Elves
Elves mingle freely in human lands, always welcome yet never at home there. They are well known for their poetry, dance, song, lore, and magical arts. Elves favor things of natural and simple beauty. When danger threatens their woodland homes, however, elves reveal a more martial side, demonstrating skill with sword, bow, and battle strategy.
Personality: Elves are more often amused than excited, and more likely to be curious than greedy. With such a long life span, they tend to keep a broad perspective on events, remaining aloof and unfazed by petty happenstance. When pursuing a goal, however, whether an adventurous mission or learning a new skill or art, they 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.
Physical Description: Elves possess unearthly grace and fine features. Many humans and members of other races find them hauntingly beautiful.
Elves do not sleep, as members of the other common races do. Instead, an elf meditates in a deep trance for 4 hours a day. An elf resting in this fashion gains the same benefit that a human does from 8 hours of sleep. While meditating, an elf dreams, though these dreams are actually mental exercises that have become reflexive through years of practice. The Common word for an elf’s meditation is “trance,” as in “four hours of trance.”
Alignment: Since elves love freedom, variety, and self-expression. They lean strongly toward the gentler aspects of chaos. Generally, they value and protect others’ freedom as well as their own, and they are more often good than not.
Elven Lands: Most elves live in woodland clans numbering less than two hundred souls. Their well-hidden villages blend into the trees, doing little harm to the forest. They hunt game, gather food, and grow vegetables, and their skill and magic allowing them to support themselves amply without the need for clearing and plowing land. Their contact with outsiders is usually limited, though some few elves make a good living trading finely worked elven clothes and crafts for the metals that elves have no interest in mining.
Elves encountered in human lands are commonly wandering minstrels, favored artists, or sages. Human nobles compete for the services of elf instructors, who teach swordplay to their children.
Religion: Above all others, elves worship Corellon Larethian, the
Protector and Preserver of life. Elven myth holds that it was from his blood, shed in battles with Gruumsh, the god of the orcs, that the elves first arose. Corellon is a patron of magical study, arts, dance, and poetry, as well as a powerful warrior god.
Language: Elves speak a fluid language of subtle intonations and intricate grammar. While Elven literature is rich and varied, it is the language’s songs and poems that are most famous. Many bards learn Elven so they can add Elven ballads to their repertoires. Others simply memorize Elven songs by sound. The Elven script, as flowing as the spoken word, also serves as the script for Sylvan, the language of dryads and pixies, for Aquan, the language of water-based creatures, and for Undercommon, the language of the drow and other subterranean creatures.
Adventurers: Elves take up adventuring out of wanderlust. Life among humans moves at a pace that elves dislike: regimented from day to day but changing from decade to decade. Elves among humans, therefore, find careers that allow them to wander freely and set their own pace. Elves also enjoy demonstrating their prowess with the sword and bow or gaining greater magical powers, and adventuring allows them to do so. Good elves may also be rebels or crusaders.
Basic Information
Anatomy
Elves are humanoid with two arms, two legs and one head.
Additional Information
Facial characteristics
Elves have no facial or body hair.
Sylvar tend to be dark-haired, with deep green eyes, although light hair is not too rare.
Woodan typically have brown hair and eyes, but other nature-based colors are not uncommon. Rare, but not unheard of, is for Woodsn to have blond hair.
Average Intelligence
Elves are Mentally on par with Humans (META: Int, Wis, Cha 10-11)
Civilization and Culture
Naming Traditions
When an elf declares herself an adult, usually some time after her hundredth birthday, she also selects a name. Those who knew her as a youngster may or may not continue to call her by her “child name,” and she may or may not care. An elf’s adult name is a unique creation, though it may reflect the names of those she admires or the names of others in her family. In addition, she bears her family name. Family names are combinations of regular Elven words; and some elves traveling among humans translate their names into Common while others use the Elven version.
Male Names: Aramil, Aust, Enialis, Heian, Himo, Ivellios, Lau-cian, Quarion, Soverliss, Thamior, Tharivol.
Female Names: Anastrianna, Antinua, Drusilia, Felosial, Ielenia, Lia, Mialee, Qillathe, Silaqui, Vadania, Valanthe, Xanaphia.
Family Names (Common Translations): Amastacia (Starflower), Amakiir (Gemflower), Galanodel (Moonwhisper), Holimion (Diamonddew), Liadon (Silverfrond), Meliamne (Oakenheel), Naïlo (Nightbreeze), Siannodel (Moonbrook), Ilphukiir (Gemblossom), Xiloscient (Goldpetal).
Sylvan Elves have their names under the following convention: GivenName FathersFamilyName
High Elves follow the following convention: GivenName FathersGivenName GrandfathersGivenName GreatGrandfathersGivenName etc.
Gray Elves use this convention: GivenName Title (Gray Elves with no title are only known by their Given Name only)
Wild Elves have only their Given Name, but typically identify by their clan (village) name to outsiders.
Wood Elves have the Sylvan naming convention, but like the Wildar they typically identify by their clan (village) name to outsiders.
Aquatic Elves follow the Sylvan naming convention.
Drow Follow this convention: GivenName MothersFamilyName
Fey Elves typically name their children after nature gods and follow this convention: GivenName son/daughter of SameSexParentsName
Common Dress Code
Elves prefer simple, comfortable clothes, especially in pastel blues and greens, and they enjoy simple yet elegant jewelry.
Interspecies Relations and Assumptions
Relations: Elves consider humans rather unrefined, halflings a bit staid, gnomes somewhat trivial, and dwarves not at all fun. They look on half-elves with some degree of pity, and they regard half- orcs with unrelenting suspicion. While haughty, elves are not particular the way halflings and dwarves can be, and they are generally pleasant and gracious even to those who fall short of elven standards (a category that encompasses just about everybody who’s not an elf).
Physically, elves are about as strong as Humans (META: Str 10-11), but they are much more dexterous (META: Dex 12-13), but weaker (META: Con 8-9).
Sylvan typically have pale skin.
Wooden have darker skin than Sylvar, but not as dark as Wildar.
BASE ELVEN (SYLVAR) RACIAL TRAITS
- +2 Dexterity, –2 Constitution: Elves are graceful but frail. An elf’s grace makes her naturally better at stealth and archery.
- Medium: As Medium creatures, elves have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
- Elf base land speed is 30 feet.
- Immunity to magic sleep effects, and a +2 racial saving throw bonus against enchantment spells or effects.
- Low-light Vision: An elf can see twice as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions of poor illumination. She retains the ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions.
- Weapon Proficiency: Elves receive the Martial Weapon Proficiency feats for the longsword, rapier, longbow (including composite longbow), and shortbow (including composite shortbow) as bonus feats. Elves esteem the arts of swordplay and archery, so all elves are familiar with these weapons.
- +2 racial bonus on Listen, Search, and Spot checks. An elf who merely passes within 5 feet of a secret or concealed door is entitled to a Search check to notice it as if she were actively looking for it. An elf’s senses are so keen that she practically has a sixth sense about hidden portals.
- Automatic Languages: Common and Elven. Bonus Languages: Draconic, Gnoll, Gnome, Goblin, Orc, and Sylvan. Elves com- monly know the languages of their enemies and of their friends, as well as Draconic, the language commonly found in ancient tomes of secret knowledge.
- Favored Class: Wizard. A multiclass elf’s wizard class does not count when determining whether she takes an experience point penalty for multiclassing (see XP for Multiclass Characters, page 60). Wizardry comes naturally to elves—indeed, they sometimes claim to have invented it, and fighter/wizards are especially common among them.
DROW RACIAL TRAITS
As base Elven Traits, except:
- +2 Int, Cha instead soft +2 Dex for female drow. Male drowsy retain the +2 Dex, and do not receive the +2 Int, Cha.
- Darkvision 60 ft. Instead of Low-Light Vision
- Weapon Proficiency in Crossbows, Short sword and Rapier instead of Bows, Longsword, and Rapier.
- Drow with 10+ HD gain SR equal to 2 + HD.
- Drow with an Intelligence of 10+ can use the following spell-like abilities 1/day as a wizard. If they have a Charisma of 10+, they use them as a cleric, and can even in the absence of a high intelligence score: dancing lights, darkness, faerie fire. Caster level equals the drow’s class level.
- Light Blindness: Abrupt exposure to bright light (such as sunlight or a daylight spell) blinds drow for 1 round. On subsequent rounds, they are dazzled as long as they remain in the affected area.
- Automatic Languages: Common, Undercommon. Bonus Languages: Abyssal, Aquan, Elven, Draconic, Drow Sign Language, Gnome, Goblin.
WOODAN RACIAL TRAITS
As basic Elven traits, except:
- +3 to Listen, Search, Spot instead of +2.
- No proficiency in Swords
- Favored Class: Ranger
WILDAR RACIAL TRAITS
As basic Elven traits, except:
- +2 Str instead of +2 Dex
- Weapon Proficiency in Longsword and spears (longspears, shortspears, javelin, etc.) instead of rapier and bows.
- +4 racial bonus to Listen, Search, and Spot instead of +2
- Favored Class: Barbarian
AQUALI RACIAL TRAITS
FEYLIC RACIAL TRAITS
ALTI RACIAL TRAITS
As basic Elven traits, except:
- +2 Int in addition to basic traits.
- Base speed 35 (High Elves have long legs)
- Immune to all Enchantment Effects
- No Proficiency in swords.
- Automatic Languages: Elven, Sylvan, Common, Draconic.
- Spell-Like Abilities: 1/day—speak with animals (duration 1 minute). A gnome with an Intelligent score of at least 10 also can cast any 0-level Wizard spells once per day as a spell-like ability (unless it is apart of a school forbidden to to the High Elf.)
GREYVAR RACIAL TRAITS
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