That's a problem, though, because the wood elves are not water-breathing sailors with weather magic. They're wood elves who live in woodydom.
Because I speak a language, I like my words to have meaning and not to just change based on the whims of designers who can't be buggered to simply not tell me how to use elves in my own games.
Your absurdly bothered by that and i honestly have no idea how anyone can think its that big of a deal. I gave you several examples of how the woody elves can also be a piraty elf or a slaver-y (thats not right.....) elf. You dont have to actually use the name in the book you know? Its just a label for the bag of mechanics. Which in that case is a elf warrior with semi-mystic enviromental bonuses.
You could call them the flowery pot elves of sillydom if you wanted and then let them steal souls. Doesnt matter the name. its just more fun.
Without fluff mixed in these books start to read like a college text book. and that is something that truly and deeply sucks. "
specially when they can just save the whole wood elf fluff text for the "Forest of Wood Elves" adventure and not make me work around their own idea of what kind of fun I should have.
1. Its their JOB to tell you how to play the game and have fun. Thats why they got paid to write a 300 page book for you. And you admitted that when you bought their 300 page book. So thats a null point.
2. Again, no one should have to buy extra stuff just to play a few adventures. If they do have to buy anything beyond the 3 core books in order to play then the game has failed.
Jamming them into every corner of the game is exasperating and limiting and ultimately unnecessary since there are things like adventures and settings out there if you are too new/lazy/time-poor to figure out that there are wood elves in your game.
Thats all complete nonsense.
No one is jamming anything, anywhere. it is expressing that elves are a semi-mystical race with a powerful connection to their environment along with an example of how that works.
Not only doesnt it limit anything, its a clear example of how to customize things within a general racial theme.
Its no different then giving elves a bonus to dexterity which naturally led to people picking them for rogue type classes before. If anything its LESS limiting then that. Its a tool to customize your entire world and a sample of how you can treat any race or class to make them more special.
Besides, since your such a big fan of having to buy extra stuff. Why dont YOU go online and find some non-themed elves for your game? Why are you and your viewpoint more entitled to the basic game concept then the people who do want something setting specific.
I don't know what more you need than "MacGuffin is in a place filled with monsters and traps. Go get it." I have played D&D for over a decade without too much variation on that basic theme.
Because thats a great 1st adventure for a group, and anything after that it starts to suck. Quickly.
Your examples did not earn 10$.
Ultimately when you have game designers like they do who have been playing since the very beginning and by all accounts run awesome games I would like to see some of what goes through their heads creatively and not just turn them into number crunchers.
WoTC could hire accountants to create a system that mathematically works and is balanced with a D20 roll if thats all that matters.