Elves are a magical people of otherworldly grace, living in places of ethereal beauty, in the midst of ancient forests or in silvery spires glittering with faerie light, where soft music drifts through the air and gentle fragrances waft on the breeze. Elves love nature and magic, art and artistry, music and poetry.
Elf Features
• Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 2.
• Age. Although elves reach physical maturity at the same age as humans, the elven understanding of adulthood goes beyond physical growth to encompass worldly experience. An elf typically claims adulthood around the age of 75, and can live to be 250 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.
• Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and Elven.
Dark Elf
• Ability Score Increase. Your Charisma score increases by 1.
• Drow Magic. You know the Dancing Lights cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast Faerie Fire once, and it recharges after a long rest. When you reach 5th level, you can cast Darkness once, and it recharges after a long rest. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
• Drow Weapon Training. You have proficiency with rapiers, shortswords, and hand crossbows.
• Keen Senses. You have proficiency in the Perception skill.
• 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.
Eladrin
Eladrin are elves native to the Feywild, a realm of beauty, unpredictable emotion, and boundless magic. An eladrin is associated with one of the four seasons and has coloration reminiscent of that season, which can also affect the eladrin’s mood:
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 transform, 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 could 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.
The following tables offer personality suggestions for eladrin of each season. You can roll on the tables or use them as inspiration for characteristics of your own.
| Autumn | |
|---|---|
| d4 | Autumn Personality Trait |
| 1 | If someone is in need, you never withhold aid. |
| 2 | You share what you have, with little regard to your own needs. |
| 3 | There are no simple meals, only lavish feasts. |
| 4 | You stock up on fine food and drink. You hate going without such comforts. |
| d4 | Autumn Flaw |
| 1 | You trust others without thought. |
| 2 | You give to the point that you leave yourself without necessary supplies. |
| 3 | Everyone is your friend, or a potential friend. |
| 4 | You spend excessively on creature comforts. |
| Winter | |
|---|---|
| d4 | Winter Personality Trait |
| 1 | The worst case is most likely to occur. |
| 2 | You preserve what you have. Better to be hungry today and have food for tomorrow. |
| 3 | Life is full of dangers, but you are ready for them. |
| 4 | A penny spent is a penny lost forever. |
| d4 | Winter Flaw |
| 1 | Everything dies eventually. Why bother building anything that is supposedly meant to last? |
| 2 | Nothing matters to you, and you allow others to guide your actions. |
| 3 | Your needs come first. In winter, all must watch out for themselves. |
| 4 | You speak only to point out the flaws in others’ plans. |
| Spring | |
|---|---|
| d4 | Spring Personality Trait |
| 1 | Every day is the greatest day of your life. |
| 2 | You do everything with enthusiasm, even the most mundane chores. |
| 3 | You love music and song. You supply a tune yourself if no one else can. |
| 4 | You can’t stay still. |
| d4 | Spring Flaw |
| 1 | You overdrink. |
| 2 | Toil is for drudges. Yours should be a life of leisure. |
| 3 | A pretty face infatuates you in an instant, but your fancy passes with equal speed. |
| 4 | Anything worth doing is worth doing again and again. |
| Summer | |
|---|---|
| d4 | Summer Personality Trait |
| 1 | You believe that direct confrontation is the best way to solve problems. |
| 2 | Overwhelming force can solve almost anything. The tougher the problem, the more force you apply. |
| 3 | You stand tall and strong so that others can lean on you. |
| 4 | You maintain an intimidating front. Better to prevent fights with a show of force than to harm others. |
| d4 | Summer Flaw |
| 1 | You are stubborn. Let others change. |
| 2 | The best option is one that is swift, unexpected, and overwhelming. |
| 3 | Punch first. Talk later. |
| 4 | Your fury can carry you through anything. |
• Ability Score Increase. Your Charisma score increases by 1.
• Fey Step. 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 can’t do so again until you finish a short or long rest.
When you reach 3rd level, your Fey Step gains an additional effect based on your season; if the effect requires a saving throw, the DC equals 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Charisma modifier. The effects are as follows:
Autumn. Immediately after you use your Fey Step, up to two creatures of your choice that you can see within 10 feet of you must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or be charmed by you for 1 minute, or until you or your companions deal any damage to it.
Winter. When you use your Fey Step, one creature of your choice that you can see within 5 feet of you before you teleport must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or be frightened of you until the end of your next turn.
Spring. When you use your Fey Step, you can touch one willing creature within 5 feet of you. That creature then teleports instead of you, appearing in an unoccupied space of your choice that you can see within 30 feet of you.
Summer. Immediately after you use your Fey Step, each creature of your choice that you can see within 5 feet of you takes fire damage equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of 1 damage).
• Keen Senses. You have proficiency in the Perception skill.
High Elf
• 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.
• Extra Language. You can read, speak, and write one additional language of your choice.
• Keen Senses. You have proficiency in the Perception skill.
Sea Elf
Sea elves fell in love with the wild beauty of the ocean in the earliest days of the multiverse. While other elves traveled 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.
• 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.
• Keen Senses. You have proficiency in the Perception skill.
• Languages. You can speak, read, and write Aquan.
Shadar-Kai
Sworn to the Raven Queen’s service, the mysterious shadar-kai venture into the Material Plane from the Shadowfell to advance her will. Once they were fey like the rest of their elven kin, and now they exist in a strange state between life and death. Eladrin and shadar-kai are like reflections of each other: one bursting with emotion, the other nearly devoid of it.
• Ability Score Increase. Your Constitution score increases by 1.
• Elf Weapon Training. 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 can’t 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 that time, you appear ghostly and translucent.
• Keen Senses. You have proficiency in the Perception skill.
Wood Elf
• 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.
• Keen Senses. You have proficiency in the Perception skill.
• 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.
Arbandi Elf Clans
Kure Clan
The magic of the Kure Clan focuses on understanding the basics of the arcane, and how it becomes infused into the world. Discovering and examining magical items has, over time, become a focus for the members of this studious clan.
• Ability Score Increase. Your Intelligence score increases by 1.
• Arcane Talent. You have proficiency in the Arcana skill.
• Kure Magic. You know the Prestidigitation cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast Identify once, and it recharges after a long rest. When you reach 5th level, you can cast Locate Object once, and it recharges after a long rest. Intelligence is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Maka Clan
The wild and tribal Maka Clan lies slightly apart from the other elven clans. Their specialization is in curses – via prayers to old gods of nature and death, they place negative arcane effects on their foes. These effects can induce weakness, madness, and incompetence.
• Ability Score Increase. Your Wisdom score increases by 1.
• Cursewriter. You have proficiency in the Religion skill.
• Maka Magic. You know the Thaumaturgy cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast Hex once, and it recharges after a long rest. When you reach 5th level, you can cast Crown of Madness once, and it recharges after a long rest. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Nairu Clan
The Nairu Clan have developed their own variety of magic in response to the arcane plague that follows the elven race. With intellect and precision, they work to separate the plague from their own intrinsic magic. Although their methods garner mixed results, no other clan has succeeded in surviving the plague to the same degree, leading to the rise in power of the Nairu Dynasty.
• Ability Score Increase. Your Intelligence score increases by 1.
• Blightbreaker. You have proficiency in the Medicine skill.
• Nairu Magic. You know the Spare the Dying cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast Sanctuary once, and it recharges after a long rest. When you reach 5th level, you can cast Gentle Repose once, and it recharges after a long rest. Intelligence is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Olbo Clan
The Olbo Clan carries a unique role; they are weavers of dreams – yet elves do not sleep. Instead, Olbo mages essentially form a security force, preventing mettling from non-elven races who are susceptible to arcane sleep.
• Ability Score Increase. Your Intelligence score increases by 1.
• Dream Veil. You have proficiency in the Deception skill.
• Olbo Magic. You know the Minor Illusion 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 Phantasmal Force once, and it recharges after a long rest. Intelligence is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Tsarai Clan
The magic of the Tsarai Clan supports their role as leaders – social, political, and military alike. Some members of the Tsarai Clan are even cultural leaders, inspiring their followers towards great works of art, storytelling, or music.
• Ability Score Increase. Your Charisma score increases by 1.
• Leadership. You have proficiency in the Persuasion skill.
• Tsarai Magic. You know the Guidance cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast Heroism once, and it recharges after a long rest. When you reach 5th level, you can cast Suggestion once, and it recharges after a long rest. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Yemune Clan
The members of the Yemune Clan are seekers of beings, living or dead. Mages of Yemune wield spells specialized to find those who are hidden, and reveal their locations for all to see.
• Ability Score Increase. Your Wisdom score increases by 1.
• Bright Revealer. You have proficiency in the Investigation skill.
• Yemune Magic. You know the Dancing Lights cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast Guiding Bolt once, and it recharges after a long rest. When you reach 5th level, you can cast See Invisibility once, and it recharges after a long rest. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for these spells.