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The Elven Accuracy feat states (XGtE, p. 74):

Whenever you have advantage on an attack roll using Dexterity, Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma, you can reroll one of the dice once.

The Shapechange spell includes:

You assume the form of a different creature for the duration. The new form can be of any creature with a challenge rating equal to your level or lower. The creature can't be a construct or an undead, and you must have seen the sort of creature at least once. You transform into an average example of that creature, one without any class levels or the Spellcasting trait... You retain the benefit of any features from your class, race, or other source and can use them, provided that your new form is physically capable of doing so.

Can a character with Elven Accuracy use the feat's reroll when Shapechanged into a non-elf creature, like a Marilith?

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Possibly, depending on interpretation of prerequisites

On feats, the PHB says:

You must meet any prerequisite specified in a feat to take that feat. If you ever lose a feat’s prerequisite, you can’t use that feat until you regain the prerequisite.

So our first question is whether we can meet the prerequisites for Elven Accuracy while we are shapechanged. The prerequisite for Elven Accuracy is "Elf or half-elf" (XGtE 74). This is the full text; no explanation is provided. So how are we to interpret this phrase - your race upon character creation must be elf to later take the elven accuracy feat, or you must currently be in the body of an elf to meet the prerequisite of the feat?

Since Xanathar's does not define what they mean by a prerequisite, how does it describe the racial feats in general?

A racial feat represents [...] a deepening connection to your race’s culture.

It doesn't seem, on the face of it, that being shapechanged would lessen your connection to your culture, since the caster retains their Intelligence, Wisdom, alignment, and personality.

If we need to currently be an elf, we cannot use Elven Accuracy while shapechanged. But if all we need to use Elven Accuracy is is an authentic understanding of Elven culture, it is possible that the feat can be used while shapechanged.

What are the limitations of shapechange? As correctly cited by the querent:

You retain the benefit of any features from your class, race, or other source and can use them, provided that your new form is physically capable of doing so.

Feats, including Elven Accuracy, are benefits of a feature 'from another source'. Thus one part of our decision is whether the changed shape is physically capable of using the feat. Again, if all we need is an appreciation for elven culture, the changed shape should be physically capable of that.

Turning to the feat itself, just the small part quoted by the querent says:

Whenever you have advantage on an attack roll using Dexterity, Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma, you can reroll one of the dice once.

There are certainly plenty of changed shapes that will be making attack rolls using their Dexterity. However, this is not the only part of the feat. In particular, just as there is no flavor text in spells, there is no flavor text in feats. Examining the full description of the feat, we find:

The accuracy of elves is legendary, especially that of elf archers and spellcasters. You have uncanny aim with attacks that rely on precision rather than brute force.

This is not a prohibition against melee attacks just because archers and spellcasters are exemplars; of course an elf with Elven Accuracy is going to to be able to use it for melee finesse weapons as well. However, what we are trying to determine is the appropriateness of the feat for use with the attacks of changed shape, with our test case being a Marilith. Thus we need to consider, are there any attacks a Marilith could make that physically resemble those of elven warriors and spellcasters? That is, are they physically capable of attacking in such a way that they could benefit from a deeper connection to the attack forms celebrated in elven culture?

Dating back at least to first edition, D&D elves have been associated with swords, bows, and spells. 5e expresses this in Elf Weapon Training, a racial feature of High Elves. Regardless of class, High Elves have:

proficiency with the longsword, shortsword, shortbow, and longbow.

This is how I would understand the feat - elven culture places an emphasis on training in spells and certain weapon forms that favor accuracy over force, either delivering accurate missile fire, or darting in to deliver accurate thrusting and slashing blows with a long, light weapon and then backing out to parry. These attacks are made using a bipedal (Humanoid: Elf) body, with two limbs for movement and two hands holding weapons.

Now, a Marilith certainly does not have precisely this shape, but she does attack with weapon strikes made from a generally upright form. And while her stat block indicates that she is using her strength to make her longsword attacks, we note that her dexterity is actually higher than her strength, and that she has a natural parry feature for defense. Given this, I would be inclined to permit an Elf shapechanged into a Marilith to use the Elven Accuracy feat provided that such an Elf equipped themselves with Dex-based weapons (shortswords, bows) that they had proficiency in as an Elf and which had a plausible connection to Elven culture.

Two interpretations

We have two possible ways to understand the 'prerequisite' for using the feat. Either you must use the feat while you are in the body of an elf (and a shapechanged elf is not in such a body), or you must use it to make attacks in such a way that they rely on your deep connection to elven culture, especially like an archer or spellcaster, but including melee finesse weapons.

Obviously this is a rules interpretation, which is what the shapechange phrase 'physically capable' insists that we do, interpret. Most of my games are pretty narrativist and I would be very comfortable with the latter ruling in them. If I was running a character optimization game where backstory was optional and the concept of 'deepening their connection to elven culture' got me blank stares from the players, then I would let them use the feat with any attack that was clearly based on Dexterity, regardless of its connection to elven culture.

On the other hand, if I found myself DMing a game where a character had somehow equipped themselves with six vorpal scimitars and wanted to use Elven Accuracy as a Marilith to decapitate opponents right and left, invoking the 'you are not currently an elf' prerequisite to disallow it would not give me pause.


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    \$\begingroup\$ A thoughtful read as always. If one of your characters somehow was able to get their hands on six vorpal scimitars, your campaign has probably much bigger issues than this. \$\endgroup\$ Commented yesterday
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    \$\begingroup\$ @NobodytheHobgoblin Yes, of course. A hyperbolic example, but the point is that my interpretation of whether to permit this lies in part on a determination of 'to what use will the player's put this?' \$\endgroup\$
    – Kirt
    Commented 18 hours ago
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Yes, if the creature's form is capable of it

As you include in your quote Shapechange says:

You retain the benefit of any features from your class, race, or other source and can use them, provided that your new form is physically capable of doing so.

Getting to pick the feat is a feature from your class (as you use your class's Ability Score Improvement for it - or if you deem that to be too indirect to consider it a class feature, it then would be a feature from another source, which also works). You need to be an Elf or Half-Elf to pick it, as it has a racial prerequisite, so it is enabled by your race if not from your race, but either way you retain it. You even would if it were from your race. (Thank you @ThomasMarkov).

A marilith is physically capable to make attacks using dexterity. It itself has no proficiency in dex-based weapons (monsters are proficient in the weapons in their stat block, and the only weapon it lists is the longsword), but if your weapon proficiencies are also a feature of your class, you retain their benefit, too.

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    \$\begingroup\$ I think this is correct, but your discussion has an imprecision: feats are a class feature (selected from the “Ability Score Improvement” feature), not a racial trait. Being an elf is a feat prerequisite for Elven Accuracy, but it cannot be said that the feat is “from your race” as you write. \$\endgroup\$ Commented yesterday
  • \$\begingroup\$ @ThomasMarkov Yes, I think you are right that was not a precise expression of the prerequisite, updated. \$\endgroup\$ Commented yesterday
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    \$\begingroup\$ Your emphasized text in the quote misses the key phrase: "or other source". It doesn't matter where a "feature" comes from, you retain it (physicality not-withstanding). \$\endgroup\$
    – Jack
    Commented yesterday
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RAW? No

In PHB, under optional game mechanics for customizing characters, that feats are, we find this:

You must meet any prerequisite specified in a feat to take that feat. If you ever lose a feat's prerequisite, you can't use that feat until you regain the prerequisite. For example, the Grappler feat requires you to have a Strength of 13 or higher. If your Strength is reduced below 13 somehow—perhaps by a withering curse—you can't benefit from the Grappler feat until your Strength is restored.

In description for Elven Accuracy we find a prerequisite like this:

Prerequisite: Elf or half-elf

I won't be throwing here the entire stat block for Marilith, but to outline the important things here, it's type is Fiend, not humanoid as normal for elves, and it lacks ANY indication it is an elf or a half-elf in its flavour text, lore or otherwise.

Now, the Shapechange spell states you retain any features from other sources and can use them if you're physically capable of doing so; so, you do have the feat, which do fall in "and other sources" quite squarely, and to be honest I personally could understand why a six-armed fencer is capable of being very accurate in its movements. But the feat does not work, not because of Shapechange or its interactions with feats, but because of rules for feats - you do not meet the prerequisite, since at the time of the transformation you are not an elf, so you cannot use it.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ "If you ever lose a feat's prerequisite, you can't use that feat until you regain the prerequisite." QED. \$\endgroup\$
    – Michael W.
    Commented 8 hours ago
  • \$\begingroup\$ "Have a Str of 13 or higher" is pretty clear - that must be your Str at the moment you wish to use the feat. But "Elf" is not as clear - there is not even a verb with a time component. "Be an Elf" is a different prerequisite from "Have been an elf" which is different from "Was an elf at the time of character creation". To improve this answer, please explain why the text of XGtE indicates that "Elf or half-elf" means "You must be an elf at the moment you wish to use this feat." \$\endgroup\$
    – Kirt
    Commented 7 hours ago
  • \$\begingroup\$ I wonder what the point of a statement that you keep the benefits of your race would be, if not that it doesn't matter that you are not that race any more? I.e. even if feats demand you to be of that race, or switch off, which they would say under polymorph, Shapechange specifically tells you that you will not suffer any such indignities. I think you need to treat the now-a-fiend creature as if it was still an Elf. Ihave no qualms with the general principle. Another shape change effect that would not say this certainly would switch of the feat due to the general feat rule. \$\endgroup\$ Commented 5 hours ago

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