A minor rant: the Elf spectrum

[The Ubbergeek]

Half-Elves are staples to keep the grognards content (though yeah, I don't know anyone who actually likes them either.

Not everyone play a race for bonuses. We like to roleplay,a lso - and as cliché as it may be, half-races have a good roleplay potential as 'between two worlds' beings.

 

[Aldarc]

Not everyone play a race for bonuses. We like to roleplay,a lso - and as cliché as it may be, half-races have a good roleplay potential as 'between two worlds' beings.

So a human raised by elves does not work for you? Or how about an elf raised by humans?

 

[Anthtriel]

If the dwarves are allowed to be annoying and with more subraces than expected, let the elves be.

Dwarves are worse, in my eyes - and hypocritly glorified for a race of basicaly bourgeois reactionaries and holy water frogs.


Ubbie, signing for the Commity to Stop Dwarf Hypocrisy

... what?
I'm not aware of any Fantasy Setting in which you have more Dwarven Subraces than Elven Subraces. Elves usually come in the High Elf, Dark Elf and Wood Elf variants, whereas Dwarves only sometimes get "Dark/Chaos/Grey Dwarves" as a variation. And those tend to be very unpopular, as they are directly copied from Dark Elves, and thus barely get any spot light.
FR has additional Gold Dwarves (and I remember Arctic Dwarves from somewhere), but then, FR has Sun Elves, Moon Elves, Wild Elves, Wood Elves, Aquatic Elves, Dark Elves and Demonic Elves.

No one can argue with a straight face that the "Dwarven Subrace problem", if it even exists, is anywhere near as prevalent as the "Elven Subrace problem".

Not everyone play a race for bonuses. We like to roleplay,a lso - and as cliché as it may be, half-races have a good roleplay potential as 'between two worlds' beings.

Sure, but I don't see why a whole race entry is required. You could just as easily have characters with mixed heritage play as a member of either race, and let him get a "Human Ancestry" or "Elven Ancestry" feat, which would give the character some of the racial abilities, and make him count as a human or elf for all requirements of feats, powers or similar things.
That way, you could also play Half-Dwarves.

 

[Mad Mac]

Dwarves only sometimes get "Dark/Chaos/Grey Dwarves" as a variation. And those tend to be very unpopular, as they are directly copied from Dark Elves, and thus barely get any spot light.

Heh. Warlord Battlecry (Fantasy RTS game) had dark dwarves who were insane, secretive, paranoid, and waged war exclusively with siege engines and mechanized golems that they sent out while remaining safely sheltered in their base.

 

[Monkey Boy]

I don't get elf fetishism, myself, and agree that they should just be handled as different cultures applied to a single core set of stats. The fetishists outnumber the elf agnostics and doubters, though, so I don't see it ever happening in D&D.

I don't agree. I think the elf haters are in the majority, especially here on enworld.

 

[DandD]

I don't think it's really about hating elves, but rather the concept of having one elven race for every class.

 

[Monkey Boy]

I can't help but wonder if the core race that is being held back until later previews is the drow, especially if they are dumping the elves, half-elves, and eladrin on us.

No way. Are you saying drow will be in the PHB because they already have 3 other elf races?

Because if you are, thats crazy. The WOTC designers are sane people, maybe one or two are mad for elves but the majority of the desingners there would surely know when enough is enough. Drow in PHB making half the races elf is crazy talk.

I think it'll be Orcs (thanks to WoWs popularity) and the reason they are the announcement it secret is because it's their trump card. It will be universally well received and generate lots of good will towards 4E just in time for the PHB to hit the stands.

People on the boards have already been talking about how great Orcs would be and I agree. Please WOTC introduce Orcs in the PHB, not just an optin in MM. We need a big strong player race and Orcs are it.

 

[DandD]

Also, Orcs seem to be somehow accepted in the upcoming Forgotten Realms novel about that Dark Elf-guy with the two scimitars, if they somehow manage to get their own kingdom without being eradicated by some wannabe-heroes.
That might seem like a hint about Orcs becoming more playable, I guess.

 

[Aldarc]

No way. Are you saying drow will be in the PHB because they already have 3 other elf races?

Because if you are, thats crazy. The WOTC designers are sane people, maybe one or two are mad for elves but the majority of the desingners there would surely know when enough is enough. Drow in PHB making half the races elf is crazy talk.

I think it'll be Orcs (thanks to WoWs popularity) and the reason they are the announcement it secret is because it's their trump card. It will be universally well received and generate lots of good will towards 4E just in time for the PHB to hit the stands.

People on the boards have already been talking about how great Orcs would be and I agree. Please WOTC introduce Orcs in the PHB, not just an optin in MM. We need a big strong player race and Orcs are it.

My comment was tongue-in-cheek.

 

[Felon]

No way. Are you saying drow will be in the PHB because they already have 3 other elf races?

Because if you are, thats crazy.

It's not crazy. It's quite meaningless. There is no aspect of the game that's adversely affected by a race being distinguished as elven.

And eladrin aren't elves. Eladrin are eladrin.

But I think the orc guess is a pretty good one. A race for brutes.