10/15/2017 Eldarin were an official playable race in 2E [Archive] - RPGnet Forums

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drek 04-10-2011, 05:03 PM

Digging through my (massively overstuffed) book boxes, I discovered at the bottom of my most ancient collection a book
I had never bothered to read. I don't even remember buying it. For all I know, it was left by a player more than a decade
ago and never retrieved.

It is "Warriors of Heaven", from the last days of TSR, written by none of the than Chris Perkins, of the 4e development
team. It is a set of rules (one would assume originally developed for Planescape) for playing Celestials. Among them --
the Eldarin!

The playable Eldarin of 2nd edition are not that far different from the Eldarin of 4e. Fair use quote from the book itself:

Eldarins are spectacular and passionate beings native to the plane of Arborea -- a wilderness of violent moods and other
affections. Though some of these faerie beings could pass for elves, and the race as a whole is on good terms with the
elven pantheon, eladrins are born on Arborea to eldarin parents, not created from other mortal beings. They are mirror
reflections of the land they inhabit: stunning beautiful, seemingly delicate, surprisingly hearty, and deeply magical.

There are some big differences of course. The eldarins of 2e are celestials, and therefore do-gooders by nature. Like the
elves of 2nd edition, they are divided into a way-too-many subraces: the bralani, coures, novieres, shieres, firres,
ghaeles, and tulani. I know the ghaeles and bralani appear in 4e as well. And Queen Morwel makes appearances in both
editions.

So... no, it's not that big of a deal. But I personally find it interesting that Eldarin as a playable race has been stewing
since the 2nd edition. On that note, I can also recall Witches (ie, Warlocks) being a class presented in Dragon, the
dracodians of Dragonlance as prototypes for the Dragonborn. What impresses me about the 4e fluff, compared to the
blander toolbox approach in 3e, is how it combined all of the old continuity and cruft into something new and awesome.

Other examples of little forgotten corners of the prior editions being used to inspire bits of the PolLand setting?

Mock 04-10-2011, 05:14 PM

Out of curiosity, are they spelled "Eldarin" in the 2E version (or is that just a transposition?) If so, I wonder why it
changed in 4E to Eladrin when they got resurrected.

drek 04-10-2011, 05:19 PM

No, it's Eladrin in both editions. The mistake is entirely mine.

Armchair Gamer 04-10-2011, 05:58 PM

Other examples of little forgotten corners of the prior editions being used to inspire bits of the PolLand setting?

Read the introduction to the chapter on Treasure in the 2E DMG. It provides an outline for the "points of light" concept, at
least in part.

mrlost 04-10-2011, 08:38 PM

There were Dragonborn in 3.5, they are found in Races of the Dragon.

Keefe the Thief 04-10-2011, 11:21 PM

Turning Eladrin into high-elves was also a reaction to the "there are too damn many celestials around" problem. An
approach i approve of on every level, btw.

Agamemnon2 04-11-2011, 12:40 AM

Turning Eladrin into high-elves was also a reaction to the "there are too damn many celestials around" problem. An
approach i approve of on every level, btw.

Yeah, Planescape never could differentiate between the four major factions of upper planar denizens well enough. There

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10/15/2017 Eldarin were an official playable race in 2E [Archive] - RPGnet Forums
were even physical lookalikes, such as ursinals vs warden archons. Giant humanoid sage bears from Elysium vs giant
humanoid war bears out of Celestia.

Of course, turning them into elves didn't really change the "there's too many flavors of X" balance of the game that
much.

Captain Deadpool 04-11-2011, 09:38 AM

The Eladrin were originally published in the Planescape Monstrous Compendium 2, if memory serves. Either that or MC1.

Danger Mouse 04-11-2011, 10:00 AM

Yeah, Planescape never could differentiate between the four major factions of upper planar denizens well enough. There
were even physical lookalikes, such as ursinals vs warden archons. Giant humanoid sage bears from Elysium vs giant
humanoid war bears out of Celestia.

Of course, turning them into elves didn't really change the "there's too many flavors of X" balance of the game that
much.

At least there are fewer elf variants now (elves, half-elves, eladrin, and drow). 4 is still a lot, but there were 7 in the 3.5e
monster manual, plus setting-specific subraces...

chiguayante 04-11-2011, 10:17 AM

Of course, turning them into elves didn't really change the "there's too many flavors of X" balance of the game that
much.

Well, they really simplified the elf list down as well. High, wood, dark and half are all that are left anymore. Compared to,
what, 8 different kinds in the 3e FR manual alone?

CelticMutt 04-11-2011, 05:11 PM

Turning Eladrin into high-elves was also a reaction to the "there are too damn many celestials around" problem. An
approach i approve of on every level, btw.

Though even in Planescape they were usually referred to or hinted at being cousins of the elves.

TristanH 04-12-2011, 01:12 AM

Read the introduction to the chapter on Treasure in the 2E DMG. It provides an outline for the "points of light" concept, at
least in part.

The background section of Keep on the Borderlands provides an outline for the "points of light" concept as well.

Ithaeur 04-12-2011, 03:25 AM

Overall, there's not very much completely new stuff in 4e, which makes all the complaints about how it's "not D&D"
rather silly.

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