Scribe
Legend
An Elf is no more free or constrained than a Dragonborn.
D&D (2024) No Dwarf, Halfling, and Orc suborgins, lineages, and legacies
An Elf is no more free or constrained than a Dragonborn.
Mind of tempest
(he/him)advocate for 5e psionics
more people have interpretations as it has a wider fantasy presence given it being older, Dragonborn has less baggage or prior ideas attached and lacks an icon version.
thus one really good interpretation in a setting could set the mould for years.
Hussar
Legend
Well, this has been a D&Dism since day 1. Humans get a pantheon, everyone else gets one main god and a couple of hangers on.
Then add to that, this idea that the D&D deities have to pull multiple duty on different worlds as well. Plus, I blame Planescape for shoehorning every setting into a single (ish) oversetting where we're not allowed to have unique pantheons for each setting (Eberron being an exception).
If they'd actually allow each setting to be unique, it would help an awful lot.
Epic Meepo
Adventurer
I'd be thrilled if WotC released a setting where some classes and species in the PHB were outright replaced by new options. (I hear rumors Dark Sun was supposed to be that way, but the design decision got overruled.) But I suspect WotC is too worried about alienating people by restricting their character options to ever do something like that.
Levistus's_Leviathan
5e Freelancer
Because this, like the Duergar lore of Moradin blaming them for being mind-controlled by Illithids and Dragonlance’s Cataclysm, is a product of the old method of absolute alignment and terrible misunderstandings of polytheism. Corellon, Moradin, and Dragonlance’s good pantheon are objectively “good” gods of the “good” races. So no matter what lore is written for their terrible actions, according to alignment, they have to be good and the monstrous races’ gods have to be evil. This is especially bad for lore that is obviously based on/similar to real world religious stories, such as the Tower of Babel/Flood (Dragonlance), or Mark of Cain/Ham (Drow). Pointy Hat’s recent video on Orcs does a great job of giving a spin on this bit of Orc lore.
Scribe
Legend
Yeah, I'm tweaking it a bit, but thats close enough to me.
Yaarel
He Mage
The Elves cannot shapechange "at will" the way Corellon does. But Elves do continue to shapechange. They exhibit unstable forms, can alter themselves to adapt to a new environment, and inexorably evolve new forms across time.
Here is a running commentary on the textbox in Mordenkainen Presents Monsters of the Multiverse, page 30.
The Celestial Elves are Astral beings, who are citizens of Avandor, a dominion of the CG plane of Arborea. Corellon themself is a shapechanger. The Elf species budded, parthenogenically shifting into shapes from the blood of Corellon. These Elves shapechange at will, are at home in Avandor, and explore and play across all planes of the Multiverse.
The Celestial Elves are Fey. Perhaps the blood of Corellon was spilled at the location that would become the Feywild. In any case, the Fey plane is a physicalization of these Astral elven beings.
The Fey Elves love the intensity of the Feywild. There is a multiversal affinity between the Celestial and the Feywild. The Positive Energy energizes and vitalizes both. Oppositely, the Negative Void entropies and unravels both the Fiend and the Shadowfell. These affinities are about energy, not alignment.
In the textbox, the mention of the Exile is ambiguous, but can read as follows. At the Exile, the Elves who plotted against Corellon cease to be Celestials. But they are still Fey and regroup in the Feywild. Some Fey Elves shapechanged into Humanoid. (The definition of Humanoid remains undefined.) Then, all Elves in the Feywild, both Fey and Humanoid, "lost their ability shapechange at will". Elves still continue to shapechange by other means and over time, even if not at will.
The parent of the Elves is Chaotic Good, altruistic while respecting individual choices. Apparently, the Exile serves some Good purpose. Perhaps Corellon wants their descendants to increase in power in order to eventually transform the multiverse, to make it a better place. The exilees cannot return to the Avandor, but they can make the universe a more ideal place like Avandor. They will achieve this by personal effort. Maybe this is the purpose of the Exile.
Taking on a "fixed form" − namely of a Human − gives Elves hope. Something about Humanity, is going to make things ok.
From the Feywild, the Elves continue to explore the multiverse like the Celestial Elves do.
However, unlike the Celestial Elves who simply shapechange into anything at any moment, the Fey Elves and the Humanoid Elves must readapt their humanlike bodies for each new environment. Despite losing the at-will shapechange, these exiled Elves still possess the ability to become new "physical forms".
Some official settings that are part of the multiverse, lack Corellon. Mordenkainen Presents insists they nevertheless descend from Corellon.
The Celestial blood of Corellon the shapechanger, causes Elves to continue evolving new forms, even after they have adapted to the environment they are in. They still keep on changing, no matter what.
Even the "fixed forms" of Elves remain unstable. The mutability of Eladrin bodies shapeshifts with the moods of the seasons. All Elven bodies subtly shift. Elves have magical ability to intentionally adapt to a new environment.
Here is a running commentary on the textbox in Mordenkainen Presents Monsters of the Multiverse, page 30.
The Celestial Elves are Astral beings, who are citizens of Avandor, a dominion of the CG plane of Arborea. Corellon themself is a shapechanger. The Elf species budded, parthenogenically shifting into shapes from the blood of Corellon. These Elves shapechange at will, are at home in Avandor, and explore and play across all planes of the Multiverse.
The Celestial Elves are Fey. Perhaps the blood of Corellon was spilled at the location that would become the Feywild. In any case, the Fey plane is a physicalization of these Astral elven beings.
The Fey Elves love the intensity of the Feywild. There is a multiversal affinity between the Celestial and the Feywild. The Positive Energy energizes and vitalizes both. Oppositely, the Negative Void entropies and unravels both the Fiend and the Shadowfell. These affinities are about energy, not alignment.
In the textbox, the mention of the Exile is ambiguous, but can read as follows. At the Exile, the Elves who plotted against Corellon cease to be Celestials. But they are still Fey and regroup in the Feywild. Some Fey Elves shapechanged into Humanoid. (The definition of Humanoid remains undefined.) Then, all Elves in the Feywild, both Fey and Humanoid, "lost their ability shapechange at will". Elves still continue to shapechange by other means and over time, even if not at will.
The parent of the Elves is Chaotic Good, altruistic while respecting individual choices. Apparently, the Exile serves some Good purpose. Perhaps Corellon wants their descendants to increase in power in order to eventually transform the multiverse, to make it a better place. The exilees cannot return to the Avandor, but they can make the universe a more ideal place like Avandor. They will achieve this by personal effort. Maybe this is the purpose of the Exile.
Taking on a "fixed form" − namely of a Human − gives Elves hope. Something about Humanity, is going to make things ok.
From the Feywild, the Elves continue to explore the multiverse like the Celestial Elves do.
However, unlike the Celestial Elves who simply shapechange into anything at any moment, the Fey Elves and the Humanoid Elves must readapt their humanlike bodies for each new environment. Despite losing the at-will shapechange, these exiled Elves still possess the ability to become new "physical forms".
Some official settings that are part of the multiverse, lack Corellon. Mordenkainen Presents insists they nevertheless descend from Corellon.
The Celestial blood of Corellon the shapechanger, causes Elves to continue evolving new forms, even after they have adapted to the environment they are in. They still keep on changing, no matter what.
Even the "fixed forms" of Elves remain unstable. The mutability of Eladrin bodies shapeshifts with the moods of the seasons. All Elven bodies subtly shift. Elves have magical ability to intentionally adapt to a new environment.
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Hussar
Legend
"ToF"?
