Should there just be one sort of elf?

[Nifft]

I don't know why people have problems with them. can anyone provide a good argument why its a bad thing, rather then venting?

Verisimilitude.

Elves are so long-lived it's staggeringly hard to imagine that they would biologically diverge into practically different species while humanity remains a single race.

If 'fey magic' is involved -- and there's an intuitive-sounding gloss -- then it's better for some people. Including me.

I've gone to great lengths to ensure that (a) the current racial make-up of D&D in the PHB is possible; and (b) there's a good explanation for why those races are on Earth, where they could not have all evolved.

Cheers, -- N

 

[frankthedm]

YES!

Eberron did a Good Thing by getting rid of all elf subraces (drow are a separate race).

In 4E they could just make the Elf and then give them the higher level magical monster upgrade.

And please, no more of that "Wood Elves are as strong as Half-Orcs" nonsense. Wanna play a strong character? Play a half-orc. Wanna play an elf? Then you're lithe and agile.

Maybe they gots those crazy chimpanzee muscles?

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I don't mind multiple kinds of elves. I don't know why people have problems with them. can anyone provide a good argument why its a bad thing, rather then venting?

1) It's lazy of the designers to create a new monster instead of doing the slightly harder work of making a new culture cool on its own merits.

2) Their primary appeal seems to be for folks who want to play an elf, but can't handle not having The Optimal Race for My Class and thus are able to grab the barbarian elf, fighter elf, sorcerer elf, monk elf, or whatever, as appropriate. It makes a mockery of the notion of a favored class.

 

[Scribble]

You can get rid of sub races as long as the one true elf that remains is Santa's Elf...

I don't want a world with no presents.

 

[Twiggly the Gnome]

You can get rid of sub races as long as the one true elf that remains is Santa's Elf...

I don't want a world with no presents.

You have to have Keebler Elves, the world needs cookies too!

 

[variant]

I like Gray elves...

 

[Cthulhudrew]

God yes. Please, if they get rid of anything in 4E, let it be the countless (pointless) notion of "sub-races". Except in the cases of extreme physical variation due to environmental impact (arguably the Drow, or similar races that might be underground adapted, etc.) most of the sub-races substitute mechanical changes for actual meaningful descriptive cultural changes.

The majority of so-called "sub-races" should just have societal/cultural notes on how they are different from the "mainstream" and leave the mechanics out of it.

 

[funkysnunkulator]

there are endless varieties of humans in our world, why not endless varieties of elves and dwarves and every other thing. this would be something like regional specialties.

sun/moon/gray/wood/wild/night/high/gold/silver elves were never different races. just different geographic specialties. different concerns.

drow and aquatic? definitely different races. completely.

course, with drow you have menzobarranzani/ched nasadi/erleth cinlui/etc/etc.

all regional specialists.

though, it remains to be seen what is "canon" in the latest abomination... er.... incarnation of the game. do all elves/humans/dwarves/illithid/chipmunks originate on common worlds (ala spelljammer)? if so, all elves should be the same. if they arose spontaneously on different worlds/settings? then they are all significantly different, and "elf" is common for "one bearing these characteristics" (elf = long lived long ears).

make sense? if indeed they are different, and elf, dwarf, orc are common words, then each race would need to have words from thier own languages defining themselves.

for example "dwarf" might be common for anyone broad or strong or stern. humans might have the moniker "dwarf".

however this race might call themselves "Morad Dum" or Morad's Children.

we shall see what is canon.

 

[JVisgaitis]

With the (apparent) ability for players to choose racial abilities or class abilities at every level, is there a reason to have 10,000 varieties of elves?

You had me in mind when you posted this, didn't you? If I can feasibly get rid of half-races, it would be lunacy not to get rid of subraces. My philosophy is save room for cool new stuff. The only thing is that you really can't get rid of the drow subrace. They're too defined.

As a whole, they really don't bother too much for some reason. What always bothered me more is we didn't have something in place for different humans. A human is a human is a human. I always thought they should separate humans into either social classes or geographic locations and give them ability modifiers based on that. The racial human Feats in FRCS never did it for me.

 

[Scribble]

With the (apparent) ability for players to choose racial abilities or class abilities at every level, is there a reason to have 10,000 varieties of elves? Instead, couldn't/shouldn't WotC just put all the elf abilities into the racial ability list and just say that certain abilities are more common in some elf cultures/regions than others?

Are the Racial bonuses really going to be select from a pool? Or will it be standard elf stuff, just acquired over time?

I was under the impression that it was the latter? If so, why would this be a need to get rid of subraces, as it does not overlap with what subraces were intended to do...