Spelljammer Astral Elves: Spelljammer's Elves In Spaaaaace!

WotC has a preview of Spelljammer's upcoming Astral Elves over on D&D Beyond (following on from their preview of the Giff last week).

Astral Elves can teleport as a bonus action, use divine cantrips, and 'tap into the knowledge of the infinite multiverse' to pick up new proficiencies after a long rest.

Sneak Peek: Play as the Immortal Astral Elf From Spelljammer: Adventures in Space!

The astral elf is a timeless creature with a deep connection to the Astral Sea. Click here for a preview of the new race offered by Spelljammer: Adventu...

www.dndbeyond.com

 

[Weiley31]

Coming on strong from the Gun using Space Hippos named after a Peanut Butter brand, allegedly, we have a new Sneak Peak and this time, it's for (checks notes) yet another..............................5E Elf grouping. wonders why everybody is groaning in the background.

Sneak Peek: Play as the Immortal Astral Elf From Spelljammer: Adventures in Space!

The astral elf is a timeless creature with a deep connection to the Astral Sea. Click here for a preview of the new race offered by Spelljammer: Adventu...

www.dndbeyond.com

And, unlike their original UA version, THEY COME WITH A TELEPORT!!!! (Beam me up Scotty!)

Man, I hope they keep this up so we can see at least some of the changes from the UA version for the remainder of the UA Spelljammer races.

 

[Mind of tempest]

I like the format and would love for them to do one for every race, I hate them for being an unneeded elf option.

 

[Leatherhead]

In my homebrew, I just have one elf race, but allow them to attune to the surrounding environment with a ritual. Effectively allowing them to swap subraces (or In some cases their core race) as a feature.

It just makes more sense to me, for the few elves that exist to tie themselves into their current lands, instead of having a full fledged long-lived elf culture for every biome.

 

[Mind of tempest]

In my homebrew, I just have one elf race, but allow them to attune to the surrounding environment with a ritual. Effectively allowing them to swap subraces (or In some cases their core race) as a feature.

It just makes more sense to me, for the few elves that exist to tie themselves into their current lands, instead of having a full fledged long-lived elf culture for every biome.

that might be a nice idea I would steal that if I ever get around to it.

 

[Yaarel]

I notice that the art department has a look for the astral elf, namely solidly dark eyes with a diamond-like star shape iris that appears to be luminous. Their complexions of skin and hair seem to be any human complexion.

But there seems to be no text describing this look.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I like the format and would love for them to do one for every race, I hate them for being an unneeded elf option.

Right? It's like, oh look it's yet another pale elf from another plane with misty step. Oh they renamed misty step I guess that's TOTALLY DIFFERENT.

WotC really living that 1990s "Check out my elves, they're TOTALLY DIFFERENT to your elves!" life.

Also trying to sell me Sacred Flame as a good cantrip, not a cantrip that is, 90% of the time, a waste of a perfectly good Action, is pretty silly stuff. It even points out that it targets Dex saves, which means, when the chips are down, it lands less often than attacking the AC of a lot of creatures. Very few creatures indeed have bad Dex saves, and I bet particularly few of those are found in Spelljammer. I mean, WotC, can you stop giving people combat cantrips and pretending they're anything but a good way to waste Actions? Give them utility cantrips. People would murder a man for Prestidigitation for goodness sake. That's a roleplaying cantrip, but most players are going to get more use out of it than Sacred Flame. Also I'm assuming "stellar cantrip" is a pun, because otherwise poor old Mike needs to be carted off to the D&D loony bin.

All that said, I don't hate them. They're just completely unnecessary and WotC's working too hard to pretend their dodgy abilities are actually good. It's okay WotC, most races have terrible abilities in 5E.

 

[jasper]

Elfs we are everywhere. Taking over any environment.

 

[Mind of tempest]

Elfs we are everywhere. Taking over any environment.

Gruumsh is starting to have a point, as it really feels like we have gone past sufficient elves, maybe they should focus or build old favourites or new ideas as we have elves for days.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Gruumsh is starting to have a point

Future bumper stickers of the Forgotten Realms.