Elves are a staple of fantasy RPGs, more often than not inspired by Tolkien and filtered through decades of interpretations in TTRPGs, video games and more. But us gamers are a creative lot, and I am CEERTAIN many folks have come up with interesting and potentially unique takes on Elves over the years. So let's share them!
If I am not using Tolkienesque elves (and I do love Tolkien elves) I tend toward the Fair Folk, wild fey, dangerous and inscrutable elves of folklore. These can be hard to use as PCs, though, so one solution I have is that elf PCs are specifically changelings. that is, they are the elf babes left in the baskets by elves who traded their children for a human child. They grow up knowing nothing of their kind beyond what local folklore says -- and almost none of it is kind. They are a reviled lot and considered frightening and potentially dangerous. They almost inevitably end up wanderers and adventurers because they are not welcome in human settlements.
Half elves, by the way, are those human babes raised in elfland that have crossed back over to the mortal world. They are infused with the magic of that place, but their childhoods were not joyous. The elves that took them generally treated them as pets at best, and often much worse. Most "half elves" in the world escaped from elfland rather than being sent, but sometimes elves do use their stolen children as emissaries when they are forced to deal with mortals.
If I am not using Tolkienesque elves (and I do love Tolkien elves) I tend toward the Fair Folk, wild fey, dangerous and inscrutable elves of folklore. These can be hard to use as PCs, though, so one solution I have is that elf PCs are specifically changelings. that is, they are the elf babes left in the baskets by elves who traded their children for a human child. They grow up knowing nothing of their kind beyond what local folklore says -- and almost none of it is kind. They are a reviled lot and considered frightening and potentially dangerous. They almost inevitably end up wanderers and adventurers because they are not welcome in human settlements.
Half elves, by the way, are those human babes raised in elfland that have crossed back over to the mortal world. They are infused with the magic of that place, but their childhoods were not joyous. The elves that took them generally treated them as pets at best, and often much worse. Most "half elves" in the world escaped from elfland rather than being sent, but sometimes elves do use their stolen children as emissaries when they are forced to deal with mortals.