Elves are a 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.
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.
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.
Most elves are reluctant to leave their lands and so they always build settlements in areas that allow them to completely support themselves.
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.
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.
Elf
Ability Score Increase +2 Dex
Size Medium
Speed Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
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 and the Mist Elves are the exceptions. The Mist Elves who are said to have fallen from grace have become vicious and hateful. Mist Elves are more often evil than not. Having fled their home in the Underdark and having to adapt to a new and dangerous environment has caused Drow to become less free and expressive. Drow tend towards more lawful behaviors.
Size
Elves range from under 5 to over 6 feet tall and have slender builds.
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.
Subraces
Ancient divides among the elven people resulted in eight main subraces: High Elves, Wood Elves, Mist Elves, Ash Elves, Mountain Elves, Eladrin, City Elves, and Dark Elves, who are commonly called Drow.
High Elf
As a high elf, you have a keen mind and a mastery of at least the basics of magic. Of the High Elves of the world, there are generally two types. There are the High Elves that call
Ellcria home and are friendly and live in clans or clusters among the other races. Then there are those that view themselves superior to non-elves and even some of the other types of Elves. High Elves like this are more commonly found among the islands east of
Virasia though they can be found in other places.
High Elves are generally very pale with silver, blond or sometimes light brown hair. Their eye color typically ranges from light greens to various blues.
Ability Score +1 Int
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.
Wood Elf
As a wood elf, you have keen senses and intuition, and your fleet feet carry you quickly and stealthily through your native forests. Much like their name suggests these elves often prefer rural areas or settlements heavily surrounded by nature rather than cities of stone and metal where nature is barely felt. The largest and most notable civilization of Wood Elves is the city of
Nelal Nalore within the
The Silver Forest.
Wood elves’ 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
Ability Score +1 Wis
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.
Dark Elf (Drow)
Once banished from the surface for worshipping a goddess that opposed the god of the Elves, Drow and the other subraces made amends with one another when both of their deities were lost in the great war of the gods. Having lost their Underdark home to Titans and the madness that has taken over it, Drow now primarily reside within the western mountains of
Noctirnan. Also called dark elves, the drow have skin that resembles charcoal or obsidian, as well as stark white or pale yellow hair. They commonly have very pale eyes (so pale as to be mistaken for white) in shades of lilac, silver, pink, red, and blue. They tend to be smaller and thinner than most elves.
Ability Score +1 Cha
Superior Darkvision
Your darkvision has a radius of 120 feet.
Sunlight Sensitivity
You have disadvantage on attack rolls and on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight when you, the target of your attack, or whatever you are trying to perceive is in direct sunlight.
Drow 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.
Drow Weapon Training
You have proficiency with rapiers, shortswords, and hand crossbows.
Eladrin
Eladrin are elves native to the Feywild, a realm of beauty, unpredictable emotion, and boundless magic. 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.
The following tables offer personality suggestions for eladrin of each season. You can roll on the tables or use them as inspiration for characteristics of your own.
Autumn
| d4 |
Autumn Personality Trait |
| 1 |
If someone is in need, you never withhold aid. |
| 2 |
You share what you have, with little regard for your own needs. |
| 3 |
There are no simple meals, only lavish feasts. |
| 4 |
You stock up on fine food and drink. You hate going without such comforts. |
| d4 |
Autumn Flaw |
| 1 |
You trust others without a second thought. |
| 2 |
You give to others, to the point that you leave yourself without necessary supplies. |
| 3 |
Everyone is your friend, or a potential friend. |
| 4 |
You spend excessively on creature comforts. |
Winter
| d4 |
Winter Personality Trait |
| 1 |
The worst case is the most likely to occur. |
| 2 |
You preserve what you have. Better to be hungry today and have food for tomorrow. |
| 3 |
Life is full of dangers, but you are ready for them. |
| 4 |
A penny spent is a penny lost forever. |
| d4 |
Winter Flaw |
| 1 |
Everything dies eventually. Why bother building anything that is supposedly meant to last? |
| 2 |
Nothing matters to you, and you allow others to guide your actions. |
| 3 |
Your needs come first. In winter, all must watch out for themselves. |
| 4 |
You speak only to point out the flaws in others’ plans. |
Spring
| d4 |
Spring Personality Trait |
| 1 |
Every day is the greatest day of your life. |
| 2 |
You approach everything with enthusiasm, even the most mundane chores. |
| 3 |
You love music and song. You supply a tune yourself if no one else can. |
| 4 |
You can’t stay still. |
| d4 |
Spring Flaw |
| 1 |
You overdrink. |
| 2 |
Toil is for drudges. Yours should be a life of leisure. |
| 3 |
A pretty face infatuates you in an instant, but your fancy passes with equal speed. |
| 4 |
Anything worth doing is worth doing again and again. |
Summer
| d4 |
Summer Personality Trait |
| 1 |
You believe that direct confrontation is the best way to solve problems. |
| 2 |
Overwhelming force can accomplish almost anything. The tougher the problem, the more force you apply. |
| 3 |
You stand tall and strong so that others can lean on you. |
| 4 |
You maintain an intimidating front. It’s better to prevent fights with a show of force than to harm others. |
| d4 |
Summer Flaw |
| 1 |
You are stubborn. Let others change. |
| 2 |
The best option is one that is swift, unexpected, and overwhelming. |
| 3 |
Punch first. Talk later. |
| 4 |
Your fury can carry you through anything. |
Ability Score Increase +1 Cha
Fey Step
As a bonus action, you can magically teleport up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space you can see. Once you use this trait, you can’t do so again until you finish 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:
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 instead of you, appearing in an unoccupied space of your choice that you can see within 30 feet of you.
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).
Mountain Elves
Of all the Elven subraces of the world, Mountain elves are the most reclusive. Preferring their mountain vistas to the forests, few races are as skilled in mountain navigation and climbing as they are. The largest population of Mountain Elves are known as @
The Rocborne and dwell within
The Skylands.
Mountain Elves typically have tanned, leathery skin thick with calluses and, in the fullness of life, scars. Some clans actually use ritual scars as a right of passage and an indication of a bloodline. Their skin often tends toward earthier tones such as red-brown or grey-brown. Generally Mountain Elves are also quite stockier and the other elves and covered in lean muscle. Their hair is often black or deep browns and greys. Male Mountain Elves are also the only elves capable of growing full beards, although they aren't allowed to do so unless they have accomplished a great deed. Their eyes are often earthen tones such as dark greens, browns, and grays.
Ability Score +1 Str
Mountain Weapon Training
You have proficiency with the short sword, long sword, hand axe, great axe, battle axe, spear, and glaive.
Roughland Runner
When moving on your turn, you may ignore 10 feet of difficult terrain.
Natural Climber
You have proficiency in Athletics skill, and a climb speed equal to your normal movement speed minus 10 feet.
City Elves
A quick glance at a City Elf would trick you into believing they have no connection to High Elves, when in fact they share the same blood. Generations of oppression, hardship and squalor has created a fundamental change in the City Elves to the point that they're almost unrecognizable when compared to their Elven brethren. Despite their hard lives, the City Elves survive using their innate talents to make the most of their situation and preserve their pride.
Compared to their High Elven brethren, City Elves tend to apply their intellect towards street-smarts and maintaining a low profile rather than towards magical theory or scientific pursuits
City Elves often have fair to tanned skin with hair ranging from shades of brown to black to red. Their eye colors often are varying tones of brown, green and blue. Most notably City Elves’ ears, while still the elven trademark, are notably less pronounced than their brethren.
Ability Score +1 Int
Agile Scaler
You gain a climb speed equal to 30 feet.
Mask or the Urban
You can attempt to hide even when you are only lightly obscured by crowds, smoke, structures, and other urban features.
Streetwise
You gain proficiency with one of the following skills of your choice: Deception,
Intimidation, Persuasion, Sleight Of Hand, And Stealth.
Ash Elf
Ash-grey skin, red eyes, coarse voices, and the occasional ritual scarring are the hallmarks of this elusive elven subrace. These elves live in the wake of great volcanoes, revering their ancestors and often worshiping taboo gods and entities. With a honed survival instinct, a natural inclination toward magic and battle, and a proud veneration for tradition, ash elves are known for carving out a prideful existence in the harshest of places, from ashen wastes to humid swamps.
Ability Score +1 Con
Volcanic Heritage
Accustomed to the volcanic heat of your ancestral homeland, you have resistance to fire damage.
Ancestor Guardians
You can call upon the spirits of your ancestors to protect you in your time of need. As a reaction when a creature you can see within 30 feet of you targets you with an attack or harmful spell, you can cast sanctuary on yourself. The creature must immediately make a saving throw against the spell. When you cast the spell in this way, you don't require components. Your spellcasting ability for this spell is Wisdom. Once you use this trait, you must finish a long rest before you can use it again.
Mist Elf
Ait'Kel'Sidherin, also known as mist elves, or sometimes death elves, are a pale-skinned, black-eyed subrace of elves that predominantly live in
The Valley of Mist. Once famed for their beauty and magical prowess their entire civilization was cursed when a Titan attacked so that their appearance matched the wickedness and hatred for others that they hold within their heart. Now they live for ways to regain their former beauty. Now living in tribes the Mist Elves roam through the valley. The unfortunate few who stumble across a Mist Elf tribe are slaughtered mercilessly and their souls are harvested to power experiments to undo their curse. Although among them there are still non-evil or even good Sidherin who are ashamed of acts of their kind. These outsiders do everything to fix the reputation of their race and get rid of the Titan that plagues them.
Ability Score +1 Cha
Sidherin Weapon Training
You have proficiency with flails, maces, and hand crossbows
Soul Healing
Constant experimentation and consumption of souls have altered the Mist Elves. Whenever you are subjected to necrotic damage, you take no damage and instead regains a number of hit points equal to the one-third necrotic damage dealt.
Radiant Vulnerability
You have vulnerability to radiant damage.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and Elvish
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