Eladrin Mortality

[riverothethief]

Are the new 5E subrace Eladrin immortal? I've been trying to read up on what lore I can find on the internet and haven't been able to specifically read this.

[MxKit]

Eladrin are actually a subrace from the DMG, not one of the new UA elf subraces, and they're not immortal, no. None of the elf subraces are immortal; they all use the basic elf stats given in the Player's Handbook, including age.

[riverothethief]

Eladrin are actually a subrace from the DMG, not one of the new UA elf subraces, and they're not immortal, no. None of the elf subraces are immortal; they all use the basic elf stats given in the Player's Handbook, including age.

I can't provide the link because of my post count but there were released as a subrace with githranki in septembers unearthed arcanum.

So the fact that they never left the fey wild wouldn't alter their mortality in anyway? I mean they are basically what elves were.

[MxKit]

Oh shoot, right, I forgot that those were also eladrin! I only looked at that document the once because I don't really care about the Gith, lol.

But yeah, from looking it over, it looks like there's nothing said about extending their lifespan, so it looks like they'd still just use the basic elf age rules. Which makes sense; once they leave the Feywild (to become adventurers) they start aging just like every other elf does, even if they don't age there. I suppose if your campaign took place in the Feywild, you could ask your DM if you could fluff that your character doesn't age at all; your campaign is not likely to run long enough that it would give you much if any advantage.

[riverothethief]

I've only recently started playing D&D. I have to admit it drives me crazy that subraces are released with so little information about them. Like should Eladrin's physical characteristics differ in anyway? Do they tend towards certain colors of hair? What are the cities like in the Fey Wild? The Summer and Winter Courts? Is it intentional? So the DM can interpret the world how he wants?

[MxKit]

Yeah, I wish they'd given a bit of physical information too, but the UA subraces don't seem to go into that at all. I know the three subraces from the PHB give at least a little bit about their usual hair/eye/skin color... That said, yes, most stuff is just being left to the DM's ideas and worldbuilding. The default setting for 5e is Forgotten Realms, so if there's canonical information about the Feywild and the eladrin cities and Courts there, it can be pretty safely lifted, but other than that things seem to be just left up to the DM.

[Monavic]

I would say their life span depends on the campaign setting and what the dm rules the effects of the fey wild are. In an old campaign I decided elves where immortal as long as they returned to their home land before 1000 years(kind of like elves in lord of the rings). I never find immortality that game breaking anyway, most campaigns are over and the characters retired before old age sets in.