What's your view on the Elf design in DA4

One small correction: The princes of Dol Amroth having elven blood was, I believe, only a legend and never confirmed. The only confirmed unions between Human and Elf were Beren and Luthien Tinuviel, Tuor and Idril Celebrinal, and Aragorn and Arwen Undomiel.

No need for a showdown on my part. I was going off my memory of things as I seem to have loaned my Silmarillion to my daughter, so couldn't check my facts. The general point is true though, that elves weren't so very different from humans in appearance, as others have confirmed.



Well assuming that they even give us a choice of races, then the most appropriate background for our PC would be city elf, either slave or liberati,, probably the latter so you wouldn't have the complication of being a slave on the run but I suppose that could make things interesting. It depends on how much variation they wish to make in the backgrounds for the races. Being a slave or liberati would fit just about anyone, even dwarves since I'm sure casteless can become slaves.

Mind you I thought before DAI came out a city elf would be most appropriate there and still think that a city elf servant would have more business being at the Conclave than a Dalish elf from the Freemarches. I mean it wasn't as though the Divine had asked the Dalish to send a representative. Which is why I always maintain that the security at the venue was pants because we should never have got anywhere near the Temple of Sacred Ashes. After all it is not as though a Dalish elf can blend in with their vallaslin.

Similarly the Dalish shouldn't be anywhere near Tevinter. However, I suppose they could have your Dalish elf being sent by their clan to look into the rumours of the Dread Wolf's return, which would then leave you free to role play whether you would support or oppose him. Still, as I outline above, that might make your background too much at variance with that of the other races.

I'd really like an ancient elf for a companion but one who opposes Fen'Harel because they were once his ally, so they don't support the Evanuris either, but feel he betrayed them. A bit like the one whose dying words were recorded in the Vir Dirthara, except our companion did make it out alive by the skin of their teeth. They are now committed to the Vir Banal'ras, so are dedicated to hunting him down and deadly with it. Being an ancient elf they would be familiar with the elven language, which would come in handy and might also know how to protect from his petrification spell, which would be even better. They would also be able to answer questions about elven lore or just straight up refuse to rather than simply being evasive. A big difference between them and Abelas, though, is that they respect modern elves and do see them as their people, but in a paternalistic and slightly patronising way.

Fair enough, I should have been clearer. I guess you could say I'm a syncretist when it comes to Tolkien's legendarium: if something seems plausible or simplest solution to the matter and the timelines don't directly contradict it, I'm going to incorporate it among the overall historical events of the world. 🙂

If we're talking about our PC elf, whether they are a city elf, a Dalish, or a Qunari, I would prefer that they would originate from a place or a city we know little of, so we would be able to learn more about one of those locations we know only as a place on the map. If we are talking about family background, a Qunari elf would hands down have the most interesting one. I don't think we ever did learn if Tama who raised Iron Bull was in fact a man or a woman when going by our definitions. A city elf? I've no horse in this race but I've noticed that people have been hankering for an elven PC who has strong ties to their community and options to express strong community pride. I'm more interested in different customs: Do different alienages use different species of tree as their vhenadahl? We've come across lots of elves wearing cowls in Kirkwall and Val Royeaux; are there elven communities where a cowl is part of one's attire? Do both elven slaves and city elves know how to read the secret Tevinter slave script? What about human slaves? 

If we are talking about companions, it would be nice to have a character with affinity to a type of magic or a weapon we've seen less thus far. Perhaps now would be time for a warrior who favoured maces or one-handed axes instead of swords. 
After my previous post the question why the elven models of DAI hadn't bothered me the slightest kept bugging me. Then it finally came to me: DAI elves have similar physique to elves in Wendy Pini's Elfquest comics which I read and loved as a preteen. The elves in them are slender and with a few exceptions shorter than humans. Funnily enough, the Elfquest elves happen to live on a planet called the World of Two Moons.