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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Yaarel" data-source="post: 8681261" data-attributes="member: 58172">Regarding the fey elf setting:In my view, the designers must make the D&D core rules as inclusive as possible from many different players to be able to enjoy.At the same time, each setting needs to be flavorful with specific details.Meanwhile, the DM might need to adapt a setting to the meet the enjoyment of the players at the table.But the DM shouldnt need to waste time fighting against core rules. The core needs to be broadly inclusive.Different cultures have different feelings about the use of culturally sacred heritage.Generally, Nordic cultures like when other cultures have fun with Nordic heritage. But. It is important to avoid misrepresenting Nordic peoples. If one is riffing off from Nordic inspiration, it is important that the reinvention is clearly non-Norse.For example, Norse views about elves inform my fey elf setting. But when I am actually referring to D&D eladrin, I never refer to these elves as if "Norse elves", despite the fact that people familiar with Nordic heritages would recognize some of these features.Most prominent among the fey elves are the "sun elf" eladrin and the "moon elf" eladrin. But there are other eladrin cultures as well. The sun elves derive from Norse concepts, while the moon elves derive from Celtic concepts. These artistic licenses are D&D fantasy.In the fey elf setting, elves can reproduce "naturally" via pregnancy, albeit additionally exchanging a drop of blood for conception.But elves can also reproduce magically, via rituals, such as bringing a statue to life. Forming eggs whose children shapechange as dryads, can be one of these rituals.In some ways elves are strictly nonhuman. They are manifestations of nature. The Norse-esque "sun elves" are literally the auras and beams of sunlight. This sun elf culture is solar and skyey. The Celtic-esque "moon elves" are literally the fertile soil. This elf culture is vegetative and earthy. There are other fey elf cultures and origins as well, including sea elves and shadar-kai.When sunlight and soil project themselves into human or human-esque forms, they do so out of curiosity and fondness for humans. Ultimately, elves can shapechange into any form, but the term "elf" specifies the ones who enjoy being humanesque.Shapechange is primordial to elven cultures. Unlike the fey changelings who shapechange spontaneously, the fey elves moreso shapechange as a community adapting to an environment.Half-elves have been part of D&D traditions since its origins.Where the parents of a half-elf assume cisgender heterosexual human and elf, people seem to assume this is "normal" and expected. I have never heard someone complain that half-elves are "too human".But if there is objection to the possibility that some elf and human parents are transgender and homosexual, it feels like an attempt to silence these characters and their reallife players − by means of an inconsistent pretext that they are somehow not "alien" enough. Most D&D races are obviously humanlike.Plus, the references to being manifestations of nature, reproducing via exchanges of blood, emphasizing shapeshifting, and prioritizing magic all help hint at the nonhuman origins.</blockquote>

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