Elves, Eladrin and Fey

[HoboKnight]

Hey guys,

my party of all-elves has traversed into Feywild. And while I found a bunch of stuff on the plane, I still wonder - my party being all-elf - how do eladrin and non-evil Fey react to my PCs? I don't have hard time fleshing out evil characters, but for non-evil ... It's still Feywild. It should be colorful and odd and ... its people too?

Eladrin and non-evil Feywilders reacting to elves. That's what I'd ask your lore knowledge on :)

[Millstone85]

Going by 5e lore:
Because of their link to the primal elves, eladrin tend to be haughty around other elves. They're proud of their heritage and equally proud of their ability to thrive in the Feywild, a land full of threats that would overwhelm and destroy weaker creatures. Some eladrin trade haughtiness for a tender kindness toward their elf cousins, knowing that many elves have never felt the ecstasies of a life amid the fey and of years spent near the ancient shrines and other glories created by the primal elves who first arrived in Faerie. These kinder eladrin take a special pleasure in introducing their realm to others.
Eladrin culture is older than any other elven civilization, and it's also the most decadent. Most elves are impetuous to some extent, but eladrin are known for their fickleness. Many of them change their minds on the spur of the moment without giving reasons. Their system of justice vacillates between capriciously harsh and whimsically mild, depending on the mood of the eladrin passing judgment, and eladrin are more susceptible to flattery than other elves are.
There should however be a level of predictability in that eladrin come in four types:

winter / mournful :smallfrown:
spring / festive :smallbiggrin:
summer / hot-tempered :smallfurious:
autumn / generous :smallsmile:

And you can easily tell which is which:
https://i1.wp.com/nerdarchy.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/eladrin-2.jpg?w=800&ssl=1

Some eladrins belong squarely to one season, while others may transform overnight.

As for the fey, I don't know. But many eladrin are considered fey, not just fey-related, and I imagine that a lord or lady or the eladrin could influence the local fey population.

[hamishspence]

Not all eladrin come in seasonal variants - but it's reasonable IMO that most ones in the Feywild do. I'd suggest that the ones without the seasonal variants, in DMG, are eladrin who mostly reside on the Material Plane.

These ones, I'd suggest, are "humanoid (elf)" whereas the ones in Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes are "fey (elf)".

[Willie the Duck]

my party of all-elves has traversed into Feywild. And while I found a bunch of stuff on the plane, I still wonder - my party being all-elf - how do eladrin and non-evil Fey react to my PCs? I don't have hard time fleshing out evil characters, but for non-evil ... It's still Feywild. It should be colorful and odd and ... its people too?

Eladrin and non-evil Feywilders reacting to elves. That's what I'd ask your lore knowledge on :)

In what edition are you playing? That would probably help us narrow this down.

Regardless, exactly how fae* other elves are is kind of a moving target. Heck, up until Eladrin and the Feywild were invented, High Elves (or better yet, Grey Elves) held most of the same roles that Eladrin later took on. Likewise, exactly how haughty Eladrin (and elves before them) are is kind of variant between sources.
*I will use that as the general term, to distinguish from the game-mechanics meaning of 'fey.'

[hamishspence]

Eladrin used to be outsiders - CG exemplars - they only became fae when the optional Plane of Faerie was turned into the "part of standard cosmology" Feywild.

So in this context, the implication is that the edition is either 4e or 5e, since 3e didn't have a Feywild per se - at least, not by that name.

[Millstone85]

Not all eladrin come in seasonal variants - but it's reasonable IMO that most ones in the Feywild do. I'd suggest that the ones without the seasonal variants, in DMG, are eladrin who mostly reside on the Material Plane.

These ones, I'd suggest, are "humanoid (elf)" whereas the ones in Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes are "fey (elf)".Yes, I would tend to agree.

MToF has statblock eladrin that count as fey and playable eladrin that count as humanoid, despite both having seasons. But then, the MtG-based books gave us playable centaurs and satyrs with the "Your creature type is fey, rather than humanoid" trait. If it works for them, it should be a sound homebrew for eladrin.

As for the DMG eladrin, with their Int bonus and their cities that switch back and forth between the Feywild and the Material, they seem more in line with the previous edition, where "eladrin" became another word for "high elf". In 4e FR, the new terminology was explained by high elves rediscovering their ties to the Feywild as the plane suddenly became easier to reach. So your idea for 5e DMG eladrin sounds good.


Eladrin used to be outsiders - CG exemplars - they only became fae when the optional Plane of Faerie was turned into the "part of standard cosmology" Feywild.

So in this context, the implication is that the edition is either 4e or 5e, since 3e didn't have a Feywild per se - at least, not by that name.The paradox of 5e eladrin is that they are simultaneously the only elves who are permanently welcome to Arvandor (typical elven souls are eventually forced to reincarnate out of the plane) and the only elves who do not consider Arvandor to be the bee's knees but would rather stay in the Feywild. :smallamused:

[Eldan]

Huh. Who's the chaotic good exemplars in 5E then, if they use the 4E eladrin?

[Millstone85]

Huh. Who's the chaotic good exemplars in 5E then, if they use the 4E eladrin?5e has yet to feature any good exemplars. No archons, no guardinals, and nothing to replace classic eladrin. Which is surprising because modrons, devils, yugoloths, demons and slaadi all made it to the first Monster Manual.

Edit: The MtG-based books have celestials called archons, but I don't think that counts.

[hamishspence]

Yes, I would tend to agree.

MToF has statblock eladrin that count as fey and playable eladrin that count as humanoid, despite both having seasons. But then, the MtG-based books gave us playable centaurs and satyrs with the "Your creature type is fey, rather than humanoid" trait. If it works for them, it should be a sound homebrew for eladrin.

I figured they'd just forgotten to clarify that the playable eladrin had the fey type.

[Millstone85]

I figured they'd just forgotten to clarify that the playable eladrin had the fey type.It says page 36 that "Some eladrin have been transformed so thoroughly that they have become fey creatures again", and the book never references the DMG version of eladrin, which makes me think it was intentional.