D&D (2024) Half Race Appreciation Society: Half Elf most popular race choice in BG3

[Scribe]

An Elf whose parents are from a Wood culture grows up in a Drow culture and learns to cast Dancing Lights, Faerie Fire, and Darkness.

The original Eladrin Elves who materializes into the Material Plane and masters spells that are useful there in the new environment− thus pioneering the new Wood culture.

And the original Eladrin Elves who entered the Astral Plane deciding on new spells there.

And so on.

These spells are choices, even if habits.

Nope.

I get it, you dont like it, but its simply not what you want it to be. You can fluff it out and justify it however you like, but its not supported by the actual text.

A wood elf raised by dwarves on a boat in a port town, casts druidcraft and runs faster than a drow.

This is not a choice, this is what they are, as a mystical being called a wood elf.

 

[Yaarel]

Nope.

I get it, you dont like it, but its simply not what you want it to be. You can fluff it out and justify it however you like, but its not supported by the actual text.

A wood elf raised by dwarves on a boat in a port town, casts druidcraft and runs faster than a drow.

This is not a choice, this is what they are, as a mystical being called a wood elf.

According to origins:

"
Elves have the mystical ability to take on characteristics of the environments with which they are bonded. ... These connections grant elves access to certain kinds of magic.

"

The choice is whichever environment that the Elf bonds with.

That choice is cultural.

Elves continue to enter new environments and bond with new environments.



Besides, there are over a hundred different kinds of elves. It is easy to represent all of them, in a single entry, all by allowing the player to choose which spells to cast innately. These hundred plus are elven cultures. There is only one Elf species.

 

[Scribe]

According to origins:

"
Elves have the mystical ability to take on characteristics of the environments with which they are bonded. ... These connections grant elves access to certain kinds of magic.

"

The choice is whichever environment they bond with.

That choice is cultural.

Culture, is not a choice at all.

Species, Class, Background.

In fact, do a search on the UA for 'culture' you may be shocked what you find.

 

[Yaarel]

Culture, is not a choice at all.

Species, Class, Background.

Culture is learned.

An immigrant can move from one culture and adopt a new culture.

Pure choice.

In fact, do a search on the UA for 'culture' you may be shocked what you find.

The UA uses the term "culture" three times, and each of them correctly. Not sure what the "shocked" might be.

 

[RareBreed]

It is fine when we find an identity that diverges from the dominant culture. Our species remains the same, of course, regardless of the diversity of cultures.

I think this is a touchy topic even for people who are 100% of some ethnic group, but who live in a totally different ethnic group. For example "hyphenated Americans" like Filipino-Americans, Chinese-Americans, Cuban-Americans, etc.

Some get touchy when asked "where are you from?". For some people, this implies a kind of alienation and/or an attempt at marginalization, especially if the questioner says something like "no, I mean where are you originally from?". I for one do not think this way, because of what you said there about "diverges from the dominant culture". I think it's natural and I give people the benefit of the doubt that they are being curious, and not being either xenophobic or purposefully highlighting our differences.

Background is a culture. A culture can be large like an empire, or small like how a wizard university operates. A background can represent any of these.

I've always had difficulty saying I am half Filipino. It's the easiest thing to say, but it's not really representative of my mother's culture. About 5% of the Philippines (by population) are Moros; the mostly Islamic Filipinos. In culture, they are much much closer to Malays than their own kababayan (countryman). Even most Filipinos don't know their own history and I recall many conversations with Filipinos, who assuming my Filipino half is the Hispanicized/Christianized culture, bad mouth the "Moro terrorists" in what is today the BARMM (Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao).

When my maternal grand parents were born, where they lived was not yet a part of the Philippines. Technically, the island they are from belonged to the Sultanate of Sulu, and they are close cousins to what is today Brunei and the Sabah region of Malaysia. That region of the Philippines was never fully conquered by Spain. The Moro languages, like Sama, Yakan, Tausug and Badjao are quite a bit different from the two other ethno-linguistic groups of the Tagalogs and Visayas. They have kulingtangan (gamelan) music just like the Malays and Indonesians, and more of their words are the same as Bahasa. For example, while Tagalogs say tito and tita for uncle and aunt, I call my elders bapa and babu which are the same words in Bahasa. And of course, their dominant religion is Islam rather than Catholicism. They wear malongs (a kind of tubelike skirt) and sarongs like Malays, and though somewhat antiquated now, my mother and grandmother wore kebayah dress like the Malays (and parts of South East Asia like Thailand).

It wasn't until the last Datu surrendered in 1913 that the Sultanate of Sulu finally capitulated to the Americans. So for only a little more than 100 years, where my mom came from has been a part of the Philippines. As I said, my grandparents weren't even born as citizens of the Philippines.

I've always felt a kind of spiritual kinship to American Indians, because I can empathize with your homeland being "assimilated" into a larger culture that really isn't like yours at all.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Culture is learned.

An immigrant can move from one culture and adopt a new culture.

Pure choice.




The UA uses the term "culture" three times, and each of them correctly. Not sure what the "shocked" might be.

You are claiming these things absent of any evidence in the game to which you are referring. I'm sure that's how you see it, but the game does not support you, no matter how much you want it to.

 

[Scribe]

The UA uses the term "culture" three times, and each of them correctly. Not sure what the "shocked" might be.

And not a single one applies to Elves, or any of the species described within.

Because those are not cultures, that you see. They are species.

A culture, would be the Lolth sworn Drow, in comparison to the Aevendrow. That is the cultural example you are looking for. Not the Wood Elf that is raised in a port town, a sailor by trade, who has the exact same cantrips and foot speed as the other members of his species, the Wood Elves.

 

[Yaarel]

I think this is a touchy topic even for people who are 100% of some ethnic group, but who live in a totally different ethnic group. For example "hyphenated Americans" like Filipino-Americans, Chinese-Americans, Cuban-Americans, etc.

Some get touchy when asked "where are you from?". For some people, this implies a kind of alienation and/or an attempt at marginalization, especially if the questioner says something like "no, I mean where are you originally from?". I for one do not think this way, because of what you said there about "diverges from the dominant culture". I think it's natural and I give people the benefit of the doubt that they are being curious, and not being either xenophobic or purposefully highlighting our differences.

I've always had difficulty saying I am half Filipino. It's the easiest thing to say, but it's not really representative of my mother's culture. About 5% of the Philippines (by population) are Moros; the mostly Islamic Filipinos. In culture, they are much much closer to Malays than their own kababayan (countryman). Even most Filipinos don't know their own history and I recall many conversations with Filipinos, who assuming my Filipino half is the Hispanicized/Christianized culture, bad mouth the "Moro terrorists" in what is today the BARMM (Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao).

When my maternal grand parents were born, where they lived was not yet a part of the Philippines. Technically, the island they are from belonged to the Sultanate of Sulu, and they are close cousins to what is today Brunei and the Sabah region of Malaysia. That region of the Philippines was never fully conquered by Spain. The Moro languages, like Sama, Yakan, Tausug and Badjao are quite a bit different from the two other ethno-linguistic groups of the Tagalogs and Visayas. They have kulingtangan (gamelan) music just like the Malays and Indonesians, and more of their words are the same as Bahasa. For example, while Tagalogs say tito and tita for uncle and aunt, I call my elders bapa and babu which are the same words in Bahasa. And of course, their dominant religion is Islam rather than Catholicism. They wear malongs (a kind of tubelike skirt) and sarongs like Malays, and though somewhat antiquated now, my mother and grandmother wore kebayah dress like the Malays (and parts of South East Asia like Thailand).

It wasn't until the last Datu surrendered in 1913 that the Sultanate of Sulu finally capitulated to the Americans. So for only a little more than 100 years, where my mom came from has been a part of the Philippines. As I said, my grandparents weren't even born as citizens of the Philippines.

I've always felt a kind of spiritual kinship to American Indians, because I can empathize with your homeland being "assimilated" into a larger culture that really isn't like yours at all.

Your reallife identity illustrates how an ethnicity can be inherently complex and lacking homogeneity.

For D&D, this is a reason why it is better to describe a culture by the assemblage of backgrounds.

In one culture, a particular religious tradition might be the majority and an other religious tradition a minority. A neighboring culture might have the reverse. And so on. One culture might be predominantly urban but agricultural still present, while an other culture might be predominantly agricultural while urban still present. And so on.

Languages, including dialects, are powerful indicators of cultures.

 

[Yaarel]

And not a single one applies to Elves, or any of the species described within.

Because those are not cultures, that you see. They are species.

A culture, would be the Lolth sworn Drow, in comparison to the Aevendrow. That is the cultural example you are looking for. Not the Wood Elf that is raised in a port town, a sailor by trade, who has the exact same cantrips and foot speed as the other members of his species, the Wood Elves.

The Elf is the species.

The "lineages" arent.

The lineages are "the mystical ability to take on characteristics of the environment": "the lineage of the Underdark", "the lineage of fey crossings", "the lineage of primeval forests".

There are over a hundred lineages.

There is only one Elf species.


Many cultures. One species.

Like humans. Many cultures. One homo sapiens.

 

[RareBreed]

Culture is learned.

An immigrant can move from one culture and adopt a new culture.

Pure choice.

yes and no

An immigrant shouldn't be forced to adopt a new culture, so in a sense, you're right about choice. But realistically, first generation immigrants retain much of their learned original culture since it shapes their world view as children. While there can be some adaptation and assimilation, it's not as much as you may think.

Even 2nd generation children of immigrants show signs of their parents culture, since again, they were taught by their parents. I knew a 7th generation Chinese American (his ancestors came over to help build the railroads) who still displays a lot of Chinese cultural ways of thinking (for example, he's Taoist) and can still speak Mandarin.

I think what's better than assimilation is tolerance (on both sides...the immigrants and the hosts). Both sides need to understand the cultural differences, and be respectful. For the immigrants, "when in Rome, do as the Romans do" in terms of law, but also the hosts should realize that the immigrants culture should be respected too. By the way, this advice applies to mixed culture/race relationships too. Be patient, tolerant and respectful that there will be differences.

I found Manhattan fascinating because of the amazing number of ethnic groups just walking around. I heard so many languages, and saw so many restaurants of different countries. I've always thought the term "melting pot" was wrong for America. It should have been the "stew pot". To melt implies that everything becomes homogenous. I think we still retain some of the distinct pieces, and that's what makes things interesting.