The Favored of the Feywild
All kinds of elves live in the Feywild, but one subrace—the eladrin—has adopted it as their home. Of all the elves, eladrin are closest in form and ability to the first generation of elves. Some could pass for high elves, but most are distinctly eladrin in appearance: very slender, with hair and skin color determined by the season with which they feel the closest affinity. Their eyes often glimmer with fey magic.
Continued exposure to the Feywild, over a century or more, hastens the onset of Remembrance significantly among most elves. Elves who have spent most of their lives in the Feywild can experience their first other-life memory as early as the age of 200 years. Eladrin aren't affected this way.
Because of their link to the primal elves, eladrin tend to be haughty around other elves. They're proud of their heritage and equally proud of their ability to thrive in the Feywild, a land full of threats that would overwhelm and destroy weaker creatures. Some eladrin trade haughtiness for a tender kindness toward their elf cousins, knowing that many elves have never felt the ecstasies of a life amid the fey and of years spent near the ancient shrines and other glories created by the primal elves who first arrived in Faerie. These kinder eladrin take a special pleasure in introducing their realm to others.
Eladrin cities represent the pinnacle of elven architecture. Their soaring towers , arching bridges, and gracefully
filigreed homes are a perfect blend of construction natural elements, and magic-inspired motifs. Streams and waterfalls, gardens and copses, and structures of stone and wood are commingled in ways that are original and yet completely natural-looking.
Eladrin culture is older than any other elven civilization, and it's also the most decadent. Most elves are impetuous
to some extent, but eladrin are known for their fickleness. Many of them change their minds on the spur of the moment without giving reasons. Their system of justice vacillates be tween capriciously harsh and whimsically mild, depending on the mood of the eladrin passing judgment, and eladrin are more susceptible to flattery than other elves are.
Elves from the Material Plane who have researched eladrin culture blame these traits on the influence of the Feywild. As part of their argument, they point out that eladrin who spend a s ignificant amount of time on the Material Plane—adventurers and scholars, primarily still demonstrate these attitudes, but to a lesser degree.
Although eladrin have the closest connection to Corellon because of their ancestry, they are alone among elves in feeling little affinity for Arvandor. Eladrin don't long to end their cycle of rebirth and rejoin Corellon, but rather to meld with the Feywild when they are reincarnated. They believe that an eladrin who excels in life throughout a series of in carnations can eventually come back as a member of the Seelie or Unseelie court or, in extreme cases, even as an archfey.
Seasonal Shifters
Eladrin are elves native to the Feywild, a realm of beauty, unpredictable emotion, and boundless magic. An eladrin is associated with one of the four seasons and has coloration reminiscent of that season, which can also affect the eladrin's mood:
• Autumn is the season of peace and goodwill, when summer's harvest is shared with all.
• Winter is the season of contemplation and dolor, when the vibrant energy of the world slumbers.
• Spring is the season of cheerfulness and celebration, marked by merriment as winter's sorrow passes.
• Summer is the season of boldness and aggression, a time of unfettered energy.
Some eladrin remain associated with a particular season for their entire lives, whereas other eladrin transform, adopting characteristics of a new season.
When finishing a long rest, any eladrin can change their season. An eladrin might choose the season that is present in the world or perhaps the season that most closely matches the eladrin's current emotional state. For example, an eladrin might shift to autumn if filled with contentment, another eladrin could change to winter if plunged into sorrow, still another might be bursting with joy and become an eladrin of spring, and fury might cause an eladrin to change to summer.
Eladrin Traits
Eladrin have the following traits in common, in addition to the traits they share with other elves. Choose your eladrin's season: autumn, winter, spring, or summer.
Ability Score Increase. Your Charisma score increases by 1.
Fey Step. As a bonus action, you can magically teleport up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space you can see. Once you use this trait, you can't do so again until you finish a short or long rest. When you reach 3rd level, your Fey Step gains an additional effect based on your season; if the effect requires a saving throw, the DC equals 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Charisma modifier. The effects are as follows:
- Autumn. Immediately after you use your Fey Step, up to two creatures of your choice that you can see within 10 feet of you must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or be charmed by you for 1 minute, or until you or your companions deal any damage to it.
- Winter. When you use your Fey Step, one creature of your choice that you can see within 5 feet of you before you teleport must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or be frightened of you until the end of your next turn.
- Spring. When you use your Fey Step, you can touch one willing creature within 5 feet of you. That creature then teleports instead of you, appearing in an unoccupied space of your choice that you can see within 30 feet of you.
- Summer. Immediately after you use your Fey Step, each creature of your choice that you can see within 5 feet of you takes fire damage equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of 1 damage).
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