For reference and comparison here is the player entry from the main description of [high] elves from various editions' core books:
0e:
Elves can begin as either Fighting-Men or Magic-Users and freely switch class whenever they choose, from adventure to adventure, but not during the course of a single game. Thus, they gain the benefits of both classes and may use both weaponry and spells. They may use magic armor and still act as Magic-Users. However, they may not progress beyond 4th level Fighting-Man (Hero) nor 8th level Magic-User (Warlock). Elves are more able to note secret and hidden doors. They also gain the advantages noted in the CHAINMAIL rules when fighting certain fantastic creatures. Finally, Elves are able to speak the languages of Orcs, Hobgoblins, and Gnolls in addition to their own (Elvish) and the other usual tongues.
1e:
There are many sorts of elves, and descriptions of the differing types are found in ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, MONSTER MANUAL.
Elven player characters are always considered to be high elves, the most common sort of elf.
A character of elven stock can opt to be a fighter (maximum of 7th level), a magic-user (maximum of 11th level), a thief, or an assassin (maximum of 10th level). An elven character can also be multi-classed, i.e. a fighter/magic-user, a fighter/thief, a magic-user/thief, or a fighter/magic-user/thief. If the character is multi-classed, the following restrictions and strictures apply: Although able to operate freely with the benefits of armor, weapons, and magical items available to the classes the character is operating in, any thieving is restricted to the armor and weaponry usable by the thief class. All earned experience is always divided equally among the classes of the character, even though the character is no longer able to gain levels in one or more of the classes. (More detailed information is given in the CHARACTER CLASSES section hereafter.)
Elven characters have a 90% resistance to sleep and charm spells (if these spells are cast upon them a percentile dice roll of 91% or better is required to allow the magic any chance of having an effect, and even then the saving throw against spells is allowed versus the charm spell).
When employing either a bow of any sort other than a crossbow, or a short or long sword, elven characters gain a bonus of +1 on their die rolls “to hit”.
All elven characters are able to speak the following languages in addition to that of their chosen alignment: elvish, gnome, halfling, goblin, hobgoblin, orcish, gnoll, and the “common tongue” of mankind. Elven characters of above 15 intelligence are able to learn one additional language for every point of intelligence over 15, i.e. a character with an 18 intelligence score could learn three additional languages (q.v.).
Elves have the ability to see into the infra-red spectrum, so they are able to see up to 60’ in darkness, noting varying degrees of heat radiation.
Secret or concealed doors are difficult to hide from elves. Merely passing within 10’ of the latter makes an elven character 16 2/3% (1 in 6) likely to notice it. If actively searching for such doors, elven characters are 33 1/3% (2 in 6) likely to find a secret door and 50% likely (3 in 6) to discover a concealed portal.
As has been shown previously, elven characters add a bonus of +1 to their initial dexterity score. Likewise, as elves are not as sturdy as humans, they deduct 1 from their initial constitution score.
If alone and not in metal armor (or if well in advance — 90’ or more — of a party which does not consist entirely of elves and/or halflings) an elven character moves so silently that he or she will surprise (q.v.) monsters 66 2/3% (d6, 1 through 4) of the time unless some portal must be opened in order to confront the monster. In the latter case the chance for surprise drops to 33 1/3% (d6, 1-2).
Moldvay Basic:
Elves are slender, graceful demi-humans with delicate features and slightly pointed ears. They are 5 to 5 1/2 feet tall and weigh about 120 pounds. They can be dangerous opponents, able to fight with any weapon and use magic spells as well, but prefer to spend their time feasting and frolicking in wooded glades. They rarely visit the cities of men. Elves are fascinated by magic and never grow tired of collecting spells and magic items, especially if the items are beautifully crafted.
The prime requisites for an elf are Strength and Intelligence. If an elf has a score of 13 or greater in both Strength and Intelligence, the character will gain a 5% bonus on earned experience points. If the elf's Strength is 13 or greater and his or her Intelligence is 16 or greater, that character will earn a 10% bonus on earned experience.
RESTRICTIONS: Elves use six-sided dice (d6) to determine their hit points. They may advance to a maximum of 10th level of experience. Elves have the advantages of both fighters and magic-users. They may use shields and can wear any type of armor, and may fight with any kind of weapon. They can also cast spells like a magic-user, and use the same spell list. A character must have an intelligence of 9 or greater to be an elf.
SPECIAL ABILITIES: Elves have infravision (heat-sensing sight) and can see 60 feet in the dark. When looking for secret or hidden doors, elves are able to find them one-third of the time (a roll of 1 or 2 on Id6). Elves cannot be paralyzed by the attacks of ghouls. All elves speak Common, Elvish, and the alignment tongue of the character, plus the languages of ores, hobgoblins, and gnolls.
2e:
Elves tend to be somewhat shorter and slimmer than normal humans. Their features are finely chiseled and delicate, and they speak in melodic tones. Although they appear fragile and weak, as a race they are quick and strong. Elves often live to be over 1,200 years old, although long before this time they feel compelled to depart the realms of men and mortals. Where they go is uncertain, but it is an undeniable urge of their race.
Elves are often considered frivolous and aloof. In fact, they are not, although humans often find their personalities impossible to fathom. They concern themselves with natural beauty, dancing and frolicking, playing and singing, unless necessity dictates otherwise. They are not fond of ships or mines, but enjoy growing things and gazing at the open sky. Even though elves tend toward haughtiness and arrogance at times, they regard their friends and associates as equals. They do not make friends easily, but a friend (or enemy) is never forgotten. They prefer to distance themselves from humans, have little love for dwarves, and hate the evil denizens of the woods.
Their humor is clever, as are their songs and poetry. Elves are brave but never foolhardy. They eat sparingly; they drink mead and wine, but seldom to excess. While they find well-wrought jewelry a pleasure to behold, they are not overly interested in money or gain. They find magic and swordplay (or any refined combat art) fascinating. If they have a weakness it lies in these interests.
There are five branches of the elven race; aquatic, gray, high, wood, and dark. Elf player characters are always assumed to be of the most common type—high elves—although a character can be another type of elf with the DM’s permission (but the choice grants no additional powers). To the eye of outsiders, the differences between the groups are mostly cosmetic, but most elves maintain that there are important cultural differences between the various groups. Aquatic elves spend their lives beneath the waves and have adapted to these conditions. Gray elves are considered the most noble and serious-minded of this breed. High elves are the most common. Wood elves are considered to be wild, temperamental, and savage. All others hold that the subterranean dark elves are corrupt and evil, no longer part of the elven community.
A player character elf can be a cleric, fighter, mage, thief, or ranger. In addition, an elf can choose to be a multi-class fighter/mage, fighter/thief, fighter/mage/thief, or mage/thief. (The rules governing these combinations are explained under “Multi-Class and Dual-Class Characters” in Chapter 3: Player Character Classes).
Elves have found it useful to learn the languages of several of the forest’s children, both the good and the bad. As initial languages, an elf can choose common, elf, gnome, halfling, goblin, hobgoblin, orc, and gnoll. The number of languages an elf can learn is limited by his Intelligence (see Table 4) or the proficiency slots he allots to languages (if that optional system is used).
Elven characters have 90% resistance to sleep and all charm-related spells. (See Chapter 9: Combat for an explanation of magic resistance.) This is in addition to the normal saving throw allowed against a charm spell.
When employing a bow of any sort other than a crossbow, or when using a short or long sword, elves gain a bonus of +1 to their attack rolls.
An elf can gain a bonus to surprise opponents, but only if the elf is not in metal armor. Even then, the elf must either be alone, or with a party comprised only of elves or halflings (also not in metal armor), or 90 feet or more away from his party (the group of characters he is with) to gain this bonus. If he fulfills these conditions, he moves so silently that opponents suffer a –4 penalty to their surprise die rolls. If the elf must open a door or screen to attack, this penalty is reduced to –2.
Elven infravision enables them to see up to 60 feet in darkness.
Secret doors (those constructed so as to be hard to notice) and concealed doors (those hidden from sight by screens, curtains, or the like) are difficult to hide from elves. Merely passing within 10 feet of a concealed door gives an elven character a one-in-six chance (roll a 1 on 1d6) to notice it. If actively searching for such doors, elven characters have a one-in-three chance (roll a 1 or 2 on 1d6) to find a secret door and a one-in-two chance (roll a 1, 2, or 3 on 1d6) to discover a concealed portal.
As stated previously, elven characters add 1 to their initial Dexterity scores. Likewise, as elves are not as sturdy as humans, they deduct 1 from their initial Constitution scores.
3.5
Elves mingle freely in human lands, always welcome yet never at home there. They are well known for their poetry, dance, song, lore, and magical arts. Elves favor things of natural and simple beauty. When danger threatens their woodland homes, however, elves reveal a more martial side, demonstrating skill with sword, bow, and battle strategy.
Personality: Elves are more often amused than excited, and more likely to be curious than greedy. With such a long life span, they tend to keep a broad perspective on events, remaining aloof and unfazed by petty happenstance. When pursuing a goal, however, whether an adventurous mission or learning a new skill or art, they can be focused and relentless. They are slow to make friends and enemies, and even slower to forget them. They reply to petty insults with disdain and to serious insults with vengeance.
Physical Description: Elves are short and slim, standing about 4-1/2 to 5-1/2 feet tall and typically weighing 95 to 135 pounds, with elf men the same height as and only marginally heavier than elf women. They are graceful but frail. They tend to be pale-skinned and dark-haired, with deep green eyes. Elves have no facial or body hair. They prefer simple, comfortable clothes, especially in pastel blues and greens, and they enjoy simple yet elegant jewelry. Elves possess unearthly grace and fine features. Many humans and members of other races find them hauntingly beautiful. An elf reaches adulthood at about 110 years of age and can live to be more than 700 years old.
Elves do not sleep, as members of the other common races do. Instead, an elf meditates in a deep trance for 4 hours a day. An elf resting in this fashion gains the same benefit that a human does from 8 hours of sleep. While meditating, an elf dreams, though these dreams are actually mental exercises that have become reflexive through years of practice. The Common word for an elf’s meditation is “trance,” as in “four hours of trance.”
Relations: Elves consider humans rather unrefined, halflings a bit staid, gnomes somewhat trivial, and dwarves not at all fun. They look on half-elves with some degree of pity, and they regard half-orcs with unrelenting suspicion. While haughty, elves are not particular the way halflings and dwarves can be, and they are generally pleasant and gracious even to those who fall short of elven standards (a category that encompasses just about everybody who’s not an elf ).
Alignment: Since elves love freedom, variety, and self-expression, they lean strongly toward the gentler aspects of chaos. Generally, they value and protect others’ freedom as well as their own, and they are more often good than not.
Elven Lands: Most elves live in woodland clans numbering less than two hundred souls. Their well-hidden villages blend into the trees, doing little harm to the forest. They hunt game, gather food, and grow vegetables, and their skill and magic allow them to support themselves amply without the need for clearing and plowing land. Their contact with outsiders is usually limited, though some few elves make a good living trading finely worked elven clothes and crafts for the metals that elves have no interest in mining.
Elves encountered in human lands are commonly wandering minstrels, favored artists, or sages. Human nobles compete for the services of elf instructors, who teach swordplay to their children.
Religion: Above all others, elves worship Corellon Larethian, the Protector and Preserver of life. Elven myth holds that it was from his blood, shed in battles with Gruumsh, the god of the orcs, that the elves first arose. Corellon is a patron of magical study, arts, dance, and poetry, as well as a powerful warrior god.
Language: Elves speak a fluid language of subtle intonations and intricate grammar. While Elven literature is rich and varied, it is the language’s songs and poems that are most famous. Many bards learn Elven so they can add Elven ballads to their repertoires. Others simply memorize Elven songs by sound. The Elven script, as flowing as the spoken word, also serves as the script for Sylvan, the language of dryads and pixies, for Aquan, the language of water-based creatures, and for Undercommon, the language of drow and other subterranean creatures.
Names: When an elf declares herself an adult, usually some time after her hundredth birthday, she also selects a name. Those who knew her as a youngster may or may not continue to call her by her “child name,” and she may or may not care. An elf ’s adult name is a unique creation, though it may reflect the names of those she admires or the names of others in her family. In addition, she bears her family name. Family names are combinations of regular Elven words; some elves traveling among humans translate their family names into Common, while others use the Elven version.
4e PH:
Quick, wary archers who freely roam the forests and wilds
RACIAL TRAITS
Average Height: 5´ 4˝–6´ 0˝
Average Weight: 130–170 lb.
Ability Scores: +2 Dexterity, +2 Wisdom
Size: Medium
Speed: 7 squares
Vision: Low-light
Languages: Common, Elven
Skill Bonuses: +2 Nature, +2 Perception
Elven Weapon Proficiency: You gain proficiency with the longbow and the shortbow.
Fey Origin: Your ancestors were native to the Feywild, so you are considered a fey creature for the purpose of effects that relate to creature origin.
Group Awareness: You grant non-elf allies within 5 squares of you a +1 racial bonus to Perception checks.
Wild Step: You ignore difficult terrain when you shift (even if you have a power that allows you to shift multiple squares).
Elven Accuracy: You can use elven accuracy as an encounter power.
Elven Accuracy Elf Racial Power
With an instant of focus, you take careful aim at your foe and strike with the legendary accuracy of the elves.
Encounter
Free Action Personal
Effect: Reroll an attack roll. Use the second roll, even if it’s lower.
Wild and free, elves guard their forested lands using stealth and deadly arrows from the trees. They build their homes in close harmony with the forest, so perfectly joined that travelers often fail to notice that they have entered an elven community until it is too late.
Play an elf if you want . . .
✦ to be quick, quiet, and wild.
✦ to lead your companions through the deep woods and pepper your enemies with arrows.
✦ to be a member of a race that favors the ranger, rogue, and cleric classes.
Physical Qualities
Elves are slender, athletic folk about as tall as humans. They have the same range of complexions as humans, tending more toward tan or brown hues. A typical elf ’s hair color is dark brown, autumn orange, mossy green, or deep gold. Elves’ ears are long and pointed, and their eyes are vibrant blue, violet, or green. Elves have little body hair, but they favor a wild and loose look to their hair.
Elves mature at about the same rate as humans, but show few effects of age past adulthood. The first sign of an elf ’s advancing age is typically a change in hair color—sometimes graying but usually darkening or taking on more autumnal hues. Most elves live to be well over 200 years old and remain vigorous almost to the end.
Playing an Elf
Elves are a people of deeply felt but short-lived passions. They are easily moved to delighted laughter, blinding wrath, or mournful tears. They are inclined to impulsive behavior, and members of other races sometimes see elves as flighty or impetuous, but elves do not shirk responsibility or forget commitments. Thanks in part to their long life span, elves sometimes have difficulty taking certain matters as seriously as other races do, but when genuine threats arise, elves are fierce and reliable allies.
Elves revere the natural world. Their connection to their surroundings enables them to perceive much. They never cut living trees, and when they create permanent communities, they do so by carefully growing or weaving arbors, tree houses, and catwalks from living branches. They prefer the primal power of the natural world to the arcane magic their eladrin cousins employ. Elves love to explore new forests and new lands, and it’s not unusual for individuals or small bands to wander hundreds of miles from their homelands.
Elves are loyal and merry friends. They love simple pleasures—dancing, singing, footraces, and contests of balance and skill—and rarely see a reason to tie themselves down to dull or disagreeable tasks. Despite how unpleasant war can be, a threat to their homes, families, or friends can make elves grimly serious and prompt them to take up arms.
At the dawn of creation, elves and eladrin were a single race dwelling both in the Feywild and in the world, and passing freely between the two. When the drow rebelled against their kin, under the leadership of the god Lolth, the resulting battles tore the fey kingdoms asunder. Ties between the peoples of the Feywild and the world grew tenuous, and eventually the elves and eladrin grew into two distinct races. Elves are descended from those who lived primarily in the world, and they no longer dream of the Feywild. They love the forests and wilds of the world that they have made their home.
Elf Characteristics: Agile, friendly, intuitive, joyful, perceptive, quick, tempestuous, wild
Male Names: Adran, Aelar, Beiro, Carric, Erdan, Gennal, Heian, Lucan, Peren, Rolen, Theren, Varis Female Names: Adrie, Birel, Chaedi, Dara, Enna, Faral, Irann, Keyleth, Lia, Mialee, Shava, Thia, Valna
Elf Adventurers
Three sample elf adventurers are described below.
Varis is an elf ranger and a devout worshiper of Melora, the god of the wilds. When a goblin army forced his people from their woodland village, the elves took refuge in the nearest human town, walled and guarded by soldiers. Varis now leads other elves and some human townsfolk in raids against the goblins. Although he maintains a cheerful disposition, he frequently stares into the distance, listening, expecting at any moment to hear signs of approaching foes.
Lia is an elf rogue whose ancestral forest burned to the ground decades ago. Lia grew up on the wasteland’s fringes in a large human city, unable to quite fit in. Her dreams called her to the forests, while her waking hours were spent in the dirtiest parts of civilization. She joined a group of adventurers after trying to cut a warlock’s purse, and she fell in love with the wide world beyond the city.
Heian is an elf cleric of Sehanine, the god of the moon. The elven settlement where he was born still thrives in a forest untouched by the darkness spreading through the world, but he left home years ago, in search of new horizons and adventures. His travels lately have brought rumors to his ears that danger might be brewing in the ancient forest, and he is torn between a desire to seek his own way in the world and a sense of duty to his homeland.
5e 2014:
Elves are a magical people of otherworldly grace, living in the world but not entirely part of it. They live in places of ethereal beauty, in the midst of ancient forests or in silvery spires glittering with faerie light, where soft music drifts through the air and gentle fragrances waft on the breeze. Elves love nature and magic, art and artistry, music and poetry, and the good things of the world.
SLENDER AND GRACEFUL
With their unearthly grace and fine features, elves appear hauntingly beautiful to humans and members of many other races. They are slightly shorter than humans on average, ranging from well under 5 feet tall to just over 6 feet. They are more slender than humans, weighing only 100 to 145 pounds. Males and females are about the same height, and males are only marginally heavier than females.
Elves' coloration encompasses the normal human range and also includes skin in shades of copper, bronze, and almost bluish-white, hair of green or blue, and eyes like pools of liquid gold or silver. Elves have no facial and little body hair. They favor elegant clothing in bright colors, and they enjoy simple yet lovely jewelry.
A TIMELESS PERSPECTIVE
Elves can live well over 700 years, giving them a broad perspective on events that might trouble the shorter-lived races more deeply. They are more often amused than excited, and more likely to be curious than greedy. They tend to remain aloof and unfazed by petty happenstance. When pursuing a goal, however, whether adventuring on a mission or learning a new skill or art, elves can be focused and relentless. They are slow to make friends and enemies, and even slower to forget them. They reply to petty insults with disdain and to serious insults with vengeance.
Like the branches of a young tree, elves are flexible in the face of danger. They trust in diplomacy and compromise to resolve differences before they escalate to violence. They have been known to retreat from intrusions into their woodland homes, confident that they can simply wait the invaders out. But when the need arises, elves reveal a stern martial side, demonstrating skill with sword, bow, and strategy.
HIDDEN WOODLAND REALMS
Most elves dwell in small forest villages hidden among the trees. Elves hunt game, gather food, and grow vegetables, and their skill and magic allow them to support themselves without the need for clearing and plowing land. They are talented artisans, crafting finely worked clothes and art objects. Their contact with outsiders is usually limited, though a few elves make a good living by trading crafted items for metals (which they have no interest in mining).
Elves encountered outside their own lands are commonly traveling minstrels, artists, or sages. Human nobles compete for the services of elf instructors to teach swordplay or magic to their children.
EXPLORATION AND ADVENTURE
Elves take up adventuring out of wanderlust. Since they are so long-lived, they can enjoy centuries of exploration and discovery. They dislike the pace of human society, which is regimented from day to day but constantly changing over decades, so they find careers that let them travel freely and set their own pace. Elves also enjoy exercising their martial prowess or gaining greater magical power, and adventuring allows them to do so. Some might join with rebels fighting against oppression, and others might become champions of moral causes.
ELF NAMES
Elves are considered children until they declare themselves adults, some time after the hundredth birthday, and before this period they are called by child names.
On declaring adulthood, an elf selects an adult name, although those who knew him or her as a youngster might continue to use the child name. Each elf's adult name is a unique creation, though it might reflect the names of respected individuals or other family members. Little distinction exists between male names and female names; the groupings here reflect only general tendencies. In addition, every elf bears a family name, typically a combination of other Elvish words. Some elves traveling among humans translate their family names into Common, but others retain the Elvish version.
Child Names: Ara, Bryn, Del, Eryn, Faen, Innil, Lael, Mella, Naill, Naeris, Phann, Rael, Rinn, Sai, Syllin, Thia, Vall
Male Adult Names: Adran, Aelar, Aramil, Arannis, Aust, Beiro, Berrian, Carrie, Enialis, Erdan, Erevan, Galinndan, Hadarai, Heian, Himo, Immeral, Ivellios, Laucian, Mindartis, Paelias, Peren, Quarion, Riardon, Rolen, Soveliss, Thamior, Tharivol, Theren, Varis
HAUGHTY BUT GRACIOUS
Although they can be haughty, elves are generally gracious even to those who fall short of their high expectations-which is most non-elves. Still, they can find good in just about anyone.
Dwarves. "Dwarves are dull, clumsy oafs. But what they lack in humor, sophistication, and manners, they make up in valor. And I must admit, their best smiths produce art that approaches elven quality."
Haljlings. "Halflings are people of simple pleasures, and that is not a quality to scorn. They're good folk, they care for each other and tend their gardens, and they have proven themselves tougher than they seem when the need arises."
Humans. "All that haste, their ambition and drive to accomplish something before their brief lives pass away human endeavors seem so futile sometimes. But then you look at what they have accomplished, and you have to appreciate their achievements. If only they could slow down and learn some refinement."
Female Adult Names: Adrie, Althaea, Anastrianna, Andraste, Antinua, Bethrynna, Birel, Caelynn, Drusilia, Enna, Felosial, Ielenia, Jelenneth, Keyleth, Leshanna, Lia, Meriele, Mialee, Naivara, Quelenna, Quillathe, Sariel, Shanairra, Shava, Silaqui, Theirastra, Thia, Vadania, Valanthe, Xanaphia
Family Names (Common Translations): Amakiir (Gemflower), Amastacia (Starflower), Galanodel (Moonwhisper), Holimion (Diamonddew), Ilphelkiir (Gemblossom), Liadon (Silverfrond), Meliamne (Oakenheel), Nallo (Nightbreeze), Siannodel (Moonbrook), Xiloscient (Goldpetal)
ELF TRAITS
Your elf character has a variety of natural abilities, the result of thousands of years of elven refinement.
Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 2.
Age. Although elves reach physical maturity at about the same age as humans, the elven understanding of adulthood goes beyond physical growth to encompass worldly experience. An elf typically claims adulthood and an adult name around the age of 100 and can live to be 750 years old.
Alignment. Elves love freedom, variety, and self-expression, so they lean strongly toward the gentler aspects of chaos. They value and protect others' freedom as well as their own, and they are more often good than not. The drow are an exception; their exile into the Underdark has made them vicious and dangerous. Drow are more often evil than not.
Size. Elves range from under 5 to over 6 feet tall and have slender builds. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Darkvision. Accustomed to twilit forests and the night sky, you have superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light.
You can't discern color in darkness, only shades of gray. Keen Senses. You have proficiency in the Perception skill.
Fey Ancestry. You have advantage on saving throws against being charmed, and magic can't put you to sleep.
Trance. Elves don't need to sleep. Instead, they meditate deeply, remaining semiconscious, for 4 hours a day. (The Common word for such meditation is "trance.") While meditating, you can dream after a fashion; such dreams are actually mental exercises that have become reflexive through years of practice. After resting in this way, you gain the same benefit that a human does from 8 hours of sleep.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and Elvish. Elvish is fluid, with subtle intonations and intricate grammar. Elven literature is rich and varied, and their songs and poems are famous among other races. Many bards learn their language so they can add Elvish ballads to their repertoires.
Subrace. Ancient divides among the elven people resulted in three main subraces: high elves, wood elves, and dark elves, who are commonly called drow. Choose one of these subraces. In some worlds, these subraces are divided still further (such as the sun elves and moon elves of the Forgotten Realms), so if you wish, you can choose a narrower subrace.
HIGH ELF
As a high elf, you have a keen mind and a mastery of at least the basics of magic. In many of the worlds of D&D, there are two kinds of high elves. One type (which includes the gray elves and valley elves of Greyhawk, the Silvanesti of Dragonlance, and the sun elves of the Forgotten Realms) is haughty and reclusive, believing themselves to be superior to non-elves and even other elves. The other type (including the high elves of Greyhawk, the Qualinesti of Dragonlance, and the moon elves of the Forgotten Realms) are more common and more friendly, and often encountered among humans and other races.
The sun elves of Faerun (also called gold elves or sunrise elves) have bronze skin and hair of copper, black, or golden blond. Their eyes are golden, silver, or black. Moon elves (also called silver elves or gray elves) are much paler, with alabaster skin sometimes tinged with blue. They often have hair of silver-white, black, or blue, but various shades of blond, brown, and red are not uncommon. Their eyes are blue or green and flecked with gold.
Ability Score Increase. Your Intelligence score increases by 1.
Elf Weapon Training. You have proficiency with the longsword, shortsword, shortbow, and longbow.
Cantrip. You know one cantrip of your choice from the wizard spell list. Intelligence is your spellcasting ability for it.
Extra Language. You can speak, read, and write one extra language of your choice.