UA: New Race Options, Eladrin and Gith

The Eladrin ability score adjustment needs to be: +2 Charisma, +1 any other.

Charisma and all of its connotations [charm, innate magic, bardic song, etcetera] is what best represents the Fey Elf concept.

Intelligence is an accident of D&D only having Wizard class in the beginning, but it has merit in folklore too.

Dexterity is irrelevant.

Maybe handsized sprites connote Dexterity, but humansized spirits of magic, less so.



Edit.

Elves can work better this way:

Wood Elf: +2 Dexterity
High Elf: +2 Intelligence
Eladrin Elf: +2 Charisma

That is what the Elf feels like.



Edit.

High Elf
+2 Dexterity, +2 Intelligence (!)
Trance
Investigation skill proficiency
Languages: Elven, Sylvan, and Common
Cantrip
Elven Armor (permanent Mage Armor, appears as supple chain armor or as invisible force)
High Elf Weapon Training (longsword proficiency, treat as finesse weapon and spell focus)
(Darkvision too?)



Edit.

Eladrin are a group of elves that are native to the Fey Plane. They feel like a separate race of Elf with their own four subraces. The concept of the Eladrin evolves across the editions, and their association with the four seasons seems to enjoy traction. They consolidate well into four kinds of Eladrin, each one corresponding to a season.

Eladrin Elf
• Spring: +2 Charisma, +1 Dexterity (Ghael, Coure)
• Summer: +2 Charisma, +1 Strength (Firre, Bralani)
• Autumn: +2 Charisma, +1 Intelligence (Tulani)
• Winter: +2 Charisma, +1 Wisdom (Noviere, Shiere)

 

[maceochaid]

They could even have just gone with a note: "Elves make longswords of such surpassing elegance that they count as rapiers."

Sure sure, but I would like it this way, because it would give Elves the possibility of using the versatility trait on the longsword, which would give them a little bump, without really overpowering anything. Just a +1 damage.

 

[cbwjm]

I remember the early playtests had elves use a higher die size when using the classic elven weapons. Dwarves had a similar bonus for hammers and axes.

 

[Azzy]

I remember the early playtests had elves use a higher die size when using the classic elven weapons. Dwarves had a similar bonus for hammers and axes.

Yep. I liked that, shame it got tossed.

 

[Dax Doomslayer]

I remember the early playtests had elves use a higher die size when using the classic elven weapons. Dwarves had a similar bonus for hammers and axes.

Ohhh - I like that. I've been grappling with potentially adding 'racial' weapons like in 3e but this may be a better approach really. Did each race have a specific weapon? Out of curiosity do you recall what the other races had or was it just Elves & Dwarves?

 

[cbwjm]

Ohhh - I like that. I've been grappling with potentially adding 'racial' weapons like in 3e but this may be a better approach really. Did each race have a specific weapon? Out of curiosity do you recall what the other races had or was it just Elves & Dwarves?

From memory it was just the elves and dwarves having bonuses for their racial weapons which became their racial weapon training in the current edition. My suggestion would be any race that has bonus weapon proficiencies gains a die increase.

 

[NaturalZero]

In my homebrew setting, I was toying with making elves into 4 subraces based on the seasons (in lieu of the standard subs), so I simultaneously love and completely hate that they've chosen to run with the same concept!

I really dislike the 5e convention of slapping generic spells onto races and pretending they're unique racial features though, and i'd much rather the mechanical expression of the season flavor be minor and useful, but detached from the ubiquitous "everything uses the same spells" paradigm that pervades the system. Fey Step is awesome and useful, but I'd almost be willing to chuck it out and power up the season mechanics, making that the race's central theme.

 

[Cap'n Kobold]

From memory it was just the elves and dwarves having bonuses for their racial weapons which became their racial weapon training in the current edition. My suggestion would be any race that has bonus weapon proficiencies gains a die increase.

Personally, I'm not a fan of that: It pushes characters of those races into a limited weapon selection rather than choosing from a wider range.

 

[Alexemplar]

Personally, I'm not a fan of that: It pushes characters of those races into a limited weapon selection rather than choosing from a wider range.

That's very much the intention, at least when it comes to Elves and Dwarves. It helps push them towards weapons that their people are known to favor above all others by making them more attractive than other weapons that- while usually superior mechanically- aren't commonly used by Elves/Dwarves.

 

[Dax Doomslayer]

Thanks for the reply cbwjm. Out of curiosity, did that also include bows?

 

[Azzy]

Thanks for the reply cbwjm. Out of curiosity, did that also include bows?

Yup.

"Elf Weapon Training: When you attack with a longsword, a shortbow, or a longbow with which you have proficiency, the damage die for that weapon increases by one step: from d6 to d8, or d8 to d10."