Elf

Elves have a similar range of complexions to humans, with wood elves typically coppery or pale-skinned and wild elves having darker pigmentation. The spectrum varies from shades of copper, bronze, to almost bluish-white. Elven hair is dark, either brown or black, with copper red or blond hair also found amongst wood elves, although orange or even green and blue hues are not completely unheard of. Elven eyes are commonly brown, hazel, or emerald green, while gold and silver can also be found in rarer abundance. Elves, like their cousins the eladrin, are fair and beautiful, handsome, and have pointed ears and no body hair except eyebrows, eyelashes, and hair. Elves mature at roughly the same rate as humans, though they are not usually considered past adolescence until they reach 110 years of age.

Basic Traits

Subrace Traits

High Elf

Born with mastery of basic magic, high elves are responsible for most of the stereotypical image of being haughty and aloof. In Faerûn, high elves include two further divided lineages, the Sun Elves and the Moon Elves. Moon elves are mostly the kind of high elves you encounter across the continent due to the Retreat to Evermeet for sun elves. However, it is not to say it is completely impossible to find one. The sun elves of Faerûn (also called gold elves or sunrise elves) have bronze skin and hair of copper, black, or golden blond. 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-white, black, or blue, but various shades of blond, brown, and red are not uncommon. Their eyes are blue or green and flecked with gold.

Wood Elf

Wood elves (also called wild elves, green elves, or forest elves) make up most of the elven population in Faerûn. Reclusive and distrusting in non-elves, they see themselves as the guardians of past elven forest kingdom territories. These sentries of the verdant islands have skin that 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. Wood elves tended to dress in simple clothes, similar to those of the moon elves but with fewer bold colors and a greater number of earth tones that blended into their natural surroundings. Accustomed to a harsh, naturalistic lifestyle, wood elves love to wear leather armor, even when they were not under immediate threat.

Sea Elf

Sea elves fell in love with the wild beauty of the ocean in the earliest days of the multiverse. While other elves travelled from realm to realm, the sea elves navigated the deepest currents and explored the waters across a hundred worlds. Today, they live in small, hidden communities in the ocean shallows and on the Elemental Plane of Water. Although they are of the same subrace, sea elves from the Great Sea have a different appearance to those from the Sea of Fallen Stars. The former has deep green skin, mottled and striped with brown. The latter has blue skin with white stripes and patches. Some other aquatic elves have pale silver-green skin. Both groups are robust and tall with long limbs. Their thick skin give them protection from the cold of deep water, keeping them comfortable at just above freezing temperatures. Their fingers and toes are generally about twice as long as a human's and had thick webbing between them. Their most distinctive feature is the gills visible in their necks and over their ribs. Sea elves can have eye colors including turquoise, white, black, blue, green, and rarely silver. Their hair is usually thick and somewhat stringy, and some aquatic elves have a rough hair texture. It can be blue-green, emerald green, blue, black, silver, or even occasionally red.

Eladrin

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 transforms, 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 can 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.

Shadar-kai

Shadar-kai also known as shadow fey, is a race of shadow-like fey connected to the Shadowfell. Rriginally drawn to that dread realm by the Raven Queen, some of them remain in her service and venture into the Material Plane from the Shadowfell to advance her will, while others do so to forge their own destinies.Once they are fey-like the rest of their elven kin, and now they exist in a strange state between life and death, forever transformed by the grim energy from the Shadowfell. Eladrin and shadar-kai are like reflections of each other: one bursting with emotion, the other nearly devoid of it. They have dusky gray skin and colorless complexions that varied from alabaster to dark gray; black hair, with few shadar-kai having pale hair, that range within human hair colors; and dark eyes lacking any sclera or clear pupil. Shadows on their bodies or clothing always seem to be deeper and darker than shadows elsewhere, and shadows seem to follow them and reach out, especially when they are angry. They are easily lost from view. Many shadar-kai display all kinds of iron body piercings in the nose, ears, eyebrows, shoulders, and other parts of the body, and purple-inked tattoos on the body, limbs, and face.

Despite having a somewhat youthful appearance while in the Prime Material plane, being in the Shadowfell reveal the shadar-kai's cursed state. They appear visibly aged and withered, with swollen joints that give them an overall corpse-like aspect. For that reason, many shadar-kai wear masks to conceal their decrepit state while in the Shadowfell.

Drow

Descended from an earlier subrace of elves, the drow were banished from the surface world for following the goddess Lolth down the path of evil. 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 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. They were hated and feared due to their cruelty, though some non-evil and an even smaller
number of good drow existed.

Elves are typically omnivorous but tend to eat very little meat. This is not so much out of a concern for the animal as an effort to make as little of an impact on the natural world as possible, with elves believing that the consumption of vegetation has a slighter effect on natural harmony. Additionally, this partially comes from many elven cultures' traditions of nomadic life, which require food to be easily preservable.

Tel’Quessir have an affinity for freedom more than anything else, preferring the way of unrestricted liberty to the restraints of civilized law and order. Liberty, both of one's self and of others, tends to be the greatest virtue in elven cultures. Because of this, elven governments tend to be very loosely organized, with small groups of elves accepting the legitimacy of a respected noble, who in turn acknowledges the authority of a monarchical king. Though elven empires have been built in the past, few exist nowadays. Instead, most elves prefer to live in natural harmony with nature. Prior to the Spellplague many moon, sun, and wood elven rulers paid their respects to the Elven Court, presided over by Queen Amlaruil in Evermeet.

Elves are usually found in small tribes throughout the forests of Faerûn, as well as on windswept plains and in mountain vales. Elves hunt game, gather food, and grow vegetables, and their skill and magic allow them to support themselves without the need for clearing and plowing land. They are talented artisans, crafting finely worked clothes and art objects. Their contact with outsiders is usually limited, though a few elves make a good living by trading crafted items for metals (which they have no interest in mining). The elves, as a whole, prefer these secluded places of nature to the cities and nations of the civilized world, living in harmony with their natural surroundings.

Famous Elven Settlements

• Evermeet (Mostly sun elves & sea elves)
• Silverymoon
• Evereska (Moon elves only)
• Elven Court 
• High Forest (Mostly wood elves)
• Trackless Sea & Sea of Fallen Stars (Sea elves)
• Moonshae Isles
• Menzoberranzan (Drow only)

Elves are considered children until they declare themselves adults, some time after the hundredth birthday, and before this period they are called by child names.

On declaring adulthood, an elf selects an adult name, although those who know them as a youngster might continue to use the child name. Each elf’s adult name is a unique creation, though it might reflect the names of respected individuals or other family members. Little distinction exists between male names and female names; the groupings here reflect only general tendencies. In addition, every elf bears a family name, typically a combination of other Elvish words. Some elves traveling among humans translate their family names into Common, but others retain the Elvish version.

Child Names: Ara, Bryn, Del, Eryn, Faen, Innil, Lael, Mella, Naill, Naeris, Phann, Rael, Rinn, Sai, Syllin, Thia, Vall
Male Adult Names: Adran, Aelar, Aramil, Arannis, Aust, Beiro, Berrian, Carric, Enialis, Erdan, Erevan, Galinndan, Hadarai, Heian, Himo, Immeral, Ivellios, Laucian, Mindartis, Paelias, Peren, Quarion, Riardon, Rolen, Soveliss, Thamior, Tharivol, Theren, Varis
Female Adult Names: Adrie, Althaea, Anastrianna, Andraste, Antinua, Bethrynna, Birel, Caelynn, Drusilia, Enna, Felosial, Ielenia, Jelenneth, Keyleth, Leshanna, Lia, Meriele, Mialee, Naivara, Quelenna, Quillathe, Sariel, Shanairra, Shava, Silaqui, Theirastra, Thia, Vadania, Valanthe, Xanaphia
Family Names (Common Translations): Amakiir (Gemflower), Amastacia (Starflower), Galanodel (Moonwhisper), Holimion (Diamonddew), Ilphelkiir (Gemblossom), Liadon (Silverfrond), Meliamne (Oakenheel), Naïlo (Nightbreeze), Siannodel (Moonbrook), Xiloscient (Goldpetal)

The Elven language used across Faerûn — commonly called Elvish, sometimes called the True Tongue by elves — is written in the graceful script of the Espruar alphabet. Seldruin, the ancient language of elven High Magic that uses the Hamarfae alphabet, is all but forgotten nowadays.

Elves commonly possess strong but swiftly passing passions, being moved easily to laughter, anger, or misery and as quickly calmed. They are known for their impulsive behavior and, as a result, many races see them as flighty or impetuous. However, elves are not as flaky as others might interpret them to be, and they are typically responsible despite their almost whimsical nature. Partially due to their long lifespan, elves have difficulty taking some matters as seriously as other races, but when threats they recognize dr arise, elves are strong friends and allies to those they are loyal to.

Elves tend to make strong and uplifting friends. Most elves love simple joys such as dancing, singing, footraces, or contests of skill. They have a natural aversion to that which they see as uninteresting tasks and are fun-loving by nature. However, despite how unpleasant some things such as war could be, elves become grimly serious if a threat to their friends, family, or livelihood made such actions necessary.

Almost all elves worshiped the gods of the Seldarine, the elven pantheon.

Skilled in both magic and warfare, the Tel’Quessir — “the People,” as they call themselves — came to Faerûn ages ago, building vast and powerful empires long before the rise of humans. The days of the great elven nations are now long past, and many elves have withdrawn from the world into isolated sylvan realms, or set sail across the Trackless Sea to the isle of Evermeet.

Unlike dwarves, who developed subraces in the world, elves brought their divisions with them, settling into separate kingdoms by type. Beings of immense power, the first elves explored and settled the world, bringing about a golden age of art, magic, and civilization. At the height of their power, the elves performed a High Magic ritual intended to create the ideal homeland. They succeeded, but the spell sundered the land in a terrible cataclysm at the same time that it caused the distant isle of Evermeet to rise from beneath the sea.

Then came the Crown Wars, a series of conflicts between the great elven kingdoms lasting three thousand years. These battles devastated much of the world and resulted in the dark elves’ flight into the Underdark.

Reeling from these calamities, the elven empires went into a long, slow decline, and many of their kind took part in the great Retreat to their refuge on Evermeet. As the elves increasingly withdrew from the world, other races and civilizations rose to prominence in Faerûn.