Elf

Elves are a magical people of otherworldly grace, living 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.

Physical Traits

Anatomy and Morphology

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.

Genetics and Aging

Elves have children only a couple of times per century. The average elf lives around 1000 years. Elves measure their age not in years but centuries, and have a comparitively lengthy rate of mental development. Elves consider any elf younger than a century a teenager.
Elven children are born intersex. As they grow into teenagers, their bodies will develop in allignment with their own gender identity.

Habitat

Elves prefer nature and open spaces. Wood Elves live mostly in the Wylderness or at the edges of the tamed lands. High elves feel more at home in cities, but equally suffer by being constricted and confined. Elves are most at home surrouned by trees and the open sky.

Diet

Elves are omnivorous, but eat mostly vegetarian food. They rarely eat meat or fish.

Sapient Traits

History

The elves were created by Chaos, the Fermament during the Age of Creation. As children of Chaos, elves had a supernatural gift for magic and developed many of the ancient wonders of the Golden Age. In their homeland of Zendikar, High Elves lived on floating mountain ranges, while their Wood Elf subject lived in the forest and lands below them. Due to their long lifespans, many elves were able to retain power into the shattered countries of Age of the Silver Kingdoms and beyond. To this day, elves mostly live in the upper crusts of society, or in ancient tribes in the Wylderness.

Manerisms

Elves can live up to a millenia, 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.

Due to their long livespans, Elves outlive many of their friends and loved ones. This causes them to keep others at more of a distance. The pains and emotional tolls of living such a long life can have serous reprecausions for elves in their later years. The accumulated grief can wear them down, making them melancolic and distant. It can numb their feelings to where they become emotionless and apethetic, or even turn into spite where their grief breaks their mind, and turns to anger and rage.

Ways of Thinking

Elves are ethereal and aloof beings. They have the following mental traits:

• Calm of mind
• Individualistic
• Melancholic

Naming Conventions

Dependent on culture. Elves tend to have long names in Elvish, since their Ancestral Language is wordy and longwinded.

Beauty/Gender Ideals

Elves have no facial and little body hair. They favor elegant clothing in bright colors, and they enjoy simple yet lovely jewelry. Elves have few gender denomitators, since their forms have fewer sexual dimorphisms. Most other peoples find it dificult to separate elven genders. Elven children grow into the gender identity that best suits them. This results in a larger ratio of non-binary genders among elves.

Relationship Ideals

Elves live long lives, and this causes them to become used to losing friends and loved ones. Elves have a tendancy to keep shorter lived peoples at a distance to protect themselves from the emotional toll of losing relationships.

Ancestry Traits

Size

Medium

Speed

30 ft. walking

Darkvision

60 ft.

Ancestral Language

Elvish

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.

Well of Experience

Elves have a curiosity for knowledge and skills and have tried many different things over their long lives. During a Trance, an elf may remove one of their skill proficiencies and gain another (Expertise cannot be moved). This represents them remembering knowledge from their pasts.

Eldarin

Eladrin are elves native to the Feywylde, and most of them are members of the Fey Courts, under the rule of Titania the Fairy Queen. An eladrin is associated with one of the four seasons and has coloration reminiscent of that season, which can also affect the eladrin's mood:

• Autumn is the season of peace and goodwill, when summer's harvest is shared with all.
• Winter is the season of contemplation and dolor, when the vibrant energy of the world slumbers.
• Spring is the season of cheerfulness and celebration, marked by merriment as winter's sorrow passes.
• Summer is the season of boldness and aggression, a time of unfettered energy.

Some eladrin remain associated with a particular season for their entire lives, whereas other eladrin transform, adopting characteristics of a new season.
When finishing a long rest, any eladrin can change their season. An eladrin might choose the season that is present in the world or perhaps the season that most closely matches the eladrin's current emotional state. For example, an eladrin might shift to autumn if filled with contentment, another eladrin could change to winter if plunged into sorrow, still another might be bursting with joy and become an eladrin of spring, and fury might cause an eladrin to change to summer.

Fey Step

As a bonus action, you can magically teleport up to 60 ft. to an unoccupied space you can see. You can use this trait a number of times equal to your proficiency modifier. The ability recharges on a short or long rest. When you reach 3rd level, your Fey Step gains an additional effect based on your season; if the effect requires a saving throw, the DC equals 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Charisma modifier. The effects are as follows:

• Autumn. Immediately after you use your Fey Step, up to two creatures of your choice that you can see within 10 feet of you must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or be charmed by you for 1 minute, or until you or your companions deal any damage to it.
• Winter. When you use your Fey Step, one creature of your choice that you can see within 5 feet of you before you teleport must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or be frightened of you until the end of your next turn.
• Spring. When you use your Fey Step, you can touch one willing creature within 5 feet of you. That creature then teleports with you, appearing in an unoccupied space of your choice adjecent to yours
• Summer. Immediately after you use your Fey Step, each creature of your choice that you can see within 5 feet of you takes fire damage equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of 1 damage).

High Elf

Extra Language

You can read, speak, and write one additional language of your choice.

Arcane Nature

You gain one cantrip and two 1st-level spells from the wizard spell list. You always have these spells prepared, and can cast one of these spells using this feature instead of a spell slot. This ability recharges when you finish a long rest. Inteligence is the spellcasting ability for these spells

Wood Elf

Fleet of Foot

You gain a bonus to your movement speed of 10 ft.

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.

Druidic Gifts

You gain one cantrip from the druid spell list and can cast the spells Longstrider and Pass without Trace each once per long rest. Wisdom is the spellcasting ability for these spells

Dark Elf

Elves that have accumulated great amounts of loss and grief over their life can have those emotions turn into spite and anger. These people become dark elves. Their appearance does not change other than paler, ashy skin. However, their minds are foverever scarred and others can recognize this darkness in them. The light of the sun becomes hateful for them.

Superior Darkvision

Your darkvision has a range of 120 feet, instead of 60.

Sunlight Sensitivity

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

Dark Magic

You gain one cantrip from the wizard's spell list, and can cast the Faerie Fire and Darkness spells each once with this trait. This ability recharges when you finish a long rest. Inteligence is your spellcasting ability for these spells.

Spite

You can use your spite and anger to drive you onward. On a skillcheck or attack roll to hurt/destroy something you can gain advantage on that roll. When doing so on a sucessful attack roll, the attack will automatically be a critical hit. The use of Spite must be declared before the roll is made. You can use this ability once per long rest.