Elf

Elves

The long-lived elves are children of the natural world, similar in many superficial ways to fey creatures, though with key differences. While fey are truly linked to the flora and fauna of their homes, existing as the nearly immortal voices and guardians of the wilderness, elves are instead mortals who are in tune with the natural world around them. Elves seek to live in balance with the wild and understand it better than most other mortals. Some of this understanding is mystical, but an equal part comes from the elves' long lifespans, which in turn gives them long-ranging outlooks. Elves can expect to remain active in the same locale for centuries. By necessity, they must learn to maintain sustainable lifestyles, and this is most easily done when they work with nature, rather than attempting to bend it to their will.
However, their links to nature are not entirely driven by pragmatism. Elves' bodies slowly change over time, taking on a physical representation of their mental and spiritual states, and those who dwell in a region for a long period of time find themselves physically adapting to match their surroundings, most noticeably taking on coloration that reflects the local environment.
Elves value their privacy and traditions, and while they are often slow to make friends at both the personal and national levels, once an outsider is accepted as a comrade, the resulting alliances can last for generations. Elves take great joy in forging alliances with races that share or exceed their long lifetimes, and often work to befriend dragons, outsiders, and fey. Those elves who spend their lives among the short-lived races, on the other hand, often develop a skewed perception of mortality and become morose, the result of watching wave after wave of companions age and die before their eyes.

Physical Description

Generally taller than humans, elves possess a graceful, slender physique that is accentuated by their long, pointed ears. It is a mistake, however, to consider them weak or feeble, as the thin limbs of an elf can contain surprising power. Their eyes are wide and almond-shaped, and filled with large, vibrantly colored pupils. The coloration of elves as a whole varies wildly, and is much more diverse than that of human populations. However, as their coloration often matches their surroundings, the elves of a single community may appear quite similar. Forest-dwelling elves often have variations of green, brown, and tan in their hair, eye, and even skin tones.
While elven clothing often plays off the beauty of the natural world, those elves who live in cities tend to bedeck themselves in the latest fashions. Where city-dwelling elves encounter other urbanites, the elves are often fashion trendsetters.

Elf Racial Traits

+2 Dexterity, +2 Intelligence, –2 Constitution: Elves are nimble, both in body and mind, but their forms are frail.
Medium: Elves are Medium creatures and have no bonuses or penalties due to their size.
Normal Speed: Elves have a base speed of 30 feet.
Low-Light Vision: Elves can see twice as far as humans in conditions of dim light.
Elven Immunities: Elves are immune to magic sleep effects and get a +2 racial bonus on saving throws against enchantment spells and effects.
Elven Magic: Elves receive a +2 racial bonus on caster level checks made to overcome spell resistance. In addition, elves receive a +2 racial bonus on Spellcraft checks made to identify the properties of magic items.
Keen Senses: Elves receive a +2 racial bonus on Perception checks.
Weapon Familiarity: Elves are proficient with longbows (including composite longbows), longswords, rapiers, and shortbows (including composite shortbows), and treat any weapon with the word “elven” in its name as a martial weapon.
Languages: Elves begin play speaking Common and Elven. Elves with high Intelligence scores can choose from the following languages: Celestial, Draconic, Gnoll, Gnome, Goblin, Orc, and Sylvan.
Subraces

Aquatic Elves

Source Heroes from the Fringe
Aquatic elves are the oceanic cousins of landborn elves. These elves have developed gills and webbed fingers and toes that allow them to survive and navigate the waters of Golarion, and often have blue, coral, or seaweed-black skin to blend into their environment. A significant number of aquatic elves live in the Steaming Sea near Mordant Spire, and in the Arcadian Ocean. Aquatic elves typically live secluded lives, either on their own or in small communities, though groups of aquatic elves that interact with land-dwelling communities are not uncommon. These elves are as varied as their land-dwelling kin, with unique cultures and customs scattered throughout the oceans and seas of Golarion. Aquatic elves often have the aquatic mastery alternate racial trait described below.

Arctic Elf

Source Advanced Race Guide
These elves were born and raised in the frozen lands of the far north or south, and have dealt with freezing deserts, nights that last for weeks, and the horrors that roam the cold terrain. These elves have the darkvision, desert runner, and elemental resistance alternate racial traits.

Dusk Elf

Source Advanced Race Guide
Rather than being tied to the terrain around them, some elves are linked to the night itself. Though not tied to demon worship and evil as drow are, these elves are similarly attuned to the magical concepts of darkness and shadow. These elves have the arcane focus, darkvision, dreamspeaker, and silent hunter alternate racial traits.

Ekujae Elves

Source Heroes from the Fringe
Though the Ekujae clans are often mistaken for unaffiliated tribes, they are in fact a united nation and still hold vestiges of the power that their ancient kingdom once wielded. Ekujae elves reside within the Mwangi Expanse in hidden jungle villages so interwoven with the surrounding trees that the buildings there are overlooked even by travelers passing within a few hundred feet them. Unlike many of the elves of Avistan, the Ekujae remained on Golarion despite the calamity of Earthfall and tell tales of having defeated a “Great Darkness” after the disaster. They still hone their skills for war and are ever ready to fight the Darkness if it returns. Due to this ancient responsibility, Ekujae hold to strict traditions in many matters, including the burying of their fallen and the act of swearing oaths and ritualized agreements.
Like other elves, Ekujae have keen intellects and are skilled in magical lore, including what has been passed down through their oral traditions and the numerous secrets of the Mwangi Expanse. They often journey to the Magaambya to study magic or to share their knowledge with that academy’s students. Ekujae frequently have the long-limbed alternate racial trait and either the woodcraft, silent hunter, or light against darkness alternate racial traits, as well as the sense thoughts alternate racial trait described below.

Forlorn Elves

Source Heroes from the Fringe
Forlorn elves rarely refer to themselves by that name; instead, other elves use the term to refer to elves who reside among shorter-lived races. Forlorn elves often watch many of their friends and family die before their first century is past. Some Forlorn have adopted a variety of unhealthy coping mechanisms as a result, such as recklessness or substance abuse; others develop antisocial tendencies and keep others at arm’s length to avoid the pain of loss. Still others learn to accept the brevity of the lives around them, cherishing what time they have with friends while they still have it.
Forlorn are the most common wanderers of elvenkind, whether they’re traveling widely to avoid attachment or relishing travel with short-lived companions, and many become adventurers. Some find their way to elven lands, where their kin sympathetically welcome them, while others avoid such places out of bitterness or fear of rejection. Forlorn elves frequently have the envoy and urbanite alternate racial traits; some also have the devoted companion alternate racial trait described below.

Jininese Elves

Source Heroes from the Fringe
The elves of Jinin are descended from those elves of Golarion who traveled underground millennia ago to escape Earthfall. Led by the oracle Jininsiel and guided by a vast, treelike vein of mithral, these elves emerged in Tian Xia, where they founded the nation of Jinin. Jininese elves have adopted many of the customs of their human and samsaran neighbors—Jinin’s culture places great emphasis on artistic pursuits, especially those involving mithral, which serves as a national symbol, lucrative export, and treasured cultural relic for Jininese elves. The elves of Jinin are far less isolationist than many other elven cultures, freely permitting outsiders into Jinin; likewise, while most Jininese elves remain there, many travel or settle across the Dragon Empires and beyond.
Jininese elves frequently have the dreamspeaker and envoy alternate racial traits, as well as the Jininese weapon mastery alternate racial trait described below.

Savage Elf

Source Advanced Race Guide
In lands where every day is a constant struggle to survive and the niceties of civilization are rare, elves adapt to depend on swift strikes and lifelong vigilance to keep their families alive. These elves have the eternal grudge and fleet-footed alternate racial traits.

Snowcaster Elves

Source Heroes from the Fringe
The Snowcaster tribes of the far north are extraordinarily reclusive, hiding their settlements in icy caverns, mountain valleys, the hearts of snow-shrouded pine forests, and other difficult-to-reach places. Their loyalty to their homes borders on religious reverence, whether they are ancestral burial grounds, ancient elven ruins, or simply places they’ve chosen as their own. Snowcasters rarely journey outside their homes or meet with outsiders. The primary exceptions to this are the twilight speakers, who serve as emissaries to the outside world. Less commonly, Snowcasters who have been exiled, who have lost their homes to monsters, or who are simply overcome with wanderlust may journey to the outside world to seek a new life.
Snowcasters frequently have the desert runner, elemental resistance (cold), and fleet-footed alternate racial traits; a few have the frostmelding alternate racial trait described below.

Spiresworn Elves

Source Heroes from the Fringe
The Mordant Spire’s elves, with their eerie masks and off-putting mannerisms, are a mystery to most Avistani. These elves have sworn to prevent exploration of Azlant in order to preserve and isolate the remnants of the Azlanti culture and protect Golarion from another Earthfall. The reclusive Spiresworn use enchantment and water magic to dissuade explorers; they resort to violent or deadly means only with utmost reluctance. In recent years, some younger Spiresworn have begun to question their isolationist traditions. While their commitment to protecting Azlant remains firm, a growing segment of Spiresworn believe that there is much to gain from interaction with the wider world. These elves sometimes leave the Spire to seek knowledge and experience.
Spiresworn frequently have the keeper of secrets alternate racial trait, as well as the crossbow training, natural swimmer, and tongue of the sea alternate racial traits; some also have the moonkissed alternate racial trait described below.

Tower Elf

Source Advanced Race Guide
Some elven institutions of magical learning date back centuries, and entire clans of elves have lived for generations as caretakers, students, and instructors of these self-sufficient schools of wizardry. These elves have the arcane focus and urbanite alternate racial traits.

Geographic Distribution

• Arvandor
• Prime Material Plane