So you want to play an elf?

If you want the LORE for Scarterran elves, click this link

Core Character Creation Rules for Elf Characters

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20 d10s from Wikimedia Commons

Elves have the same 1 to 5 dot attribute spread that humans have.

Graceful: Elves receive -1 difficulty bonus all non-magical rolls involving Dexterity
Keen Senses: Elves receive -1 difficulty bonus all rolls involving Alertness

Frail: One fewer bruised health level than Humans. +1 difficulty penalty to Stamina rolls used as saving throws
-4 freebie points

Nearly all elves speak Elven as their native tongue though an elf raised by non-elves might speak something different.

Basic Overview of Elf abilities by the Mechanics

Note that Scarterran elves differ a bit from D&D elves, Tolkien elves, and Warhammer elves though they are similar.
Unlike D&D elves, Scarterran elves have no protections against charm or sleep spells. They have no magical defenses that humans do not have, in fact, they get a penalty when resisting magic attacks with their Stamina. There aren't many magical attacks in Scarterra d10 that are resisted by Stamina but the ones that do exist are often nasty.
They do not have dark vision like 5th edition elves or low light vision like 3rd edition elves. Scarterran elves do have enhanced senses relative to humans and receive a -1 difficulty bonus on all Alertness, and while Scarterran elves cannot see in the dark, the Alertness bonus is quite powerful.
Scarterran elves sleep like everyone else, they don't "trance".
Scarterran elves have a -1 difficulty bonus on all non-magical Dexterity and this is a very powerful bonus given how important Dexterity is in Scarterra D10. On the downside, elves start out with one fewer health level and get a penalty on Stamina based saving throws (but not Stamina based fatigue checks). On the whole, this still makes elves slightly better fighters than humans most of the time.

Overview of Roleplaying Elves

Scarterran elves are pretty similar to Scarterran humans. Dare I say, in elves and humans are more similar to each other in Scarterra than they are in Middle Earth, Warhammer Fantasy, Athas, Krynn, or Forgotten Realms.
While humans are the majority population of Scarterra, elves are the second largest mortal demographic more than dwarves and gnomes combined who are vying for the number three spot.
So what makes an elf an elf. Grace, dignity, and patience. To a lesser extant, stoicism and pride. Also, elves transition between "fast time" and "slow time", whereas most other races live almost entirely in "fast time". Check out the article Psychological and Cultural Effects of Long Life Spans for details. While technically I wrote the article to cover all mortal races in Scarterra, and its core I am mostly comparing humans and elves.

Scarterran Elf Subcultures

Scarterra has four distinct elf nations with an associated elf ethnicity, grey elves, dark elves, wood elves, and sea elves.
They are similar to the elf subraces of D&D and they are similar to the subraces of Warhammer fantasy (if you leave out sea elves and understand that WHF High Elves ~ Scarterran grey elves), but they are different enough that you should read the associated articles if you want to try o playing one of these groups.
The four Scarterran elf subcultures are the result of four different strategies elf groups used to survive the Second Unmaking which led to them rebuilding their cultures from the ground up in four different ways.
For the most part, the Scarterran elf cultures, while they are culturally separate from each other, they are physiologically near identical. Most Scarterran humans have trouble telling wood elves apart from grey elves and dark elves unless the elves are wearing their national colors. Scarterran sea elves do stand apart from their cousins because they manifest Water ethnic traits almost exclusively and most other elves manifest two or three co-dominant elemental traits though you might fight a rare few extra salty grey elves or dark elves that have enough watery traits to pass as a sea elf...at least physically.
So you want to play a Wood Elf?
Scarterran wood elves come from the nation of the land of Codenya. They are loosely based on the Tolkien Elves of Lorien and Mirkwood and the Warhammer Fantasy Wood Elf army.

The wood elves ancestors survived the Second Unmaking by hiding in the forests and making alliances with various woodland dwelling creatures and groups and the elves kept their alliances intact long after the Unmaking was over. The wood elf Nation of Codenya includes forest gnomes, Codenya kalazotz, Codenya satyrs, and druss elves among even more exotic races. Wood elves and their allies blur the line between "barbarian" and "civilized" lifestyles with their semi-nomadic semi-agrarian lifestyle detailed in the article How do most wood elves feed themselves?.

Codenya National Coat of Arms by me

Despite the fact that Codenya is fairly isolationist, it is easy to justify why your wood elf character PC is able to justify joining a motley crew of adventurers because of the tradition of Rumspringa. Scarterran Wood Elves typically spend twenty to thirty years of their young adult lives exploring the outside world. Even with lots of down time to train or craft items or "you take four weeks to reach your destination" skips, most RPG campaigns only last a year or two of in-game time and the all-time record I have personally witnessed is eleven years (not counting time travel). So an RPG campaign can easily fit inside a Rumspringa.
Some of wood elves travel very far indeed so you don't need to work very hard to explain your character backstory for why your wood elf PC is almost anywhere in Scarterra. That said, if your wood elf is traveling in an area close to the territory of another elf culture, your wood elf will likely be mislabeled by ignorant NPCs. A lot of wood elves traveling abroad choose to wear Codenya insignia on their clothes for this very reason.
You don't have to have your wood elf character be on a Rumspringa but that is the easiest backstory to explanation to why you are out adventuring. It also doesn't let you off the hook for writing the rest of your character backstory. Your character still has a family, profession, goals, points of pride and points of shame which can flesh out your character as an individual. Also, most wood elf Rumspringas don't involve violent and dangerous adventures, it takes a special kind of elf to want to go on dangerous adventures.

So you want to play a grey elf?

Scarterran grey elves come from Elven Empire which has a wide ranging territory but is centered on the Island of Lunatus. The Elven Empire is loosely based on the High Elf army of Warhammer Fantasy and the real world British Empire. The Elven Empire has a great many non-elven subjects (especially in their far flung colonies) and their noble class is all elves. That said, while most Elven Empire nobles are grey elves, most grey elves are not nobles though they still informally hold more status than most non-elves.

Modified public domain falcon heraldry by Me

The grey elves' ancestors survived the Second Unmaking by virtue of geography. The Island of Lunatus is near the equator, far away from the poles where the Void Demons entered and was relatively easy to defend. While Lunatus suffered casualties from multiple demon invasions, they ultimately avoiding having their infrastructure destroyed outright and enough elves survived that their population rebounded in the early centuries of Third Age allowing them to sail out and establish many colonies. They lost of lot of colonies as some of their human colonies rebelled for independence since then, but the Elven Empire is still a political force to be reckoned with.

The grey elves are the least insular of Scarterra's four elven cultures since the Elven Empire is based on trade. Pretty much every coastal region in Scarterra regularly sees naval traffic from the Elven Empire. Via these trade routes, it's not particularly difficult to justify how and why your grey elf character ended up wherever your RPG campaign is set in.
Grey elves are a logical shoe-in for swashbuckling ship based adventures but this isn't required. Most grey elves have ridden on a ship a few times, but not every grey elf is an old salt at heart. More than a few grey elves travel inland in far flung areas for various reasons though a lot of the grey elves that opt to do this are mavericks or outcasts deliberately trying to put distance between themselves and their countrymen.

So you want to play a dark elf?

Kahdisterian Greymoria Symbol by Me using Nightcafe

Scarterran dark elves come from the nation of land of Kahdisteria occupying the eastern coast of East Colassia, they are loosely based on the Dark Elf army of Warhammer Fantasy and have some vague similarities with the Drow of D&D at least as far as they both have a slave based economy and worship an evil goddess of magic and darkness though they do not have ebony skin, live in an oppressive matriarchy, or shun the sunlight.
The dark elves' ancestors survived the Second Unmaking by making pacts with the goddess Greymoria and alliances with some of Greymoria's monstrous children, cultural and religious ties they maintain today.

"Dark elves" is a label given to them by humans, they usually call themselves "Kahdisterian elves", they believe they are the physical and/or spiritual descendants of the mighty Second Age nation of Disterria. The Kahdisterians are considered "dark" because their economy is built on a very large slave class of non-elves, predominantly humans, half-elves, and goblins. All that said, most dark elves don't personally own slaves and there are dark elves who believe slavery should be abolished (though not always for ethical reasons, some argue that free peasants are more productive and easier to manage than bound slaves).
Kahdisterian elves are not just considered dark because they keep slaves, the Nation of Kahdisteria has Greymoria and Greymoria is considered quite dark indeed. While relatively few nations ban Greymoria worship outright, Greymoria is often widely distrusted and feared throughout Scarterra and Kahdisteria is pretty much the only nation that has Greymoria as the official religion in all of Scarterra.
Your dark elf character needn't be defined by Greymoria worship or slavery unless you want it that way. Most dark elves that travel far outside of Kahdisteria are mavericks or nonconformists who don't fit in with their home society and it is certainly possible to play a PC in this mold.
That is not required though, a dark elf that believes Kahdisteria is a reasonable place can choose to leave temporarily . Given that elves have long lifespans, "temporarily " can be a very long time. They can leave their homeland to try to make fortune or simply to seek new experiences.
Whether or not your PC is actually dark or is secretly a good guy, a dark elf PC is going to have to deal with prejudice which may or may not be justified. If this doesn't appeal to you as a player, than you should not play a dark elf.
A dark elf traveling abroad that cannot successfully impersonate a grey elf or a wood elf is going to receive some knee-jerk negative reactions from many NPCs, you should probably consider taking the Flaw, "Probationary Member" or something similar. Most of Kahdisteria's evil deeds were committed against humans in East Colassia, so a dark elf is going to have a really tough time moving through any territory controlled by the Colassian Confederacy, but an expatriate dark elf is still going to be at least mildly distrusted by humans elsewhere because most have heard stories.

So you want to play a sea elf?

Sea elves are the proverbial redheaded step children of Scarterra's elves. Or I guess in this case they are the blue-headed step children. Unlike D&D sea elves, they don't have gills and cannot survive underwater. Scarterran sea elves are terrestrial creatures that happen to live near the sea and upon the sea but not in the sea.
They survived the Second Unmaking by making alliances with various denizens of Scaraqua. They worship the the Nine by their their Scaraquan names, especially the Seeyirah.
This means that in order to roleplay a sea elf well, you are going to have to read up on a lot of Scaraquan articles in addition to reading up on the lore for your character abilities and whereever the actual RPG campaign is set. That is a lot of reading, and a casual player will probably want to do this.

by Me with Hero Forge

On top of all that, it is much more difficult to justify the inclusion of a sea elf PC in most campaigns than other elves. For one thing, sea elves hail from a tiny group of islands, and they have around a tenth of the total population of either the dark elves, grey elves, and wood elves, so you are going to have fewer mavericks and variants who "break the mold".
Of all the four elf subgroups, they have the greatest distrust of humans and are the least likely to want to go adventuring in the wider world for any reason. Relatively few of them speak Common as most make it a point to learn Scaraquan languages.
Player characters are commonly the exception among their home culture but even if you are playing the rare rare sea elf that has sufficient motivation to go on RPG-esque adventures, it better be a sea based adventure because it would take something almost ridiculously extreme to make a sea elf willing to travel a long ways inland.
Let's say you are playing a Scaraquan campaign. While many sea elves learn magic to breathe underwater, a sea elf under the sea is going to be at a severe disadvantage compared to a native under the sea if a single targeted use of dispel magic causes your character to start drowning.
Also, as of the writing of this article, I'm not quite ready to start Scaraquan adventures beyond an experimental one-shot campaign or something similar.
When I created sea elves, I meant for them to be exotic middlemen. If you are playing a Scaterran adventure and you want to moonlight for a brief Scaraquan adventure, a sea elf NPC can hook you up. Same thing if a Scaraquan characters wants to be "part of our world" temporarily, they will probably seek out a sea elf to help guide them.
It is not impossible to play a sea elf player character, but this is not a character choice for newbies, whether new to d10 based RPGs or new to Scarterra lore and even then you need special game master permission to play such a character.

Elves and the basic character archetypes

Elves are similar enough to humans that the basic "So you want to play a _____" articles don't need much adjustment.
So you want to play a warrior who is also an elf?

As mentioned before, the elf bonus to Dexterity is extremely useful and more than offsets the handicap of impaired Stamina and starting with one fewer health level. On average an elf warrior is going to miss less often and be hit less often than a human warrior with the same combat traits.
Elf warriors are pragmatic and you can justify any fighting style you want for your character and use any weapons you find appealing, that said their are some cultural tendencies.

by me with Hero Forge

Codenya National Coat of Arms by me

Most wood elf warriors tend to favor long bows, or "war bows" as they are often called. Melee warriors tend to favor weapon and shield combos, rarely using two handed weapons.
When at actual war, wood elf warriors often focus on stealth ambushes, and hit and run tactics versus brute force or force of numbers. Wood elves rarely focus on mounted combat.
For self-defense weapons, wood elves tend to favor arming swords, quarterstaffs, hand axes, and sometimes short bows.

Modified public domain falcon heraldry by Me

Grey elf warrior culture is based largely on ship-to-ship combat. That means polearms and other long weapons that are not convenient to use in limited spaces are not favored. Melee warriors tend to favor one-handed weapons paired with shields, often buckler shields. Grey elves are equally likely to use bows or crossbows, many use both preferring crossbows during naval engagements and long bows while on land.
In terms of warfare, grey elves favor well disciplined formations and combined arms maneuvers. They are the only elf culture in Scarterra that regularly uses cavalry soldiers though they are less reliant on cavalry than most human armies.
For self-defense weapons, grey elves tend to favor rapiers, parrying daggers, arming swords, light crossbows, and sometimes throwing daggers.

Kahdisterian Greymoria Symbol by Me using Nightcafe

Dark elf warrior culture is shaped by magic users. Many casters favor smaller two handed weapons like long swords and falchions. So much so, that even non-caster dark elves have a slight training bias towards using two handed weapons that are relatively easy to parry with in lieu of fighting with a one-handed weapon and a shield. Dark elves also have a maritime culture almost as strong as the grey elves causing them to favor the weapons of sailors similar to what grey elves use. Dark elves are equally likely to use bows or crossbows.
The recent Great East Colassian War forced the dark elves to adapt. They used a mix of small unit scale hit-and-run attacks and large unit formations and combined arms maneuvers.
For self defense weapons, dark elves tend to favor arming swords, daggers, and sometimes light crossbows. Slave overseers tend to rely on clubs and whips, but they often carry bladed weapons as a last resort and for the intimidation factor.

So you want to play a Rogue/Expert who is also an elf?

Elves have long life spans and are generally literate. They are likely to absorb a lot of reading and oral lore by the time they are adults. Given the natures of slow time, arguably elves have a lower attention span than most younger races so they don't accumulate as much subject lore expertise as you would expect given their long years. Elf experts tend to be biased towards jack of all trades sorts as opposed to unparalleled specialists.
Elves are no less prone to criminality and low cunning than humans are. With their great dexterity, elves make great pickpockets, cat burglars, dungeon delvers, and trap diffusers. Given the elf bias towards dignity and grace, even criminally minded elves often have standards. Elf thieves are much more likely to carefully plan and carry out elaborate heists and large scams with large payoffs as opposed to simply robbing or fleecing everyone in sight like some other stereotypical rogue types.

by Eron 12 with Hero Forge

So you want to play a mage who is also an elf?

Elf mages aren't really that different from non-elf mages on the whole.
The Elven Empire culturally pushes hermetic wizardry, especially classical hermetic wizardry, as the most powerful and honorable form of arcane magic. Very few grey elf mages are not hermetics, and if they are not hermetic mages they are probably in the lower tier of grey elf society.

by Me using Hero Forge

Kahdisteria values magical diversity, you can find a subculture of almost every mage variant among dark elves apart from Folk Magicians who they are somewhat prejudiced against as being inferior mages. Greymoria Warlocks are the plurality with hermetics nipping at their heels for the number two spot. Dark elves have the largest rune casting wizardry culture of any elf group in Scarterra though they are still a minority. They also have a small but generally respected Body Wizardry subculture.
A plurality of wood elf mages practice Aesthetic Hermetic Wizardry with nearly as many classical hermetic wizardry. They are the only elf culture that doesn't habitually shun folk magicians though they don't have a lot of them. They also have a rune casting wizardry that while small, is still larger than most other non-dwarves. They have a few body wizards too.

Sorcery is generally much rarer among elves than among humans though hardly unheard of. The dark elves have a small sorcery subculture where sorcerers and sorceresses intermarry to try to preserve their bloodlines though they don't hold a candle to Swynfaredian humans on this practice. The other elf subcultures have even fewer sorcerers and not numerous enough to support even a small subculture.
Fae Warlocks are relatively common among all elf subraces because the Fair Folk themselves seem to prefer dealing with elves versus most other mortals though this prejudice is slowly changing. That said, most elven fae warlocks are outsiders recruited from the periphery of elf society rather than the mainstream. In Kahdisteria, this is only magical tradition viewed as an affront to Greymoria and in the Elven Empire, fae warlocks are considered chaotic and untrustworthy. Wood elves are a fair bit more tolerant of fae warlocks but fae warlocks are still feared more than they are respected.
Bardic musicians of various stripes can be found in small numbers among the various elven mage traditions. Bardic musicians are moderately more common among wood elves than other elf groups which is little surprise as wood elf culture puts more emphasis on music over other forms of art.

So you want to play a divine magic caster who is also an elf?

Khemra is the state religion of the Elven Empire but Hallisan and Phidas have a high place in society so most highborn or otherwise respectable grey elf theurgists are aligned with one of these three deities. The Elven Empire priesthoods of Hallisan and Phidas often butt heads with the greater priesthoods of these gods as the grey elf priests refuse to submit to the authority of the Guardians' and Masks' global hierarchies.
Grey elf theurgists of Mera, Korus, and Zarthus are part of the Elven Empire but they have to rub shoulders with humans more often and may be the minority race in their own religious orders.

Modified public domain falcon heraldry by Me

Greymoria, Nami, and Maylar worship is so restricted in the Elven Empire that most grey elf theurgists affiliated with these deities are in underground sects.
Most grey elves favor doing things correctly and by tradition. They favor orthopraxy over orthodoxy, so most wood elf theurgists favor Theology based casting over Enigmas based casting, though members of underground or marginalized religious sects often flip this norm.

The wood elves worship all of the Nine and no deity's worship is restricted or banned in Codenya though their priesthoods for Maylar, Greymoria, Khemra, and Hallisan are very small.
The Codenya priesthoods of Zarthus and Korus are large and influential. The priesthoods of Mera and Nami are of middling size and influence.
Within Codenya, priesthoods do not discriminate and wood elf priests and theurgists have no more or less status than those of their woodland allies. Outside Codenya, Codenyan priesthoods are pretty insular and they almost never formerly mix and mingle with non-elven non-Codenyan branches of their priesthoods. The two exceptions are wood elves in Korus' Stewards and the Cult of the Compact which while separate on paper, maintain friendly formal ties with their spiriual kin outside the forests of Codenya..

Most wood elves see their spirituality as a mostly private matter and orthodoxy is favored over orthopraxy, so most wood elf theurgists favor Enigmas based casting over Theology based casting.
Since Greymoria is the spiritual patron of Kahdisterria, Greymoria has almost as many priests and priestesses as the other eight deities combined there. That said, a lot of these priests and priestesses are mages, not theurgists.
Phidas, Korus, and Maylar have fairly respected priesthoods in Kahdisteria. Khemra has a much smaller priesthood that is still technically part of the movers and shakers, at least on paper.
Hallisan, Nami and Zarthus have relatively toothless official Kahdisterian priesthoods as well as more secret underground sects.
Mera worship in Kahdisterria is almost all underground.