| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Auzoros |
Posted - 09 Jun 2010 : 03:05:01
After reading the article in Dragon mag #357 about Ashemmi and Sememmon by George Krashos and Ed Greenwood, I began to wonder about the offspring of a Moon elf and Gold elf (or the union between any racial subgroup for that matter), specifically which race of elf would the offspring be? Does one gender predominate over the other to determine the race of the child? Or would the race be determined randomly?
Any thoughts?
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| 12 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Sylrae |
Posted - 17 Jun 2010 : 11:32:00
True, though the random does make it hard to explain how you produce new breeds/races through intermixing, a-la wood elves. |
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 17 Jun 2010 : 02:46:46
quote:
Originally posted by Alystra Illianniis
Agreed. I'm wondering why it would be random, though. Wouldn't it make more sense to have one sub-race predominate over another? Like Moon over Gold? And drow over all others, of course, but that gets weird if you add in Avariel and Aquatic....
That would make more sense. Of course, it must be admitted that winged elves really don't make sense, nor does it make sense for an underground race to not be albino.
Random may not make a lot of sense geneticly, but it's certainly easier than trying to figure out the exact mix of traits -- especially a couple generations down the line. |
| Alystra Illianniis |
Posted - 16 Jun 2010 : 16:10:10
Agreed. I'm wondering why it would be random, though. Wouldn't it make more sense to have one sub-race predominate over another? Like Moon over Gold? And drow over all others, of course, but that gets weird if you add in Avariel and Aquatic.... |
| Sylrae |
Posted - 16 Jun 2010 : 10:56:53
Races of Faerun page 45.
Not gonna type it up, but first paragraph under history.
- Most Recent Addition
- Only Subrace native to Faerun
- Slowly showed up over a few centuries after the last crown war.
- A collection of Moon, Sun, and Green Elves retreat from the other elves.
- Over time they grew closer to the natural world and away from the high magic and ancient lore the elves brought from their first home.
A distinction/clarification retcon I liked, as it explained why 'green' elves in 2e were presented the way both wood and wild elves are presented in 3e.
I don't think we needed to have as many sets of stat mods/abilities as we had, I think just giving the different subraces different proficiencies would have been enough, and just have the naturey ones and the arcane ones + drow/aquatic/avariel.
Which I know is basically how 4e did it, but I would not have connected them to celestials or given them the ability to teleport, and im not a fan of the 'elves are fey' model. I think fey elves should be more fey and less elf. |
| Zireael |
Posted - 09 Jun 2010 : 19:49:46
quote:
Originally posted by HawkinstheDM
I don't know where this falls with older lore, but I seem to remember in either the 3e Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting or Races of Faerūn it mentions that copper elves were the mixing of moon elves and green elves.
No, it was a rumor that was never confirmed, that originated in the times when 3e was introduced.
EDIT: Seriously, the two sub-races offspring should be included in the Realms FAQ, the amount of times it pops up... |
| Hawkins |
Posted - 09 Jun 2010 : 16:05:35
I don't know where this falls with older lore, but I seem to remember in either the 3e Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting or Races of Faerūn it mentions that copper elves were the mixing of moon elves and green elves. |
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 09 Jun 2010 : 11:43:32
quote:
Originally posted by MrHedgehog
Perhaps for rolling up a character it'd be random for simplification...but within the context of just the plot universe wouldn't it not matter? You could have any combination you want, could you not? I don't see why there couldn't be 1/4 drow 1/4 moon elf 1/4 gold elf 1/4 humans, or whatever...
For whatever reason, it's been decided that it's a random determination, and that the offspring is all of one race or all of another. It may not seem entirely logical, but there it is. |
| Zireael |
Posted - 09 Jun 2010 : 10:41:42
Fluff is fluff, for mechanics you choose one of the subraces (random).
One exception: drow with any other subrace almost always gives drow. |
| MrHedgehog |
Posted - 09 Jun 2010 : 09:50:50
Perhaps for rolling up a character it'd be random for simplification...but within the context of just the plot universe wouldn't it not matter? You could have any combination you want, could you not? I don't see why there couldn't be 1/4 drow 1/4 moon elf 1/4 gold elf 1/4 humans, or whatever... |
| Kyrene |
Posted - 09 Jun 2010 : 08:37:52
Is there a table of randomness somewhere that takes factors into account to determine the outcome? Like, let's say a first generation half-moon-elf and first generation half-gold-elf union. I'd think that one has a 50% chance of either, since half-elves breed true. But what about that child's union with another second generation half-moon/gold-elf? |
| Auzoros |
Posted - 09 Jun 2010 : 05:48:26
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
It's random. We've seen it in prior Realmslore.
Cheers Wooly. I figured as much. |
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 09 Jun 2010 : 03:21:35
It's random. We've seen it in prior Realmslore. |
