Elf
Ability Modifiers +2 Dex, +2 Int, -2 Con
Hit Points 4
Size and Type
Elves are Medium humanoids with the elf subtype.Elven Immunities
Elves are immune to magic sleep effects and receive a +2 racial bonus to saving throws against enchantment spells and effects.Elven Magic
Elves receive a +2 racial bonus to caster level checks to overcome spell resistance. In addition, elves receive a +2 racial bonus to Mysticism skill checks.Keen Senses
Elves receive a +2 racial bonus to Perception skill checks.Low-Light Vision
Elves can see in dim light as if it were normal light.Alternate Ability Adjustments
Elves have had a few different paths, largely stemming from their originally separate races on Elaris, whether the mirage elves of the grand deserts, the dark elves in their high spires, or the wild elves who stalked the jungles. These new paths grant different ability score adjustments instead of the normal +2 Dexterity, +2 Intelligence, -2 Constitution.Forlorn
Elves who live off of Castrovel are more open to new experiences and relationships. Castrovelian elves call these wanderers “Forlorn,” doomed to lose friends and loved ones among shorter-lived species. Forlorn elves have ability score adjustments of +2 Dexterity, +2 Charisma, and −2 Wisdom.Gilded
While they had been bandits and thieves in the past, the mirage elves ended up taking a great blow to their population when attacked by unfamiliar peoples. The humans and other races of the desert intervened, backed by their mighty gods. Since then, many elves still seek out these gods and work to praise them in thanks for saving them from extermination. Such elves have ability score adjustments of +2 Dexterity, 2 Wisdom, -2 Constitution and must take the Blurred Movement alternate racial feature.Alternate Racial Traits
Although some elves have embraced tradition, others have developed cultural and physical adaptations outside the norm.Asanan Elf
Some Castrovelian elves dwell on Asana, rather than Sovyrian. Lashunta influence—with the aid of elven magic used during the Gap, some scholars say—has caused these elves to develop limited telepathy and lashunta magic, as the lashunta racial traits. This replaces elven immunities and elven magic.Blurred Movement
Gilded elves are descended from the mirage elves of old, famed for their ability to blur their bodies with a heat mirage. While this ability has weakened tremendously, it has become longer lasting as they continue their search for their gods. Such elves are always under the effect of the accelerate step spell. Elves that lack the Gilded alternate ability scores cannot take Blurred Movement. This replaces Elven Magic and Keen Senses.Darkvision
Some elves are born with darkvision with a range of 60 feet. When these elves are in no light or dim light and they are exposed to bright light, they are dazzled for 1 round. This replaces low-light vision.Elven Skeptic
Elves were betrayed during the Gap and can be untrusting of others. These elves train to see through deceptions, and gain a +2 racial bonus to Sense Motive checks and saving throws against illusion spells. Once per day, they can roll a Sense Motive check twice and use the better result. This replaces elven immunities.Forlorn Connection
Despite being called Forlorn, those elves who live among other species are often quite sociable. These elves gain a +2 racial bonus to Diplomacy checks and can cast comprehend languages once per day. At 10th level, they can also cast tongues once per day. This replaces elven magic.Memory Gap
Many elves were alive when the Gap ended. They have no memory of the details of their relationships and history. This lack of context is a struggle for them, but has toughened their minds. They gain a +2 racial bonus to saving throws against mind-affecting effects. This replaces elven immunities.Wilderness Runner
Many elves enjoy spending time in unspoiled wilderness. They gain a +2 racial bonus to Survival checks. This replaces keen senses.
Lithe, long-lived humanoids, elves are easily recognized by their pointed ears and pupils so large that their eyes seem to be all one color. Possessed of an inherent bond with the natural world, they tend to subtly take on the coloration of their surroundings over the course of many years and have a deep spiritual regard for nature.
Of all the races common to the Origin System, elves were perhaps the hardest-hit by the Gap, and the slowest to adapt and recover. Where shorter-lived races quickly gave birth to children who had never known any other way of life, and thus were personally unaffected by the loss of history, the elven generation whose lives extended back into the Gap continued on, broken and confused by the blank centuries in their own lives and memories. What’s more, those leaders charged with trying to piece together their social history from scraps soon came to a grim conclusion: during the Gap, their race had been betrayed by another—yet exactly which race was involved remains unclear, all suggestions of the answer scrubbed by malicious intent or the Gap itself.
Reeling and angry, elves from across the system retreated to their ancestral homeland of Sovyrian on Castrovel—where they had fled after learning this truth on their original homeworld of Elaris—and dug in, determined to never again be caught unprepared by disaster. Even this was a fraught endeavor, however, as many of the established elven families already on Castrovel resented the chaos and upheaval caused by the sudden flood of refugees.
Today, the elves are a reclusive, xenophobic race, little understood by their neighbors and uninclined to remedy that situation. Though their starships still travel the void, trading with other worlds, they largely carry all elven crews, and most elves choose to live among their own kind either in Sovyrian or in predominantly elven enclaves on other worlds. Those adventurous or rebellious individuals who choose to live among other races are called the Forlorn, due both to their loss of elven companionship and to their tendency to outlive friends of other races. Most are viewed with pity and suspicion by their kindred.
Within their borders, elves tend to be whimsical and passionate, yet when dealing with outsiders their laughter disappears quickly, replaced by a cold, unyielding wall. Elven warriors and diplomats operating outside of Sovyrian on government business sometimes even choose to go masked, hiding their identities around other races in order to better represent a united elven state.
While elves have embraced technology and the security it brings, they also maintain a deep affinity for magic, seeing in its practice a continuity with their ancestors. Elves are most often mystics, operatives, and technomancers, and when they go adventuring, it’s often to recover bits of magical lore lost to history, or else to find ways to ensure Sovyrian’s strength in the centuries to come. The primary exception to all of these tendencies are the drow—pale-skinned elves who reject the company of their brethren to live on Apostae and mine alien tech from that world’s interior, making them some of the most feared and respected arms dealers in the system. Ordinary elves and drow despise one another, and while Sovyrian’s leadership generally tries to distance itself from political entanglements, supposedly rogue elven fleets have launched several surprise assaults on Apostae in an effort to “cleanse the corruption.” The fact that these attacks have resulted in sanctions from the Pact Council has somehow done little to deter the elves.
Most elves stand 5-1/2 to 6-1/2 feet tall and weigh 100–150 pounds. They’re considered adults at 100 and naturally live up to 750 years.
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