D&D (2024) Half Race Appreciation Society: Half Elf most popular race choice in BG3

[CreamCloud0]

5e at this point has seven official types of elves and one guest type

Would i be correct as identifying those as Wood, High, Dark, Sea, Eladrin, Avariel(winged), Pallid and Astral elves?

If we were trying to prune some of the excess elf subtypes which ones would people choose to keep and those to remove, and what features if any would you try to intergrate into the remaining subspecies from those discarded?

-Sea elves and winged i think could be removed, the seem to provide little unique traits that other aquatic or flying species don't also provide besides the generic elf traits they share,
-The pallid elf would go but i might intergrate their magic into the dark elf as an alternate choice of innate spells,
-Finally the eladrin, i might give their seasons to the wood elf as a ribbon feature and their selection of fey step options to the high elf potentially replacing some/all of their weapon proficiencies.

This would leave us with wood, high dark and astral elves as our remaining selection, half the number of elf subclasses than we started with.

 

[Remathilis]

Would i be correct as identifying those as Wood, High, Dark, Sea, Eladrin, Avariel(winged), Pallid and Astral elves?.

Avariel didn't make it outside of UA. You missed Shadar-kai.

 

[Yaarel]

Considering Mordenkainen Presents (Eladrin, Shadar-kai, Sea), Spelljammer (Astral), Explorers Guide to Wildemont (Pallid), Forgotten Realms setting (Avariel Winged Elf lacks official stats in 5e but is a notable feature of the official setting), and the first playtest CharacterOrigins (Drow, High, Wood) − their traits suggest four species at first glance:

• Drow, High, Wood, Pallid
• Eladrin, Shadar-kai, Astral
• Sea
• Winged

However, it is unclear if the playtest "lineage" format intends to override the earlier Mordenkainen Presents. If so, the Misty Step spell that Eladrin/Shadar-kai/Astral gains at level 1 might instead be gained at level 5 as part of a "lineage". In the same way, the High lineage gains Misty Step at level 5. Then the traits suggest three species.

• Drow, High, Wood, Pallid, Eladrin, Shadar-Kai, Astral
• Sea
• Winged

Sea and Winged seem the odd ones out of the Elf species.

 

[Scribe]

Sea and Winged seem the odd ones out of the Elf species.

Only if one is squinting and trying to force their view on the developers.

High/Drow/Wood - Material, An attribute that is biological/innate, and specific spells learned innately.
Astral/Eladrin/Shadar-Kai - Planar, "Misty Step" innately, as part of their biology.
Sea/Winged/X - "Elemental", with distinct biological adaptations to their environments.

Makes perfect sense to have the various paths of the Elf, diverge along these 3 major branches, into various forks of development.

Conclusion: We need an Earth and Fire Elf with distinct biological attributes.

 

[Cadence]

Conclusion: We need an Earth and Fire Elf with distinct biological attributes.

Are those dwarves (digging away) and gnomes (some hater tried to take care of them with it and they resisted)?

 

[Scribe]

Are those dwarves (digging away) and gnomes (some hater tried to take care of them with it and they resisted)?

Now we get into dangerous territory!

 

[Vaalingrade]

When did Shadar-kai become elves?

Am I on crazy pills or didn't they used to be Shadow-humans?

 

[Mirrorrorrim]

When did Shadar-kai become elves?

Am I on crazy pills or didn't they used to be Shadow-humans?

You are not wrong. There was a lore change in 5E to make them elves of the shadowfell opposite eladrin who are elves of the feywild.

 

[Yaarel]

When did Shadar-kai become elves?

Am I on crazy pills or didn't they used to be Shadow-humans?

In 3e, the Shadar-kai are "fey". 5e translates this as being an Elf.

In 4e, certain Human victims of the Spell Plague became Shadar-kai.

 

[Vaalingrade]

We did not need MORE elves.