How do you play Eladrin and Eladrin cities? - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

How do you play Eladrin and Eladrin cities?

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
dmaurice
Feb 25, 2010 16:42:10 Books describe Eladrin as aloof, disdainful, patient, and political. Those aren't very personable traits. I'd like to put an Eladrin city in an upcoming session, but I'm not sure how to portray the citizens in a way that isn't boring.

The city will have something dangerous about it, probably the lower floors of the crystal spires will have a Drow/Cyclops/Ghost infestation, and the citizens will be concerned with Drow/Changleling infiltrators. In the case of an infestation, I'd imagine the Eladrin would confidently go into battle and hack and slash until all enemies are destroyed. I'll play them as stumped as to how the guerillas are evading them. In an infiltrators scenario, I'd imagine Eladrin just talk it out, like a game of Mafia, until they know who is the spy. This relaxed sort of inquisition will be how the Eladrin draw the players into a conversation, and depending on how the dialog goes, I'll have some resident spies deflect suspicion onto the party, or have the spies believe the players are allies and try to help them.

Suggestions are welcome. If you have created, or played with, a memorable Eladrin personality, please share.
#2
dannoe
Feb 27, 2010 6:15:57 I usually try to play the fey as immoral and self-interested. If you've read any of The Dresden Files, I play it a bit like the fairy folk there. To me, fey are always trying to make bargains to get some kind of advantage. They deal because dealing is part of the culture, and they try to cheat because that's a make of stature.

That help?
#3
mieorabloodsong
Feb 27, 2010 10:57:21 I play my eladrin in two ways. The first group of eladrin, like the summer fey and the ones that in a stereotypical novel are 'good' are a little like Terry Pratchett's Elves.
The line describing elves goes something like "Elves are fantastic-- elves weave fantasy" They seem good and nice, like all they want to do is help. But really they're tricksters out only for their own benefit.

The second group includes the winter fey. They're gruff, aloof, and all around kinda jerks. But they're honest and if you can convince them to help you, they'll never betray you.

Of course this is mainly cause I like laughing at my players when I tell them they can either go to the Summer Queen or the Prince of Frost for aid. Only works once, but soo worth it.
#4
Shiftkitty
Feb 27, 2010 19:53:17 I play them in a couple of different readily identifiable ways. Some are aloof and arrogant. "Why are you talking to me, little worm?" Others are still carrying a sense of superiority but are weilding it as condescension. "Oh, you poor little thing! Here, let me get that for you. There you go. Run along now!" Others have more of a sense of moral responsibility to those unfortunate, lesser beings, and they are probably the least grating. They will be kind to you because they would so dearly love to elevate you to their high standing. In fact, they see themselves as having to be the ones to provide the example for all others to follow. They aren't suckers, but they can be very giving to those they deem worthy of receiving.
#5
dmaurice
Feb 28, 2010 22:31:04 Thanks, everyone. This will help me design fun npcs.
#6
thecapn
Feb 28, 2010 23:09:41
Books describe Eladrin as aloof, disdainful, patient, and political.

You don't have to like them to make that interesting. Make the whole society based on class levels, with the most common way of raising your station based on assasination, followed by bargaining and trickery. Have the players witness them being such outright bastards that they can't help but be amused. Have it go all the way down to the common folk, where a stablehand stabs a cook in order to raise his position in the household of a minor noble and the noble doesn't care because he is too busy checking his bedroom for traps set by his eldest son (who unknown to anyone yet has been "accidentally" trampled by a horse when out on a ride with his cousin, and so on and so forth)
#7
DKase
Mar 01, 2010 2:36:04 You might want to peruse the Mithrendain Article that was in Dragon some time ago. It details an Eladrin city in the Feywild and it even had a companion Dungeon adventure!
#8
yellowdingo
Mar 01, 2010 3:00:30 "Eladrin as aloof, disdainful, patient, and political"

There is your Population description...They are Librarians, Scholars, and Bureaucrats. They ignore you unless you do something to get their attention or their disapproval. In their own world they are all looking for promotion and the number of better positions is limited. Your only problem is that Patient is the opposite of disdainful (any Ealdrin encompasing both effectivly shakes their head at PCs acting like hoodlums and walk off). Similarly Aloof is the opposite of Political.

                                      Political
                                           |
                                           |
                                           |
                                           |
Patient<------------------------------------------------------------>Disdainful
                                           |
                                           |
                                           |
                                           |
                                        Aloof
#9
Devereaux
Mar 01, 2010 8:56:59 The city might have an unusual structure to it too. Perhaps the eladrin have less need for doors, for example.
#10
dmaurice
Mar 01, 2010 17:13:07
"Eladrin as aloof, disdainful, patient, and political"

I was thinking of Aloof in the sense that they have large egos, they are Disdainful of anything that doesn't meet their snooty prejudices, Patient in that their plans are always very distal, and Political in that they frequently try to assume authority and delegate their work away to others.
#11
yellowdingo
Mar 01, 2010 19:25:24
"Eladrin as aloof, disdainful, patient, and political"

I was thinking of Aloof in the sense that they have large egos, they are Disdainful of anything that doesn't meet their snooty prejudices, Patient in that their plans are always very distal, and Political in that they frequently try to assume authority and delegate their work away to others.

Machiavellian Merchant Princes
#12
MacEochaid
Mar 17, 2010 14:36:48 My Eladrin are definitely themed from "Doctor Strange and Mr. Norrell"

I like that they are all Noble, Haughty, and most weild so much natural magical talent, that they are almost all part of a leisure class, supported by Elves, Gnomes, Wildens, Dryads, and other fey. They don't sleep they trance and are fully aware, but they are immortal so they are unconcerned with most of life around them. Adventuring Eladrins rotate their trance patterns to match those of the party, by some Eladrin on their way to meet with the thier Liege's Ghaele will stop to enter trance so as to watch a Fey Oak grow for a century or two. What rush are we in? However with this long view, few seem to notice that their population is shrinking, which despite a general ennui amongst many, they just aren't of the type to spring into action.

The cities are eerie places, built in a far gone past by ancient magic, the silver, ivory, and crystal spires rise out of the middle of forest, when the heroes first come to the edges of the cities, they appear empty. The feywild seems trying to claim the land back, vines and roots and trees are tugging at the structures around the periphery. Is anyone even here? Run an encounter or two with Wilden, Elf or Gnome patrols, led perhaps by a Fey Knight, or even wilder things like a displacer beast, dryads, or a murder of Harpies. All patrols after being bloodied they quickly retreat back into the forest, even restrained or dominated ones fade into gossamer mist.

Closer to the center the reduced population is celebrating. Games, feasts, tournaments, go on eternally, mortals are viewed as silly things that fade like flowers, and the PC's are by and large ignored. The PC's encounter tranced Eladrins in the middle of the street who they mistakenly ask for directions, when they do find someone who is truly awake, they smile at the mortal caress it's cheek and move on without answering. Even the Gnome servitors who hold lady's trains, or bear rods of office bound to important Archfey and stately walking to conduct business adhere slavishly to the protocol and fear what their masters would say if seen talking to the mortals.

Night falls, everyone vanishes to their Magnificent Mansions (who is Mordenkainen? We Eladrin have been sleeping in these homes for eons silly human). Oni stalk the abandoned streets as Banshees keen crying the unfairness of being a dead immortal, How will we get out? They avoid an eladrin who walks by, clearly a high level wizard, but looks on as monster's beset the PC's with passing interest, wondering how such creatures survive without being able to hurl a simple fireball. Jumping ruined statues of Sehanine, and ducking behind tattered banners with Tiandra's seal (I could've sworn these were brand new earlier in the day?) Quick! That Gnome beckons with a torch, he wants you to follow him into the crumbling lesser palace, do we trust him? He seems to be the only sane person here . . .

It makes the Feywild a more treacherous place, weird, crazy, unpredictable, and there is plenty of room for PC Eladrin and Gnomes to have reasons for adventuring. Impetuous youths who haven't quite learned how many years they have ahead of them, The few searching for a reason the population is shrinking, rebelling against the petty and over privilaged court structure (or just bored with it), foundlings who are shocked at how alien their birth culture is, or sole survivors of a city that dwindled and was wrenched back into the eldritch forests.
#13
Chiba_Monkey
Mar 22, 2010 2:12:14 My campaign world essentially went in direct transition from 3e to 4e without retconning.

As such, eladrin are the descendants of "grey elves", who are intelligent and arrogant, with a strict class-based society.

During a major cataclysm some 500 years in the past of my world (I advanced my timeline to do the 4e transition, much like FR did), the grey elves used epic Elven High Magick, with the direct assistance of their gods, to transport all of them, and their cities, to the Feywild. Part of the dweomer distorted time in the vicinities of the cities (this is nothing unusual, as there's plenty of precedence for fey interaction = distorted time i.e. Rip Van Winkle). Thus, while 500 years passed in the "real world", over 5,000 years passed for the grey elves. Grey elves, while long-lived, still passed through several generations in the Feywild, and, as a result, became even more a part of it, becoming eladrin.

Note that the grey elves did this because they more or less assumed the end was nigh and wanted to buy more time for their people in a doomed reality.

Well, obviously the cataclysm (now referred to as the Godswar by historians) did not destroy the world, and the Eladrin cities are now returning to the world, some of them anyway. The eladrin themselves are returning and some are leaving their cities.

How does this affect Eladrin behavior?

Well, for starters, Eladrin are not the "original" elven race, like in Core D&D. However, Grey Elf attitude was always "Elves are superior to all other races and Grey Elves are superior to all other elves." Well, they're no longer QUITE that arrogant. being a part of the feywild has mellowed them somewhat, but they still have a structured outlook on society.

Eladrin cities are built of stone and crystal, and in concentric circles, with the higher ranking eladrin living closer to the centre. There is very little room for advancement in Eladrin society, and thus even those Eladrin who become adventurers tend to view everyone as having as "place" societally. For some, this makes them arrogant and condescending. For others this just makes them see their party as having clearly defined rank structure, even if they keep this observation to themselves.

Some Eladrin cities maintain the xenophobia that makred their predecessors and are loathe to allow non-eladrin into their cities. Most of these cities remained in the Feywild.

Even the most friendly of Eladrin tends to be elegant and have something of an artistic bent, especially to their chosen profession, be it magic, warfare, or anything else. Eladrin wizards study for decades before they finsih their apprenticeship. Eladrin Warlords spend years poring over military strategy and enacting simulations. They are careful and calculated, their long lifespans (hundreds of years) and time dedicated to their chosen profession gives them a sense of pride in it.

One trait definetely tempers all Eladrin encountered outside Eladrin cities (adventurers included). Because the cities only returned from the feywild a few decades ago, all of them grew up and reached adulthood in an all-eladrin environment. So whether this means a sense of wonderment at the cultures of other races or disdain at them, it's something that ties them all together.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 dmaurice Feb 25, 2010 16:42:10	Books describe Eladrin as aloof, disdainful, patient, and political. Those aren't very personable traits. I'd like to put an Eladrin city in an upcoming session, but I'm not sure how to portray the citizens in a way that isn't boring. The city will have something dangerous about it, probably the lower floors of the crystal spires will have a Drow/Cyclops/Ghost infestation, and the citizens will be concerned with Drow/Changleling infiltrators. In the case of an infestation, I'd imagine the Eladrin would confidently go into battle and hack and slash until all enemies are destroyed. I'll play them as stumped as to how the guerillas are evading them. In an infiltrators scenario, I'd imagine Eladrin just talk it out, like a game of Mafia, until they know who is the spy. This relaxed sort of inquisition will be how the Eladrin draw the players into a conversation, and depending on how the dialog goes, I'll have some resident spies deflect suspicion onto the party, or have the spies believe the players are allies and try to help them. Suggestions are welcome. If you have created, or played with, a memorable Eladrin personality, please share.
#2 dannoe Feb 27, 2010 6:15:57	I usually try to play the fey as immoral and self-interested. If you've read any of The Dresden Files, I play it a bit like the fairy folk there. To me, fey are always trying to make bargains to get some kind of advantage. They deal because dealing is part of the culture, and they try to cheat because that's a make of stature. That help?
#3 mieorabloodsong Feb 27, 2010 10:57:21	I play my eladrin in two ways. The first group of eladrin, like the summer fey and the ones that in a stereotypical novel are 'good' are a little like Terry Pratchett's Elves. The line describing elves goes something like "Elves are fantastic-- elves weave fantasy" They seem good and nice, like all they want to do is help. But really they're tricksters out only for their own benefit. The second group includes the winter fey. They're gruff, aloof, and all around kinda jerks. But they're honest and if you can convince them to help you, they'll never betray you. Of course this is mainly cause I like laughing at my players when I tell them they can either go to the Summer Queen or the Prince of Frost for aid. Only works once, but soo worth it.
#4 Shiftkitty Feb 27, 2010 19:53:17	I play them in a couple of different readily identifiable ways. Some are aloof and arrogant. "Why are you talking to me, little worm?" Others are still carrying a sense of superiority but are weilding it as condescension. "Oh, you poor little thing! Here, let me get that for you. There you go. Run along now!" Others have more of a sense of moral responsibility to those unfortunate, lesser beings, and they are probably the least grating. They will be kind to you because they would so dearly love to elevate you to their high standing. In fact, they see themselves as having to be the ones to provide the example for all others to follow. They aren't suckers, but they can be very giving to those they deem worthy of receiving.
#5 dmaurice Feb 28, 2010 22:31:04	Thanks, everyone. This will help me design fun npcs.
#6 thecapn Feb 28, 2010 23:09:41	Books describe Eladrin as aloof, disdainful, patient, and political. You don't have to like them to make that interesting. Make the whole society based on class levels, with the most common way of raising your station based on assasination, followed by bargaining and trickery. Have the players witness them being such outright bastards that they can't help but be amused. Have it go all the way down to the common folk, where a stablehand stabs a cook in order to raise his position in the household of a minor noble and the noble doesn't care because he is too busy checking his bedroom for traps set by his eldest son (who unknown to anyone yet has been "accidentally" trampled by a horse when out on a ride with his cousin, and so on and so forth)
#7 DKase Mar 01, 2010 2:36:04	You might want to peruse the Mithrendain Article that was in Dragon some time ago. It details an Eladrin city in the Feywild and it even had a companion Dungeon adventure!
#8 yellowdingo Mar 01, 2010 3:00:30	"Eladrin as aloof, disdainful, patient, and political" There is your Population description...They are Librarians, Scholars, and Bureaucrats. They ignore you unless you do something to get their attention or their disapproval. In their own world they are all looking for promotion and the number of better positions is limited. Your only problem is that Patient is the opposite of disdainful (any Ealdrin encompasing both effectivly shakes their head at PCs acting like hoodlums and walk off). Similarly Aloof is the opposite of Political. Political \| \| \| \| Patient<------------------------------------------------------------>Disdainful \| \| \| \| Aloof
#9 Devereaux Mar 01, 2010 8:56:59	The city might have an unusual structure to it too. Perhaps the eladrin have less need for doors, for example.
#10 dmaurice Mar 01, 2010 17:13:07	"Eladrin as aloof, disdainful, patient, and political" I was thinking of Aloof in the sense that they have large egos, they are Disdainful of anything that doesn't meet their snooty prejudices, Patient in that their plans are always very distal, and Political in that they frequently try to assume authority and delegate their work away to others.
#11 yellowdingo Mar 01, 2010 19:25:24	"Eladrin as aloof, disdainful, patient, and political" I was thinking of Aloof in the sense that they have large egos, they are Disdainful of anything that doesn't meet their snooty prejudices, Patient in that their plans are always very distal, and Political in that they frequently try to assume authority and delegate their work away to others. Machiavellian Merchant Princes
#12 MacEochaid Mar 17, 2010 14:36:48	My Eladrin are definitely themed from "Doctor Strange and Mr. Norrell" I like that they are all Noble, Haughty, and most weild so much natural magical talent, that they are almost all part of a leisure class, supported by Elves, Gnomes, Wildens, Dryads, and other fey. They don't sleep they trance and are fully aware, but they are immortal so they are unconcerned with most of life around them. Adventuring Eladrins rotate their trance patterns to match those of the party, by some Eladrin on their way to meet with the thier Liege's Ghaele will stop to enter trance so as to watch a Fey Oak grow for a century or two. What rush are we in? However with this long view, few seem to notice that their population is shrinking, which despite a general ennui amongst many, they just aren't of the type to spring into action. The cities are eerie places, built in a far gone past by ancient magic, the silver, ivory, and crystal spires rise out of the middle of forest, when the heroes first come to the edges of the cities, they appear empty. The feywild seems trying to claim the land back, vines and roots and trees are tugging at the structures around the periphery. Is anyone even here? Run an encounter or two with Wilden, Elf or Gnome patrols, led perhaps by a Fey Knight, or even wilder things like a displacer beast, dryads, or a murder of Harpies. All patrols after being bloodied they quickly retreat back into the forest, even restrained or dominated ones fade into gossamer mist. Closer to the center the reduced population is celebrating. Games, feasts, tournaments, go on eternally, mortals are viewed as silly things that fade like flowers, and the PC's are by and large ignored. The PC's encounter tranced Eladrins in the middle of the street who they mistakenly ask for directions, when they do find someone who is truly awake, they smile at the mortal caress it's cheek and move on without answering. Even the Gnome servitors who hold lady's trains, or bear rods of office bound to important Archfey and stately walking to conduct business adhere slavishly to the protocol and fear what their masters would say if seen talking to the mortals. Night falls, everyone vanishes to their Magnificent Mansions (who is Mordenkainen? We Eladrin have been sleeping in these homes for eons silly human). Oni stalk the abandoned streets as Banshees keen crying the unfairness of being a dead immortal, How will we get out? They avoid an eladrin who walks by, clearly a high level wizard, but looks on as monster's beset the PC's with passing interest, wondering how such creatures survive without being able to hurl a simple fireball. Jumping ruined statues of Sehanine, and ducking behind tattered banners with Tiandra's seal (I could've sworn these were brand new earlier in the day?) Quick! That Gnome beckons with a torch, he wants you to follow him into the crumbling lesser palace, do we trust him? He seems to be the only sane person here . . . It makes the Feywild a more treacherous place, weird, crazy, unpredictable, and there is plenty of room for PC Eladrin and Gnomes to have reasons for adventuring. Impetuous youths who haven't quite learned how many years they have ahead of them, The few searching for a reason the population is shrinking, rebelling against the petty and over privilaged court structure (or just bored with it), foundlings who are shocked at how alien their birth culture is, or sole survivors of a city that dwindled and was wrenched back into the eldritch forests.
#13 Chiba_Monkey Mar 22, 2010 2:12:14	My campaign world essentially went in direct transition from 3e to 4e without retconning. As such, eladrin are the descendants of "grey elves", who are intelligent and arrogant, with a strict class-based society. During a major cataclysm some 500 years in the past of my world (I advanced my timeline to do the 4e transition, much like FR did), the grey elves used epic Elven High Magick, with the direct assistance of their gods, to transport all of them, and their cities, to the Feywild. Part of the dweomer distorted time in the vicinities of the cities (this is nothing unusual, as there's plenty of precedence for fey interaction = distorted time i.e. Rip Van Winkle). Thus, while 500 years passed in the "real world", over 5,000 years passed for the grey elves. Grey elves, while long-lived, still passed through several generations in the Feywild, and, as a result, became even more a part of it, becoming eladrin. Note that the grey elves did this because they more or less assumed the end was nigh and wanted to buy more time for their people in a doomed reality. Well, obviously the cataclysm (now referred to as the Godswar by historians) did not destroy the world, and the Eladrin cities are now returning to the world, some of them anyway. The eladrin themselves are returning and some are leaving their cities. How does this affect Eladrin behavior? Well, for starters, Eladrin are not the "original" elven race, like in Core D&D. However, Grey Elf attitude was always "Elves are superior to all other races and Grey Elves are superior to all other elves." Well, they're no longer QUITE that arrogant. being a part of the feywild has mellowed them somewhat, but they still have a structured outlook on society. Eladrin cities are built of stone and crystal, and in concentric circles, with the higher ranking eladrin living closer to the centre. There is very little room for advancement in Eladrin society, and thus even those Eladrin who become adventurers tend to view everyone as having as "place" societally. For some, this makes them arrogant and condescending. For others this just makes them see their party as having clearly defined rank structure, even if they keep this observation to themselves. Some Eladrin cities maintain the xenophobia that makred their predecessors and are loathe to allow non-eladrin into their cities. Most of these cities remained in the Feywild. Even the most friendly of Eladrin tends to be elegant and have something of an artistic bent, especially to their chosen profession, be it magic, warfare, or anything else. Eladrin wizards study for decades before they finsih their apprenticeship. Eladrin Warlords spend years poring over military strategy and enacting simulations. They are careful and calculated, their long lifespans (hundreds of years) and time dedicated to their chosen profession gives them a sense of pride in it. One trait definetely tempers all Eladrin encountered outside Eladrin cities (adventurers included). Because the cities only returned from the feywild a few decades ago, all of them grew up and reached adulthood in an all-eladrin environment. So whether this means a sense of wonderment at the cultures of other races or disdain at them, it's something that ties them all together.