On Subraces...

[AngeltheTechrat]

Well, technically speaking, eladrin are eladrin, elves are elves, and drow are drow.

Reference Classes & Races as well as the Forgotten Realms Player's Guide and Campaign Guide.

You know very well what I ment. The thread is on subraces.

 

[Lanefan]

In 1e, I use them, and in most cases (exception: Drow) players can play them.

Right now I've got 2 types of Human (Human, Barbarian), 4 playable types of Elves (equating to High, Wood, Fair, and Arctic; Drow are an unplayable 5th), 2 types of Dwarves (Hill and Mountain), and just one type each of Hobbit and Gnome as they're both so rare in my world anyway. Part-races always assume the "basic" type on each side, thus if you're Part-Elf you're a mix of normal Human and High Elf...I do this mostly to avoid having to stat out the horrific number of mixes that would otherwise exist!

Each subrace is mechanically different to the others in terms of racial stat adjusts, height-weight tables, deities allowable (some deities can affect mechanics relating to their Clerics), and classes allowed; in other words, the differences are more than just cultural.

If the only difference between "races" is culture, e.g. Greeks vs. Japanese, they do not get broken out as sub-races. In this example, both are Human; while Norse, Huns, etc. are Barbarian.

Lanefan

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

No, eladrin is what several subraces have been rolled into.

I realize that, but I still think that Elves should simply be Elves, with the possible inclusion of Aquatic and Drow. With their extreme longevity and extended childhoods, they simply shouldn't "evolve" to fill niche after niche. At best, they should have cultural differences, not mechanical ones.

Normal surface elves plus another race of normal surface elves just annoys me, especially when its at the expense of other races.

Biologically speaking, the races that should have a plethora of subraces (as compared to the other races) are the Orcs and Goblinoids.