You have been taken by the Mists

Author Topic: Support for Snow Elves from Toril  (Read 531 times)

Elyan

  • Undead Master
  • ****
  • Posts: 400
Support for Snow Elves from Toril
« on: August 02, 2022, 11:00:42 PM »
On the Forgotten Realms Wiki Snow Elves are said to reside in the High Ice of Toril, but when going to make a character I discovered they're Greyhawk exclusive at the moment. Would it be possible to add Snow Elves as a playable sub-race for characters from Toril?

Lex Talionis

  • Outlander
  • **
  • Posts: 78
Re: Support for Snow Elves from Toril
« Reply #1 on: August 02, 2022, 11:14:01 PM »
On the Forgotten Realms Wiki Snow Elves are said to reside in the High Ice of Toril, but when going to make a character I discovered they're Greyhawk exclusive at the moment. Would it be possible to add Snow Elves as a playable sub-race for characters from Toril?

I think in that same entry it says that Snow Elves are native to Oerth so it seems to make sense that it's set up the way it is. Might be able to say you were from Toril if there's precedent for them being there though.
« Last Edit: August 02, 2022, 11:15:44 PM by Traveler »

inkcorvid

  • Dark Power
  • ******
  • Posts: 1284
Re: Support for Snow Elves from Toril
« Reply #2 on: August 03, 2022, 12:13:24 AM »
An article in Dragon Magazine - The Seldarine Revisited - suggests snow elves may exist in Faerūn's far North:

Quote from: Dragon #236, p16
Tarsellis is the patron god of those known as snow elves, who mainly inhabit the Crystalmist mountains of Oerth. (Rumor has it that snow elves also exist on the far reaches of the Spine of the World or even the High Ice portion of Anauroch in Faerūn, though this is unproven.)

Tarsellis Meunniduin (who, fun fact, was a former lover of the goddess who would go on to become Lolth) is also listed as an ally of Shaundakul, a very Forgotten Realms-specific lesser deity, which is suggestive that Tarsellis too might have a presence in the Realmspace sphere. The article goes on to say that another Snow Elf deity - Rellavar Danuvien - is a rival of Auril, a Forgotten Realms deity:

Quote from: Dragon #236, p16
Rellavar Danuvien is another god of the snow elves, acting as a ward against the severe cold. He used to serve Tarsellis a long time ago, but his continuing friendship with Solonar strained theirs a bit. Now he’s an independent god, though he can count on help from both against the machinations of Auril and Surtr (both beings whose power is based on ice and cold)

Frostburn confirms that Snow elves not only exist in the Frostfell, aka the Para-Elemental Plane of Ice, but are native to it. So given this and the fact that their gods are all over the place, they're probably valid for Planescape at least:

Quote from: Frostburn, p33
The races of the frostfell fall into two broad groups: native races and settler races.

Native races include subraces of some of the common peoples of the DUNGEONS & DRAGONS game setting who have adapted to a frozen home—specifically, the glacier dwarves, snow elves, and tundra halflings.

Quote from: Frostburn, p34-35
Explorers into the farthest reaches of the ice sometimes return with stories of magnificent ice cities built atop remote mountaintops that are inhabited by snow elves, folk with eyes as white as snow and hair that coils like fragile wisps of cloud. They have no physical resistance to the cold, but their cities are built to shield their citizens from the surrounding environment. As a result, snow elves tend to leave their cities only rarely, and have not had much contact with the outside world.
Active: Nissa Arden, Chiara Grassini
Shelved: Dindalmogra Ggol, Serinda Takmarin, Lyra Rimewood, Sofie Reiss, Aidelina Gatteux, Odette Sautereau, Livny Skovgaard, Innogen Ashe
Closed: Anjeza Bajramovic, Nim Farboffle

MAB77

  • Developers
  • Dark Power
  • *
  • Posts: 6422
Re: Support for Snow Elves from Toril
« Reply #3 on: August 03, 2022, 12:57:28 AM »
Ah those beautiful haughty bastards. I very much love these elves myself, but I'm afraid they will remain Greyhawk exclusive.

This is something we actually considered when we revised our subraces RP resources, but two things shot down their inclusion as Faerūnian elves.

The main rule to be counted as a native race of a setting, is that said race must make an appearance in one of that setting's sourcebooks. They make no appearance in any of the Forgotten Realms books. Though we can accept entries from Dragon Magazine articles, here it is indicated that their presence is an unproven rumor. That line pretty much means that their presence in your campaign setting is left at the DM's discretion. For all practical purpose we ruled that even if they were there, they'd be in such negligible number as to make them virtually inexistent from the setting.

Secondly, in regards to the Frostburn supplement, when a sourcebook isn't set in any particular setting, it is our policy to consider the sourcebook valid only to D&D 3e default setting. Which in this case is Greyhawk again.
Best Regards!
MAB

Dev. Relationist for the Dark Powers.
1 Castle Road, Castle Ravenloft, Village of Barovia.

MAB77

  • Developers
  • Dark Power
  • *
  • Posts: 6422
Re: Support for Snow Elves from Toril
« Reply #4 on: August 03, 2022, 01:06:12 AM »
At the end of the day it really changes very little that your snow elf would be from Oerth and not Toril. It's the same elven deities anyway, they'd mistrust anyone else anyway (especially other elves), they'd be recluse anyway with virtually no knowledge of the outside world. Therefore your roleplay would be exactly the same.
Best Regards!
MAB

Dev. Relationist for the Dark Powers.
1 Castle Road, Castle Ravenloft, Village of Barovia.

Elyan

  • Undead Master
  • ****
  • Posts: 400
Re: Support for Snow Elves from Toril
« Reply #5 on: August 03, 2022, 06:02:23 AM »
After looking through the responses I can see why they're Greyhawk exclusive, thanks to everyone who took the time to look through the resources for an answer.