Elf Overview

If humans are the foundation of life, Elves are the structural pillars. Often referred to as "guardians of the world" and "immortals" due to their fondness of natural things and their long lives. Elven culture has influenced cultures across the lands, and subtle pieces of it can be seen in many establishments. Even the greatest craftsmen of all can usually learn a thing or two from an Elven master of their craft.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Elves are slender humanoids that range between 6'6 to 7' tall and weigh 80 to 200 pounds. Elves do not differ much from humans apart from their long pointed ears, which grow to 3-5 inches long. The Elven silhouette does not differ much between genders, leaving many questioning the pronouns of the elf they just met. While slender, Elves do not appear particularly frail and it is impossible to tell an Elf's age by looking at them.

Reproduction

Elves have a unique life cycle. Similar to dragonborn it is thought to be impossible for an elf to die of old age. Their innate connection to the world has developed a closely guarded secret to the cycle of life, in that they can communicate with their ancestors. Elves physically mature in their late 20's, however most are ritualistically sterilized at birth and cannot bear children to avoid over-populating and destroying their environment. Once they become a High Elf, some elves are allowed to undergo a secret ritual which reverses the sterilization. Even those that do, lose their ability to have children during the process of becoming a celestial elf.
Despite their relatively young age of maturity, and their long lives, Elf families will seldomly bear more than one child at a time and rarely more than 3 in a lifetime. Gestation of a developing elf takes around 3 years as the process parallels their incredibly slow life span.
The only elves who can break these sacred rules are the noble houses of Elenwae, as they must always ensure they have a successor to the house. On rare occasion a family who cannot bear children anymore can use a surrogate and adopt.
While rare and incredibly taboo, elves are capable of interbreeding with Humans and Halflings. The gestation and life cycle of the child typically matches that of the non Elf parent. The child usually inherits the Elven grace and is usually on the slender side, and always inherit the long pointed ears of their Elven parent.

Life Stages

When an elf is born they come into Skjaald as a wood elf. They will remain in the wood elf stage for an average of 300 years, and abruptly transition into the next stage during a new moon. A wood elf will know the transition is coming when they become to grow increasingly more tired a week before the new moon. The day before the new moon the elf will enter a deep hibernation like sleep. This slumber will continue for the rest of the moon, ending on the night of the next new moon. While sleeping the elf's body begins to gradually change. Their skin, hair and eyes all start to lose the darker pigments they have had all their life. Their skin goes from bronzed to being {pale-ish}, while their hair transitions from a shade of brown to a golden blonde, or near white. The elf's eyes will go from whatever earthy color it was to a brilliant blue or amber color.

At the new moon the elf will awaken as a High Elf. To elves this is the "adult" cycle, and most will never transition out of it. It is even said that some high elves have been present for three millenia.

In approximately 1 out of every 10,000 elven mothers a third life stage transition will begin right before childbirth. In the days leading up to going into labor, the mother will enter a hibernation sleep, and will remain sleeping for an unknown amount of time. Sometimes this sleep lasts a week, other times it can be longer than a year. While the mother is asleep the child, which is always a male must be removed or the transition will consume it to remake the mother. The elven mother will eventually awaken as a celestial elf. With a physical appearance unlike any other elf, celestials lose all their hair, their skin becomes a pale grey color that gradually becomes nearly translucent athe the ends of their appendages. Their bones and veins blacken, dark enough to be seen through their skin. The eyes double in size and blacken into colorless voids with tiny star like motes of light within them. The defining features of their face, like the nose, and lips become thin and mostly flatten out, while the rest of their muscle structure also becomes muted and smooth. Their slender frame stretches up to two feet in additional height, taken up mostly by their spindly legs, arms and neck. Their fingers lengthen and fuse into three digit hands. Probably the most notable of all of these obvious differences however are the pair of feathered wings that grow from between the shoulderblades, and while at rest drape nearly the entire height of the elf.
Celestial Elves who do not have the child removed instead become extremely aggressive, and mentally unstable. The skin becomes black as a starless night sky, with bones protruding in various places they shouldnt. These elves often end up with too many, or not enough arms, legs, fingers, toes, and wings. They always end up with a third eye, lidless and glossy black, double the size of the other two. These elves never live more than a few days, whether they are killed because of their violent aggression, or they just simply die in a mental fit of insanity. A dark celestial elf's arrival is seen as a terrible omen, and is grieved by nearly every elf alive.


The sons of these elves born during a life stage transition are not like other elves. They are connected to their ancestors in a way that not even other elves are. Their body is touched by the souls of lost elven ancestors, whose family lines have come to an end, or who have been severed from their families due to their deeds in life. This contact with the past alters the body of the child, blackening their skin and bleaching their hair to a ghostly shade of white. Known as dark elves, these elves exist outside of the typical elven life cycle and never transition life stages. (dark elves can only procreate with humans, and on the extremely rare occasion a high elf. This high elf always becomes a celestial elf during birth.

Culture

Elven culture revolves almost exclusively around 2 ideals: honor, and balance.

Elven honor aligns with their ability to live up to the deeds of their predecessors. Elves spend the majority of their childhood studying their ancestors and training to live up to or exceed the abilities and deeds of their ancestors. Balance, dictates that an Elf must give as much as they take from the world in every sense of the phrase. Many Elves extend this ideal to those around them, or all beings, and as such seek to act in ways that would balance the actions of all things. These two ideals combined has bred a culture of perfectionists and caste based classism.

To an Elf there is no excuse for an imperfect craft since they can spend literal decades devoting themselves to enhancing it without sacrificing their lifetime to do it. Elves spend the first 50 years of their life devoted to learning who their ancestors were and what they did. They spend the next 50 years learning how to do it. Elves have kept a long held secret of ways to communicate to their dead, and it is said that every living Elf is actually a reincarnation of a former ancestor. They spend the first century of their life trying to find out who they are and it is when the Elf matches the knowledge or achievements of that ancestor, that they begin the transformation into the next life cycle.
This concept is what formed the Elven naming convention, which is filled with repeated names across the lineages. At times the spelling will change, or subtle differences will be chosen. There is also the rare case of an Elf choosing to retain their name even after learning who they are inevitably changing the cycle of their descendants.

Elven culture, particularly that of Elenwae elves, heavily utilizes a caste system. With their life cycle being broken up into visually distinctive stages, they primarily lean on an elf's life stage to denote social class. Wood elves being the youngest typically make up the majority of the work force's menial labor, as well as the majority of the military personnel. Throughout history wood elves have lived in large communes in the vast forests of Elenwae, away from the other elves. There the wood elves would learn to carry the primary elven ideals in their hearts, as they are taught to tend the world around them and connect deeply with their ancestors. To do this they would use a multitude of rituals and an assortment of herbs and natural medicines to invoke their trances.

The elven world outside of the communes is ran by the high elves. They hold the positions of power within government and the vast majority of military officer positions. High elves run the various academies, trade organizations, and businesses. While wood elves are not prohibited to do these things, nor are they outright shunned by high elves, it is very clear to both sides that the wood elves are considered like children, or at the very least young adults, compared to the high elves.

Celestial elves are few in number, but are revered by the other elves. It is a great honor to make it to the celestial life stage, and their unique abilities make them more capable than other elves. Most who reach this stage take advisory positions, such as government consultants, healers, academy grandmasters, or the leaders of wood elf communes.

Dark elves are outcasts within elven culture. They are said to have shunned the light of the stars and the moon at birth, and for that are cursed with skin that dampens the heavens.

Architecture

Elves model their cities and the tools they use to defend them off of natural things. Elven Architecture, arms and armor are well known for their rare materials, light weight, and ease of use. Preferring to live within the environment around them they use trees, caves and other natural things as homes when they can. Elegant in appearance Elven craftsmanship expands on the races' natural grace and prioritizes light weight rounded and swaying designs. Elves rarely use or craft anything heavier than leather armors, and prefer to use bows, and finesse based bladed weapons, though there are detachments of heavily armored Splint mailed cavalry and soldiers if they are absolutely required, this splint mail is usually crafted using the rarest ores available for their light weight and superb strength.

Elven Traits

The follwing traits represent the average elf of each subspecies:

Wood Elves

Attributes

Primary Racial Attribute
Wood Elves have instinct as their primary racial attribute. They gain +2 to that attribute score.
Racial Attributes
Wood Elves have swiftness, and control and as their racial attributes. They gain +1 to each of those attribute scores.
Racial Attribute Penalties
Wood Elves have a -1 to their durability, and charisma attribute scores. These attributes are their racial deficiencies.

Health and Recovery

Maximum Health Bonus
Wood Elves gain +2 to their maximum hp.
Recovery Die
Wood Elves gain a D4 as their racial recovery die. They add one die to their pool at every odd character level (1,3,5,7, etc).
Natural Healing Factor Modifier
Wood Elves do not recover from injury quickly, they have a -1 to their NHF.

Size and Movement

Size
Wood Elves are considered medium, regardless of their height and weight.
Base Walk Speed
Wood Elves have a base walk speed of 7 spaces (35 feet).
Additional Movement Types
Wood Elves do not have any additional movement types.

Proficiencies

Weapons
Shortbows, long knives, scimitars, and glaives are innate racial weapons for wood elves. They start with proficiency in one of these, and gain twice the amount of progress when training to increase their proficiency in all of these weapons. Bladestaves, double scimitars, and bladebows are advanced racial weapons for wood elves.
Armor
Wood Elves do not have any innate armor proficiencies.
Skills
TBD
Tools
TBD
Languages
The racial language of the Wood Elves is elven. They are proficient in speaking, and reading/writing it.

Features:

These are the baseline racial features of the average wood elf. If you wish to replace one of the following features with another racial feature, talk to your GM. (negative features are typically not replaceable such as the monstrous feature.)

Trance
Elves do not require sleep, and sleeping does not help them recover the same as other races. As an elf every 4 hours of sleep counts as 1. However, you have a unique ability to enter a meditative trance that helps you recover. This trance also gives you a unique connection to communicate with your ancestors. For every hour spent in your trance you receive the same benefits you would have if you had slept for 4 hours. Your trance may also be used for the ancestral discovery feature below. While trancing is very useful for recovery, and learning, it is also something that is necessary for you to do. Going without trancing for long periods of time have a physical and mental toll on you. You must trance within a number of days equal to the hours spent in your last trance. Once you have exceeded this time, your conditional exhaustion categories deteriorate twice as fast. Every 24 hours beyond the time you needed to trance by gives you 2 points of exhaustion and reduces all of your attribute scores by 1.

Trancing shuts your mind out of your body and the outside world. When you begin a trance, roll your racial recovery die to determine how long you trance for (the recovery die is not expended). For the first half of your trance your body cannot sense anything (sight, sound, feeling, or any other senses you may have). You are only pulled out of this state if you take more than 10% of your maximum hp in damage over the course of a round of combat (10 seconds), or you become bloodied. For the second half of the duration of your trance You still cannot hear or see, but you are able to be alerted by considerable physical stimulation such as being shaken or slapped, as well as any magical triggers you set in place before the trance. You regain your senses when alerted, but have the dazed condition until the trance would have ended.

Ancestral Discovery
When you begin a trance you may call upon your ancestors to teach you a proficiency. If you do, you must roll an additional recovery die, and extend your trance by the amount rolled (this die is not expended). As long as you complete the trance, the next time you make a training or learning check for the proficiency you asked your ancestor to teach you, you make that check as if you had a mentor. The mentor bonus is a number of steps above your current proficiency level equal to your renown level.

Light of Foot
Wood Elves are incredibly light on their feet regardless of their physical frame. They do not leave tracks in all but the softest of terrain, such as mud, or snow. Wood Elves do not trigger pressure plates unless they try to, and they can walk on surfaces as though they weighed half their weight. Dashing, or sprinting while unarmored or wearing armor without the bulk trait is nearly silent. Any time you receive forced movement the distance is doubled if possible. Moving you by sources such as being grappled and moved, or dragged by a rope does not have hindered movement.

High Elves

Attributes

Primary Racial Attribute
High Elves have knowledge as their primary racial attribute. They gain +2 to that attribute score.
Racial Attributes
High Elves have control and instinct as their racial attributes. They gain +1 to each of those attribute scores
Racial Attribute Penalties
High Elves have a -1 to their durability, and charisma attribute scores. These attributes are their racial deficiencies.

Health and Recovery

Maximum Health Bonus
High Elves gain +1 to their maximum hp.
Recovery Die
High Elves gain a D4 as their racial recovery die. They add one die to their pool at every odd character level (1,3,5,7, etc).
Natural Healing Factor Modifier
High Elves do not recover from injury quickly, they have a -1 to their NHF.

Size and Movement

Size
High Elves are considered medium, regardless of their height and weight.
Base Walk Speed
High Elves have a base walk speed of 6 spaces (30 feet).
Additional Movement Types
High Elves do not have any additional movement types.

Proficiencies

Weapons
Shortbows, long knives, scimitars, and glaives are innate racial weapons for high elves. They start with proficiency in one of these, and gain twice the amount of progress when training to increase their proficiency in all of these weapons. Bladestaves, double scimitars, and bladebows are advanced racial weapons for high elves.
Armor
High Elves do not have any innate armor proficiencies.
Skills
TBD
Tools
TBD
Languages
The racial language of the High Elves is elven. They are proficient in speaking, and reading/writing it.

Features:

These are the baseline racial features of the average high elf. If you wish to replace one of the following features with another racial feature, talk to your GM. (negative features are typically not replaceable such as the monstrous feature.)

Trance
Elves do not require sleep, and sleeping does not help them recover the same as other races. As an elf every 4 hours of sleep counts as 1. However, you have a unique ability to enter a meditative trance that helps you recover. This trance also gives you a unique connection to communicate with your ancestors. For every hour spent in your trance you receive the same benefits you would have if you had slept for 4 hours. Your trance may also be used for the ancestral connection feature below. While trancing is very useful for recovery, and learning, it is also something that is necessary for you to do. Going without trancing for long periods of time have a physical and mental toll on you. You must trance within a number of days equal to the hours spent in your last trance. Once you have exceeded this time, your conditional exhaustion categories deteriorate twice as fast. Every 24 hours beyond the time you needed to trance by gives you 2 points of exhaustion and reduces all of your attribute scores by 1.

Trancing shuts your mind out of your body and the outside world. When you begin a trance, roll your racial recovery die to determine how long you trance for (the recovery die is not expended). For the first half of your trance your body cannot sense anything (sight, sound, feeling, or any other senses you may have). You are only pulled out of this state if you take more than 10% of your maximum hp in damage over the course of a round of combat (10 seconds), or you become bloodied. For the second half of the duration of your trance You still cannot hear or see, but you are able to be alerted by considerable physical stimulation such as being shaken or slapped, as well as any magical triggers you set in place before the trance. You regain your senses when alerted, but have the dazed condition until the trance would have ended.

Ancestral Connection
When you begin a trance you may call upon your ancestors to aid you in a task, or impart their knowledge upon you. When you do, you must roll an additional recovery die, and extend your trance by the amount rolled (this die is not expended). As long as you complete the trance, you become imbued with the spirit of your ancestor for a number of hours equal to the hours you spent trancing. Your ancestor has a proficiency level equal to the value you rolled on the recovery die for this feature, plus your renown level in the proficiency of your choice, and randomly rolled proficiency levels in two proficiencies of your GMs choice. (These can be pre determined by establishing ancestral characters with your GM as part of your backstory)

Guarded Mind
You gain advantage on saving throws against mind altering effects and know when they are happening. You may not be spoken to telepathically if you are unwilling, and you know any time someone, or something is trying to, or already has altered or read your mind.

Dark Elves

Attributes

Primary Racial Attribute
Dark Elves have instinct as their primary racial attribute. They gain +2 to that attribute score.
Racial Attributes
Dark Elves have strength, swiftness, and resolve as their racial attributes. They gain +1 to each of those attribute scores
Racial Attribute Penalties
Dark Elves have a -1 to their durability, control, and charisma attribute scores. These attributes are their racial deficiencies.

Health and Recovery

Maximum Health Bonus
Dark Elves gain +1 to their maximum hp.
Recovery Die
Dark Elves gain a D4 as their racial recovery die. They add one die to their pool at every odd character level (1,3,5,7, etc).
Natural Healing Factor Modifier
Dark Elves do not recover from injury quickly, they have a -1 to their NHF.

Size and Movement

Size
Dark Elves are considered medium, regardless of their height and weight.
Base Walk Speed
Dark Elves have a base walk speed of 7 spaces (35 feet).
Additional Movement Types
Dark Elves do not have any additional movement types.

Proficiencies

Weapons
{Shortbows, long knives, scimitars, and glaives are innate racial weapons for dark elves. They start with proficiency in one of these, and gain twice the amount of progress when training to increase their proficiency in all of these weapons. Bladestaves, double scimitars, and bladebows are advanced racial} weapons for dark elves.
Armor
Dark Elves do not have any innate armor proficiencies.
Skills
TBD
Tools
TBD
Languages
The racial language of the Dark Elves is common. They are proficient in speaking, and reading/writing it.

Features:

These are the baseline racial features of the average dark elf. If you wish to replace one of the following features with another racial feature, talk to your GM. (negative features are typically not replaceable such as the monstrous feature.)

Trance of Isolation
Elves do not require sleep, and sleeping does not help them recover the same as other races. As an elf every 4 hours of sleep counts as 1. However, you have a unique ability to enter a meditative trance that helps you recover. This trance also allows you to reflect within your own mind in a way that exceeds what you could do normally. For every hour spent in your trance you receive the same benefits you would have if you had slept for 4 hours. Unlike other elves however, you are not negatively affected by not trancing at regular intervals.
Trancing shuts your mind out of your body and the outside world. When you begin a trance, roll your racial recovery die to determine how long you trance for (the recovery die is not expended). For the duration of your trance your body cannot sense anything (sight, sound, feeling, or any other senses you may have). You are only pulled out of this state if you take more than 10% of your maximum hp in damage over the course of a round of combat (10 seconds), or you become bloodied.

Self Discovery
While in a trance you may train yourself to increase a proficiency you already have. As long as you complete the trance, your proficiency bonus is doubled for the chosen proficiency, and you gain double the amount of progress when training to increase your proficiency for it. This effect lasts a number of hours equal to how long the trance was.

Dark Vision
Once you spend more than 10 seconds in a dark environment you are able to see through darkness with no penalty, but you still have the penalties from dim light, and cannot see into bright light. You have disadvantages on saves and checks to resist being blinded by light based sources, and they have double the duration against you.

Child of Shadow
Light interacts with you very differently than everything else, as if you absorb it instead of reflecting it. While within non magical bright light you appear as if you are in dim light. While within dim light you appear as though you are in no light, and while in darkness you cannot be seen by dark vision. Direct sunlight, or sunlight from a very reflective surface such as a mirror or polished metal is not affected by this feature.

---

Monstrous and Other Elves

Celestial Elves

Attributes

Primary Racial Attribute
Celsetial Elves have knowledge, charisma, and resolve as their primary racial attributes. They gain +2 to those attribute scores.
Racial Attributes
Celestial Elves have instinct as a racial attribute. They gain +1 to that attribute score.
Racial Attribute Penalties and Deficiencies
Celestial Elves have a -2 to their strength, durability, swiftness, and control attribute scores. These attributes are their racial deficiencies.

Health and Recovery

Maximum Health Bonus
Celestial Elves gain -3 to their maximum hp.
Recovery Die
Celestial Elves gain a D2 as their racial recovery die, they gain one at every odd character level (1,3,5,7, etc).
Natural Healing Factor Modifier
Celestial Elves do not recover from injury quickly, they have a -2 to their NHF.

Size and Movement

Size
Celestial Elves are considered large, regardless of their height and weight.
Base Walk Speed
Celestial Elves have a base walk speed of 6 spaces (30 feet).
Additional Movement Types
Celestial Elves have a base flying speed of 2 spaces (10 feet).

Proficiencies

Weapons
Celestial Elves do not have any innate racial weapons, or weapon proficiencies.
Armor
Celestial Elves do not have any innate armor proficiencies.
Skills
TBD
Tools
TBD
Languages
The racial languages of the Celestial Elves are ancient elvish(sa-ai'aelvin), and elvish. They are proficient in speaking, and reading/writing it.

Features:

These are the baseline racial features of the celestial elf. If you wish to replace one of the following features with another racial feature, talk to your GM. (negative features are typically not replaceable such as the monstrous feature.)

Trance
Elves do not require sleep, and sleeping does not help them recover the same as other races. As an elf every 4 hours of sleep counts as 1. However, you have a unique ability to enter a meditative trance that helps you recover. This trance also gives you a unique connection to communicate with other elves, both living and dead, as well as other telepathic or mentally transcended beings. For every hour spent in your trance you receive the same benefits you would have if you had slept for 4 hours. Your trance may also be used for the mind link feature below. While trancing is very useful for recovery, learning, and communication, it is also something that is necessary for you to do. Going without trancing for long periods of time have a physical and mental toll on you. You must trance within a number of days equal to the hours spent in your last trance. Once you have exceeded this time, your conditional exhaustion categories deteriorate twice as fast. Every 24 hours beyond the time you needed to trance by gives you 2 points of exhaustion and reduces all of your attribute scores by 1.

Unlike other elves, celestial elves are fully aware of their surroundings while trancing. They are even able to do simple physical movement such as walking while in a trance.

Mind Link
During a trance, you may visit the minds of any creatures within the range of your mind piercer feature. For every hour spent in another creature's mind you may sample a proficiency they have, or imprint one of yours on them. Once you have completed your trance, you use the proficiency bonus of the creature you visited for each of the proficiencies you sampled, and they use your proficiency bonus for the proficiencies you imprinted on them. This effect lasts a number of hours equal to the hours you spent trancing. This effect ends early if you fall unconscious, or begin a new trance. You may visit as many creatures' minds as you have the time to do so, but you can only be visiting one creature's mind at any given time. The creatures you visited are aware something is happening until the effect wears off, but they are not aware of what is happening, or where it is coming from.

Mind Piercer
You can speak telepathically to any creature within 30 feet of you that you can make eye contact with. This can be in any language that you, or the target knows how to speak. While linked this way you have advantage on insight checks against this creature.
Monstrous
Your unnatural looking physical appearance, alien-like behavior, and generally strange presence causes most people to consider you monstrous. You have advantage on intimidation skill checks, or rolls to frighten people, and disadvantage on communication linked skill checks. Some people may even consider you a threat on sight.

Celestial Soul
{When you transition into the Celestial life stage you gain one of the following titles/traits:

• Lunar Elf: You gain true sight on all things in moonlight. Your power grows and wanes with the phase of the moon (see Lunar Elf table)
• Star Elf: You gain darkvision out to 300 feet and are not affected by magical darkness. At night your Unbound mind feature is extended to any creature that can see the same star as you. You and this creature can sense each others' exact location for one hour after being linked (represented by a beam of starlight coming from the star that only the two can see)
• Solar Elf: You radiate light 25/50 when obscured by shadow or darkness. You are immune to radiant damage when in the sunlight.}

High Elf Magic: As a result of your long life you have learned the secret of the Elven blood rituals. You may expend hit dice to recharge spell charges.

Scientific Name: Eldarin

Related Organizations

• Elenwae