Charlaquin
Goblin Queen (She/Her/Hers)
That’s why I prefaced my post with “if the posts here are any indication” and said “they got a lot of feedback saying” rather than “most of the feedback probably said.”
D&D 5E So Shadar-Kai are now a subrace of elves: Huh?
That’s why I prefaced my post with “if the posts here are any indication” and said “they got a lot of feedback saying” rather than “most of the feedback probably said.”
Parmandur
Book-Friend
Fair enough; can't say I saw much of a negative reaction beyond a handful of posts.
dave2008
Legend
Did you miss the response that explained that they were originally Fey? That makes them closer to elves than humans IMO.
Charlaquin
Goblin Queen (She/Her/Hers)
No, I think the reaction was generally pretty positive. But it looked to me like a lot of folks were confused about them being Elves.
In their original presentation, but their lore has evolved a lot since then.
True, they only became a major race in 4e, where they became highly linked to both the Nentir Vale Setting and the Forgotten Realms.
Parmandur
Book-Friend
What ha evolved before, can evolve again.
Charlaquin
Goblin Queen (She/Her/Hers)
As well it should, if that evolution is good for the game. If the UA version was popular, I’m sure they will become an elf subrace. Heck, it’s a pretty minor change to the fluff anyway. I prefer them as a unique race that shot off from humans but at this point is distinct enough to no longer be recognized as a human subrace. But I wouldn’t be surprised if they end up changing for 5e, particularly with the new direction they’re clearly trying to take the Raven Queen, which I also don’t care for. But I’m gonna fluff my games the way I’m gonna fluff my games, if more people enjoy the new direction than the old, I won’t fault WotC for the change in official material. Though, I have a feeling that downgrading the Raven Queen from God of Death to the shadowfell equivalent of an extremely powerful Archfey would take away a lot of what made her popular in the first place. Sidegrading the Shadar-Kai from former humans to former elves, I don’t expect will make much difference.
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QuietBrowser
First Post
Which is actually another reason why the "Shadar-kai are elves now" decision bugs people; in the 4e Forgotten Realms, shadar-kai evolved from the denizens of Netheril, the remnants of an ancient human empire that escaped an apocalypse by fleeing to the shadow-world and returned relatively recently to try and rebuild what they lost.
Parmandur
Book-Friend
That's the Shades, isn't it? Different thing entirely, as I recall.
Remathilis
Legend
highly anecdotal, but following the UA release, Twitter, Reddit, and /tg/ all seemed to react negatively to it; generally either people were confused as they were only familiar with the 4e version and didn't understand why they were now elves, or they dismissed it because "lol elvz". I mean, the feedback from the survey will say more than a handful of loudmouths on social media, but I found the chatter of + to - tilted heavily towards the latter.
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