Elf

Elves are a 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 races. They are slightly shorter than humans on average, ranging from well under 5 feet tall to just over 6 feet. They are more slender than humans, weighing only 100 to 145 pounds. 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 races 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 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.

Subraces

There are three subraces of elves in Astoria: Sun Elves, Moon Elves, and Wood Elves.
Sun Elves
Sun elves have keen minds and a mastery of at least the basics of magic. They are more friendly and cooperative toward other races, unlike their Moon Elven cousins, and played a major part in the coup that overthrew The Adamant Empire, which was primarily Moon Elven, demographically speaking. Sun elves are cunning diplomats and ambassadors, and excel at navigating political climates, both local and geo-political. Most sun elves have bronze skin and hair of copper, black, or golden blond. Their eyes are golden, silver, or black. 
Moon Elves
Moon Elves are descendants of ancient Drow that were either exiled to the surface or came there willingly to settle. While they no longer have the sensitivity to sunlight like their ancestors, most remain haughty and proud, refusing to suffer idle foolishness and frivolity and often looking down on non-elven races. Moon elves were the primary demographic in the fallen The Adamant Empire, and are often still mistrusted in the hearts of non-elven Astorians. Most moon elves have alabaster skin sometimes tinged with blue. They often have hair of silver-white, black, or blue, but various shades of blond, brown, and red are not uncommon. Their eyes are blue or green and flecked with gold.
Wood Elves
Wood elves have keen senses and intuition, and their fleet feet carry them quickly and stealthily through their native forest of Mellryn-dor. Expert hunters and trackers, the wood elves of Astoria are semi-reclusive, rarely traveling in large numbers outside of their misty homeland. When they are seen out in the world, however, their skin tends to be copperish in hue, sometimes with traces of green. Their hair tends toward browns and blacks, but it is occasionally blond or copper-colored. Their eyes are green, brown, or hazel.

Elf Traits

Ability Score Increase
Your Dexterity score increases by 2.
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.
Alignment
Elves love freedom, variety, and self-expression, so they lean strongly toward the gentler aspects of chaos. They value and protect others’ freedom as well as their own, and they are more often good than not. The drow are an exception; their exile into the Underdark has made them vicious and dangerous. Drow are more often evil than not.
Size
Elves range from under 5 to over 6 feet tall and have slender builds. Your size is Medium.
Speed
Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
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 60 feet 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.
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 races. Many bards learn their language so they can add Elvish ballads to their repertoires.

Subrace Traits

Sun Elf
Ability Score Increase
Your Intelligence score increases by 1. OR choose a different ability score to increase by 1.
Proficiencies
You can replace all the proficiencies granted by the Elf Weapon Training trait to another proficiency of your choice.
Sun 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. Intelligence is your spellcasting ability for it.
Extra Language
You can speak, read, and write one extra language of your choice. You can choose to replace each language in your Languages trait with a language from the following list: Abyssal, Celestial, Common, Deep Speech, Draconic, Dwarvish, Elvish, Giant, Gnomish, Goblin, Halfling, Infernal, Orc, Primordial, Sylvan, or Undercommon. Your DM may add or remove languages from that list, depending on what languages are appropriate for your campaign.
Wood Elf
Ability Score Increase
Your Wisdom score increases by 1. OR choose a different ability score to increase by 1.
Proficiencies
You can replace all the proficiencies granted by the Elf Weapon Training trait to another proficiency of your choice.
Wood Elf Weapon Training
You have proficiency with the longsword, shortsword, shortbow, and longbow.
Fleet of Foot
Your base walking speed increases to 35 feet.
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.
Moon Elf
Ability Score Increase
Your Charisma score increases by 1. OR choose a different ability score to increase by 1.
Superior Darkvision
You can see in dim light within 120 feet 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.
Moon Elf 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. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Moon Elf Weapon Training
You have proficiency with rapiers, shortswords, and hand crossbows.