D&D 5E DMG Excerpt: Creating a New Race

[Jester David]

Yeah, it's about as far-fetched as changing kobolds from dog-like goblinoids to draconic.

I was just looking a kobold pictures in the 1e MM the other day and was surprised that they were scaley. So they've always had reptilian leanings. It's less of a leap and differentiates kobolds from goblins and gnolls.

 

[Remathilis]

Yeah, that's how I see it.

If eladrins end up in a book or a web article, I hope eladrins start as normal elfy elves and if they kill enough orcs, they can opt to "ascend" into celestial fey. Maybe as a ritual or contract. Fey love those. They even have a Court.

I'm with you, when they "reinvented eladrin" they just brought them into line with my mythos anyway.

Main elven race was "forest elves". Some xenophobic "wood elves" in the wilder lands. Mixed into the elven population were "high" elves or "eladrin".

These eladrin were the elves that had started to turn fey, or become one with some ideal. As such they were respected and honored, mainly becoming elven royalty. They were a fey stage of the race before/between the Eladrin of the higher realms.

Using an almost Raymond Fiest like concept; wood elves could turn/transition to eladrin, and in fact, drow elves could return to the light and turn into eladrin, being redeemed in a mystical journey back home to the elves. (such drow could be recognized, and were forbidden to be slain as while on their journey back to the light.) This drow part of course, was a deep elven secret.

Other elves could become one with the forest, or reach a higher plane, and sail to the islands of Arvandor.

So my elves are very morphic, in relation to their spiritual state and dedication to a principle. And when WotC brought in eladrin....they fit perfect as the inbetween the main elven race and the mystical celestial eladrin of the higher concepts.

/sorry semi tangent

I'll probably make them a rare breed of elves that never left the feywild unlike true elves. They are more "fey" then even high elves, and think themselves paragons of elfiness but even then are lesser beings compared to the Greater Eladrin who are their masters. An eladrin in a city would then be akin to a drow in terms of rareness; they just are better at passing themselves off as true elves.

 

[Boarstorm]

I've chosen to use "Sidhe" for what were pre-4E Eladrin.

 

[steeldragons]

I've chosen to use "Sidhe" for what were pre-4E Eladrin.

I use Sidhe for eladrin of any "e"...Since that's exactly the creature pc "eladrin" are proposed to be.

 

[Boarstorm]

I use Sidhe for eladrin of any "e"...Since that's exactly the creature pc "eladrin" are proposed to be.

Here's the difference:

"Sidhe" start with 12+ HD and have extensive innate spellcasting.
"Eladrin" start at level 1 and have the ability to fey step occasionally.

In other words, it's the PC-minotaur problem. Usually a PC is considered to be among the best of his race. But in some cases, such as Dragonlance's minotaur race, turned out to be far weaker than the run of the mill.

 

[Plageman]

BTW isn't the illustration of the Eladrin Albanon the wizard from the Nentir Vale campaign setting ? Maybe it's a clue that NErath may come back in form or another ;-)

 

[Minigiant]

Does any edition other that 4th edition even described what generic eladrin are or how the formation of them is. Because before 4e, I don't remember seeing generic eladrin. Don't remember a form hierarchy like demons, devils, slaads, and mordons. Maybe the planscape style eladrins do the "too yong to go outside town" thing like woodelves.

Anyway. I hope there is a guide to races from scratch. Hobgoblins lack a PC PHB race to start from. Same with gnolls. And satyrs. And dryads.

I mean I could figure it out. But the work is icky and long.

 

[Wolfskin]

I like what I see. I'm personally not a big fan of the Eladrin as the Elves++ race, but I think I'll refluff and use them to model the Star Elves in Faerun, if a player ever asks to play one. They're basically elves who spent so many times in their fey-ish demiplane they're not quite of this world anymore.

 

[pemerton]

some of the questions provided are a bit metagamey (preferred classes and backgrounds).

I don't understand the complaint. They're giving advice on desiging a game element - a PC race - not on doing imaginary biology or sociology in an imaginary world. The whole thing is metagame!

They also talk about the story role of your race. That's as metagame as it comes - from an ingame perspective characters and peoples don't have story roles, they just are what they are.

 

[bogmad]

[edit: Nevermind! CORRECTED by Wolfskin. Reckoning was incorrect. IGNORE ME!]