New article - Elves, Eladrin and Drow. Oh, my!

[Thornir Alekeg]

New article posted to Dragon.

A Fractured Family
Elvish Strife, Separation, and Rebirth

Really long article - still reading through it, but here is the bit at the end about Drow:

Drow As Player Characters

With the release of the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting in the summer of of '08, drow will be presented as a fully playable character race. Although drow as a race are a singularly wicked people, cruel and treacherous in their dealings with others, a smattering in every generation learn cooperation and the value of alliance. While some of these are merely cunning in their decision to gain the trust of others, a few truly come to value the positive aspects of camaraderie and friendship, sometimes even with those not of their own race.

Play a drow if you …

want to be good at skulking about, striking quick, and employing a variety of dirty tactics;
?enjoy playing a hero in search of redemption and who struggles to rise above the wickedness of his people;
?are considering a ranger, rogue, warlock.

 

[WarlockLord]

Seems to confirm Warlocks as arcane. Drow are also clerics, paladins and wizards. Drow Wizard/Warlock, w00t!

EDIT: It says "drow share the agility of their cousins", so we can assume the Dex bonus. Perhaps some sort of rage ability? One that synergizes with spellcasting would be...very interesting.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

It confirms that there are at least the Bralani, Firre, Ghaele and Coure Eladrin back, as noble houses at least. But whether they are a type of advanced 'monster' or a path that an Eladrin PC can take, still remains to be determined.

It's possible that they might be linked to seasons, as Bralani are of Autumn, Ghaele are of Winter. Firre might be linked to Summer, since they were the fire eladrin from 2e to 3e.

But currently there's no mention of Queen Morwel and the Court of Stars, which governed the Eladrin back in the past. But they still might be around, and just happen to be the secretive monarchy of the Eladrin hidden somewhere in Feywild.

 

[Lorthanoth]

Lolth as goddess of the new moon - I like that a lot.

 

[Bishmon]

As a race, elves are fleet of foot and agile. Though they are by no means stupid, they do not place the same value on learning and intellect that their eladrin cousins do. Rather, they value the wisdom of years and the truth of intuition and insight.

There's the +2 dexterity and +2 wisdom. Looking at the eldrain entry:

Eladrin share the grace and agility of their elf cousins but place more value on the developed intellect than on intuition and emotion. All eladrin are scholars to some degree, versed in the history of their race and the theories of magic and more inclined to calculate possible solutions than to run with a gut feeling.

Seems like +2 dexterity and +2 intelligence. Also looks like where elves get +2 bonuses to their perception and nature skills, eladrin will get +2 bonuses to their history and arcane skills.

 

[mmaranda]

There is also a lot of implied world material being tossed around here. Things like "As kingdoms and empires grew and collapsed -- the human realm of Nerath, the dragonborn Arkhosia, the tiefling Bael Turath"

This is a radical change from previous editions where the implied setting was maybe supported by a sample pantheon and then some flavorful names attached to spells. It is also a 180 from the Spell Compendium's change to completely strip the flavorful names from spells.

Either way it sounds like they might be injecting a lot of fluff into the core rules.

 

[Aeolius]

Still no sign of aquatic elves?

 

[Lorthanoth]

I actually... like the fluff. I'm amazed that it actually inspires me rather than makes me think "Oh dear, another plot point to ignore." I love the idea of fey drow fighting side-by-side in the otherworld with deformed giants against the high-minded eladrin.

 

[Lackhand]

Still no sign of aquatic elves?

No, and I read that article all the way through.
Looks like there may not even be a space for them in the new edition *so far*, since the origin story is pretty... nailed down. They could be an offshoot of the Eladrin, of course, sort of nereid that didn't so much split from their parent race as dwell by the sea for so long that they joined it.

Why not just use the stats for one/either/both of the elves, call the sea-elves, and replace their move speed with a swim speed? I mean, as campaigns go, you probably have to house-rule a lot of fluff.

"God of fire? I can't be bothered with that!"

 

[Aristotle]

Am I off base, or do the elves have a distinctly native american feel to them. I like that. I've been toying with a setting concept that borrows from more non-european sources (native american, south american, egyptian, arabian, and pan-asian cultures were all being considered). 4E looks to be cutting down on my work load.