Yaarel
🇮🇱 🇺🇦 He-Mage
The description for the Elf species in this thread seeks to avoid the racism that occasionally appears in the Elf traditions since the earliest editions of D&D.
The species design navigates concerns about narratives that echo reallife racist tropes (such as "brown" Wild Elves that are "savage" "tribes" with low Intelligence) and concerns about mechanics that imply racial segregation and essentialism (such as the inability to represent offspring who share traits from different kinds of Elves). At the same time, the design finds ways to preserve the positive aspects of elven diversity and maintain continuity with D&D history. The species design here has in mind some of the complex and nuanced discussions in other threads.
The Elf design strives to be as simple as possible, while also allowing for a potential multitude of different "kinds" of Elves.
What started as an attempt to list the diverse elven features as species traits − pretty much immediately − became too many and too unwieldy. But these multitudes of elven traits actually make great background feats. The 2024 background design space can manage most of the earlier "race" design space. Thus the 2024 Elf species design is reasonably simple.
Re the elven background. Each elven community can magically grant certain elven traits. Earlier Forgotten Realms editions mention the concept of a "Mythal", a powerful magical effect that a community of elves work together to create. Especially the "High Mages" of the "High Elves" do it. While it is the high level mages of a community who create a Mythal, it is the entire elven community that benefits from it and sustains it into future generations. For the Elf species design here, players can choose one of the "Mythal Feats" for their character as part of the background. The feat represents the communal magic of the specific elven community that the character comes from.
The Mythal grants the elven traits. In this way, the Nonelves who the Elf community embraces as members are also able to benefit from a Mythal. A Human or Tiefling or any other Humanoid species can take a Mythal Feat if the character is part of the elven community.
There is one Elf species. The species traits grant one free Mythal Feat, such as the "Moon Mythal" from an elven community of the "High culture". At the same time, the player can choose a different Mythal for ones Elf character, depending on what the various elven communities make available.
In the process of integrating and organizing, the design sometimes takes liberties. For example, the "odd" Sea Elf race that breathes water, is here understood to be Breathless without needing to breathe at all. This emphasizes the otherworldly flavor of the Elf, associates the Mythal with the deathly Shadar-kai, and helps distinguish the Sea elven culture from the tropes of the Triton species. Note, some versions of eladrin − especially high level ones − have a fly speed, and it appears as a Mythal hopefully in a mechanically balanced way. In any case, the methodology for how to avoid racial essentialism should be clear enough.
An elven community can have several Mythals at work. A player can choose any of them for ones character. There is no racial or cultural essentialism. A single elven community is diverse and pluralistic. This helps avoid an ethnic stereotype − and undermine any future ones that might show up unintentionally.
Even so, the different kinds of Elf concepts from earlier editions can continue onward, cautiously.
This thread is Positive [+]. It takes for granted that it is necessary to remove all racist traditions from D&D. The Elf appears to be the most racist of all earlier D&D traditions. At times, the earlier D&D Elf even overtly seeks "race purity". The 2024 Elf requires serious attention from designers. All of the intentional and unintentional racism must discontinue. Constructive criticism is appreciated, to improve this design of the Elf species, to be inclusive of diverse D&D players today, and also to salvage and update the benign aspects from earlier D&D editions.
The species design navigates concerns about narratives that echo reallife racist tropes (such as "brown" Wild Elves that are "savage" "tribes" with low Intelligence) and concerns about mechanics that imply racial segregation and essentialism (such as the inability to represent offspring who share traits from different kinds of Elves). At the same time, the design finds ways to preserve the positive aspects of elven diversity and maintain continuity with D&D history. The species design here has in mind some of the complex and nuanced discussions in other threads.
The Elf design strives to be as simple as possible, while also allowing for a potential multitude of different "kinds" of Elves.
What started as an attempt to list the diverse elven features as species traits − pretty much immediately − became too many and too unwieldy. But these multitudes of elven traits actually make great background feats. The 2024 background design space can manage most of the earlier "race" design space. Thus the 2024 Elf species design is reasonably simple.
Re the elven background. Each elven community can magically grant certain elven traits. Earlier Forgotten Realms editions mention the concept of a "Mythal", a powerful magical effect that a community of elves work together to create. Especially the "High Mages" of the "High Elves" do it. While it is the high level mages of a community who create a Mythal, it is the entire elven community that benefits from it and sustains it into future generations. For the Elf species design here, players can choose one of the "Mythal Feats" for their character as part of the background. The feat represents the communal magic of the specific elven community that the character comes from.
The Mythal grants the elven traits. In this way, the Nonelves who the Elf community embraces as members are also able to benefit from a Mythal. A Human or Tiefling or any other Humanoid species can take a Mythal Feat if the character is part of the elven community.
There is one Elf species. The species traits grant one free Mythal Feat, such as the "Moon Mythal" from an elven community of the "High culture". At the same time, the player can choose a different Mythal for ones Elf character, depending on what the various elven communities make available.
In the process of integrating and organizing, the design sometimes takes liberties. For example, the "odd" Sea Elf race that breathes water, is here understood to be Breathless without needing to breathe at all. This emphasizes the otherworldly flavor of the Elf, associates the Mythal with the deathly Shadar-kai, and helps distinguish the Sea elven culture from the tropes of the Triton species. Note, some versions of eladrin − especially high level ones − have a fly speed, and it appears as a Mythal hopefully in a mechanically balanced way. In any case, the methodology for how to avoid racial essentialism should be clear enough.
An elven community can have several Mythals at work. A player can choose any of them for ones character. There is no racial or cultural essentialism. A single elven community is diverse and pluralistic. This helps avoid an ethnic stereotype − and undermine any future ones that might show up unintentionally.
Even so, the different kinds of Elf concepts from earlier editions can continue onward, cautiously.
This thread is Positive [+]. It takes for granted that it is necessary to remove all racist traditions from D&D. The Elf appears to be the most racist of all earlier D&D traditions. At times, the earlier D&D Elf even overtly seeks "race purity". The 2024 Elf requires serious attention from designers. All of the intentional and unintentional racism must discontinue. Constructive criticism is appreciated, to improve this design of the Elf species, to be inclusive of diverse D&D players today, and also to salvage and update the benign aspects from earlier D&D editions.
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