Eladrin, why?

[havard]

I like the idea of a teleporting race, but why do they have to look and feel almost exactly like elves? Other than the game mechanical features this race seems really unnecessary.

What have I missed?

-Havard

 

[Kobold Boots]

The Eladrin have existed in all previous editions of D&D. They're just a player race now.

 

[Shemeska]

Because the 4e eladrin hijacked the name and shallow bits of the concept and appearance of the 2e/3e eladrin which were a race of CG outsiders native to Arborea.

Since they stripped Chaotic Good out of the game entirely and changed the 4e default cosmology apparently they felt it was ok to recycle the eladrin's name into a completely different creature (though not as bizarre as the 4e archon versus the 1e/2e/3e archon...), in this case a watered down PC appropriate race of teleporting high elves.

 

[Frostmarrow]

I think also that elves were both seen as aloof wizards and wild hunters and that it could be interesting to explore both types without having to look over the shoulder.

 

[mach1.9pants]

Yeah Frostmarrow has it, IIRC it is spelt out that way in Races and Classes

 

[drothgery]

I like the idea of a teleporting race, but why do they have to look and feel almost exactly like elves? Other than the game mechanical features this race seems really unnecessary.

What have I missed?

-Havard

The thing is that unless you want to give elves a lot of 'you can have feature X or feature Y' choices or split the race in half, the mechanical features (and that both kinds of elf are pretty well established in fantasy in general and D&D in particular) make the race desirable. There's always been this weird dichotomy between mechanics that make good nature-loving woodsy elves and mechanics that make good magic-loving, ancient lore-keeping elves. 4e (at least initially) said "what the heck, we'll just make two races of elves". And then backtracked to give each more ability to cover the niches set up for the other.

 

[Stormonu]

Because the name Eladrin can be copyrighted, just like Games Workshop's Eldar.

 

[Dausuul]

I like the idea of a teleporting race, but why do they have to look and feel almost exactly like elves? Other than the game mechanical features this race seems really unnecessary.

What have I missed?

They are elves. 4E took the five classic elf subraces--high, grey, wild, wood, and dark--and turned them into three distinct races. High and grey elves merged into eladrin; wild and wood elves merged into 4E-elves; dark elves became (remained) drow.

 

[Spatula]

I like the idea of a teleporting race, but why do they have to look and feel almost exactly like elves? Other than the game mechanical features this race seems really unnecessary.

What have I missed?

To elaborate, "eladrin" elves in 4e are grey/high /magic/galadriel elves, while "elf" elves are wild/wood/legolas elves.

It also responds to a player complaint about 3e elves, who had wizard as a favored class but racially were much better rogues or rangers. With class restrictions removed in 3e, the old elf's niche as F/MU disappeared, and the racial abilities didn't offer any compelling reason to be take wizard levels.

 

[Klaus]

I like the idea of a teleporting race, but why do they have to look and feel almost exactly like elves? Other than the game mechanical features this race seems really unnecessary.

What have I missed?

-Havard

Since the dawn of D&D, elves had two conflicting identities:

- "Sylvan" elves, who were good with bows and wise in the ways of nature. This image stems from Legolas, the archetypcal elf in Lord of the Rings.

- "High" elves, who were chaotic and excelled with magic and sword. This image comes from Poul Anderson's stories, including Three Hearts & Three Lions and The Broken Sword.

Gygax was a fan of the second type of elf, but D&D players were fans of the first type. Over the years, many elf "subraces" cropped up to cover these: high elves, gray elves (Galadriel-inspired, perhaps?), wood elves, wild elves, etc.

When 4e rolled out, it was decided to make the distinction clearer and, in order to avoid "subraces", the "high" and "grey" elves became the eladrin.