Elf
Dnd Elf Race
Elves are an elegant, yet often rather snobbish race. Many elves are firmly convinced that they stand above other races, a belief they carry with pride even when their grand plans fail spectacularly. They generally look down on peoples such as dwarves and orcs, whom they consider uncivilized and “beneath them.” Friendship with an elf? You only earn that if you are wealthy, powerful, or of royal blood.
Appearance
Most elves live in luxury and make that abundantly clear. They wear refined, immaculate clothing, often with a touch of arrogance. Think of French nobility or English aristocracy without the wigs.
Physically, elves resemble humans but tend to be paler and are easily recognizable by their long, pointed ears. They almost always appear flawlessly groomed, as though they spend three hours in front of the mirror each morning.
Female elves are known to be friendlier than their male counterparts, and many consider elven women to be among the most beautiful beings in the entire D&D world.
Subraces & Their Sacred Trees
Every elven subrace is bound to a sacred tree, unique living beings that embody the soul, heritage, and magic of their people. These subrace trees are not ordinary plants. Each one can empower elven spellcasting, create protective wards, and even heal elves who are gravely ill or near death. Elves deeply believe in the spiritual power of their trees and worship them as divine beings.
Dark Elves – The Drak Tree
A shadow-infused, pulsating tree that strengthens the dark and arcane energies of the Drow.High Elves – The High Tree
A majestic, radiant tree that emanates pure arcane brilliance.Wood Elves – The Elden Tree
An ancient forest giant whose magic is deeply connected to nature and the wilds.Pallid Elves – The Pallid Tree
A pale, moonlit tree whose whispers carry spiritual and ethereal power.
Among all these sacred trees, one stands above the rest and holds the highest place in elven culture.
The Tree of Life
The Tree of Life is the most sacred and powerful tree in existence. It is the beating heart of the elven realm Varné, the wealthiest and grandest of all nations. Its roots hold ancient secrets, and its magic blankets the entire kingdom.
Elves worship the Tree of Life above all, believing it to be the source of their lineage, longevity, and magical superiority.
The True Leader of Varné
Officially, Varné is ruled by King Safdraen, a charismatic and seemingly beloved monarch.
However, this is only a façade.
Hidden deep beneath the Tree of Life dwells the true ruler:
Queen Lolth, half-elf, half-spider.
A terrifying creature with eight legs and an icy smile.
No one in the kingdom knows that she silently commands the realm except for Safdraen. He guards that secret with his life;
Stats
- 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 towards the gentler aspects of chaos. They value and protect others’ freedom as well as their own, and are good more often than not. 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.
- Fey Ancestry. You have advantage on saving throws against being charmed, and magic can’t put you to sleep.
- Trance. Elves do not sleep. Instead they meditate deeply, remaining semi-conscious, for 4 hours a day. The Common word for this meditation is “trance.” While meditating, you dream after a fashion; such dreams are actually mental exercises that have become reflexive after years of practice. After resting in this way, you gain the same benefit a human would from 8 hours of sleep.
- Keen Senses. You have proficiency in the Perception skill.
- Languages: Your character can speak, read, and write. Common, Elven and one other language that you want.
Dark Elf
Descended from an earlier subrace of dark-skinned elves, the drow were banished from the surface world for following the goddess Lolth down the path to evil and corruption. Now they have built their own civilization in the depths of the Underdark, patterned after the Way of Lolth. Also called dark elves. The drow have black skin that resembles polished obsidian and 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 lend to be smaller and thinner than most elves.
Drow adventurers are rare, and the race does not exist in all worlds. Check with your Dungeon Master to see if you can play a drow character.
- Ability Score Increase. Your Charisma score increases by 1.
- 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.
- 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 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.
High Elf
As a high elf, you have a keen mind and a mastery of at least the basics of magic. In many of the worlds of D&D, there are two kinds of high elves. One type (which includes the gray elves and valley elves of Greyhawk, the Silvanesti of Dragonlance, and the sun elves of the Forgotten Realms) is haughty and reclusive, believing themselves to be superior to non-elves and even other elves. The other type (including the high elves of Greyhawk. the Qualinesti of Dragonlance, and the moon elves of the Forgotten Realms) are more common and more friendly, and often encountered among humans and other races.
The sun elves of Faerun (also called gold elves or sunrise elves) have bronze skin and hair of copper, black, or golden blood. Their eyes are golden, silver, or black. Moon elves (also called silver elves or gray elves) are much paler, with alabaster skin sometimes tinged with blue. They often have hair of silver-while, black, or blue, but various shades of blond, brown, and red are not uncommon. Their eyes are blue or green and flecked with gold.
- Ability Score Increase. Your Intelligence score increases by 1.
- Cantrip. You know one cantrip of your choice from the Wizard spell list. Intelligence is your spellcasting ability for it.
- Elf Weapon Training. You have proficiency with the longsword, shortsword, shortbow, and longbow.
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. This category includes the wild elves (grugach) of Greyhawk and the Kagonesti of Dragonlance, as well as the races called wood elves in Greyhawk and the Forgotten Realms. In Faerun, wood elves (also called wild elves. green elves, or forest elves) are reclusive and distrusting of non-elves.
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 Increase. Your Wisdom score increases by 1.
- 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.
Pallid Elf
The pallid elves are a mystical and insightful people with skin as pale as the moon. They emerged from the Pallid Grove this century and wander the world with childlike curiosity.
- Ability Score Increase. Your Wisdom score increases by 1.
- Incisive Sense. You have advantage on Investigation and Insight checks.
- Blessing of the Moonweaver. You know the Light cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast Sleep once, and it recharges after a long rest. When you reach 5th level, you can cast Invisibility (Self Only) once, and it recharges after a long rest. You do not need the material components required of the spells. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
