D&D 5E [Homebrew] − Elf Ability Scores
Flippancy aside, I'm not kidding - the half-elf is better at being elf-like* than the high and dark elves. They might not have the extra magic, but the extra skills that would naturally come from a long life, an affinity for the fey-themed bard (whole thing), fey paladin, archfey warlock, sorcerer, etc. Others elsewhere mentioned that a bladesinger should be a bard, because bards are a class literally designed to have art and combat mixed. Not wizards.
Others have mentioned the history of elves and how Int used to be the whole magic stat. Now, its less so, but a lot of baggage still acompanies it. And, as a result, actively hurts the drow and high elves in terms of themes. But "half-elf" basically does everything that I'd imagine a high elf doing anyways. Honestly, you could just give them Trance (which is a worthless ability anyways), get rid of the half-human parts, fix the age, and you're basically the new high elf that the OP wants.
* at least, as how the OP is describing things, which I happen to mostly agree with. My only disagreement is that I think that wood elves, and their affinity for woodlands, should rightfully be kept; the duality between woodland and artistic elves is what the whole subrace mechanic was designed for.
Others have mentioned the history of elves and how Int used to be the whole magic stat. Now, its less so, but a lot of baggage still acompanies it. And, as a result, actively hurts the drow and high elves in terms of themes. But "half-elf" basically does everything that I'd imagine a high elf doing anyways. Honestly, you could just give them Trance (which is a worthless ability anyways), get rid of the half-human parts, fix the age, and you're basically the new high elf that the OP wants.
* at least, as how the OP is describing things, which I happen to mostly agree with. My only disagreement is that I think that wood elves, and their affinity for woodlands, should rightfully be kept; the duality between woodland and artistic elves is what the whole subrace mechanic was designed for.
Yaarel
He Mage
So, an analysis of the D&D tradition of various Elf themes and types, can split into two salient kinds of Elf. As a convenience, I will use the terms ‘Sun Elf’ and ‘Moon Elf’ to describe them.
Sun Elf: Charisma Magic, Sunlight, Luminosity, Spirit World, Celestial Sky,
Urban (Supertowers, Floating Cities)
Moon Elf: Dexterity Martial, Nocturnal, Darkvision, Material World, Terrestial Land,
Forest (Caves, Treehouses)
All Elves, whether Sun or Moon, personify human physical pleasures and sensuality. All can potentially exhibit angelic or beastly features.
So there are two Elf races, Sun and Moon. Each race allows for a high level of customization. For example the Moon Elf has the ‘Death Dance’ racial feature, emphasizing elegant fighting styles that optimize for Dexterity, but can choose any two weapons: you gain proficiency with two weapons, and can apply Dexterity to attack and damage instead of Strength, and can double the range of any missile or thrown weapon. However, each race tends to split up into ethnic groups, where the defining majority of the ethnicity make the same choices. For example, High Elf is a Moon Elf ethnicity that specializes in longsword and longbow, Wood Elf is an ethnicity that specializes in spear and longbow, and so on.
Moon Elf ability score improvement: Your Dexterity score improves by 2, and one other ability score improves by 1.
• High Elf: Dexterity +2, typically Charisma +1
• Valley Elf: Dexterity +2, typically Intelligence +1
• Wood Elf: Dexterity +2, typically Wisdom +1
• Wild Elf: Dexterity +2, typically Strength +1
Sun Elf ability score improvement: Your Charisma ability score improves by 2, and one other ability score improves by 1.
• Sun Elf: Charisma +2, typically Intelligence +1
• Aquatic Elf: Charisma +2, typically Strength +1
There are also other Sun Elf ethnicities, besides Sun and Aquatic. The Sun Elf traits exhibit innate magic, allowing a choice of cantrip, teleportation, flight, waterbreathing, or so on. Again, each Sun Elf ethnic group tends to make the same choice, but idiosyncratic individuals might make a unique choice within that community. Being ‘psychic’ and ‘innately magical’, a Sun Elf can always apply their proficiency bonus to spellcasting even without a magic focus or musical instrument. Sun Elf strongly associates with the Bard class.
The Grey Elf traditions are ambiguous, sometimes like the ‘Valley Elf’ here with Dex, and sometimes like the ‘Sun Elf’ here without Dex and with Cha.
All Half Elves are Half Sun Elf, whence the Charisma bonus. Because most Sun Elves live in the spirit world, these Half-Human Sun Elves tend to be the only ones who Humans encounter in the material world. These Half Elves tend to flourish in either Human societies or in Moon Elf societies, but differ from both.
Actual Half Moon Elves, can use either the Moon Elf traits or the Human Variant traits. If Moon Elf, then player has Dex +2, Any +1, and is encouraged to make unique choices for weapon proficiency and so on. If using Human Variant, one of the racial ability score improvements must be Dex. The Half Moon Elf qualifies for the racial feats, if any, of both parentages.
Sun Elf: Charisma Magic, Sunlight, Luminosity, Spirit World, Celestial Sky,
Urban (Supertowers, Floating Cities)
Moon Elf: Dexterity Martial, Nocturnal, Darkvision, Material World, Terrestial Land,
Forest (Caves, Treehouses)
All Elves, whether Sun or Moon, personify human physical pleasures and sensuality. All can potentially exhibit angelic or beastly features.
So there are two Elf races, Sun and Moon. Each race allows for a high level of customization. For example the Moon Elf has the ‘Death Dance’ racial feature, emphasizing elegant fighting styles that optimize for Dexterity, but can choose any two weapons: you gain proficiency with two weapons, and can apply Dexterity to attack and damage instead of Strength, and can double the range of any missile or thrown weapon. However, each race tends to split up into ethnic groups, where the defining majority of the ethnicity make the same choices. For example, High Elf is a Moon Elf ethnicity that specializes in longsword and longbow, Wood Elf is an ethnicity that specializes in spear and longbow, and so on.
Moon Elf ability score improvement: Your Dexterity score improves by 2, and one other ability score improves by 1.
• High Elf: Dexterity +2, typically Charisma +1
• Valley Elf: Dexterity +2, typically Intelligence +1
• Wood Elf: Dexterity +2, typically Wisdom +1
• Wild Elf: Dexterity +2, typically Strength +1
Sun Elf ability score improvement: Your Charisma ability score improves by 2, and one other ability score improves by 1.
• Sun Elf: Charisma +2, typically Intelligence +1
• Aquatic Elf: Charisma +2, typically Strength +1
There are also other Sun Elf ethnicities, besides Sun and Aquatic. The Sun Elf traits exhibit innate magic, allowing a choice of cantrip, teleportation, flight, waterbreathing, or so on. Again, each Sun Elf ethnic group tends to make the same choice, but idiosyncratic individuals might make a unique choice within that community. Being ‘psychic’ and ‘innately magical’, a Sun Elf can always apply their proficiency bonus to spellcasting even without a magic focus or musical instrument. Sun Elf strongly associates with the Bard class.
The Grey Elf traditions are ambiguous, sometimes like the ‘Valley Elf’ here with Dex, and sometimes like the ‘Sun Elf’ here without Dex and with Cha.
All Half Elves are Half Sun Elf, whence the Charisma bonus. Because most Sun Elves live in the spirit world, these Half-Human Sun Elves tend to be the only ones who Humans encounter in the material world. These Half Elves tend to flourish in either Human societies or in Moon Elf societies, but differ from both.
Actual Half Moon Elves, can use either the Moon Elf traits or the Human Variant traits. If Moon Elf, then player has Dex +2, Any +1, and is encouraged to make unique choices for weapon proficiency and so on. If using Human Variant, one of the racial ability score improvements must be Dex. The Half Moon Elf qualifies for the racial feats, if any, of both parentages.
Last edited:
Yaarel
He Mage
Shakespeare, when you place various texts side by side, supplies a comprehensive amount of information about the British concept of an Elf, properly called a Fairy, specifically around London. Because of the influence of the British Empire and literature, this Shakespearean view of Fairy Folk influences the views about nature spirits across many cultures, from Iceland to India, but is peculiar to Southern England in origin.
This English Fairy is a nature spirit that appears as a human youth from newborn to young adult, who personifies the mysterious forces of the fertility of plants and animals, and by extension health, sexuality, success, and fate. With childlike enthusiasm, they reward compassion and diligence with finding a spouse and prosperity. They punish cruelty and laziness by pain-inducing mischief. They dont like ‘mean’ people. Generally, they have a playful sense of humor, and love goodhearted mischief. The Hobgoblin (etymologically ‘Robin’ the ‘Goblin’) is a nickname for Puck (cognate Norse Puki, English Boogey·man), aka ‘Robin Goodfellow’, who is the royal jester of the Fairy Court of King Oberon (etymologically Norse Alfr-Rikr ‘Elf Ruler’, via German Albrecht, French Auberon a King of the Realm of the Faie). Altho Shakespeare reports Puck to be good, he is called a ‘Puck’ and ‘Goblin’ because of his endless humorous mischief.
The Fairy are spirits. Similar to the Renaissance question, ‘How many angels can dance on the head of a pin’, the Fairy as spirits are able to reduce their human size to tiny sizes. The smaller they become, the more spiritually refined they are, thus the more powerful they are. Queen Titania who is the Queen of her own Fairy Court, is able to shrink down to the size of the gem on an insignia ring, about the size of a thumbnail. But normally the Fairies are fully human sized children. She herself appears as young human child, perhaps 5 years old.
These Fairy are specifically land spirits, so much so, they are unable to inhabit sea water. On the beach, they playfully run back forth with the edge of the waves of the tide, precisely because they personify the land to its very edge but not the sea water. They can inhabit freshwater streams however, that flow on land. Wherever they are, plant life flourishes.
The Fairy are strictly nocturnal. They inhabit the spirit realm and only manifest in the material world while the sun is down, albeit they enjoy the light of dusk and dawn during the twilights, as well as the light of the moon. Shakespeare describes them as wearing four colors: White, Green, Gray, and Black. It is unclear whether this refers to different kinds of Fairies, or different ranks. Queen Titanya wears solid luminous white. The white is the luminous moonlight, the green is plantlife, the gray is the shadows of night, and the black is the fertile topsoil.
(In D&D, the White Elf, Green Elf, Gray Elf, and Black Elf, probably derive ultimately from this Shakespeare reference.)
Moon Elves
• White Fairy ≈ 1e High Elf
• Green Fairy ≈ 1e Wood Elf
• Gray Fairy ≈ 1e Gray Elf
• Black Fairy ≈ 1e Black Elf
This English Fairy is a nature spirit that appears as a human youth from newborn to young adult, who personifies the mysterious forces of the fertility of plants and animals, and by extension health, sexuality, success, and fate. With childlike enthusiasm, they reward compassion and diligence with finding a spouse and prosperity. They punish cruelty and laziness by pain-inducing mischief. They dont like ‘mean’ people. Generally, they have a playful sense of humor, and love goodhearted mischief. The Hobgoblin (etymologically ‘Robin’ the ‘Goblin’) is a nickname for Puck (cognate Norse Puki, English Boogey·man), aka ‘Robin Goodfellow’, who is the royal jester of the Fairy Court of King Oberon (etymologically Norse Alfr-Rikr ‘Elf Ruler’, via German Albrecht, French Auberon a King of the Realm of the Faie). Altho Shakespeare reports Puck to be good, he is called a ‘Puck’ and ‘Goblin’ because of his endless humorous mischief.
The Fairy are spirits. Similar to the Renaissance question, ‘How many angels can dance on the head of a pin’, the Fairy as spirits are able to reduce their human size to tiny sizes. The smaller they become, the more spiritually refined they are, thus the more powerful they are. Queen Titania who is the Queen of her own Fairy Court, is able to shrink down to the size of the gem on an insignia ring, about the size of a thumbnail. But normally the Fairies are fully human sized children. She herself appears as young human child, perhaps 5 years old.
These Fairy are specifically land spirits, so much so, they are unable to inhabit sea water. On the beach, they playfully run back forth with the edge of the waves of the tide, precisely because they personify the land to its very edge but not the sea water. They can inhabit freshwater streams however, that flow on land. Wherever they are, plant life flourishes.
The Fairy are strictly nocturnal. They inhabit the spirit realm and only manifest in the material world while the sun is down, albeit they enjoy the light of dusk and dawn during the twilights, as well as the light of the moon. Shakespeare describes them as wearing four colors: White, Green, Gray, and Black. It is unclear whether this refers to different kinds of Fairies, or different ranks. Queen Titanya wears solid luminous white. The white is the luminous moonlight, the green is plantlife, the gray is the shadows of night, and the black is the fertile topsoil.
(In D&D, the White Elf, Green Elf, Gray Elf, and Black Elf, probably derive ultimately from this Shakespeare reference.)
Moon Elves
• White Fairy ≈ 1e High Elf
• Green Fairy ≈ 1e Wood Elf
• Gray Fairy ≈ 1e Gray Elf
• Black Fairy ≈ 1e Black Elf
Yaarel
He Mage
It is difficult to systematize the D&D tradition because it is inconsistent, incomplete and highly conflictive. This is due to its ad hoc development and evolution. For example, initially the Grey Elf gains an Intelligence bonus, but the High Elf does not. This is true for 1e, 2e, and 3e. However, in 4e, the merger of High and Grey to become the Eladrin made the High Elf an Intelligence Elf, and this tradition continues into 5e, where the High Elf is an Intelligence Elf.
Probably, for most players here, the High Elf with an Intelligence bonus feels familiar. But the conflation of the High Elf with Intelligence is unfortunate. Charisma is the more appropriate trope for the Elf, and D&D 3e, 4e, and 5e fully supports the use of Charisma for magic. Indeed, Charisma especially associates with innate natural magic, which is also an Elf trope.
The origins are awkward. The first 1e book is the Monster Manual, mentioning five types of Elf (Untyped, Aquatic, Black, Gray, and Wood) − and makes no explicit mention of Dexterity, but does mention Intelligence for Gray and Strength for Wood. Later, comes the 1e Players Handbook, it specifies the untyped Elf is called the High Elf, the High Elf is the only playable type of Elf, and the High Elf has Dexterity +1 and Constitution +1. Only the High Elf. Later, the Unearthed Arcana makes other Elf types playable, and specifies the Drow can use the High Elf Dexterity and Constitution modifiers. But the Gray Elf, Wood Elf, and Wild Elf, remain ambiguous, and might not receive a Dexterity bonus. The point is, early D&D had various conflicting portrayals of the types of Elf, even things we take for granted today.
The existence of a Grey Elf that gains Intelligence but lacks Dexterity has enduring traction. In 2e for example, the Tulani, the Eladrin counterpart of the Grey Elf, is the most intelligent but also the strongest without a hint of Dexterity or frailty, albeit this Strength is explicitly superfluous because of the magic for combat. In 3e, the Forgotten Realms counterpart of the Grey Elf, namely the Sun Elf, receives a bonus to Intelligence and no bonus to Dexterity. In 4e, the Eladrin Gray Elf is Charisma +2 and Intelligence +2. Dexterity is absent for certain traditions about the Gray Elf.
The 1e Unearthed Arcana (including errata in a Dragon magazine) illuminates the Elf types. It subdivided the Charisma ability score into a mental component Charisma and a physical component Comeliness. Comeliness quantified physical beauty. Ultimately, this division caused more problems than it solved, and while enjoying a kind of puerile mirth, never gained serious traction in the D&D tradition. Of interest here is its characterization of the Elf types. The Comeliness correlates with the Charisma of each Elf type, in the sense of sensual presence, visual appeal, and artistic style.
D&D 1e
Gray Elf: +2 Comeliness
High Elf: +2 Comeliness
Half Elf: +1 Comeliness
Wood Elf: +1 Comeliness
Female Drow Elf: +1 Comeliness
Wild Elf: +0 Comeliness
Valley Elf: +0 Comeliness
Male Drow Elf: −1 Comeliness
Later editions of D&D will fetishize the beauty of the Drow Elf, eventually making it a definitively beautiful Charisma race. But in its original concept in 1e, it exhibits ordinary Charisma comparable to mundane humans. (Albeit the female dominance includes being slightly more appealing, and the male poorer.)
In any case, when recombining Charisma and Comeliness back into the single Charisma ability score, D&D 1e defines two types of Elf as quintessential Charisma races: Gray Elf and High Elf.
Note the noncharismatic Valley Elf versus the charismatic Gray Elf, even tho both enjoy a bonus to Intelligence. Note also, the 1e High Elf is Charisma +2 and Dexterity +1.
With all of these D&D traditions in mind, I want to see the D&D ‘standard’ Elf, namely the High Elf, being an innately magically Charisma race. In other words, a kind of Sun Elf.
Sun Elf
• Sun Elf: Cha +2, Int +1
• High Elf: Cha +2, Dex +1
• Aquatic Elf: Cha +2, Str +1
Moon Elf
• Wood Elf: Dex +2, Wis +1
• Wild Elf: Dex +2, Str +1
• Drow Elf: Dex +2, Cha +1
• Valley Elf: Dex +2, Int +1
To reuse Shakespeares color scheme for the types of Moon Elf: Perhaps the Wild Elf, described in 1e as ‘very fair’ complexion, is the White Elf, here a savage beast unlike the Shakespearean noble beauty. The Valley Elf is Gray complexioned, which can correlate with the imagery of the mithril metal, and Eldritch Knights in Elven Chain. The Wood Elf is Green complexioned, the color of trees. The Drow Elf is Black complexioned and dark-dwelling.
Probably, for most players here, the High Elf with an Intelligence bonus feels familiar. But the conflation of the High Elf with Intelligence is unfortunate. Charisma is the more appropriate trope for the Elf, and D&D 3e, 4e, and 5e fully supports the use of Charisma for magic. Indeed, Charisma especially associates with innate natural magic, which is also an Elf trope.
The origins are awkward. The first 1e book is the Monster Manual, mentioning five types of Elf (Untyped, Aquatic, Black, Gray, and Wood) − and makes no explicit mention of Dexterity, but does mention Intelligence for Gray and Strength for Wood. Later, comes the 1e Players Handbook, it specifies the untyped Elf is called the High Elf, the High Elf is the only playable type of Elf, and the High Elf has Dexterity +1 and Constitution +1. Only the High Elf. Later, the Unearthed Arcana makes other Elf types playable, and specifies the Drow can use the High Elf Dexterity and Constitution modifiers. But the Gray Elf, Wood Elf, and Wild Elf, remain ambiguous, and might not receive a Dexterity bonus. The point is, early D&D had various conflicting portrayals of the types of Elf, even things we take for granted today.
The existence of a Grey Elf that gains Intelligence but lacks Dexterity has enduring traction. In 2e for example, the Tulani, the Eladrin counterpart of the Grey Elf, is the most intelligent but also the strongest without a hint of Dexterity or frailty, albeit this Strength is explicitly superfluous because of the magic for combat. In 3e, the Forgotten Realms counterpart of the Grey Elf, namely the Sun Elf, receives a bonus to Intelligence and no bonus to Dexterity. In 4e, the Eladrin Gray Elf is Charisma +2 and Intelligence +2. Dexterity is absent for certain traditions about the Gray Elf.
The 1e Unearthed Arcana (including errata in a Dragon magazine) illuminates the Elf types. It subdivided the Charisma ability score into a mental component Charisma and a physical component Comeliness. Comeliness quantified physical beauty. Ultimately, this division caused more problems than it solved, and while enjoying a kind of puerile mirth, never gained serious traction in the D&D tradition. Of interest here is its characterization of the Elf types. The Comeliness correlates with the Charisma of each Elf type, in the sense of sensual presence, visual appeal, and artistic style.
D&D 1e
Gray Elf: +2 Comeliness
High Elf: +2 Comeliness
Half Elf: +1 Comeliness
Wood Elf: +1 Comeliness
Female Drow Elf: +1 Comeliness
Wild Elf: +0 Comeliness
Valley Elf: +0 Comeliness
Male Drow Elf: −1 Comeliness
Later editions of D&D will fetishize the beauty of the Drow Elf, eventually making it a definitively beautiful Charisma race. But in its original concept in 1e, it exhibits ordinary Charisma comparable to mundane humans. (Albeit the female dominance includes being slightly more appealing, and the male poorer.)
In any case, when recombining Charisma and Comeliness back into the single Charisma ability score, D&D 1e defines two types of Elf as quintessential Charisma races: Gray Elf and High Elf.
Note the noncharismatic Valley Elf versus the charismatic Gray Elf, even tho both enjoy a bonus to Intelligence. Note also, the 1e High Elf is Charisma +2 and Dexterity +1.
With all of these D&D traditions in mind, I want to see the D&D ‘standard’ Elf, namely the High Elf, being an innately magically Charisma race. In other words, a kind of Sun Elf.
Sun Elf
• Sun Elf: Cha +2, Int +1
• High Elf: Cha +2, Dex +1
• Aquatic Elf: Cha +2, Str +1
Moon Elf
• Wood Elf: Dex +2, Wis +1
• Wild Elf: Dex +2, Str +1
• Drow Elf: Dex +2, Cha +1
• Valley Elf: Dex +2, Int +1
To reuse Shakespeares color scheme for the types of Moon Elf: Perhaps the Wild Elf, described in 1e as ‘very fair’ complexion, is the White Elf, here a savage beast unlike the Shakespearean noble beauty. The Valley Elf is Gray complexioned, which can correlate with the imagery of the mithril metal, and Eldritch Knights in Elven Chain. The Wood Elf is Green complexioned, the color of trees. The Drow Elf is Black complexioned and dark-dwelling.
Last edited:
Yaarel
He Mage
Hmmm. There is also a ‘Dusk’ Elf from the Ravenloft setting. If I recall correctly, 4e made this an ‘Elf’ with Dex +2 and Int +2. It is probably a better name for the Valley Elf. The ‘Dusk’ correlates with Intelligence well enough, emphasizes the nocturnal darkvision, and matches better the color scheme where the ‘Gray’ of the shadows of the night. In 4e, the Drow Elf corresponds to the black part of the phases of the moon, so is explicitly a ‘Moon’ Elf.
Moon Elf
• Wood Elf: Dex +2, Wis +1
• Wild Elf: Dex +2, Str +1
• Drow Elf: Dex +2, Cha +1
• Dusk Elf: Dex +2, Int +1
Moon Elf
• Wood Elf: Dex +2, Wis +1
• Wild Elf: Dex +2, Str +1
• Drow Elf: Dex +2, Cha +1
• Dusk Elf: Dex +2, Int +1
Yaarel
He Mage
[MENTION=6588]pogre[/MENTION]
Personally, I like the extreme lifespans of the Elf. In reallife, we are entering into a new age of medical technology that seems poised to radically lengthen the lifespans of humans. (Who can afford it?) Entertainment about the long lives of vampires, the time lords of Doctor Who, and so on, are in some ways exploring the meaning of this kind of change.
The 1e Elf lives around twelve centuries. They are highly magical, and it is certain they would use their magic research to figure out ways to prolong their lives as long as possible.
That said, if an Elf is more than a 100 years old, then they are probably already beyond Level 20, in Epic Tier.
There probably needs to be an in-game explanation why these huge populations of Epic Elves dont hang around in Material World, doing whatever they please.
Part of the explanation might be, an Elf is only considered an ‘adult’ at the age of 100 years old. That is when they gain their ‘adult name’. Perhaps, what that means is, that is when they get their Epic name, having gained enough power to enter the Epic realms. The 100 years is a symbolic amount of time representing the age when most Elves are fully Epic. If so, the time that Elves spend down here in the Material Plane adventuring alongside Humans, is, from their perspective literally ‘childs play’. Once they are of age, they have to leave their kindergardens and gradeschools, to enter into the universe beyond the Material with important things to do.
Personally, I like the extreme lifespans of the Elf. In reallife, we are entering into a new age of medical technology that seems poised to radically lengthen the lifespans of humans. (Who can afford it?) Entertainment about the long lives of vampires, the time lords of Doctor Who, and so on, are in some ways exploring the meaning of this kind of change.
The 1e Elf lives around twelve centuries. They are highly magical, and it is certain they would use their magic research to figure out ways to prolong their lives as long as possible.
That said, if an Elf is more than a 100 years old, then they are probably already beyond Level 20, in Epic Tier.
There probably needs to be an in-game explanation why these huge populations of Epic Elves dont hang around in Material World, doing whatever they please.
Part of the explanation might be, an Elf is only considered an ‘adult’ at the age of 100 years old. That is when they gain their ‘adult name’. Perhaps, what that means is, that is when they get their Epic name, having gained enough power to enter the Epic realms. The 100 years is a symbolic amount of time representing the age when most Elves are fully Epic. If so, the time that Elves spend down here in the Material Plane adventuring alongside Humans, is, from their perspective literally ‘childs play’. Once they are of age, they have to leave their kindergardens and gradeschools, to enter into the universe beyond the Material with important things to do.
Yaarel
He Mage
LOL! D&D 5e already has *eight* different kinds of Elf! And it hasnt even really gotten started.
Players Handbook Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting
• High Elf (Dex +2, Int +1)
• Wood Elf (Dex +2, Wis +1)
• Drow Elf (Dex +2, Cha +1)
DMG:
• Eladrin Elf (DM Choice)
Zendikar Campaign Setting:
• Joraga Elf (Wis +2, Dex +1)
• Mul Daya Elf (Wis +2, Str +1)
• Tajuru Elf (Wis +2, Cha +1)
Notice, two of the Zendikar Elves (and potentially the Eladrin Elf) have no special affinity with Dexterity.
Interestingly, the Mul Daya Elf of Zendikar is the subterranean dark-dweller paralleling the Drow Elf, but the Mul Daya Elf is especially wise/perceptive and strong.
It is also worth keeping in mind, the 1e Grugach Elf, which probably translates into 5e as Strength +2 and Dexterity +1, while in D&D Basic, the Shadow Elf of Mystara probably translates into 5e as Intelligence +2 and Dexterity +1. The 4e Eladrin Elf can be +2 Charisma and +2 Intelligence, without Dexterity.
Obviously, even despite strong efforts, the D&D tradition ensures the Elf concept can be ‘superhuman’ +2 to any ability, whether Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma. And at this point if you want to put your +2 into Constitution, why not? Long lifespans, rugged nature lovers, tough warriors. Fine.
In light of persistent D&D tradition, even unfolding now in front of our eyes,
The racial ability score improvement for the Elf race *must* be:
+2 points to one ability, and +1 ability to any other.
Players Handbook Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting
• High Elf (Dex +2, Int +1)
• Wood Elf (Dex +2, Wis +1)
• Drow Elf (Dex +2, Cha +1)
DMG:
• Eladrin Elf (DM Choice)
Zendikar Campaign Setting:
• Joraga Elf (Wis +2, Dex +1)
• Mul Daya Elf (Wis +2, Str +1)
• Tajuru Elf (Wis +2, Cha +1)
Notice, two of the Zendikar Elves (and potentially the Eladrin Elf) have no special affinity with Dexterity.
Interestingly, the Mul Daya Elf of Zendikar is the subterranean dark-dweller paralleling the Drow Elf, but the Mul Daya Elf is especially wise/perceptive and strong.
It is also worth keeping in mind, the 1e Grugach Elf, which probably translates into 5e as Strength +2 and Dexterity +1, while in D&D Basic, the Shadow Elf of Mystara probably translates into 5e as Intelligence +2 and Dexterity +1. The 4e Eladrin Elf can be +2 Charisma and +2 Intelligence, without Dexterity.
Obviously, even despite strong efforts, the D&D tradition ensures the Elf concept can be ‘superhuman’ +2 to any ability, whether Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma. And at this point if you want to put your +2 into Constitution, why not? Long lifespans, rugged nature lovers, tough warriors. Fine.
In light of persistent D&D tradition, even unfolding now in front of our eyes,
The racial ability score improvement for the Elf race *must* be:
+2 points to one ability, and +1 ability to any other.
Last edited:
Similar Threads
