D&D General Wildly Diverse "Circus Troupe" Adventuring Parties

[Cap'n Kobold]

wait that's kind of adorable what

Based on a published AL module, although I have no idea what freedoms were taken in converting it.

 

[Dire Bare]

Not really. Because Elves in Oerth aren't the same as elves in Krynn, Eberron, Athas, or Ravenloft. So if I read in the PHB how elves worship Correllon and then decide make an elf cleric of Corellon, he's not going to be playable in Krynn (which has its own strict pantheon), Eberron (ditto, and elves have very different, non-Tolkien cultures there) etc. And that's just the setting WotC makes; who the hell knows if your campaign has elves, clerics, or Corellon!

That's what I'm getting at. In Pathfinder, you hand me the Core Rulebook and I have enough information to make an elf cleric appropriate to Golarion. In most editions of D&D, the PHB does not give me the necessary info to do that. The only editions that do are 3e (assuming you are using Greyhawk) or 4e (using Nentir Vale). I guess BECMI too.

So no, the problem has existed since 1e. And its not going away until D&D settles on one setting that the game uses to the exclusion of all others.

Yeah, but . . . they're not that different. D&D elves vary only slightly from setting to setting, for the most part. There are some neat exceptions, of course.

If a player rolls up an elf cleric of Corellon for your Dragonlance game . . . use the character, and just swap the deity out for Paladine. No changes to the rules necessary!