UA: New Race Options, Eladrin and Gith

Yaarel · Sep 11, 2017

TheWriterFantastic™ said:
Eladrin's a Subrace of Elf.

Likewise, Githyanki and Githzerai are subraces of Gith. At the same time, Githyanki gain +2 Strength, and Githzerai gain +2 Wisdom.

Yaarel · Sep 11, 2017

OB1 said:
Love the Gith, will plug those in as options in my home brew right away.

For the Eladrin, I like it, but my first thought was why not make the their own race and use the seasons as sub races with the option to change sub race either based on the season you are in or based on emotion. I think the concept is too limited having to be an eleven sub.

Eladrin as a separate Elf race, with subraces according season. Sounds good to me.

Similarly, the Giant is a group of races. Each one quite different from the other.

Blue · Sep 11, 2017

It feels to me that the Eladrin were meant to have subraces (perhaps aligned with the seasons) that would have an ability score modifier, like the Gith and most of the PHB races. A total +1 is light, even with a useful feature like a static 2nd level spells once per rest.

I have a quibble with the Githzerai, but it's not a flaw in the race exactly. They are the only +2 Wisdom race. With Wisdom as your primary ability score for any clerics, I expect I'll see a large upswing in Githzerai clerics at my local gaming store where UA is accepted simply because they are the only race that highly synergizes with it. (Well, variant humans could if you took a half-feat that boosted Wis, but usually variant humans aren't going to half-feats that I see.)

EDIT: [MENTION=54629]pukunui[/MENTION] corrected me that Firbolg also have +2 WIS.

Mistwell · Sep 11, 2017

Yaarel said:
The Eladrin ability score adjustment needs to be: +2 any ability score, +1 any other.

Charisma and all of its connotations [charm, innate magic, etcetera] is what best represents the Fey Elf concept.

Intelligence is an accident of D&D only having Wizard class in the beginning, but it has merit in folklore too.

Dexterity is irrelevant.

Maybe handsized sprites connote Dexterity, but humansized spirits of magic, less so.

Edit:

Elves can work better this way:

Wood Elf: +2 Dexterity, +1 Other
High Elf: +2 Intelligence, +1 Other
Eladrin Elf: +2 Charisma, +1 Other
Grugach Elf: +2 Strength, +1 Other

That is what the Elf feels like.

Yaarel said:
Elves work better this way:

Wood Elf: +2 Dexterity, +1 Other
High Elf: +2 Intelligence, +1 Other
Eladrin Elf: +2 Charisma, +1 Other
Grugach Elf: +2 Strength, +1 Other

That is what the Elf feels like.

Yaarel said:
Notice the Gith subraces distinguish by their +2 ability score modifiers.

The Yanki get +2 to Strength, while the Zerai get +2 to Wisdom.

The Elf races are highly different from each other, and need to likewise distinguish by +2 to their ability scores.

Eladrin Fey Elf +2 Charisma.
Wizard High Elf +2 Intelligence.
Wood Elf +2 Dexterity.

Is there some reason you keep repeating yourself?

Mistwell · Sep 11, 2017

BTW, here is the accompanying video:

[video=youtube;Yr8tC1Zl_1g]https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=49&v=Yr8tC1Zl_1g[/video]

castlewise · Sep 11, 2017

I really like the Eladrin shifting personality thing.

I'm not sure why but for some reason I'm a bit down on the Gith. They get a +2 to an ability, +1 to an ability, a toughness boost, and free access to 3 different spells. It all seems like it might overshadow the other races, especially wis based ones.

P.S. If this is all pointing to an upcoming book of the planes then sign me up!

MechaTarrasque · Sep 11, 2017

I wonder if they are testing to see if there is some love for +1 common stat, +2 subrace stat (instead of the normal +2 common stat, +1 subrace stat). I doubt this would be retroactively applied to existing races, but if popular, it might be expanded to future races.

mellored · Sep 11, 2017

I like the shifting personality. It actually helps makes elves feel more different than just "humans with bows". I hope they do more things like that.

Gith seems like a generic bucket of mechanics. Though at least some combinations we havn't seen much of.

Mistwell · Sep 11, 2017

I've never wanted to play an Eladrin before, but now I do, thanks to the shifting personality traits.

I've wanted to play a Gith before...but nothing here inspires me to want to play one.

Sunseeker · Sep 11, 2017

The Eladrin seems neat, I like the idea of aligning with the seasons but it also provides quite a bit of versatility to just a race choice. It would be interesting to be expanded upon for a elf-centric campaign, having distinct factions of Eladrin for each season, good flavor there.

The Gith seem...okay. I think connecting them both by the +1 Int reduces the variability to the race. It's pretty stock Gith either way though.