The New Breed: Surly Eladrin

Yes, I do smell the air, thank you.  It’s not refreshing.  It smells like the refuse of homeland ground between a fomorian’s teeth and spit out.

Fine.  I’ll go.  But I assure you I will not enjoy it.

Sick of surly dwarves with a heart of gold and steadfast loyalty to their friends? Make acquaintance with the surly eladrin.  Short on words, high on attitude, the surly eladrin is here to remind you that yes,his people are simply better. At everything. Why is he here then?  This question drives the character and answering it makes him more than a twist on an old schtick.  The surly dwarf engages on his hero’s journey often because of an oath, a debt, or a bond of friendship.  The surly eladrin is an exile, forced from a mystical paradise for just or unjust reasons. His motivation is to return home as soon as he can. His adventures with the party towards are an extension of that aim.  If he can gain some treasure along the way, that would be fine to, but –you guessed it! — the treasure back home is much better.

Why play a Surly eladrin?

Well, let’s face it.  It’s fun to be a little rude, isn’t it?  The surly eladrin is a fun contradiction of sorts -erudite yet gruff.  While the surly dwarf is a foul-mouthed, earthy, pragmatic character, the surly eladrin teeters on the edge of politeness and sophistication, using his wit as a quick stabbing blade when he deigns to speak at all.

His stabbing wit is his shell against the deep pain he feels at being isolated from his home and being a stranger in a strange land. Remembrances of home bring out his true, sensitive personality for brief moments in time, but don’t get too comfortable — the second he realizes his defenses are down, the curt comments return with even greater force and frequency.

Opportunities For Growth.

It’s Not How I Remembered –The conditions of the eladrin’s exile are lifted.  You are free to return home!  The memories that comforted you in the  barbarous realms of men are clouded by the realities of what you now witness.  The question to answer:  have you changed, or has home?

One of Them – You meet someone from your homeland.  You are on the edge of her cutting wit and insults.  You think that you’ve stumbled across a fellow countryman, but in her eyes you’re “one of them” now.  How have you changed in this new land without even realizing it?

Suggested classes & Sample Backgrounds

Eladrin Warlock (Star Pact) — You worship distant alien stars in pursuit of the Far Realm and have become anathema to your people.   You may want to return home to exact revenge, or you may seek to gain understanding and acceptance despite your strange otherworldly pursuits.  Either way, you are out of joint, perpendicular to multiple realms and worlds all at once.

Eladrin Tempest Fighter — You slew your greatest rival in a duel and found yourself exiled though your reasons were just. Disillusioned and weary of “justice”, you are now an exiled mercenary who dreams one day of absolution.

Eladrin Druid — so in tune were you with the boundless treasures of the Feywild that one day you merged with it. You became one with every blade of grass, every spider, every ancient oak…then you fell through, into the mortal realm.  Now you seek some way back into the endless forests of the Feywild, while protecting what nature you find in your new “home”.

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