New Design article: Elves

[variant]

I hope that sword becomes standard elven weaponry. It is my kind of 'elven thinblade'.

Hmmm, sound like elves are taking an intelligence hit this edition. Maybe also a Charisma hit.

Simply sounds like eladrin will be getting an intelligence bonus. Eladrin are clearly fey and I doubt they tack on celestial for the hell of it. They will probably be the new gray elves, but probably closer to lothlorien elves.

I like. It makes elves... Well, it makes them match the way I've usually seen them played. I mean, if they're forest-dwellers and natural casters, why make them wizards? (And yes, I did always house-rule it in my own campaigns. Depending on the setting, the elven favored class was either sorcerer, ranger, or druid.)

And I like the idea of a "high elf" race being a truly separate race, so those who still want their class elves will have 'em.

Never read Lord of the Rings?

 

[RPG_Tweaker]

Promising stuff.

I like the consolodation of subraces. Never been a fan of the jumbo-pack of twinky offshoots.

Having them be more in touch with Nature (druidic magic being their shtick) is an excellent move. This supports the numerous bits of background material (nature guardians, tree-shaping, etc.) and brings them farther away from just being humans in an elf-suit. The arcane-curious fluff always seemed out of place to me. They've always been described as fey-related, and this finally lets them boldy step out of the closet... so to speak.

It looks like their "setting-neutral" pantheon may include 'crossover' gods. This should work out well, as they are easily portable/replacable for just about any campaign.

 

[Mouseferatu]

Never read Lord of the Rings?

Uh, yes. I have. (I've also seen the movies.) Doesn't change the fact that the vast majority of elves I've seen in D&D fit the nature archetype more than the high arcanist archetype.

In 1E, there were varieties of elves, to account for this. In 4E (or so it sounds), we've got the eladrin and the elves to account for both types. I'm fine with that.

 

[Remathilis]

Hmmm... I'm not so sure...

This is a HUGE difference to every D&D world I've seen. Are Eladrin going to take over Evermeet? or Aerenal or Celene? This is a MAJOR change to established settings, and any world were elves have a specific nation (and national flavor) are going to require some master re-jiggering.

As a separate entity, I do like the change, but the ramification's on current settings is much larger than the spotlight moving off gnomes or the changes to fiends...

 

[GSHamster]

Hmmm... I'm not so sure...

This is a HUGE difference to every D&D world I've seen. Are Eladrin going to take over Evermeet? or Aerenal or Celene? This is a MAJOR change to established settings, and any world were elves have a specific nation (and national flavor) are going to require some master re-jiggering.

As a separate entity, I do like the change, but the ramification's on current settings is much larger than the spotlight moving off gnomes or the changes to fiends...

Most campaign settings "overwrite" the races anyways. Compare Eberron halflings to PHB ones, or Eberron elves to PHB elves. I think we'll see new races in the Eberron book, or new spins on the races.

 

[Jer]

I think someone (or many someones) on the design team was strongly influenced by the Basic/Expert/Companion/Masters Set version of elves.

Seriously - this sounds exactly like the elves of the Basic/Expert campaigns of my youth. Maybe this means that the ranger class will be more like the Fighter/Magic-User combo Elf class from the BXCM D&D sets instead of the "divine powered" ranger of 3e. That would also make me feel warm and fuzzy inside.

As for the Eladrin - I reserve judgment. The reason I've always liked the Eladrin is not because they "slot into" the Chaotic Good piece of the celestial alignment grid but because they gave me a way to use the mythic fey in my campaigns. If the Eladrin and the fey get "rolled together" I won't mind, but if they drop the remaining Eladrin races altogether I'll be a bit miffed.

 

[Simplicity]

Blerg. The text itself I find really kind of awkward and annoying.

Also, wood/wild elves as the default elf race? Hmmm... That was always kind of the odd offshoot of the race to me. I guess if the eladrin are in, they're going to be the high elf type, so they don't need two races in the same slot.

But really, if I wanted to play a shamanistic type, elf wouldn't normally be my first pick...

 

[GlassJaw]

I like this a LOT. Looks to me like that are making elves cool again.

I also think this description falls into their new "specific roles" design philosophy. After reading this, there is no question that elves are masters of the forest. If they are applying the "roles" to races as well, I'll be very pleased.

 

[Rechan]

I will say this flavor pleases me. It's, to me, what elves are.

 

[Prophet2b]

Never read Lord of the Rings?

I don't understand this comment. Tolkien's elves were nature freaks. Great warriors and masters of (what they called) craft, but definitely not "high arcane" beings (granted, Tolkien's magic and D&D's magic is entirely different, so there's really no comparison in that case).

I love the sound of the 4e elves. They actually remind me a lot more of the LotR elves than I've previously seen in D&D.