D&D 5E MTOF: Elves are gender-swapping reincarnates and I am on board with it

[Chuck Ocenasek]

More WotC pandering. Way to go.

~ I won’t Edit this because it has been quoted so many times by others, but this IS a violation of ENWorld’s inclusivity policies. So I’m leaving it as is: please don’t do it again; no one else should follow this example.

Also, “See something, say something.”

 

[Mouseferatu]

More WotC pandering. Way to go.

Yes, heaven forbid WotC add an element of (entirely optional) lore to welcome/support a demographic that has either gone unacknowledged or been made fun of by nearly every element of mainstream entertainment. Clearly, they are pandering, because this might, potentially, if all goes well, earn them literally dozens of extra dollars. In the meantime, in adding a few paragraphs of (optional) lore, they have clearly ruined the game for all the people who have been catered to by nearly all mainstream entertainment their entire lives, and are not at all coming across as fit-throwing toddlers by being bothered by this stuff.

 

[Zardnaar]

I found the lore crap. My elves a more imperialistic anyway and are like the East India Company.

 

[delericho]

I'm quite happy to see gender-fluidity in the lore.

I do wish it wasn't elves though. They seem to get everything.

 

[gyor]

I have to say I dislike much of the surface elf lore in MToF. It makes elves seem like emo jerks that long for the relief that death will bring. I mean, birth is a time of sadness because it steals a soul from elf heaven? Screw that; elves are suppose to love life! The creation of new life should be the most joyous of occasions, not a pity party.

Oh, and as a grognard, elves don't have souls, they have spirits

I honestly never understood the difference between a soul and a spirit honestly.

 

[gyor]

Yes, heaven forbid WotC add an element of (entirely optional) lore to welcome/support a demographic that has either gone unacknowledged or been made fun of by nearly every element of mainstream entertainment. Clearly, they are pandering, because this might, potentially, if all goes well, earn them literally dozens of extra dollars. In the meantime, in adding a few paragraphs of (optional) lore, they have clearly ruined the game for all the people who have been catered to by nearly all mainstream entertainment their entire lives, and are not at all coming across as fit-throwing toddlers by being bothered by this stuff.

I'll point out again that this in no way actually represents any group of humans entirely, the closest would be the rare people who are born girls and turn into boys when they get a hit of testerone at puberty.

Actually trans people can't change their sex daily, so that would be better represented by a background and a quest for a magical spell or item that can change their biological sex to the sex that matches their gender.

 

[JPL]

I hate to break it to you, but Tolkien's elves reincarnated too.

https://www.quora.com/In-Tolkiens-world-how-does-Elvish-reincarnation-work

I understand that Tolkien rethought this a number of times and ended up with something quite different . . . elves are eventually "reborn" into recreations of their original bodies, and thereafter live in the undying lands of Valinor.

 

[delericho]

I'll point out again that this in no way actually represents any group of humans entirely...

I don't think that's the point. I think this is about saying, "you are welcome here."

My only concern with the approach taken is the risk of trivialising the experiences of the relevant minorities. But I'll leave that for them to say if there's an issue or not - they're better qualified.

Actually trans people can't change their sex daily, so that would be better represented by a background and a quest for a magical spell or item that can change their biological sex to the sex that matches their gender.

And what about the person who wants to play a transgender character but doesn't want it to be a big deal? After all, I get to play a male character and nobody bats an eyelid.

 

[JPL]

More WotC pandering. Way to go.

I dunno . . . to me, Red Sonja being simulaneously hypersexualized and sexless is pandering. Old-school half-orcs where the default origin story was "rape" is pandering. As much as I love Robert Howard, all of these stories where the purest-blooded white guy crushes the enemy and hears the lamentations of the women are pandering. Lovecraft's paranoid obsession about racial corruption is pandering. Tarzan and the Phantom showing the people of Africa how it's done is pandering.

And a lot of stuff that could have been written off as "pandering" at the time, or that looks clumsy or cringey in hindsight, might be the first step towards something more substantial. Maybe Uhura was tokenism, but the lead of the new series is a black woman.

This game is not thriving by keeping us middle-aged grognards in our comfort zones, man. It's supposed to be about telling stories . . . there are more stories to be told than "white guy's Hero's Journey," with non-white guys as flavor or opponents or sidekicks and women as the prize.

 

[TheCosmicKid]

https://www.quora.com/In-Tolkiens-world-how-does-Elvish-reincarnation-work

I understand that Tolkien rethought this a number of times and ended up with something quite different . . . elves are eventually "reborn" into recreations of their original bodies, and thereafter live in the undying lands of Valinor.

Hmmm. Tolkien's concern about dysphoria is surprisingly apropos.