D&D 5E Theory: Eladrin in 5e

[gyor]

The previous playtest packet (which I lost when I lost my phone), or someone who has seen the PHB*

 

[Pickles JG]

Eladrin existed because WotC thought players were too dumb to understand the difference between two types of elves and that having wood elves and high elves was confusing. So they took the Elrond elves and made them eladrin and kept the Legolas elves as elves.
As reasons go it was pretty lame..

Straw man much? Isn't it to separate the otherwordly fey from the trad fantasy woods dwelling archers?

I agree it was a terrible fit to retcon the Eladrin to preexisting "high" elves.

 

[tuxgeo]

I'd separate high elves and eladrin. They're very different in concepts and lore, and eladrin in 4e never fit well with established grey elves, silvanesti, sun elves, etc.

Eladrin existed because WotC thought players were too dumb to understand the difference between two types of elves and that having wood elves and high elves was confusing. So they took the Elrond elves and made them eladrin and kept the Legolas elves as elves. . . .

Minor tweak: I would have said "they took the Galadriel elves and made them eladrin" -- because Elrond (son of the human Earendil) was half-elven.

 

[Jester David]

Straw man much? Isn't it to separate the otherwordly fey from the trad fantasy woods dwelling archers?

I agree it was a terrible fit to retcon the Eladrin to preexisting "high" elves.

No, they separated the civilized magic using elves from the earthy martial elves by making the former otherwordly fey.

They said in design articles it was because people apparently got confused that there were two types of elves and wanted to make the distinction clear. They didn't want new players accidentally picking "elf" for their wizard.

 

[Stalker0]

I would be fine with including the misty step mechanic into the Eldarin (Grey Elf) concept.


Spell frequency is often looked at for adventuring balance...but all too often it has a much bigger impact in "world balance".

Looking at the Eladrin Teleport in 4e. While the difference between a 5 minute rest and "at-will" was a distinct difference in adventuring power....once you get out of encounters they are de facto the same.


A race that can teleport all day long would be DISTINCTLY DIFFERENT from other races in a gameplay setting. You could imagine a race that has no doors to their houses. Who put buildings in "impossible to reach" locations, etc.

A race that can teleport "1 per day" would still have mystical elements, and you might have the secret room that can only be accessed with a teleport. But their daily lives wouldn't strongly integrate that ability in.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

I don't know why out of all the Fey-types in folklore and mythology, they've never actually used Sidhe as one of them. They've instead tried to preserve branding by using Eladrin instead.

But they've already mentioned that the Eladrin with types like Bralani, Ghaele, Tulani and Coure are back too. I know they existed in 4e in some form too, but they've generally only shared names with their 2e counterparts.

I feel that if teleportation is available as a cantrip, it'll probably only be 5 or 10 feet and either an action or a move to cast.

 

[Scrivener of Doom]

(snip) A race that can teleport all day long would be DISTINCTLY DIFFERENT from other races in a gameplay setting. You could imagine a race that has no doors to their houses. Who put buildings in "impossible to reach" locations, etc.

A race that can teleport "1 per day" would still have mystical elements, and you might have the secret room that can only be accessed with a teleport. But their daily lives wouldn't strongly integrate that ability in.

Don't forget, though, that an eladrin has to be able to see its destination when it teleports. I think that's sometimes forgotten in the context of trying to picture what an eladrin city would look like.

 

[Scrivener of Doom]

(snip) I feel that if teleportation is available as a cantrip, it'll probably only be 5 or 10 feet and either an action or a move to cast.

The lowest level version I can see is misty step which is level 2 and allows the cast to bamf 30 feet to an unoccupied space he can see. It's a swift action. Dimension door seems to be the next one.

 

[Klaus]

I don't know why out of all the Fey-types in folklore and mythology, they've never actually used Sidhe as one of them. They've instead tried to preserve branding by using Eladrin instead.

But they've already mentioned that the Eladrin with types like Bralani, Ghaele, Tulani and Coure are back too. I know they existed in 4e in some form too, but they've generally only shared names with their 2e counterparts.

I feel that if teleportation is available as a cantrip, it'll probably only be 5 or 10 feet and either an action or a move to cast.

If Sidhe ("shee") isn't D&D-ish enough, there's also the LeShay as the "elf's elves".

 

[Stalker0]

Don't forget, though, that an eladrin has to be able to see its destination when it teleports.

Small peep holes do that job just fine.