D&D 5E So Shadar-Kai are now a subrace of elves: Huh?

[QuietBrowser]

That's the Shades, isn't it? Different thing entirely, as I recall.

Partially correct. In 3e, the royal families of Returned Netheril were Shades, ruling over a population of "shadow-touched" but non-Shade humans as well as a race of human/shadow demon crossbreeds called Krinth. In 4e, after the Spellplague, the "shadow-touched" began spontaneously transforming into Shadar-kai, resulting in a new race rising amongst the Returned Netheril. There are even heritage feats to represent Shadar-kai whose ancestors were Shades or Krinth (or, theoretically, who mutated from those races). Dragon Magazine #391 has an entire article, "A Legacy in Shadow", which explains how shadar-kai evolved from the Returned Netherese.

You are correct in that the Shades still rule over the Netherese, but Shadar-kai are one of their vassal-races.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

Which is actually another reason why the "Shadar-kai are elves now" decision bugs people; in the 4e Forgotten Realms, shadar-kai evolved from the denizens of Netheril, the remnants of an ancient human empire that escaped an apocalypse by fleeing to the shadow-world and returned relatively recently to try and rebuild what they lost.

I think that was the Shades, not the Shdar-kai, IIRC. The Shadar-kai became the chose people of the Raven Queen after she left her domain of Pluto after usurping the powers of Nerull (who was in love in her, if memory serves), and set her new domain in the Shadowfell to filter souls. The shadar-kai are the original inhabitants of the plane, always affected by the constant gloom of the place, pushing them to become thrill seeker to feel something and keep existing.

 

[Parmandur]

Partially correct. In 3e, the royal families of Returned Netheril were Shades, ruling over a population of "shadow-touched" but non-Shade humans as well as a race of human/shadow demon crossbreeds called Krinth. In 4e, after the Spellplague, the "shadow-touched" began spontaneously transforming into Shadar-kai, resulting in a new race rising amongst the Returned Netheril. There are even heritage feats to represent Shadar-kai whose ancestors were Shades or Krinth (or, theoretically, who mutated from those races). Dragon Magazine #391 has an entire article, "A Legacy in Shadow", which explains how shadar-kai evolved from the Returned Netherese.

You are correct in that the Shades still rule over the Netherese, but Shadar-kai are one of their vassal-races.

Retconning isn't something the 5E team has shown much concern about doing so far...

 

[QuietBrowser]

I think that was the Shades, not the Shdar-kai, IIRC. The Shadar-kai became the chose people of the Raven Queen after she left her domain of Pluto after usurping the powers of Nerull (who was in love in her, if memory serves), and set her new domain in the Shadowfell to filter souls. The shadar-kai are the original inhabitants of the plane, always affected by the constant gloom of the place, pushing them to become thrill seeker to feel something and keep existing.

That is one depiction of their fluff in the generic 4e setting, yes. But, to quote myself:

Partially correct. In 3e, the royal families of Returned Netheril were Shades, ruling over a population of "shadow-touched" but non-Shade humans as well as a race of human/shadow demon crossbreeds called Krinth. In 4e, after the Spellplague, the "shadow-touched" began spontaneously transforming into Shadar-kai, resulting in a new race rising amongst the Returned Netheril. There are even heritage feats to represent Shadar-kai whose ancestors were Shades or Krinth (or, theoretically, who mutated from those races). Dragon Magazine #391 has an entire article, "A Legacy in Shadow", which explains how shadar-kai evolved from the Returned Netherese.

You are correct in that the Shades still rule over the Netherese, but Shadar-kai are one of their vassal-races.

People need to remember that, in 4e, you had the Nentir Vale setting as the "generic" setting, and you had the Forgotten Realms as an entirely separate setting that still assimilated a lot of Nentir Vale content and put its own spin on it. Arguably to the game's detriment, as the Spellplague that served partially to justify the presence of these new races was highly divisive.

 

[Corpsetaker]

I also want to mention the Grugach elves. I don't understand why they put a group of xenophobic elves who do not interact with outsiders, even other elves, and only like to stay in their own territory with the company of animals, as a PC race. I could understand having them if you are doing an all Grugach party but they would not be adventuring outside of their own domain.

 

[QuietBrowser]

I also want to mention the Grugach elves. I don't understand why they put a group of xenophobic elves who do not interact with outsiders, even other elves, and only like to stay in their own territory with the company of animals, as a PC race. I could understand having them if you are doing an all Grugach party but they would not be adventuring outside of their own domain.

I think the idea was to simultaneously bring back the "Wild Elf" subrace (which was basically the "Wood Elf Barbarian" branch of the family tree) and to score some brownie points by using the name of the original/most famous "breed" of Wild Elves in D&D. Plus, it's less confusing than calling them Wild Elves, although I agree that the Grugach fluff is absolutely abysmal.

 

[Corpsetaker]

I think the idea was to simultaneously bring back the "Wild Elf" subrace (which was basically the "Wood Elf Barbarian" branch of the family tree) and to score some brownie points by using the name of the original/most famous "breed" of Wild Elves in D&D. Plus, it's less confusing than calling them Wild Elves, although I agree that the Grugach fluff is absolutely abysmal.

I'm a bit taken back with their lack creativity. It's like they go through all the old material and just grab stuff here and there, slap some mechanics on it and off they go without really putting some thought into checking the fluff.

 

[Parmandur]

I'm a bit taken back with their lack creativity. It's like they go through all the old material and just grab stuff here and there, slap some mechanics on it and off they go without really putting some thought into checking the fluff.

"Check the fluff" for what, exactly...?

Reading the UA, seems partly to be an experiment in providing a subrace for each secondary stat, and using stories from prior editions.

 

[MechaTarrasque]

In FR there is a reality-altering apocalypse every other week. SK being human-derived was two apocalypses ago.....they just didn't around to telling that it affected them until today.

To tell the truth, much like tieflings, aasimar, and genasai, I think SK should be a universal subrace (or subraces). Spend too much time in the 'Fell, and your subrace changes to SK. Your mountain dwarf gets lost in the Shadowfell and six months later, he is a masochistic SK dwarf. Of course, anyone born there would get that as their subrace.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Interesting idea, but...it’s hard to find gimp suits for dwarves, though.