D&D 5E Elf Subrace Survey Up

[TwoSix]

Then you will also die in a pool of mush as the dragon fries you. Almost zero thrown weapons have adequate range for a huge swath of dangerous challenges. Particularly in the wild wilderness where you most often find....wild elves. "Fred, what are you doing trying to throw a hand axe at that Wyvern, it's way too far away for that?" "It's all I have Ralph, even though our society favors longbows I couldn't hit the broad side of the Tarrasque with one!"

<Shrug> If range becomes that important, having a longbow as backup makes sense, as long as disadvantage isn't preferable to whatever the -X you're taking to attack and damage for using the off-stat. I mean, if you choose to make a Strength character, you're already choosing to avoid the strategic benefits of pumping Dex and ignoring Str anyway. You might as well go all in. There's no way I'd want to play a character with 10,10,8 in Int, Wis, Cha, just to get 15,14,14 in Str, Dex, Con. Between Str and Dex, I'm always going to boost one and dump the other.

 

[Mistwell]

<Shrug> If range becomes that important, having a longbow as backup makes sense, as long as disadvantage isn't preferable to whatever the -X you're taking to attack and damage for using the off-stat. I mean, if you choose to make a Strength character, you're already choosing to avoid the strategic benefits of pumping Dex and ignoring Str anyway. You might as well go all in. There's no way I'd want to play a character with 10,10,8 in Int, Wis, Cha, just to get 15,14,14 in Str, Dex, Con. Between Str and Dex, I'm always going to boost one and dump the other.

I was responding to the "95% of players do X" claim. The standard array and point buy are both minority methods. I think all the polls indicated a majority roll for stats. And we roll for stats as well. So when I roll for stats, my melee strength based PCs tend to have at least a 12, 13, 14 or 15 in Dex. It helps with Dex saves, it helps with Initiative, it helps with picking locks, disabling traps, tying up prisoners, escaping bonds, making small objects, acrobatics, stealth, multiclass flexibility, and of course hitting and damaging things that are far away.

And believe it or not even for those who min/max, some choose an all-physical-ability array and dump all-mental-abilities. In the right party, it can work fine. Particularly if you had proficiency in Wisdom saves (or some other bonus or protection from spells that require a wisdom save) and a 10 or 11 in Wisdom, many will dump Charisma and Intelligence too and go all-in on Str, Dex, and Con. So even for min/maxers it's not necessarily true that people will dump Dex if they are primarily going Strength melee.

I have no issue with some people dumping both. But, it's purely the "95% of players do this" claim I am disputing. It's silly. The assumptions inherent in that claim demonstrate either hyperbole, or a complete lack of awareness about a large segment of the players of this game. Either way, it deserved comment I thought.

 

[ZickZak]

I rated in a flat way:

Grugach - feels weird for STR elves
Avariel - I hate flight speed, it shouldnt be at-will, I dislike even the spells
Sea Elf - Would be better as a human variant
Shadar-Kai - Awesome

 

[cbwjm]

I listed everything as pretty much perfect. Only thing I'd change would be the avarial gaining an additional +1 stat bonus, maybe wisdom or intelligence.

The signature of champions.

 

[Charlaquin]

Avariel: I hate flight speed at 1st level, and winged elves is a dumb concept to begin with.

Grugach: This just feels like the same concept as wood elves, with worse execution. Boosting both Strength and Dex is anti-synergistic, as most characters want one or the other and not both. The weapon Proficiencies are cool, would have been nice to have them on wood elves.

Sea Elves: Why do we need a separate elf variant for every single environment? Ugh, I suppose if you really have to make aquatic elves, this is a decent execution of that concept.

Shadar-Kai: These guys are awesome and well-executed, but why would you make them elves?

Overall: I really question the need to make so many elf subraces. These are largely pretty good executions of really boring concepts, except Shadar-Kai, which are largely pretty cool, but made less so by being made into elves.

 

[MechaTarrasque]

I listed everything as pretty much perfect. Only thing I'd change would be the avarial gaining an additional +1 stat bonus, maybe wisdom or intelligence.

The signature of champions.

I would say wisdom, we don't want them flying into windows.....

 

[DEFCON 1]

Particularly in the wild wilderness where you most often find....wild elves. "Fred, what are you doing trying to throw a hand axe at that Wyvern, it's way too far away for that?" "It's all I have Ralph, even though our society favors longbows I couldn't hit the broad side of the Tarrasque with one!"

Mistwell, I don't think those are proper wild elf names you're using. You left off a bunch of appostrophes.

F'r'ehhd and Ra'l'p'f'h are the correct spellings.

 

[Yaarel]

Flight at level 1 is no problem ... as long as it costs an action to stay in the air, while move is used for moving around and aerial athletic stunts.

If it eats up the action it makes it less usable for combat, while having the reasonable flavor of requiring great effort to get of the ground and stay off the ground, resembling some dreams about flying.

At a higher tier, say Level 9, the flight no longer costs an action, and becomes normal for combat.

Outside of combat the Level 1 action flight is useful, for exploration, traveling, and surveillance.

 

[ZickZak]

Still not a fan of flight. It s like Darkvision - it takes away the oportunity for an encounter. When you can get away from any danger when there is no ceiling, it makes the game less fun. You dont need to worry so much.

 

[gyor]

Took the survey.

Don't care for the Avariel. Neither want nor need them.

Grugach are interesting (I've never played in Greyhawk, so I don't know much about these guys), but they feel like the Druid to the the Wood Elf's Ranger. Recommended replacing Strength with Wisdom.

Recommended Sea Elves have Strength instead of Constitution. They should also be allowed to talk to Dolphins.

Shadar-Kai are the ones with the obsession with spiked chains and body piercings right? Recommended replacing Cantrip and Blessing of the Raven Queen with the following:
Thorn Whip cantrip, Ensnaring Strike as 2nd-level spell at 3rd level, Invisibility at 5th level, spellcasting ability being Charisma.

I like the Thorn Whip cantrip for Shadar Kai.