Traits and Stats
Physical Qualities
Elves are slender, athletic folk about as tall as humans. They have the same range of complexions as humans,
tending more toward tan or brown hues. A typical elf ’s hair color is dark brown, autumn orange, mossy green,
or deep gold. Elves’ ears are long and pointed, and their eyes are vibrant blue, violet, or green. Elves have
little body hair, but they favor a wild and loose look to their hair.
Elves mature at about the same rate as humans, but show few effects of age past adulthood. The first sign
of an elf ’s advancing age is typically a change in hair color—sometimes graying but usually darkening or
taking on more autumnal hues. Most elves live to be well over 200 years old and remain vigorous almost to
the end.
Playing an Elf
Elves are a people of deeply felt but short-lived passions. They are easily moved to delighted laughter,
blinding wrath, or mournful tears. They are inclined to impulsive behavior, and members of other races
sometimes see elves as flighty or impetuous, but elves do not shirk responsibility or forget commitments.
Thanks in part to their long life span, elves sometimes have difficulty taking certain matters as seriously as
other races do, but when genuine threats arise, elves are fierce and reliable allies.Elves revere the natural
world. Their connection to their surroundings enables them to perceive much. They never cut living trees,
and when they create permanent communities, they do so by carefully growing or weaving arbors, tree
houses, and catwalks from living branches. They prefer the primal power of the natural world to the arcane
magic their eladrin cousins employ. Elves love to explore new forests and new lands, and it’s not unusual
for individuals or small bands to wander hundreds of miles from their homelands.
Elves are loyal and merry friends. They love simple pleasures—dancing, singing, footraces, and contests
of balance and skill—and rarely see a reason to tie themselves down to dull or disagreeable tasks. Despite
how unpleasant war can be, a threat to their homes, families, or friends can make elves grimly serious and
prompt them to take up arms.
At the dawn of creation, elves and eladrin were a single race dwelling both in the Feywild and in the
world, and passing freely between the two. When the drow rebelled against their kin, under the leadership
of the god Lolth, the resulting battles tore the fey kingdoms asunder. Ties between the peoples of the
Feywild and the world grew tenuous, and eventually the elves and eladrin grew into two distinct races.
Elves are descended from those who lived primarily in the world, and they no longer dream of the Feywild.
They love the forests and wilds of the world that they have made their home.
Elven Characteristics:
Agile, friendly, intuitive, joyful, perceptive, quick, tempestuous, wild
Male Names:
Adran, Aelar, Beiro, Carric, Erdan, Gennal,
Heian, Lucan, Peren, Rolen, Theren, Varis
Female Names:
Adrie, Birel, Chaedi, Dara, Enna, Faral, Irann,
Keyleth, Lia, Mialee, Shava, Thia, Valna
Elven Adventurers
Three sample Elven adventurers are described below.
Varis is an elf ranger and a devout worshiper of Melora, the god of the wilds. When a goblin army
forced his people from their woodland village, the elves took refuge in the nearest human town, walled
and guarded by soldiers. Varis now leads other elves and some human townsfolk in raids against the
goblins. Although he maintains a cheerful disposition, he frequently stares into the distance, listening,
expecting at any moment to hear signs of approaching foes.
Lia is an elf rogue whose ancestral forest burned to the ground decades ago. Lia grew up on the
wasteland’s fringes in a large human city, unable to quite fit in. Her dreams called her to the forests,
while her waking hours were spent in the dirtiest parts of civilization. She joined a group of adventurers
after trying to cut a warlock’s purse, and she fell in love with the wide world beyond the city.
Heian is an elf cleric of Sehanine, the god of the moon. The elven settlement where he was born still
thrives in a forest untouched by the darkness spreading through the world, but he left home years ago, in
search of new horizons and adventures. His travels lately have brought rumors to his ears that danger
might be brewing in the ancient forest, and he is torn between a desire to seek his own way in the world
and a sense of duty to his homeland.
