D&D Beyond: Rise of the Eladrin

[Yaarel]

Heh, the simplest solution is to make Corellon an archfey in the feywild. There is no celestial.

Done.

 

[Hexmage-EN]

I at least appreciate the attempt to reconcile the 2E and 3E Eladrin with the 4E take.

In my own homebrew setting I decided that all humanoids were descended from the creations of giants and genies (with janni being the first of geniekind). Janni that linked themselves irreversibly to the Feywild became the first archfey, the archfey cooperated with nature spirits to create nymphs, and the nymphs created many fey through bonding with different aspects of nature. Among these were eladrin, from which the other representatives of elvenkind were derived. Further, elvenkind intermingled with genasi (the creations of dao, djinn, efreet, and marid), resulting in humankind.

 

[The-Magic-Sword]

I really like this story, I'm glad they finally applied a somewhat more universal vision to the narrative of elves in the multiverse. I'm super excited for the seasonal fey steps, I hope the winter one is stealth related- I agree it sounds like eladrin might have ended up with a charisma bonus, which I think is really good too, it was my feedback to help differentiate them from high elves.

 

[MechaTarrasque]

Are there playable, level 1, eladrin elves who are fey? It seems not. Despite being native to the fey wild.

Some wizards become liches, but there is no official playable level 1 lich PC. Some yuan-ti purebloods ascend to be abominations, but there is no official playable level 1 yuan-ti abomination PC.

So all elves start out as humanoid. Some live in the feywild. Living in the feywild doesn't automatically make you fey, anymore than taking a trip to Mt. Celestia doesn't automatically make you an angel or visiting MIT automatically makes you an engineer. Some elves want to be fey and go through some process to become fey (like wizards who want to be liches go through some process to become liches). Like being a lich, being a fey may or may not be an option that a PC can take, but if it is, it will be an option you have to work for (late career goal).

Maybe fey elves are hotter then humanoid elves, and a little fey DNA found its way over time into the general elf genome. Obviously fey ancestry has survival value, so it got passed on and now all elves have it.

 

[tardigrade]

Well, I guess it's one option. In my current campaign the 'original' elves are Pratchett-style Lords and Ladies following the Queen of Air and Darkness; the PCs are going to have the option next session of a sidetrek into a Feywild of eternal winter.

Even in 4e, Winterkin Eladrin differed as much by what their Fey Step variant Winter's Shroud did (teleport + gain concealment in response to taking damage) as they did from their cold resistance. Heck, most of their feats actually played off of Winter's Shroud; Chilling Presence let them use it to inflict retributive Cold damage instead of teleporting, Swirling Snow let them create temporary zones of light obscurement when they teleported, and Winter's Reach boosted its teleportation range.

...and I might be borrowing that. *yoink*

 

[Yaarel]

So all elves start out as humanoid. Some live in the feywild. Living in the feywild doesn't automatically make you fey.

If you havent ever been anywhere else, then living in the feywild kinda does make you fey. If anything, the eladrin are ‘fey with celestial ancestry’.

 

[Yaarel]

The designers made an effort to make the eladrin elves an overtly ‘magical people’. If this kind of elf is Charisma-Intelligence, then the mechanics will match the flavor, and I will be happy, no matter what.

Feystep/Mistystep guarantees the eladrin will be mechanically viable.

Regarding the D&D Beyond video, my interest is the setting assumptions. I worry that 5e is baking too much setting flavor into the core rules. I prefer core rules of D&D to be setting-agnostic, so that any kind of setting is possible using D&D rules. I personally dislike polytheism, so dislike the ‘great wheel’, so am uneasy about ‘celestial’ mechanics.

In the case of the eladrin, I simply want to understand what the designers are saying about the setting implications.

Crawford said there is more than one origin story − more than one ‘myth’ about the origin of the elves. Unfortunately, he said all of the ‘myths’ have the elves be the ‘offspring of a god’. Thus the D&D brand seems irredeemably committed to polytheism.

Even so, the possibility of multiple ‘myths’, includes the possibility of D&D settings that lack polytheistic gods.

I hope D&D rules support the possibility of settings that dont require the worship of polytheism.

 

[cbwjm]

Doesn't really matter what the core setting assumptions are, it is easy enough to change them. Have the classic Eladrin from 2e or have them as just elves of the feywild. Maybe they are the reincarnated spirits of those elves who defended the crossing from the feywild into your own campaign setting before a great and unstoppable enemy was moving to wipe out the final bastion of elves in the feywild.

 

[Mouseferatu]

Regarding the D&D Beyond video, my interest is the setting assumptions. I worry that 5e is baking too much setting flavor into the core rules. I prefer core rules of D&D to be setting-agnostic, so that any kind of setting is possible using D&D rules. I personally dislike polytheism, so dislike the ‘great wheel’, so am uneasy about ‘celestial’ mechanics.

The D&D rules have never, ever been setting-agnostic. They have always included elements of one setting or another, even if it was only implied. From the artifacts to the spell names to the outer planes to the very nature of some of the core classes, the game has always leaned toward or implied a certain style of fantasy setting.

It has also supported other types of play, because there have rarely been assumptions one couldn't easily toss out.

I rarely use the Great Wheel in my campaigns, for instance. But I prefer it to be in the books than not, because without examples to refer to, the text becomes dull and lifeless. I'd rather read something inspiring that I'm going to change for my own game than a textbook of rules without flavor.

Nothing they've done, or appear to be doing, in 5E makes the game any more rigid or locked into a single setting or style than in any prior numbered edition--and in some ways, it's much less so.

 

[Quickleaf]

Feels very mythical. Babies aren't just taken by the faeries; they become fey. Don't eat the fruit or you could join the faerie host forever. A mortal knight forsakes his humanity for the eladrin sorceress he has pledged his sword to. A celestial elven princess gives up immortality on the white ships of her people bound for Arvandor to stay with her mortal ranger beloved.

I dig it! Reminds me of an old graphic novel... The Raven Banner...where the antagonist *becomes* a "troll" (these were very fey-like trolls) after being wined and dined by them & living too long among the trolls.