Clerics are a popular class for elves...Really?

[jasin]

Nice build.

 

[Zurai]

I'm confused. Wasn't the entire point of the elf-eladrin division that one race was more natural (woods-loving, whatever) and the other was more magical? That's a ranger and a wizard build, right? So why announce that their going to make such good clerics now? That kind of muddies the waters, niche-wise.

No, the split was natural/arcane.

Also, the 4e Cleric covers the "nature priest" role that Druid covers in 3e.

 

[Zurai]

An odd contradiction in the newest Dragon posting about the three fey races:



Seems clerics are not "common" among elves, so the idea of cleric being a "best" class for elves is in fact based upon the mechanics more than flavor.

You missed an important word. Elven adventurers. Elven clerics are apparently stay-at-home types.

 

[Moon-Lancer]

The problem with Tolkien's elves is that they are plain superior to the other races in his books. They would suck as an RPG race.

you know, i kind of see the elf as split now. If you were to take the eldrin and the elf, and combine them, you would get a very Tolkien elf. They split what people felt elves were into to races so everyone is happy.

some see elves as wizards, others see them as nature oriented. These were two distinct ideas that floated around with 3.5. now they have a respective race for each.

 

[Thunderfoot]

Thanks forthe replies people. I know about the druid, it seems he will basically be a controller/striker now (shifting will probably make him switch roles around).

But see its curious, elves have never been clericy. Suddenly, with no explanation they are. I'm not saying this is good or bad, just that its caught me by surprise. <SNIP>

Also, remember that the 'new' elves are formerly known as wood elves (always a clericy race). The former 'old' elves are now Eladrin and are quite different from their forest dwelling cousins.
Most of the 'typical' elvish traits (minus bowmanship and woos craft) are being gained by the Eladrin - magic using, sword wielding, etc. (And I will surmise, quite a bit more lawful in behavior too)

The elves are taking the woodsy, chaotic, bowman traits and expanding upon them - you might have to think about the reasons elves were always so sought after in previous editions, they could literally do anything well. One of the good things about having two different playable types of elf-like races is they have split them into two very distinct races that while having a common lineage have very different and specific racial traits.