Half-Elf

Elves have long drawn the covetous gazes of other races. Their generous lifespans, magical affinity, and inherent grace each contribute to the admiration or bitter envy of their neighbors. Of all their traits, however, none so entrance their human associates as their beauty. Since the two races first came into contact with each other, humans have held up elves as models of physical perfection, seeing in these fair folk idealized versions of themselves. For their part, many elves find humans attractive despite their comparatively barbaric ways, and are drawn to the passion and impetuosity with which members of the younger race play out their brief lives.
Sometimes this mutual infatuation leads to romantic relationships. Though usually short-lived, even by human standards, such trysts may lead to the birth of half-elves, a race descended from two cultures yet inheritor of neither. Half-elves can breed with one another, but even these “pureblood” half-elves tend to be viewed as bastards by humans and elves alike. Caught between destiny and derision, half-elves often view themselves as the middle children of the world.

Description

Half-elves stand taller than humans but shorter than elves. They inherit the lean build and comely features of their elven lineage, but their skin color is normally dictated by their human side. While half-elves retain the pointed ears of elves, theirs are more rounded and less pronounced. Their eyes tend to be human-like in shape, but feature an exotic range of colors from amber or violet to emerald green and deep blue. This pattern changes for half-elves of drow descent, however. Such elves are almost unfailingly marked with the white or silver hair of the drow parent, and more often than not have dusky gray skin that takes on a purplish or bluish tinge in the right light, while their eye color usually favors that of the human parent.

Racial Traits

Ability Adjustment: +2 to the ability score of their choice. Half-elves are nearly as varied in nature as their human parentage.
Size: Medium.
Speed: Half-elf base land speed is 30 feet.
Type: Humanoid (Elf and Human).
Age: Half-elves live significantly longer than humans, but not nearly so long as full blooded elves. They reach adulthood at around 20, and live to around 150.
Vision: Low-Light Vision. Half-elves can see twice as far as humans in conditions of Shadowy Illumination.

Special Qualities

Adaptability: Half-elves receive Skill Focus as a bonus feat at 1st level.
Elf Blood: Half-elves count as both elves and humans for any effect related to race.
Elven Immunities: Half-elves are immune to magic sleep effects and gain a +2 Racial bonus to Saving Throws against Enchantment spells and effects.
Keen Senses: Half-elves receive a +2 Racial bonus on Perception checks.
Multitalented: Half-elves choose two favored classes at first level and gain +1 hit point or +1 skill point whenever they take a level in either one of those classes.

Languages

Automatic Languages: Common and Elven.
Bonus Languages: Any language (other than secret languages, such as Druidic).

Alternate Racial Traits

The following alternate racial traits may be selected in place of one or more of the standard racial traits above.
Alert for Betrayal: Half-elves with this trait gain a +2 Racial bonus on saves against Illusion spells and effects. Perception and Sense Motive are class skills for them. This racial trait replaces adaptability.
Ancestral Arms: Some half-elves receive training in an unusual weapon. Half-elves with this racial trait receive Exotic Weapon Proficiency or Martial Weapon Proficiency with one weapon as a bonus feat at 1st level. This racial trait replaces the adaptability racial trait.
Arcane Training: Half-elves occasionally seek tutoring to help them master the magic in their blood. Half-elves with this racial trait have only one favored class, and it must be an arcane spellcasting class. They can use spell trigger and spell completion items for their favored class as if one level higher (or as a 1st-level character if they have no levels in that class). This racial trait replaces the multitalented racial trait.
Behind the Veil: Characters with this trait gain a +2 bonus on Bluff and Sleight of Hand checks while benefiting from Concealment or Cover. Half-elves can take this trait in place of Low-Light Vision.
Child of the Sea (from Coastal Regions): Half-elves from a coastal region with this racial trait gain a +4 Racial bonus on Swim checks as well as on Profession (sailor) and Wisdom checks to pilot a sea vessel. They also have an innate sense of direction and can never get lost at sea. This racial trait replaces the Low-Light Vision and keen senses racial traits.
Dimdweller: Whenever characters with this trait benefit from Concealment or full concealment due to Darkness or Shadowy Illumination, they gain a +2 Racial bonus on Intimidate, Perception, and Stealth checks. Half-elves can take this trait in place of adaptability.
Dreamer: Half-elves with this trait gain a +2 racial saving throw bonus against Illusion spells and effects. In addition, when entering a dreamscape in a lucid body, a half-elf with this racial trait treats their Charisma score as 2 points higher for the purpose of effects related to the Dimension of Dreams. This racial trait replaces elven immunities.
Drow-Blooded: Some half-elves born of drow parents exhibit more drow traits than others (particularly many of the physical features of the drow) and have Darkvision 60 feet and Light Blindness. This racial trait replaces the Low-Light Vision racial trait.
Drow Heritage: Half-elves with this trait count as drow for the purposes of any effect related to race, including prerequisites. This racial trait replaces the ability to choose any language as a bonus language, instead limiting the character to the bonus languages offered to drow.
Drow Magic: A few half-elves with drow ancestry exhibit the innate magic of that race. Half-elves with this trait have drow blood somewhere in their background, and can cast Dancing Lights, Darkness, and Faerie Fire each once per day, using the half-elf’s character level as the Caster Level for these spell-like abilities. This racial trait replaces the adaptability and multitalented racial traits.
Drow-Trained: Characters with this trait are proficient with the hand crossbow, rapier, and shortsword. This racial trait replaces the adaptability racial trait.
Dual Minded: The mixed ancestry of some half-elves makes them resistant to mental attacks. Half-elves with this racial trait gain a +2 bonus on all Will Saving Throws. This racial trait replaces the adaptability racial trait.
Dusksight: When making ranged attacks, characters with this trait can reroll the miss chance granted by Cover to any target in Shadowy Illumination, and take the better of the two rolls. The miss chance for total Concealment applies normally. Half-elves can take this trait in place of keen senses.
Elf-Scorned: Many half-elves, especially half-drow, are rejected by their elven parents and feel nothing but hatred and Fear toward their inhuman ancestors. They gain a +1 Racial bonus on attack rolls and a +2 Dodge Bonus to AC against elves. This racial trait replaces elven immunities and multitalented.
Eye for Opportunity: Constantly facing the rough edges of two societies, some half-elves develop a knack for finding overlooked opportunities. They gain a +1 Racial bonus on attacks of opportunity. This racial trait replaces adaptability and keen senses.
Fey Magic: The character has a mystic connection to one terrain type, selected from the Ranger’s favored terrain list. The character selects three 0-level Druid spells and one 1st-level Druid spell. If the character has a Charisma score of 11 or higher, when in the selected terrain, they gain these spells as spell-like abilities that can be cast once per day. The Caster Level for these effects is equal to the character’s level. The DC for the spell-like abilities is equal to 10 + the spell’s level + the user’s Charisma modifier. These spells are treated as being from a fey source for the purposes of the Druid’s resist nature’s lure class feature and similar abilities. This trait replaces keen senses.
Fey Thoughts: Select two of the following skills: Acrobatics, Bluff, Climb, Diplomacy, Disguise, Escape Artist, Fly, Knowledge (nature), Perception, Perform, Sense Motive, Sleight of Hand, Stealth, Swim, or Use Magic Device. The selected skills are always class skills for the character. This trait replaces multitalented.
Inspire Imitation: Whenever a half-elf succeeds at a skill check, they can inspire imitators as a Swift Action. Any ally within 30 feet who witnesses the successful check and attempts the same check within the next minute gains a +2 bonus on the check as if from the Aid Another action. This racial trait replaces skilled.
Integrated: Many half-elves are skilled in the art of ingratiating themselves into a community as if they were natives. Half-elves with this racial trait gain a +1 bonus on Bluff, Disguise, and Knowledge (local) checks. This racial trait replaces the adaptability racial trait.
Kindred-Raised: While most think of people with one human and one elven parent when they think of half-elves, some half-elves are raised by two half-elven parents. Such half-elves feel less like outsiders, making them more confident, but less adaptable without the exposure to a human parent. They gain a +2 bonus to Charisma and one other ability score of their choice. This racial trait replaces the half-elf’s usual racial ability score modifiers, as well as adaptability, elven immunities, keen senses, and multitalented.
Mismatched: Rather than having bodily and facial features that are a blend of elven and human, or tending towards one parent or the other, a rare few half-elves have a strange combination of features. They have noticeable mismatched eyes and ears, as well as uneven limbs. Half-elves with this trait take a –2 penalty on Reflex saves but receive a +4 Racial bonus on Initiative checks. This racial trait replaces keen senses and Low-Light Vision.
Spireborn (from Mountainous Terrain): Half-elves from mountainous regions add +1 to the Caster Level of any transmutation spells they cast. Half-elves with a Charisma score of 11 or higher also gain the following spell-like abilities that can each be cast once per day: Comprehend Languages, Detect Secret Doors, Erase, Read Magic. The Caster Level for these effects is equal to the user’s character level. This racial trait replaces the adaptability racial trait.
Multidisciplined: Born to two races, half-elves have a knack for combining different magical traditions. If a half-elf with this racial trait has spellcasting abilities from at least two different classes, the effects of spells they cast from all their classes are calculated as though her Caster Level were 1 level higher, to a maximum of their character level. This racial trait replaces multitalented.
Reflexive Improvisation: Half-elves raised among elves often stumble unprepared into each new stage of life because their elven relatives are unaccustomed to the speed of their maturation. They gain a +2 Racial bonus on untrained skill checks. This racial trait replaces adaptability and multitalented.
Round Ears: Sometimes half-elves are born with no obvious elven features. Their parents may even be humans with only faint traces of elven blood. They gain the human’s skilled racial trait. In addition, they receive a +4 Racial bonus on Disguise checks to appear human. This racial trait replaces adaptability, keen senses, and Low-Light Vision.
Sea Legs: Many half-elves find their way onto the water early in their youth, whether they live with trader families, work as smugglers, or plunder alongside pirates. These half-elves receive a +2 Racial bonus on Swim checks, as well as a +4 Racial bonus on Acrobatics checks to move on narrow or slippery surfaces, and on Climb checks on docks and ships. This racial trait replaces adaptability.
Shadowhunter: Characters with this trait deal 50% weapon damage to Incorporeal creatures when using non-magical weapons (including natural and unarmed attacks), as if using magic weapons. They also gain a +2 bonus on Saving Throws to remove Energy Drain, and recover physical Ability Damage from attacks by undead creatures at a rate of 2 points per ability score per day (rather than the normal 1 point per ability score per day). Half-elves can take this trait in place of elven immunities.
Sure Step: Adventurers can spend their whole careers in the alleys and sewers of large cities or the tunnels of the Underworld. Characters with this trait suffer no movement penalties when Blinded or moving in Darkness. Half-elves can take this trait in place of keen senses.
Sociable: Half-elves are skilled at charming others and recovering from faux pas. If half-elves with this racial trait attempt to change a creature’s attitude with a Diplomacy check and fail by 5 or more, they can try to influence the creature a second time even if 24 hours have not passed. This racial trait replaces the adaptability racial trait.
Sophisticate: Half-elves who strive to embody the culture in which they live develop a keen instinct for the ebb and flow of fashions, fads, and political trends. They gain a +2 Racial bonus on Knowledge (history) and Knowledge (local) checks and can use those skills untrained even for checks with a DC of 10 or more. This racial trait replaces elven immunities.
Thinblood Resilience (from the Underdark): Half-elves from the underdark with this racial trait are accustomed to torture at the hands of their drow forebears, and gain a +2 Racial bonus on Fortitude saves against poison and disease, including magical diseases. They also gain the Poison use ability and never risk accidentally poisoning themselves. This racial trait replaces the elven immunities racial trait.
Underworld Guide: Those who brave the lightless tunnels below the world’s surface learn to identify the dangerous phenomena that characterize the Underworld. Characters with this trait gain a +2 bonus on Initiative checks, and on saves against traps and hazards when underground (from a lifetime of dodging accursed pools, cave-ins, and green slime). Half-elves can take this trait in place of keen senses.
Wary: Many half-elves have spent their long lives moving from place to place, often driven out by the hostility of others. Such experiences have made them wary of others’ motivations. Half-elves with this trait gain a +1 Racial bonus on Sense Motive and Bluff checks. This racial trait replaces the keen senses racial trait.
Water Child: Some half-elves are born of elves adapted to life on or near the water. These half-elves gain a +4 Racial bonus on Swim checks, can always take 10 while swimming, and may choose Aquan as a bonus language. This racial trait replaces the adaptability and multitalented racial traits.
Weapon Familiarity: Half-elves raised among elves often feel pitied and mistrusted by their longer-lived kin, and yet they receive training in elf weapons. They gain the Elf‘s weapon familiarity trait. This racial trait replaces adaptability.