# Race: Elf > [!info] Quick Facts > | | | > |---|---| > | **Rarity** | Common | > | **Perception in Gryth** | Positive, mixed with resentment. High Vel’Nora’s seclusion and superiority are widely felt. | > | **Subraces** | [[#High Elves (Sun)\|High Elves (Sun)]], [[#High Elves (Moon)\|High Elves (Moon)]], [[#Wood Elves\|Wood Elves]], [[#Drow\|Drow]], [[#Sea Elves\|Sea Elves]], [[#Snow Elves (Extinct)\|Snow Elves (Extinct)]], [[#Grey Elves\|Grey Elves]], [[#Shadar-Kai\|Shadar-Kai]], [[#Dread Elves (The Faithless, The Forgotten Ones)\|Dread Elves (The Faithless, The Forgotten Ones)]], [[#Eller’Kirn (Celestial Elves)\|Eller’Kirn (Celestial Elves)]] | > | **Guide Section** | Common Races | ## Overview [[Region - High Vel'Nora|High Vel’Nora]] sits at the exact centre of Gryth, and every elf alive traces back to it. It is called the Seventh Continent, the First Island, and in the elder myths the place where the gods first set foot upon the world. The island is held in perpetual summer, ringed by wards in the surrounding ocean that deter an approaching fleet and then destroy it, and entry is a matter of blood rather than permission. A full-blooded elf may land. Anyone else, in almost every case, may not. ## Odar’Sha and the City in Her Roots At the heart of the island stands Odar’Sha, the Great World Tree, mother to every tree on the material plane and progenitor of the Lesser World Trees that anchor the wood elf realms abroad. She stands miles high, with a canopy of millions of branches, and because the island never leaves summer she never sheds a leaf. Within the embrace of her roots lies Melohiin, the capital: silver spires and living wood woven together so completely that it is difficult to say where the city ends and the tree begins. ## The Tiers Elven society on the island is ordered by a hierarchy that has scarcely shifted in living memory, and which the High Elves consider a description of reality rather than a policy. The Sun and Moon families sit at the top and hold effectively every seat of power. Beneath them are the Lesser-Elves, full-blooded and true but held to be smaller in stature and spirit, a tier that takes in the eladrin, wood elves, sea elves and the snow elves before they were lost. Below those are the Quenib, the lineages that diverged long ago and scattered from the island, across Gryth and beyond it. At the bottom are the Desecrated Bloodlines, the drow and the Shadar-Kai, who keep their blood-right of access and are otherwise confined to dark tunnels and mountain passes that the rest of the island does not visit. The dread elves sit outside the hierarchy altogether. They were stripped of the blood-right and are no longer counted as elves at all.. Each race maintains a court on the island, an Akhiilor, which serves as the centre of its influence in the world whether or not its people actually live there. The Sun elves hold Akhiilor Zanir in the red-leaved Glade of Day, the Moon elves Akhiilor Milith in the dark Glade of Night, the wood elves Akhiilor Telcor in the Glade of Dusk, and so on down through the deep courts of the sea elves and the lightless tunnel courts of the drow. The Shadar-Kai court has stood empty for centuries and nobody will say why. The snow elf court was destroyed two thousand years ago when they relinquished their blood-right entirely. ## Loth’Torin and the Half-Fallen Those without full elven blood get no further than the southern shore. Loth’Torin, the Outer Port, is where they are permitted to land, trade and leave, and the great walls beyond it are where their journey ends. Half-elves have been treated as an abomination by the Great Five Sun Elf Dynasties for as long as there have been half-elves, and outside the city walls they have raised an unofficial court of their own, the Courts of the Others, where they work at reclaiming a blood-right the island has no intention of granting. Trade is equally narrow. One permanent agreement exists, with the port of Starpoint in the [[Region - The Pannar States|Pannar States]], and it has lasted four centuries, which the elves regard as a trial period. Weapons, armour, artefacts and building materials are forbidden. Food, small tools, simple crafts and pottery are permitted. ## The Eldari and What Followed The elves were not always secluded. In the age of the Ascension the Eldari dynasty of Sun Elves claimed the whole of [[Continent - Edaria|Edaria]] as their dominion, granted to them by Milith and Elvarion, and ruled it through campaigns of subjugation and extermination that humans bore the worst of. The Eldari drove the mines of [[Landmark - Arag'Mar (Gold Peak)|Arag’Mar]] on dwarven slaves and held a third of the land on Gryth at their height. Then came the Sunrise Wars, the overthrow of the Eldari bloodline, and a wave of anti-elven feeling that spread far beyond Edaria and has never entirely receded. Elves left the continents in enormous numbers during that age and went home. That retreat is why there are so few of them abroad now, and it has had a quieter effect that is only recently beginning to show. A population that withdrew into its own island and spent an age talking only to itself has grown very sure of itself indeed. In the silver spires the noble bloodlines now speak openly of restored power and ancient glory, and elves across the world whisper of lost lineages resurfacing. Whether that resurgence saves the world or subjugates it is not yet apparent. ## Not Every Elf Lives There Some lineages were driven out, some wandered, some were never of this world at all. The eladrin keep their seat in the Feywild and the Shadar-Kai theirs in the Shadowfell. The wood elves hold four sovereign forest kingdoms across four continents. The drow keep dark kingdoms beneath other people’s countries. The Vel’Noran houses recognise all of them to varying degrees, and one lineage not at all. ## Elf Traits **Ability Score Increase.** Your Dexterity score increases by 2. **Age.** Elves mature slowly, reaching physical maturity at around the age of 50, and typically claim adulthood around the age of 100. Elves do not age past their prime and cannot die of old age. They can still die of illness, though elven illnesses are exceedingly rare. **Creature Type.** You are a Humanoid. **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 cannot discern colour in darkness, only shades of grey. **Keen Senses.** You have proficiency in the Perception skill. **Fey Ancestry.** You have advantage on saving throws against being charmed, and magic cannot put you to sleep. **Trance.** Elves do not sleep. Instead they meditate deeply, remaining semi-conscious, for 4 hours a day. After resting in this way, you gain the same benefit that a human does from 8 hours of sleep. **Languages.** You can speak, read, and write Common and Elvish. ## Subraces ### High Elves (Sun) Sun elves sit at the head of the Vel’Noran hierarchy. They are orators and administrators, generals and authorities, and they have held that position long enough to consider it the natural order. **Rarity:** Uncommon **Perception in Gryth.** Positive within High Vel’Nora, where they sit at the head of the hierarchy. Outside it, they carry the resentment the elves have earned as a whole. #### High Elf (Sun) Traits **Ability Score Increase.** Your Intelligence score increases by 1. **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. **Blessing of Sunfire.** You are a natural politician and commander. You gain proficiency in either the Persuasion or the Intimidation skill. Additionally, when you make a Charisma check to address a crowd, negotiate, or issue commands, you can roll a d4 and add the number rolled to the check. You can use this a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest. ### High Elves (Moon) Moon elves are dancers, players, and spiritualists. They keep to the upper canopy and the quieter reaches of High Vel’Nora, and take little interest in the governance their sun elf kin find so absorbing. **Rarity:** Uncommon **Perception in Gryth.** Positive, and less resented than their sun elf kin, largely because they take less interest in governing anyone. #### High Elf (Moon) Traits **Ability Score Increase.** Your Intelligence score increases by 1. **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. **Moonlight Spirit.** You are a natural entertainer and a soothing presence. You gain proficiency in either the Performance or the Acrobatics skill. Furthermore, whenever you or any friendly creature who can hear your song or dance completes a short rest, that creature regains an additional 1d6 hit points. ### Wood Elves Wood elves share High Vel’Nora with their high elf cousins, keeping to the forest floor and the deep canopy rather than the halls. They are quiet, quick, and wholly at home in the undergrowth. Most live abroad, in the four sovereign forest kingdoms of the Syndani Forest, Emberleaf, the Singing Forest and Wild Fen, and in Wyldwud, on Isle Forna and in Githwin. **Rarity:** Common **Perception in Gryth.** Positive. As elves generally, and the lineage most often actually met. #### Wood Elf Traits **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. ### Drow The drow have mastered the dark across generations, and carry an innate magic that no other elven lineage possesses. Sunlight remains their enemy. **Rarity:** Uncommon **Perception in Gryth.** Negative. Whatever standing the elves hold as a whole, it does not extend to the drow, who are met with suspicion in High Vel’Nora and with worse beyond it. #### Drow Traits **Ability Score Increase.** Your Charisma score increases by 1. **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. ### Sea Elves High Vel’Nora is an island, and the waters around it are held by the sea elves. They are the subcontinent’s outermost guard, and think of the deep shelf as their territory as surely as any house thinks of its hall. **Rarity:** Rare **Perception in Gryth.** Positive. As elves generally on land. At sea they are treated as the authority they consider themselves to be. #### Sea Elf Traits **Ability Score Increase.** Your Constitution score increases by 1. **Sea Elf Training.** You have proficiency with the spear, trident, light crossbow, and net. **Child of the Sea.** You have a swimming speed of 30 feet, and you can breathe air and water. **Friend of the Sea.** Using gestures and sounds, you can communicate simple ideas with any beast that has an innate swimming speed. **Extra Language.** You can speak, read, and write Aquan. ### Snow Elves (Extinct) A hardened offshoot of the wood elves, the snow elves took to the highest peaks and thinnest air and made a life there. The lineage is gone. What follows is recorded for completeness, and for any game in which a snow elf survives where the histories say none do. **Rarity:** Extinct **Perception in Gryth.** No living population. A surviving snow elf would be a historical event before they were a person. #### Snow Elf Traits **Ability Score Increase.** Your Wisdom score increases by 1. **Age.** Your people relinquished the blood-right of High Vel’Nora, and its immortality went with it. You live to around 250 years at most. This replaces the Elf Age trait. **Elf Weapon Training.** You have proficiency with the longsword, shortsword, shortbow, and longbow. **Glacial Stride.** Your base walking speed increases to 35 feet. Furthermore, moving through non-magical difficult terrain created by ice or snow costs you no extra movement. **Frostborne.** You have resistance to cold damage. Additionally, you are naturally acclimatised to extreme cold and to high altitudes, including elevations above 20,000 feet. ### Shadar-Kai The shadar-kai are tied to the shadowy, mournful echoes of the world. They are a sombre people, and death sits nearer to them than it does to other elves. **Rarity:** Very rare **Perception in Gryth.** Negative. People sense something deathly about them without being able to say what. #### Shadar-Kai Traits **Ability Score Increase.** Your Constitution score increases by 1. **Necrotic Resistance.** You have resistance to necrotic damage. **Blessing of the Raven Queen.** 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 cannot do so again until you finish a long rest. Starting at 3rd level, you also gain resistance to all damage when you teleport using this trait. The resistance lasts until the start of your next turn, during which time you appear ghostly and translucent. ### Grey Elves Once wood elves, the grey elves left High Vel’Nora long ago and are counted among the Quenib, the scattered lineages. Their colonies in the valleys of [[Continent - Ganath|Ganath]] are isolated and fiercely guarded, and there they have been reshaped by the Aratian Point, an alien metal pyramid that emits a magic no scholar has successfully named. **Rarity:** Very rare **Perception in Gryth.** Neutral. Almost unknown. Their colonies in Ganath are fiercely guarded and rarely visited twice. #### Grey Elf Traits **Ability Score Increase.** Your Wisdom score increases by 1. **Pupilless Sight.** Your darkvision has a radius of 120 feet. **Resonance of the Point.** You know the *guidance* cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the *detect thoughts* spell once with this trait. When you reach 5th level, you can cast the *locate object* spell once with this trait. You regain the ability to cast these spells when you finish a long rest. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for them. **Aratian Aegis.** You are shielded against divination magic. You cannot be targeted by scrying sensors, and you have advantage on saving throws against effects that would read your thoughts. ### Dread Elves (The Faithless, The Forgotten Ones) The dread elves inhabit the caves around [[Region - Pymandi|Pymandi]] and drink from the dark magic that pools beneath them. They are shorter and stockier than other elves, with sharp, rigid, bestial features. High Vel’Nora has stripped them of the blood-right and no longer counts them as elves at all, and the judgement was not merely a matter of words; the wards of the island will not admit them. **Rarity:** Very rare **Perception in Gryth.** Very negative among elves. High Vel’Nora no longer counts them as elves, and the island’s wards enforce it. > [!warning] A difficult character to play > Dread elves are met with open hostility anywhere elves hold authority, and with open fear elsewhere. A player choosing this lineage should expect it to shape most social encounters, and should agree that with the rest of the table before session one. #### Dread Elf Traits **Ability Score Increase.** Your Constitution score increases by 1. **Age.** The immortality of your bloodline was stripped from it along with the blood-right. You live to around 250 years at most. This replaces the Elf Age trait. **Superior Darkvision.** Your darkvision has a radius of 120 feet. **Bestial Ferocity.** When you score a critical hit with a melee weapon attack, or reduce a creature to 0 hit points with one, you can make one melee weapon attack or move up to half your speed as a bonus action. **Pymandi Blight-Magic.** You know the *primal savagery* cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the *inflict wounds* spell once with this trait. When you reach 5th level, you can cast the *darkness* spell once with this trait. You regain the ability to cast these spells when you finish a long rest. Constitution is your spellcasting ability for them. **Severed Blood.** You have resistance to necrotic damage and advantage on saving throws against poison and necrotic effects. You are also magically barred from passing the threshold wards of High Vel’Nora. ### Eller’Kirn (Celestial Elves) The Eller’Kirn are planar anomalies rather than a people in the ordinary sense. They reside in the outer plane of the Star Father Elvarion and serve as the immortal guardians of his astral palace. They stand 8 to 9 feet tall, remarkably slender, with gentle ashen skin and large almond eyes in which constellations move. **Rarity:** Extremely rare **Perception in Gryth.** Negative. Not disliked so much as feared. Nine feet of ashen grace with constellations moving in its eyes frightens people, and the Eller’Kirn have never troubled to make themselves easier to be near. #### Eller’Kirn Traits **Ability Score Increase.** Your Wisdom score increases by 1. **Size.** You stand between 8 and 9 feet tall. Your size is Medium. **Towering Grace.** You count as one size larger when determining your carrying capacity and the weight you can push, drag, or lift. **Astral Ward.** Once per short or long rest, when you are targeted by a spell attack or forced to make a saving throw against a spell, you can use your reaction to impose disadvantage on the attack roll or gain advantage on the saving throw. **Arcane Gravity.** You can cast *mage hand* at will, and the hand is invisible. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast *detect magic* at will. When you reach 5th level, you can cast *see invisibility* once with this trait, regaining the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for these spells. **Timeless Celestial.** You have resistance to radiant and psychic damage, and you are immune to magical ageing. > [!note] A note on the Eladrin > Eladrin are elves of the Feywild and belong to the elven family, but because they diverged before time began, they are treated as a separate race within this guide. Their full entry appears under Rare Races. ## Connections - [[Region - High Vel'Nora]] — Island homeland every elf traces back to; seat of Odar’Sha, Melohiin and the Akhiilor courts - [[Region - The Pannar States]] — Starpoint holds the island’s one permanent trade agreement - [[Continent - Edaria]] — Claimed as dominion by the Eldari dynasty of Sun Elves - [[Landmark - Arag'Mar (Gold Peak)]] — Mines driven on dwarven slaves by the Eldari - [[Continent - Ganath]] — Grey elf colonies and the Aratian Point - [[Region - Pymandi]] — Caves inhabited by the dread elves --- ## Gallery ![[Race - Elf.jpg]] --- *See also: [[Races]]*