Elf

Elves are magical people of otherworldly grace, living in the world but not entirely part of it. They live in places of ethereal beauty, in the midst of ancient forests or in silvery spires glittering with faerie light, where soft music drifts through the air and gentle fragrances waft on the breeze. Elves love nature and magic, art and artistry, music and poetry, and the good things of the world.

Slender and Graceful

With their unearthly grace and fine features, elves appear hauntingly beautiful to humans and members of many other ancestries. They are slightly shorter than humans on average, ranging from well under 5ft to just over 6ft. They are more slender than humans, weighing only 100 to 145lbs. Males and females are about the same height, and males are only marginally heavier than females.

Elves' coloration encompasses the normal human range and also includes skin in shades of copper, bronze, and almost bluish-white, hair of green or blue, and eyes like pools of liquid gold or silver. Elves have no facial and little body hair. They favor elegant clothing in bright colors, and they enjoy simple yet lovely jewelry.

A Timeless Perspective

Elves can live well over 700 years, giving them a broad perspective on events that might trouble the shorter-lived ancestries more deeply. They are more often amused than excited, and more likely to be curious than greedy. They tend to remain aloof and unfazed by petty happenstance. When pursuing a goal, however, whether adventuring on a mission or learning a new skill or art, elves can be focused and relentless. They are slow to make friends and enemies, and even slower to forget them. They reply to petty insults with disdain and to serious insults with vengeance.

Like the branches of a young tree, elves are flexible in the face of danger. They trust in diplomacy and compromise to resolve differences before they escalate to violence. They have been known to retreat from intrusions into their woodland homes, confident that they can simply wait the invaders out. But when the need arises, elves reveal a stern martial side, demonstrating skill with sword, bow, and strategy.

Hidden Woodland Realms

Most elves dwell in small forest villages, hidden among the trees. Elves hunt game, gather food, and grow vegetables, and their skill and magic allow them to support themselves without the need for clearing and plowing the land. They are talented artisans, crafting finely worked clothes and art objects. Their contact with outsiders is usually limited, though a few elves make a good living by trading crafted items for metals (which they have no interest in mining).

Elves encountered outside their own lands are commonly traveling minstrels, artists, or sages. Human nobles compete for the services of elf instructors to teach swordplay or magic to their children.

Exploration and Adventure

Elves take up adventuring out of wanderlust. Since they are so long-lived, they can enjoy centuries of exploration and discovery. They dislike the pace of human society, which is regimented from day to day but constantly changing over decades, so they find careers that let them travel freely and set their own pace. Elves also enjoy exercising their martial prowess or gaining greater magical power, and adventuring allows them to do so. Some might join with rebels fighting against oppression and others might become champions of moral causes.

Elf Traits

Age: Although elves reach physical maturity at about the same age as humans, the elven understanding of adulthood goes beyond physical growth to encompass worldly experience. An elf typically claims adulthood and an adult name around the age of 100 and can live to be 750 years old.

Size: Elves range from under 5 to over 6ft tall and have slender builds weighing 100 to 145lbs.

Darkvision: Accustomed to twilit forests and the night sky, you have superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 60ft of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can't discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.

Keen Senses: You have proficiency in the Perception skill.

Fey Ancestry: You have advantage on saving throws against being charmed, and magic can't put you to sleep.

Trance: Elves don't need to sleep. Instead, they meditate deeply, remaining semiconscious, for 4 hours a day. (The Common word for such meditation is "trance.") While meditating, you can dream after a fashion; such dreams are actually mental exercises that have become reflexive through years of practice. After resting in this way, you gain the same benefit that a human does from 8 hours of sleep.

Subgroups: There are three main subgroups of elves: high elves, wood elves, and dark elves (commonly called drow).

High Elf

As a high elf, you have a keen mind and a mastery of at least the basics of magic.

Ability Score Increase: +1 INT

Elf Weapon Training: You have proficiency with the longsword, shortsword, shortbow, and longbow.

Cantrip: You know one cantrip of your choice from the wizard spell list. INT is your spellcasting ability for it.

Extra Language: You can speak, read, and write one extra language of your choice.

Wood Elf

As a wood elf, you have keen senses and intuition, and your fleet feet carry you quickly and stealthily through your native forests.

Ability Score Increase: +1 WIS

Elf Weapon Training: You have proficiency with the longsword, shortsword, shortbow, and longbow.

Fleet of Foot: Your base walking speed increases to 35ft.

Mask of the Wild: You can attempt to hide even when you are only lightly obscured by foliage, heavy rain, falling snow, mist, and other natural phenomena.

Dark Elf (Drow)

Descended from an earlier subgroup of elves, the drow were banished from the surface. Now they have built their own civilization in the depths of the Underdark. Also called dark elves, the drow have skin that resembles charcoal or obsidian, as well as stark white or pale yellow hair. They commonly have very pale eyes (so pale as to be mistaken for white) in shades of lilac, silver, pink, red, and blue. They tend to be smaller and thinner than most elves. Drow adventurers are rare.

Ability Score Increase: +1 CHA

Superior Darkvision: Your darkvision has a radius of 120ft.

Sunlight Sensitivity: You have disadvantage on attack rolls and on WIS (Perception) checks that rely on sight when you, the target or your attack, or whatever you are trying to perceive is in direct sunlight.

Drow Magic: You know the Dancing Lights cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the Faerie Fire spell once with this trait and regain the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. When you reach 5th level, you can cast the Darkness spell once with this trait and regain the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. CHA is your spellcasting ability for these spells.

Drow Weapon Training: You have proficiency with rapiers, shortswords, and hand crossbows.

Languages.

You can speak, read, and write Common and Elvish. Elvish is fluid, with subtle intonations and intricate grammar. Elven literature is rich and varied, and their songs and poems are famous among other ancestries. Many bards learn their language so they can add Elvish ballads to their repertoires.