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

[Jer]

They need to explain how this change fits into the Forgotten Realms context.

All they really need is a single sentence. In the blurb about "how to use this race in other campaign worlds" for the Realms, put in a note along the lines of "In the Realms, shadar-kai are descended from humans who were transformed into shadar-kai by the Spellplague". That's literally all of the handwaving they need to do regarding it.

Of course this means reminding people that the Spellplague existed, which will likely also irritate people. So I couldn't fault them if they left the sentence out.

 

[gyor]

I'm not a huge fan of it, but in 4e, shadar-kai were added to Faerun as a spontaneous mutation that swept the population of Returned Netheril in the wake of the Spellplague; whilst some did mutate from Shades or Krinth, enough that there were racial heritage feats to reflect that alternate ancestry, most of them actually developed from the non-Shade but still shadowtouched commoners of Returned Netheril, as well as spontaneously appearing amongst "other enclaves of shadow-touched humans" elsewhere in the Realms.

My guess is that they're either going to retcon shadar-kai in the Realms as arising from amongst a population of elven allies/servants of Netheril during their time in the Shadowfell, or just retcon out their connections to Netheril entirely - they may not even mention how shadar-kai exist on Faerun beyond the general handwave of "their need to stimulation leads many shadar-kai to explore realms other than their home plane of the Shadowfell".

I really will be disappointed if they hand wave it.

One idea I had was that the transformation of humans into Shadar Kai was caused by residual high elven magic that had seeped into the Shadowfell from the horrifying spells cast during the crown wars, infected many humans being exposed to the Shadowfell tainted elven magic.

Alternately Corellon decided to turn the Shadar Kai of FR into Elves as punishment for destroying Myth Drannor during the Shadovar War.

Or Sharess (in her Elven Zandilar form) did it to try and redeem the Shadar Kai from Shar's Influence on the race.

Or who knows maybe it was Mask, for obscure long term reasons.

Or maybe the Shadar Kai of Netheril are really only Shadar Kai half elves, with true Shadar Kai ancestors awaking their blood lines.

Or maybe the Raven Queen made her way to FR in some form finally, and decided to do this. Or the Raven Queen in FR could be a Shadar Kai Chosen of Kelemver or Shar in FR.

I think this also means Sorrowsorn might also be non humaniod elves.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Or Illithids under the leadership of Bask Inrabinz traveled back in time in order to engage in some “animal husbandry” to increase the number of flavors of Elf.

 

[jasper]

Or Illithids under the leadership of Bask Inrabinz traveled back in time in order to engage in some “animal husbandry” to increase the number of flavors of Elf.

Or the Shadar-Kai forgot to file their trademark extension paperwork, and those high elves are cyber elfing on the name.

 

[Einlanzer0]

I'm not a huge fan of it, but in 4e, shadar-kai were added to Faerun as a spontaneous mutation that swept the population of Returned Netheril in the wake of the Spellplague; whilst some did mutate from Shades or Krinth, enough that there were racial heritage feats to reflect that alternate ancestry, most of them actually developed from the non-Shade but still shadowtouched commoners of Returned Netheril, as well as spontaneously appearing amongst "other enclaves of shadow-touched humans" elsewhere in the Realms.

My guess is that they're either going to retcon shadar-kai in the Realms as arising from amongst a population of elven allies/servants of Netheril during their time in the Shadowfell, or just retcon out their connections to Netheril entirely - they may not even mention how shadar-kai exist on Faerun beyond the general handwave of "their need to stimulation leads many shadar-kai to explore realms other than their home plane of the Shadowfell".

That's some pretty bad backstory. Of course, the backstory for 4e FR was bad in general, so no surprise there.

I'm guessing they're sort of formalizing Shades as the shadar-kai from 4th edition, and creating new lore for shadar kai here to turn them into an elf subrace. I suppose I'm okay with that approach as long as we still have a humans-touched-by-the-shadowfell race embedded in lore to draw from.

 

[Charlaquin]

In my games (which use a modified version of the Nentir Vale setting history,) the Shadar-Kai are the tribe the Raven Queen belonged to in life. They were decieved by Nerull and placed under the Shadow Curse, which is what led the woman who would become the Raven Queen to kill him and take his place as the god of death. And although she wasn’t able to undo the Curse on her people, she was able to create a place within her new domain for them to live free from the worst of its effects. If they do end up becoming elves, it really doesn’t make a ton of difference for my setting. Just means the Raven Queen’s tribe was one of Elves rather than humans.

 

[Jester David]

I can see the reasoning.
Making them a full race seems a bit much, but making them a human "subrace" might be tricky as there is not default human subrace. The human alternative is a variant, but even then their whole thing about humans is their flexibility: losing a bonus feat for whatever Shadar Kai have is a big change.

Plus Shadar Kai are now positions as shadow elves/ shadow fey, which are a thing already in D&D. That makes them more useful in different worlds. Plus, it makes them the dark opposite of eladrin, being from the other reflection of the mortal world.

And if the response here is any indication, they got a whole lot of feedback saying, "Yeah, sure, the mechanics are cool, but why tf are they elves?"

Apparently they didn't then.
Unsurprisingly, we're not the baseline and feedback seen here is not the norm.

 

[gyor]

I can see the reasoning.
Making them a full race seems a bit much, but making them a human "subrace" might be tricky as there is not default human subrace. The human alternative is a variant, but even then their whole thing about humans is their flexibility: losing a bonus feat for whatever Shadar Kai have is a big change.

Plus Shadar Kai are now positions as shadow elves/ shadow fey, which are a thing already in D&D. That makes them more useful in different worlds. Plus, it makes them the dark opposite of eladrin, being from the other reflection of the mortal world.


Apparently they didn't then.
Unsurprisingly, we're not the baseline and feedback seen here is not the norm.

Your logic is sound, but I still want an FR sidebar explaining this twist in FRs context.

 

[Jester David]

Your logic is sound, but I still want an FR sidebar explaining this twist in FRs context.

Really, it just returns them to their 3e origin: http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Shadar-kai_(fey)
The human 4e shadar-kai came later: http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Shadar-kai

It’s easy enough to reconcile that the later human/ shade descended shadar-kai could breed true with the existing ones, perhaps having been turned into fey beings.

 

[77IM]

I wish they had made them a separate race and made their backstory ambiguous: "Some say the shadar-kai were originally elves who cross-bred with humans, while some claim it was the other way around, and that they were humans first. The truth is lost to the mists of time. Regardless of their origins, shadar-kai to today have characteristics of both humans and fey creatures, but their defining traits come from their connection to the necrotic energies of the Shadowfell."

That would allow 3E and 4E fans to both have their way, and require no retconning for the Forgotten Realms. It would just be officially a non-issue.