Yaarel
He Mage
Heh. And done.
D&D 5E [Homebrew] − Elf Ability Scores
Heh. And done.
Yaarel
He Mage
This is a rough draft for what the Elf race might look like. Essentially, it improves any score by +2, and one other score by +1. Then the Elf gets a choice of any two cultural traits. The culture is magically transforming the Elf to exhibit these traits. Each culture tends to choose among the same cluster of options. Below are cultural traits inspired by the High Elf. But the idea is, the DM can keep adding new options depending on the Elf concept in a given campaign setting. The cultural traits need several passes to balance them and make them equally good choices. At the moment, I am focusing on flavor. I will add more Elf culture traits later.
Yaarel
He Mage
ELF TRAITS
Elf cultures evolve by choice and magic. Your culture has magically modified you to exhibit extraordinary traits.
Ability Score Increase. One ability score of your choice improves by 2, and one other ability score of your choice improves by 1.
Size. Medium. Elves are about the same size as tall Humans, but vary between 5 and 7 feet.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Age. Elves are immortal. From birth, they reach physical maturity at the same rate as Humans. Yet from then on, they remain eternally youthful adults, appearing as if approximately 20 years old. Unusual individuals can vary, some appearing younger or older. Elves consider 100 years to be the ceremonial age of adulthood, by which time most elves have advanced to Epic tier, beyond Level 20. On their 100th birthday, they undergo the rite of passage to choose their adult name.
Alignment. Typically Good or Unaligned. The Elf is a spirit that emerges from the relationships among a specific group of Humans, often the members of a family. The Elf sometimes transfers from one Human group to an other Human group, who is somehow connected even if only tenuously. The Elf bonds with the Humans. When the relationships are Good between them, then the Elf is Good, angelic and compassionate. But if the relationships become Evil, then the Elf behaves as if Evil, beastly and cruel, mirroring to each one, each ones treatment of the others. The phenomenon is an aspect of the poetic justice of Fate. But it is amoral. The Elf often resents losing control − and desires the Humans to work in compassionate ways. But the Elf has to be the ‘bad guy’, and often entices the group to become even worse, until they destroy themselves if they are destroying others. When Humans in a toxic relationship reform and do better, the Elf rejoices and blesses them.
Origin. You are a native of the Fey Plane.
Elf Cultures. Elven communities tend to evolve diversely, radiating into different cultures. Members of the same culture tend to value the same traits, to magically modify their children to develop these traits, to optimize benefits around these traits, and to organize their social structure to further them.
An Elf from one of the following elven cultures typically exhibits one of the two abilities as a highest score, and at least one other listed trait.
Forest Culture. Dexterity, Wisdom. Feyvision, Nightly Revelry, Elfshot, Vanish.
Mithril Culture. Dexterity, Intelligence. Innate Cantrip, Feyvision, Elfsword.
Solar Culture. Charisma, Intelligence. Elfshine, Innate Cantrip, Misty Step.
Also other Elf cultures are known. Check with your DM to see which Elf cultures exist in your campaign setting.
ELF CULTURAL TRAITS
Choose two of the following Elf cultural traits. Your DM may require you to choose from the options of a specific culture.
Elfshot. You gain Elfshot as a bonus cantrip.
Cantrip enchantment, 1 action.
Range: 150 feet or as your longbow. Components: S and a longbow in your offhand. Duration: Instantaneous.
While holding a longbow in your offhand, your mainhand can pull out of thin air an invisible phantasmal arrow of psychic energy, and shoot it from your bow. You can use Dexterity or your spellcasting ability bonus for the attack. A magic bow, if any, applies its bonus to both attack and damage. The range of the shot is as that of your longbow. An Elfshot arrow that hits its target, inflicts a painful spasm, dealing 1d8 psychic damage. The struck target must succeed on a Charisma save, or be overwhelmed by the convulsion, lose its move on its next turn (but can still use its action to move), and lose any concentration. If an Elfshot reduces the target to 0 hit points, the target suffers a stroke, going unconscious during a severe seizure. If the target dies this way, the target instead becomes confused and paralyzed, indefinitely. On the ground near a target brought down this way, a stone arrowhead manifests. If a creature is capable of feeling pain, the Elfshot bypasses any resistance or immunity. If a creature is incapable of pain, the Elfshot has no effect.
With your action you can shoot two arrows when you reach Level 5, three arrows when you reach Level 11, and four arrows when you reach Level 17.
Elfsword. You master the elegant sword fighting style of the Elf, a whirling blade in a gymnastic dance of death. You gain proficiency with the longsword, and can apply your Dexterity bonus to attack and damage, instead of Strength. Your body moves in perfect timing with the momentum of your sword swings. If your offhand is free to wield your sword with both hands, you can add both your Dexterity and Strength to damage, to your skill checks to jump, climb, balance, and tumble, and to your Dexterity saving throws. You gain proficiency in the Athletics and Acrobatics skills. You can use a longsword as your spellcasting focus, and a magic longsword grants its bonus as spellcasting focus.
Prerequisite. Both your Dexterity score and your Strength score must be at least 13.
Feyvision. You are nocturnal and feel an impulse to cavort all night among forests and fields. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it is bright light, and in darkness as if it is dim light. You can see the auras of living plants. For you their colors shine dim light even within magic darkness, and within 60 feet of plants, you can see as if it is bright light. In total darkness, you can see as if there is dim bluish moonlight and shadows. In bright light − especially sunlight − everything appears bleached and garish and unpleasant. While in dim light or among living plants, you gain proficiency in the Perception skill. If you gain proficiency in Perception from an other source, you instead gain advantage to your Perception checks while in dim light or among plants.
Innate Cantrip. You can gain a bonus cantrip of your choice, from any class, and can cast it without any component.
Misty Step. You can use this trait to cast Misty Step once without any component, and can do so again after a short or long rest. You know the spell.
Level 2 teleportation, bonus action.
Range: self. Component: V. Duration: instantaneous.
Briefly surrounded by silvery mist, you teleport up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space that you can see.
Special: When you reach Level 11, you can use Misty Step to teleport through walls to a location that you cannot see, but it fails and is wasted if the space is occupied.
Nightly Revelry. While the sun is down, your playful cavorting brings rejuvenation, healing, and energy. Revelry games can include almost any entertainment, such as dancing, enjoying music, songs, and poetry, magical cantrip contests, physical sports, romancing, hide-and-seek, table games, playing practical jokes on deserving targets, playing dress up, and almost anything that childlike enthusiasm can conceivably make a fun game out of. Even an hour of sleep can count as a game, in an especially delicious and cozy setting, such as in flowering soft grasses, or in cow dung. A Revelry persists for 4 hours. At the start of the Revelry, all dying persons included in your games stabilize. All participants physically change to become as if a youth of any age of about 20 years or less. Each participant chooses their own age. After 4 hours of play, all participants gain the same benefit that a Human does from 8 hours of sleep. Additionally, a Revelry can heal one participant of a disease or remove one of the following conditions: blinded, deafened, paralyzed, or poisoned. After the Revelry, all participants keep their new youthful age, and if they age, do so normally from now on. Occasional revelries can be a method of eternal youth for participants. To initiate a Revelry, you must come up with at least 3 fun things to do that seem plausible in your current environment and circumstance. Even combat can become a game, if it is witty or ridiculous or otherwise fun, but all benefits of the Revelry fail if any participant or target of a game is killed. If a Revelry fails, you cannot initiate a new Revelry until the next sundown. But you can attempt to sleep 8 hours as a Human does.
(Will add more cultural traits to choose from.)
Elf cultures evolve by choice and magic. Your culture has magically modified you to exhibit extraordinary traits.
Ability Score Increase. One ability score of your choice improves by 2, and one other ability score of your choice improves by 1.
Size. Medium. Elves are about the same size as tall Humans, but vary between 5 and 7 feet.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Age. Elves are immortal. From birth, they reach physical maturity at the same rate as Humans. Yet from then on, they remain eternally youthful adults, appearing as if approximately 20 years old. Unusual individuals can vary, some appearing younger or older. Elves consider 100 years to be the ceremonial age of adulthood, by which time most elves have advanced to Epic tier, beyond Level 20. On their 100th birthday, they undergo the rite of passage to choose their adult name.
Alignment. Typically Good or Unaligned. The Elf is a spirit that emerges from the relationships among a specific group of Humans, often the members of a family. The Elf sometimes transfers from one Human group to an other Human group, who is somehow connected even if only tenuously. The Elf bonds with the Humans. When the relationships are Good between them, then the Elf is Good, angelic and compassionate. But if the relationships become Evil, then the Elf behaves as if Evil, beastly and cruel, mirroring to each one, each ones treatment of the others. The phenomenon is an aspect of the poetic justice of Fate. But it is amoral. The Elf often resents losing control − and desires the Humans to work in compassionate ways. But the Elf has to be the ‘bad guy’, and often entices the group to become even worse, until they destroy themselves if they are destroying others. When Humans in a toxic relationship reform and do better, the Elf rejoices and blesses them.
Origin. You are a native of the Fey Plane.
Elf Cultures. Elven communities tend to evolve diversely, radiating into different cultures. Members of the same culture tend to value the same traits, to magically modify their children to develop these traits, to optimize benefits around these traits, and to organize their social structure to further them.
An Elf from one of the following elven cultures typically exhibits one of the two abilities as a highest score, and at least one other listed trait.
Forest Culture. Dexterity, Wisdom. Feyvision, Nightly Revelry, Elfshot, Vanish.
Mithril Culture. Dexterity, Intelligence. Innate Cantrip, Feyvision, Elfsword.
Solar Culture. Charisma, Intelligence. Elfshine, Innate Cantrip, Misty Step.
Also other Elf cultures are known. Check with your DM to see which Elf cultures exist in your campaign setting.
ELF CULTURAL TRAITS
Choose two of the following Elf cultural traits. Your DM may require you to choose from the options of a specific culture.
Elfshot. You gain Elfshot as a bonus cantrip.
Cantrip enchantment, 1 action.
Range: 150 feet or as your longbow. Components: S and a longbow in your offhand. Duration: Instantaneous.
While holding a longbow in your offhand, your mainhand can pull out of thin air an invisible phantasmal arrow of psychic energy, and shoot it from your bow. You can use Dexterity or your spellcasting ability bonus for the attack. A magic bow, if any, applies its bonus to both attack and damage. The range of the shot is as that of your longbow. An Elfshot arrow that hits its target, inflicts a painful spasm, dealing 1d8 psychic damage. The struck target must succeed on a Charisma save, or be overwhelmed by the convulsion, lose its move on its next turn (but can still use its action to move), and lose any concentration. If an Elfshot reduces the target to 0 hit points, the target suffers a stroke, going unconscious during a severe seizure. If the target dies this way, the target instead becomes confused and paralyzed, indefinitely. On the ground near a target brought down this way, a stone arrowhead manifests. If a creature is capable of feeling pain, the Elfshot bypasses any resistance or immunity. If a creature is incapable of pain, the Elfshot has no effect.
With your action you can shoot two arrows when you reach Level 5, three arrows when you reach Level 11, and four arrows when you reach Level 17.
Elfsword. You master the elegant sword fighting style of the Elf, a whirling blade in a gymnastic dance of death. You gain proficiency with the longsword, and can apply your Dexterity bonus to attack and damage, instead of Strength. Your body moves in perfect timing with the momentum of your sword swings. If your offhand is free to wield your sword with both hands, you can add both your Dexterity and Strength to damage, to your skill checks to jump, climb, balance, and tumble, and to your Dexterity saving throws. You gain proficiency in the Athletics and Acrobatics skills. You can use a longsword as your spellcasting focus, and a magic longsword grants its bonus as spellcasting focus.
Prerequisite. Both your Dexterity score and your Strength score must be at least 13.
Feyvision. You are nocturnal and feel an impulse to cavort all night among forests and fields. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it is bright light, and in darkness as if it is dim light. You can see the auras of living plants. For you their colors shine dim light even within magic darkness, and within 60 feet of plants, you can see as if it is bright light. In total darkness, you can see as if there is dim bluish moonlight and shadows. In bright light − especially sunlight − everything appears bleached and garish and unpleasant. While in dim light or among living plants, you gain proficiency in the Perception skill. If you gain proficiency in Perception from an other source, you instead gain advantage to your Perception checks while in dim light or among plants.
Innate Cantrip. You can gain a bonus cantrip of your choice, from any class, and can cast it without any component.
Misty Step. You can use this trait to cast Misty Step once without any component, and can do so again after a short or long rest. You know the spell.
Level 2 teleportation, bonus action.
Range: self. Component: V. Duration: instantaneous.
Briefly surrounded by silvery mist, you teleport up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space that you can see.
Special: When you reach Level 11, you can use Misty Step to teleport through walls to a location that you cannot see, but it fails and is wasted if the space is occupied.
Nightly Revelry. While the sun is down, your playful cavorting brings rejuvenation, healing, and energy. Revelry games can include almost any entertainment, such as dancing, enjoying music, songs, and poetry, magical cantrip contests, physical sports, romancing, hide-and-seek, table games, playing practical jokes on deserving targets, playing dress up, and almost anything that childlike enthusiasm can conceivably make a fun game out of. Even an hour of sleep can count as a game, in an especially delicious and cozy setting, such as in flowering soft grasses, or in cow dung. A Revelry persists for 4 hours. At the start of the Revelry, all dying persons included in your games stabilize. All participants physically change to become as if a youth of any age of about 20 years or less. Each participant chooses their own age. After 4 hours of play, all participants gain the same benefit that a Human does from 8 hours of sleep. Additionally, a Revelry can heal one participant of a disease or remove one of the following conditions: blinded, deafened, paralyzed, or poisoned. After the Revelry, all participants keep their new youthful age, and if they age, do so normally from now on. Occasional revelries can be a method of eternal youth for participants. To initiate a Revelry, you must come up with at least 3 fun things to do that seem plausible in your current environment and circumstance. Even combat can become a game, if it is witty or ridiculous or otherwise fun, but all benefits of the Revelry fail if any participant or target of a game is killed. If a Revelry fails, you cannot initiate a new Revelry until the next sundown. But you can attempt to sleep 8 hours as a Human does.
(Will add more cultural traits to choose from.)
Last edited:
Helldritch
Hero
In my Greyhawk campaing we did away with the way elves are built in the PHB.
Now we only have this.
Elf
Dex +1, Choose two ability scores and raise them by 1. Any ability can be chosen twice save for dex which can be taken only once.
Pick High elf, Drow or wood elf training/culture.
The long sword is now a finesse weapon. Which more closely resemble what old timer like me are used to. We also reintroduced the bastard sword which fills the role of the current long sword in the rules. So far it works out quite fine.
Now we only have this.
Elf
Dex +1, Choose two ability scores and raise them by 1. Any ability can be chosen twice save for dex which can be taken only once.
Pick High elf, Drow or wood elf training/culture.
The long sword is now a finesse weapon. Which more closely resemble what old timer like me are used to. We also reintroduced the bastard sword which fills the role of the current long sword in the rules. So far it works out quite fine.
Yaarel
He Mage
Yeah, that is pretty much what this thread is doing too. The only difference is, there are types of Elf that lack Dexterity, so the +2 bonus can go to the other abilities that define. (Potentially even the 1e Grey Elf might lack Dexterity, making it +1 Intelligence and +2 Charisma/Comeliness; similarly 3e Sun Elf.) Cultures are a good approach to handle the Elf traditions.
Helldritch
Hero
What I don't like with no bonuses to dexterity is that it is parting from the traditional way elves were built in D&D since the "basic" rules. Elves are "gracile, agile and ageless" so for us, a bonus to dex is the minimum. The penalty to constitution is a good riddance but removing the entire dex bonus is a bit too much for players in my area. I know of at least 10 other groups that are doing like me with the elves. Ok, many if not all these other DMs were once players of mine... maybe it's why my "view" is so popular in my area. Still, from litterature to movie and other fictional sources, elves are agile and excellent marksman. Tough I disagree with giving elves no bonus to dex, I can understand the way many here think. It's not a bad way, but it makes the elves way to versatile for my taste. Why play a human? Play an elf. You will put 3 points in any stats you want (max of +2 from what I see in all these posts) which would make the elves the most versatile race in the entire game. And that, is supposed to be the strong point of humans. Do a feat, a skill and a language beats all the bonuses elves can have beside that? Dark vision, Fey ancestry, etc... and if you go your way, versatility with an additionnal +1 vs the human. Doing a human (or any other race) character would now be pointless.
With the mandatory +1 to dex, you ensure that versatility is not as good as the human. The two +1 bonus can cover a bit a MAD type character with a nice dex base (arcane trickster, eldritch knight and even blade singers) all of which fills the idea we have of multiclassing elves. An eldritch Knight with dex and intel starting both at 16 or an elf starting with 16 dex, 14 con and 15 intel can be pretty advantageous. The versatility isn't as great as the variant human with his bonus feat, but it is still there, and very impressive if you consider all the other abilities the elf gets.
With the mandatory +1 to dex, you ensure that versatility is not as good as the human. The two +1 bonus can cover a bit a MAD type character with a nice dex base (arcane trickster, eldritch knight and even blade singers) all of which fills the idea we have of multiclassing elves. An eldritch Knight with dex and intel starting both at 16 or an elf starting with 16 dex, 14 con and 15 intel can be pretty advantageous. The versatility isn't as great as the variant human with his bonus feat, but it is still there, and very impressive if you consider all the other abilities the elf gets.
Yaarel
He Mage
Fair point. The Elf can make sense with a Dex bonus. The problem is, if the Elf is about anything, it is about being magic, and beautiful and charming, doing everything the Bard does, songs, poetry, artistic, and so on. So while Dex makes sense, Cha makes much more sense. And of course, Wisdom. And Intelligence. Even Strength. Really Constitution too. So, if anything the Elf race should be the +2 everything race. Heh. For the sake of gaming balance, the player can decide which ability to emphasize with the +2 among the many good choices, in order to build the Elf concept that the player has in mind.
That said. The way the Elf design is shaping up so far, the DM has much say on what the Elf will look like. The DM decides which Elf cultures are available in the campaign setting, and how closely an individual needs to conform to the culture.
So for example, ... Due to the legal nature of homebrew, it is necessary to stick to the SRD only. But say you have Elf cultures that are comparable to the High, Wood, and Drow Elf cultures.
• Quasi-High culture might emphasize Intelligence, Dexterity, and Charisma.
• Quasi-Wood culture might emphasize Dexterity, Wisdom, and Strength.
• Quasi-Drow culture might emphasize Dexterity, Charisma, and Wisdom.
So these three are the cultures that are available in a Greyhawk campaign. If the player wants to have a Quasi-High Elf, with the Cantrip trait, then typically one of these three abilities will be the highest score: Int, Dex, or Cha. And the DM can enforce this because of the setting. Likely the +2 will go toward the highest score, being one of these three.
So while an Elf can potentially be anything, they are shaped by a specific culture which is a more specific concept, featuring certain mechanics and flavor.
So, in your case, your campaign setting emphasizes dextrous Elves, likely all good at longbows or handbows. That is appropriate for that setting.
For my setting, I want to emphasize Bard-like Elves, thus charismatic and intelligent with the ability to heal. But I would probably throw in a Wood Elf too, for the sake of Ranger-like Elves forest dwellers being dexterous and wise or strong. And these two cultures would be appropriate for this setting. So players would have to pick which cluster of abilities to go with as a package deal with other traits.
For myself, I like the setting to have a clear idea of what is ‘normal’ for the setting. That done, I tend to be flexible with a player who wants to play a concept that is unusual in that setting. They can pretty much do what they want, as long as they ‘sell me’ an appealing narrative that makes sense within that region of the world.
Himeko Takahashi
First Post
Anyone have the stats to the home brew 5e race Holy Elf the DanDwiki is down and I can't get the stats for an NPC for my campaign, I am also looking for a good class for the princess of the race. Any suggestions?
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