It's worth reading about them before asking easily answered questions.
The short of it: They are based on an unknown race, with some speculation that they used to be human. Either way, they've spent so long under Mindflayer influence that they've changed into something entirely new.
"The descendants of an ancient people — so old their original name has been lost.."
"They had been bred and trained for war by their one-time masters and had never known anything other than a martial existence"
"As a race bred and shaped by the mind flayers for a life of fighting, the githyanki never knew anything else while they were enslaved."
These are the quotes I pulled from dnd beyond sources, but looking in older magazines, it also affirms that fact that the Gith are a completely separate race (previously some form of humanoid maybe?). Anything beyond their time as enslaved mind flayers is 90% speculation. Gith were bred and shaped by mind flayers for centuries, creating a new breed of humanoid so they wouldn't be able to be classified as a subrace of another more prominent race. In the old magazines, it's also implied that the Gith were the original people to be infected and turned into mindflayers but that's just a theory.
If anything, they look like goblin elf crossbreeds, but their traits are completely different. Hope that clears stuff up.
I'm a super Gith fanatic haha,, they're super underrated
In 2e AD&D, it's explicitly stated that Gith are formerly human.
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Formerly Devan Avalon.
Trying to get your physical content on Beyond is like going to Microsoft and saying "I have a physical Playstation disk, give me a digital Xbox version!"
The whole backstory of gith is that they used to be humans that evolved in Illithid slavery. Elves being long lived and slow breeding wold evolve at glacial pace compared to humans, and probably be a terrible choice of a slave race for Illithids due to said slow breeding.
To be fair, even if they were descended from elves, that doesn't necessarily make them a subrace of elves. Tieflings are specifically their own race, yet the PHB states they "are derived from human bloodlines".
Considering Gith have a lifespan about the same as a human... but because of current living conditions can seem to live as long as elves (because things don't age in the Astral Sea... and I'm Team Githyanki so I'm not sure about the Limbo situation for the Monk-esque Gith). Sure... the Serrated ears have an elvish-goblinoid appearance and they are tall and slenderman, but yeah, nope... appearances can be deceiving...
I know that there probably aren't sub-subraces, so if Gith was a subrace of elves there wouldn't be Githyanki and Githzerai character options, but still, they're elves.
because the gith arent elves you egg
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One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
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Why do you think Gith are a sub race of elves?
It's worth reading about them before asking easily answered questions.
The short of it: They are based on an unknown race, with some speculation that they used to be human. Either way, they've spent so long under Mindflayer influence that they've changed into something entirely new.
"The descendants of an ancient people — so old their original name has been lost.."
"They had been bred and trained for war by their one-time masters and had never known anything other than a martial existence"
"As a race bred and shaped by the mind flayers for a life of fighting, the githyanki never knew anything else while they were enslaved."
These are the quotes I pulled from dnd beyond sources, but looking in older magazines, it also affirms that fact that the Gith are a completely separate race (previously some form of humanoid maybe?). Anything beyond their time as enslaved mind flayers is 90% speculation. Gith were bred and shaped by mind flayers for centuries, creating a new breed of humanoid so they wouldn't be able to be classified as a subrace of another more prominent race. In the old magazines, it's also implied that the Gith were the original people to be infected and turned into mindflayers but that's just a theory.
If anything, they look like goblin elf crossbreeds, but their traits are completely different. Hope that clears stuff up.
I'm a super Gith fanatic haha,, they're super underrated
You can also type "Gith" into Google and read the first paragraph of the first link that pops up.
In 2e AD&D, it's explicitly stated that Gith are formerly human.
Formerly Devan Avalon.
Trying to get your physical content on Beyond is like going to Microsoft and saying "I have a physical Playstation disk, give me a digital Xbox version!"
Because they are not elves?
The whole backstory of gith is that they used to be humans that evolved in Illithid slavery.
Elves being long lived and slow breeding wold evolve at glacial pace compared to humans, and probably be a terrible choice of a slave race for Illithids due to said slow breeding.
So ummm, you thought you would make a post asking about it? Elf-Goblins..... That's even less sensible than Brain Dogs. At least brain dog is funny.
To be fair, even if they were descended from elves, that doesn't necessarily make them a subrace of elves. Tieflings are specifically their own race, yet the PHB states they "are derived from human bloodlines".
This is the real answer to the question.
"Not all those who wander are lost"
Considering Gith have a lifespan about the same as a human... but because of current living conditions can seem to live as long as elves (because things don't age in the Astral Sea... and I'm Team Githyanki so I'm not sure about the Limbo situation for the Monk-esque Gith). Sure... the Serrated ears have an elvish-goblinoid appearance and they are tall and slenderman, but yeah, nope... appearances can be deceiving...
Duregar are more like the dwarf equivalent of Drow, rather than gith.
because the gith arent elves you egg
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them