in the War of Wrath, and then returned. Galadriel's grandmother was a Vanya, so she (Galadriel) would be the closest thing to a Vanya living in Middle-earth, at least in the Third Age.

I liked what 4e did with elves, splitting them into two kinds - elf and eladrin.

The 4e elf would be a good model for the Nandor elves, those elves who never started the journey to Aman or turned from it, and from whom the Silvan elves of Mirkwood are descended. I don't see any reason to modify them, unless you want to make them immortal unless killed, immune to diseases and scarring, and unaffected by fear effects caused by undead (all of which seemed to be true for all of Tolkien's elves, or at least it's assumed so).

I've thought about this for a while, and my own personal taste runs like this: I'm inclined to think the 4e elf works well for Sindar elves, the ones who never went to Valinor, but started the journey and intended to go at first. Legolas (and his father, Thranduil, the elf-king of Mirkwood) was a Sinda. Still, Tolkien portrays the Sindar as more learned and powerful than the Silvan/Nandor elves, so I'd give them a bump to INT or (preferably, in my opinion) a couple more skill points. They are also accounted the best singers in Middle-earth, so perhaps giving them a Bard power like Words of Friendship would be appropriate.

The eladrin make good Noldor, in my opinion.

I also can't find fault with the 4e half elf being used for the Peredhil, or half-elves of Tolkien.

The Istari and Maiar are tricky, I think. The Istari were Maiar clothed in the flesh of Men, which blurred their spiritual vision - it's why Saruman could be corrupted by the lure of the One Ring, while Tom Bombadil was unaffected. I'm inclined to think of the Istari as being a type of deva, while the unfettered Maiar would be angels. Gandalf strikes me as being an invoker (and the designers said as much about how they went about designing the class), though this seems more appropriate for Gandalf the White. Gandalf the Grey seems more like a wizard to me.

Those are my thoughts, for what they're worth.