Spelljammer Spelljammer in D&D 5e Speculation: How Will the Setting Be Changed?

[Urriak Uruk]

Yes please, no Elven Space Navy. It's not that I didn't like Elven ships, but the idea that Elves everywhere are united in this genocidal, racist, Space Force always made me cringe.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

They also announced "Vampirates". It's an awful pun truly fitting for Spelljammer.

(Also, is are those the laser pistols and laser rifles from the DMG? Nice to see that they're actually getting used in an official product, even if they are ridiculously OP.)

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Yes please, no Elven Space Navy. It's not that I didn't like Elven ships, but the idea that Elves everywhere are united in this genocidal, racist, Space Force always made me cringe.

I actually always liked the Elven Imperial Navy. Especially how their "ships" differed from everyone else's (being made of plants, and all). Using them as a sort of colonialist, genocidal faction was a pretty interesting take on Elves in the setting, in my opinion.

 

[JEB]

I actually always liked the Elven Imperial Navy. Especially how their "ships" differed from everyone else's (being made of plants, and all). Using them as a sort of colonialist, genocidal faction was a pretty interesting take on Elves in the setting, in my opinion.

Maybe the Imperial elves will be a subset of the new astral elves? As long as non-colonialist elves are an option, don't see why we can't have both (or more).

 

[Micah Sweet]

IIRC the scro were tied up with the Unhuman War backstory, and I suspect they're leaving that stuff on the cutting room floor.

(I was re-reading my Spelljammer recently and I'd forgotten how ... genocidal the elves were in that backstory.)

Nothing in my knowledge of fantasy says elves can't be racist jerks.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Maybe the Imperial elves will be a subset of the new astral elves? As long as non-colonialist elves are an option, don't see why we can't have both (or more).

I'd guess that they'd be the default elves of Spelljammer. There could be some that aren't colonial/genocidal, but the main group of them in the setting would be the Imperial Elves.

 

[James Gasik]

Nothing in my knowledge of fantasy says elves can't be racist jerks.

No and in fact, if you ever read the Complete Elves' Handbook, you'll see this is a common theme in 2e. But I never really cared for it. Elves with planet-killing weapons, scouring space of the goblinoid/orc threat, while in the actual planets, they hang out in tree villages and hide out from everyone?

They even hinted that Elves who hit their age cap and go off to distant lands (ala Tolkien) actually go into SPACE! There was a lot of zany, bonkers stuff in Spelljammer, and I liked a lot of it, but this one just irked me.

I mean, if someone else likes it, that's great, but I can live without it. More militaristic British hippo men with guns instead please!

Though yes, Elven ships did look cool. And I liked the Guyvers.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

No and in fact, if you ever read the Complete Elves' Handbook, you'll see this is a common theme in 2e. But I never really cared for it. Elves with planet-killing weapons, scouring space of the goblinoid/orc threat, while in the actual planets, they hang out in tree villages and hide out from everyone?

They even hinted that Elves who hit their age cap and go off to distant lands (ala Tolkien) actually go into SPACE! There was a lot of zany, bonkers stuff in Spelljammer, and I liked a lot of it, but this one just irked me.

I mean, if someone else likes it, that's great, but I can live without it. More militaristic British hippo men with guns instead please!

Though yes, Elven ships did look cool. And I liked the Guyvers.

We have very different tastes, I guess. I personally really like my elves as "elitist naughty words that think they're superior to everyone else, sometimes going so far to basically be Nazis." I like the Thalmor/Altmer from the Elder Scrolls, I like Vulcans, I like Aereni/Tairnadal Elves from Eberron, the Elves from the Inheritance Cycle, and the Elven Imperial Navy from Spelljammer. It just makes sense to me that a race that lives for such a long time, was literally formed from the blood of a god (at least, they believe they were), and values magic, knowledge, and beauty as much as the Elves do would end up being elitist Elven-Supremacists bent on conquering the world/eradicating "lesser" species.

 

[James Gasik]

We have very different tastes, I guess. I personally really like my elves as "elitist naughty words that think they're superior to everyone else, sometimes going so far to basically be Nazis." I like the Thalmor/Altmer from the Elder Scrolls, I like Vulcans from Aereni/Tairnadal Elves from Eberron, the Elves from the Inheritance Cycle, and the Elven Imperial Navy from Spelljammer. It just makes sense to me that a race that lives for such a long time, was literally formed from the blood of a god (at least, they believe they were), and values magic, knowledge, and beauty as much as the Elves do would end up being elitist Elven-Supremacists bent on conquering the world/eradicating "lesser" species.

Now if we had a Drow Space Navy, I could get on board with that. The Dark Elves are often elven stereotypes at their worst. But hey, making a race that's normally "good" and amping them up to 11 to make them "morally grey" is a perfectly acceptable practice. I didn't care for this interpretation, but that doesn't mean it can't work.

How does that saying go? If you live long enough, you get to live to see yourself become the villain?

 

[JEB]

Now if we had a Drow Space Navy, I could get on board with that.

The one-off Spelljammer: Shadow of the Spider Moon mini-game in the 3.0 era had spelljamming drow, FWIW.