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View Full Version : [4e] Eladrin, a fluff-related fix.



DiscipleofBob
2009-01-07, 01:09 PM
In the personal campaign world I'm building, a lot of elements deviate from the core setting. The main one of discussion here is that I've completely redone the cosmology and alternate plane system.

Now, due to the way 4e Powers and Feats work, I have no problem with reflavoring various powers that used to rely on the Astral Sea or Shadowfell or something like that to just work differently but without changing them mechanically.

The problem comes with the Eladrin. I want them to be a core race for the setting. In fact, one of my players has already chosen to be an Eladrin Artificer. I've already refluffed the Eladrin as "High Elves" with an arcane focus who usually live on another continent, and I have no problem with the Eladrin racial power mechanically-speaking. I think it's a great idea for the class. The only thing is it's very difficult for me to conceive just how an entire society of people who can teleport every 5 minutes works. While it's an interesting concept, it just seems tedious and silly for every Eladrin child to be able to teleport at will. In the core setting, it makes sense due to the Eladrin's ties to the Feywild, but that connection doesn't apply at all in this world.

My proposal is this: Some Eladrin can teleport every few minutes due to studying and memorizing a low-scale teleportation spell in their childhood. This is because most Eladrin can remember at least one spell from their education by heart, to the point where they need not even be a wizard or arcane class in order to use it. An Eladrin character may select any level 2 Wizard Utility powers in place of their normal racial power, or keep the original racial power. A separate power (such as a Utility power of another class) may be selected instead if the DM approves of it.

So what do you think? Does this work? Or does it open a whole new can of purple worms?

SmartAlec
2009-01-07, 01:25 PM
So that's Expeditious Retreat, Feather Fall, Jump or Shield.

Only problems I can see there is that Feather Fall and Jump can affect other creatures, which is a bit odd for a 'racial' power - or that it opens possible avenues for a super-AC fighter with Shield.

Is there no way you could refluff the teleport to make sense? For example, a 'quantum indeterminacy' effect caused by the High Elven civilisation's exceedingly high exposure to background levels of magic, which has knocked them a tiny fraction out of sync with the world and can be exploited by those with a bit of training to simulate a Teleport effect?

Mando Knight
2009-01-07, 01:28 PM
Or does it open a whole new can of purple worms?

Well, it doesn't open a can of purple wyrms, so you should be fine until they decide to create a super-AC fighter using Shield...

kamikasei
2009-01-07, 01:45 PM
The only thing is it's very difficult for me to conceive just how an entire society of people who can teleport every 5 minutes works. While it's an interesting concept, it just seems tedious and silly for every Eladrin child to be able to teleport at will.

How much would your problem be lessened if you said it was something Eladrin developed after maturity?

Artanis
2009-01-07, 01:59 PM
To answer the second and third questions first, I don't think it would terribly unbalance things to do that.


As for what I think about it, I don't think it's particularly necessary, because it shouldn't be terribly difficult to come up with appropriate fluff for everybody being able to teleport.

Remember that the teleport is relatively short-ranged. You aren't going all the way across the city, the teleport is only 25 feet, which is a couple flights of stairs or across a middle-class house*. While there would be plenty of differences, I imagine that the most visible ones would just be not bothering to put as much effort into accessability. The stuff would still be there, just with less effort: things like stairs being steeper and narrower (they'd go down, but just teleport back up); not bothering with cargo access for 3-story buildings (just teleport the crates up); and putting things where it's convenient to build, not to get to. And it's not like they can teleport both ways easily, since it's on a recharge of several minutes, so most of the time they'd be walking anyways if they're making a quick trip, such as a modern person going to the mailbox. Hell, even bank vaults might be able to get away with less-than-total teleport interdiction.


tldr version: I don't think a society of people with a per-5-minutes teleport would be all that different or hard to explain.





*These two things hold true even if going diagonal, so the "diagonals equal one square" mechanic is irrelevant :smallwink:

Kurald Galain
2009-01-07, 02:04 PM
tldr version: I don't think a society of people with a per-5-minutes teleport would be all that different or hard to explain.
The hard part is writing rules for their version of Basketball :smalltongue:

DiscipleofBob
2009-01-07, 02:06 PM
How much would your problem be lessened if you said it was something Eladrin developed after maturity?

Well, the immediate concern that comes to mind would be how crime and law enforcement work. I mean, if the criminals can just teleport away when arrested, and by the time you get them back in handcuffs, they can just teleport away anyway, how does anyone get arrested? There's only so many facets of life that can be hit with a Dimensional Anchor or the equivalent. Anyone can break and enter into anywhere without much of a problem. If I say the entire continent is full of teleportation wards, then there's really no reason why teleportation should be such a natural element of the eEadrin's lives. The problems compound when, at least for this setting, that any precaution's taken would just apply to the Eladrin's continent and that on the mainland there's nothing stopping the Eladrin from single-handedly taking over the criminal world. I mean, sure, it opens up some interesting roleplaying possibilities: Legendary thieves who can escape out of any situation, Eladrin government buildings with no conceivable entrance or exit that you have to teleport in and out, false rooms that you have to teleport at exactly the right location or get stuck in the wall. It's all very interesting and for the core setting or something different I wouldn't object, but for my setting, the eladrin are supposed to have the feel of arcane high elves, not of criminal masterminds. I hope that makes things somewhat clear.

SmartAlec: Thanks for pointing that out. I'll be sure to specify that no matter the power chosen, it can only be used to affect oneself. And I tried at first thinking of ways to justify a racial teleportation ability other than the given, but I couldn't justify it due to reasons above and because every explanation I could think of made my brain say, "Nah... That's just silly."

Mando Knight
2009-01-07, 02:13 PM
Make 'em a race of Captain Kuchiki expies/wannabes: aloof superiority-complex bishies that can move faster than your eye can follow. However, since they focused on the superiority complex and the bishonen parts, they can only use the flash-step about once every five minutes or so. :smalltongue:

Inyssius Tor
2009-01-07, 02:17 PM
Well, the immediate concern that comes to mind would be how crime and law enforcement work. I mean, if the criminals can just teleport away when arrested, and by the time you get them back in handcuffs, they can just teleport away anyway, how does anyone get arrested?
Blindfolds. You need line of sight to teleport anywhere. Similarly, you can teleport-proof a house in seconds by pulling the drapes on the first- and second-story windows.

EDIT: A typical eladrin society would thus probably have lots of mirrorways, but not so many windows.

Artanis
2009-01-07, 02:29 PM
You only need teleportation locks on really sensitive areas, like jails and bank vaults. That keeps them from escaping. And if somebody teleports away from arrest, they're still cuffed, and the cops can just teleport after them and beat them. Or just use some other means of keeping them from getting away, like an incapacitating spell.

As for areas without teleport locks, there's plenty of non-Eladrin theives who can pick a lock quickly. A Fey Step is only six seconds' worth of walking distance, and they still have to stay in the area for five minutes. Security measures that would defeat a normal thief could easily have Eladrin-targetting equivalents, especially if the Eladrin can't see exactly where that alarm tripwire is.


In other words: compared to a normal thief, it would be a little harder to counter an Eladrin with "usual" countermeasures, but by no means impossible.