Elf

SLENDER AND GRACEFUL

With their unearthly grace and fine features, elves appear hauntingly beautiful to humans and members of many other races. They are slightly shorter than humans on average, ranging from well under 5 feet tall to just over 6 feet. They are more slender than humans, weighing only 100 to 145 pounds. Males and females are about the same height, and males are only marginally heavier than females.

Elves’ coloration encompasses the normal human range and also includes skin in shades of copper, bronze, and almost bluish-white, hair of green or blue, and eyes like pools of liquid gold or silver. Elves have no facial and little body hair. They favor elegant clothing in bright colors, and they enjoy simple yet lovely jewelry.

A TIMELESS PERSPECTIVE

Elves can live well over 700 years, giving them a broad perspective on events that might trouble the shorterlived races more deeply. They are more often amused than excited, and more likely to be curious than greedy. They tend to remain aloof and unfazed by petty happenstance. When pursuing a goal, however, whether adventuring on a mission or learning a new skill or art, elves 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.

Like the branches of a young tree, elves are flexible in the face of danger. They trust in diplomacy and compromise to resolve differences before they escalate to violence. They have been known to retreat from intrusions into their woodland homes, confident that they can simply wait the invaders out. But when the need arises, elves reveal a stern martial side, demonstrating skill with sword, bow, and strategy.

HIDDEN WOODLAND REALMS

Most elves dwell in small forest villages hidden among the trees. 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).

Elves encountered outside their own lands are commonly traveling minstrels, artists, or sages. Human nobles compete for the services of elf instructors to teach swordplay or magic to their children.

EXPLORATION AND ADVENTURE

Elves take up adventuring out of wanderlust. Since they are so long-lived, they can enjoy centuries of exploration and discovery. They dislike the pace of human society, which is regimented from day to day but constantly changing over decades, so they find careers that let them travel freely and set their own pace. Elves also enjoy exercising their martial prowess or gaining greater magical power, and adventuring allows them to do so. Some might join with rebels fighting against oppression, and others might become champions of moral causes.

ELF NAMES

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 knew him or her 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), Nai’lo (Nightbreeze), Siannodel (Moonbrook), Xiloscient (Goldpetal)

Astral Elf

Long ago, groups of elves ventured from the Feywild to the Astral Plane to be closer to their gods. Life in the Silver Void has imbued their souls with a spark of divine light. That light manifests as a starry gleam in an astral elf’s eyes.

Because nothing ages in the Astral Plane, astral elves from that plane are thousands of years old, and their longevity gives them an unusual perspective on time. Some are prone to melancholy, while others display an absence of feeling. Many look for creative ways to occupy themselves. Whether they choose to live in quiet contemplation or strike out to explore the reaches of the multiverse, they tend to see things through the lens of time as having little or no meaning to them.

Astral elves who don’t dwell on the Astral Plane can live to be over 750 years old.

• Ability Score Increase. You gain +1 Wisdom.
• Astral Fire. You know one of the following cantrips of your choice: dancing lights, light, or sacred flame. Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma is your spellcasting ability for it (choose when you select this race).
• Radiant Soul. When you succeed on a death save, you can regain a number of hit points equal to your proficiency bonus + your Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma modifier(choose when you select this race). You can’t use this trait again until you finish a long rest.
• Trance Proficiencies. Whenever you finish a long rest using your Trance trait, you gain two proficiencies, each one with a weapon or a tool of your choice (selected from the “Equipment” chapter of the Player’s Handbook). You mystically acquire these proficiencies by drawing them from shared elven memory, and you retain them until you finish your next long rest.

AVARIEL*

The avariel are winged elves. These rare creatures were more common when the worlds of the multiverse were young, but frequent conflicts with dragons much reduced the winged elves’ number. Still, a few colonies persist here and there in the Material Plane and on the Plane of Air.

Flight. You have a flying speed of 30 feet. To use this speed, you can’t be wearing medium or heavy armor.

Languages. You can speak, read, and write Auran.

BISHTAHAR*

Elves who dwell in the forest and countryside are known as the Bishtahar. Most live in isolated communities away from other races, though they still trade with them. In fact, much of Kaladesh’s food supply is grown by elves. Bishtahar cultivators grow food, decorative flowers, wood for building, and elaborate living sculptures in their meandering gardens and fields. They use the plane’s ubiquitous technology to foster the growth of plants and animals, utilizing automatons as gardeners and herders, and employing elaborate, nearly invisible systems controlling heat, water, and nutrients.

A garden tended by elves seems to grow naturally in an aesthetically pleasing fashion. In fact, many of the forests and plains of Kaladesh are planted and tended by elves as well. What might appear at first to be wild countryside is more likely a carefully planned landscape designed to meet the needs of the people and animals that live there.

BISHTAHAR ELF TRAITS

Bishtahar elves gain the following 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

Descended from an earlier subrace of dark-skinned elves, the drow were banished from the surface world for following the goddess Lolth down the path to evil and corruption. 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 black skin that resembles polished obsidian and 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.

Drow adventurers are rare, and the race does not exist in all worlds. Check with your Dungeon Master to see if you can play a drow character.

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 per day. When you reach 5th level, you can also cast the darkness spell once per day. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these spells.

Drow Weapon Training. You have proficiency with rapiers, shortswords, and hand crossbows.

Eladrin

Eladrin are elves native to the Feywild, a realm of beauty, unpredictable emotion, and boundless magic. An eladrin is associated witb 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

WINTER

SPRING

SUMMER

ELADRIN TRAITS

Eladrin have the following traits in common, in addition to the traits they share with other elves. Choose your eladrin’s season: autumn, winter, spring, or summer.

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:

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).

GRUGACH*

The grugach of the world of Greyhawk shun contact with other folk, preferring the solace of the deepest forests and the companionship of wild animals. Even other elves draw their suspicion.

The grugach tend toward chaos and neutrality. They feel no special duty to anyone beyond their own folk and the forest that is their home. Troubles beyond their borders are best kept there. At the same time, they harbor little ambition beyond a peaceful coexistence with nature.

If anyone is fool enough to disturb a grugach realm, these elves take to arms and fight in earnest. Grugach master the basic weapons needed to hunt and forage in the wood. Every copse of trees becomes a sniper’s nest,and each forest meadow is an ambush point. The grugach set pits filled with stakes, snares that leave an intruder helpless to grugach arrows, and other snares designed to kill rather than capture. The grugach fight to the death to preserve their realms.

Ability Score Increase. Your Strength score increases by 1.

Grugach Weapon Training. You have proficiency with the spear, shortbow, longbow and net.

Cantrip. You know one cantrip of your choice from the druid spell list. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for it.

Languages. Unlike other elves, you don’t speak, read, or write Common. You instead speak, read, and write Sylvan.

HIGH ELF

As a high elf, you have a keen mind and a mastery of at least the basics of magic. In many of the worlds of D&D, there are two kinds of high elves. One type (which includes the gray elves and valley elves of Greyhawk, the Silvanesti of Dragonlance, and the sun elves of the Forgotten Realms) is haughty and reclusive, believing themselves to be superior to non-elves and even other elves. The other type (including the high elves of Greyhawk. the Qualinesti of Dragonlance, and the moon elves of the Forgotten Realms) are more common and more friendly, and often encountered among humans and other races. 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.

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.

JORAGA ELF*

The elves of the imperious Joraga nation of Bala Ged have little respect for any other race of Zendikar—or even for other elves. The survival of their nation and its traditions is the Joraga elves’ only goal, and they view the influence of others as a weakness. The Joraga eschew the goods and habits of others, even avoiding the pathways blazed by the Tajuru when possible. Many view the nomadic Joraga clans as little more than bands of roving murderers, but a complex culture hides behind those clans’ aggressive exterior

JORAGA ELF TRAITS

Joraga elves gain the following traits

Ability Score Increase. You lose the Dexterity increase but increase Wisdom by 2 and Dexterity 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.

MARK OF SHADOW

The Mark of Shadow lets an elf weave illusions, crafting magic to distract or delight. It also allows its bearer to sculpt shadows, making it easy to avoid detection.

If you’re an elf with the Mark of Shadow, you have this subrace, with the following traits.

Ability Score Increase. Your Charisma score increases by 1.

Cunning Intuition. When you make a Charisma (Performance) or Dexterity (Stealth) check, you can roll a d4 and add the number rolled to the ability check.

Shape Shadows. You know the minor illusion cantrip. Starting at 3rd level, you can cast the invisibility spell once with this trait, and you regain the ability to cast it when you finish a long rest. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these spells.

Spells of the Mark. If you have the Spellcasting or the Pact Magic class feature, the spells on the Mark of Shadow Spells table are added to the spell list of your spellcasting class.

MARK OF SHADOW SPELLS

MUL DAYA ELF*

Elves of the Mul Daya nation of Bala Ged are set apart from other elves by their relationship with the spirits of their elven ancestors. To the Mul Daya, the spirit world and the mortal realm are different only in terms of their tangibility. Death and the spirits of the dead are as much a part of the lives of the Mul Daya as is the natural world. This is not a macabre sentiment to the elves; they simply view it as the truest sense of the natural order.

Mul Daya elves can often be recognized by their face painting and tattooing. Many Mul Daya decorate their skins with an enwrapping vine motif, and make use of poisons and acids collected at great cost from strange creatures and plants in the depths of Kazandu

MUL DAYA ELF TRAITS

Mul Daya elves gain the following traits

Ability Score Increase. You lose the Dexterity increase but increase Wisdom by 2 and Strength by 1.

Elf Weapon Training. You have proficiency with the longsword, shortsword, shortbow, and longbow.

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.

Mul Daya Magic. You know the chill touch cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the hex 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. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for these spells.

PALLID ELF

The pallid elves are a mystical and insightful people with skin as pale as the surface of Exandria’s largest moon. They emerged from the Pallid Grove this century and wander the world with childlike curiosity.

Ability Score Increase. Your Wisdom score increases by 1.

Incisive Sense. You have advantage on Intelligence (Investigation) and Wisdom (Insight) checks.

Blessing of the Moon Weaver. You know the light cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the sleep 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 invisibility spell (targeting yourself only) once with this trait and regain the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. Casting these spells with this trait doesn’t require material components. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for these spells.

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.

SEA ELF TRAITS

Sea elves have the following traits in common, in addition to the traits they share with other elves.

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.

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.

SHADAR-KAI TRAITS

Shadar-kai have the following traits in common, in addition to the traits they share with other elves.

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 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.

TAJURU ELF*

The Tajuru nation is the largest of the three main elven nations, concentrated in Murasa and spread across other parts of Zendikar as hundreds of far-flung clans. Tajuru elves are the most open to people of other races, seeing their skills and perspectives as valuable new tools for survival. The Tajuru are also more open to new lifestyles, be it living in a mountaintop citadel or roaming grassy plains.

TAJURU ELF TRAITS

Tajuru elves gain the following traits

Ability Score Increase. You lose the Dexterity increase but increase Wisdom by 2 and Charisma by 1.

Skill Versatility. You gain proficiency in any combination of two skills or tools of your choice.

TIRAHAR*

Elves who forsake technology entirely are called the Tirahar. Some elves with Tirahar sympathies live within cities or farms, but most simply withdraw to the wilder areas of Kaladesh. No more than one in a hundred elves is counted among the Tirahar, and many members of other races are unaware that these reclusive elves even exist.

TIRAHAR ELF TRAITS

Tirahar elves gain the following 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.

VAHADAR*

The Vahadar are elves who dwell in the cities of Kaladesh. They are comfortable with technology, and work as planners, architects, aether-seers, or inventors. Some of them use the techniques of Bishtahar cultivators to grow food on rooftops, towers, and greenways. The Vahadar are generally integrated into the rest of society on Kaladesh, living in cities dominated by the other races (though, as in Ghirapur, many of them live in specific garden-like neighborhoods) and engaging in trade.

VAHADAR ELF TRAITS

Vahadar elves gain the following traits

Ability Score Increase. Your Wisdom 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 druid spell list. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for it.

Extra Language. You can speak, read, and write one extra language of your choice.

WOOD ELF

As a wood elf, you have keen senses and intuition, and your fleet feet carry you quickly and stealthily through your native forests. This category includes the wild elves (grugach) of Greyhawk and the Kagonesti of Dragonlance, as well as the races called wood elves in Greyhawk and the Forgotten Realms. In Faerûn, wood elves (also called wild elves, green elves, or forest elves) are reclusive and distrusting of non-elves. Wood elves’ skin 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.

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.