Tell me about elves in your world.

[Azul]

I've got 3 types of elves in my campaign. Actually, they are better described as three different levels of elven purity. The following is pretty much just copy-pasted from my campaign handout regarding races.

Elves, High
High elves, also known as True Elves, are a very rare race of fey. The high elves are lords among the Seelie Court of the fey. These immortal beings stand almost seven foot tall, are beautiful in appearance and wield potent magic. Despite their love of amorous relationships and courtship, high elves rarely produce offspring (typically having one child per millennia). High elves are an exclusively NPC race and are the nobility of the elven people.

The favoured class of high elves is sorcerer.

Elves, Low
Despite their poor fertility rates, high elves are very fond of love and courtship. Given the scarcity of other high elves and the potential for boredom inherent in immortality, it seems perfectly natural that some high elves would eventually have turned to having relationships with other races, including humans. What was not self-evident was how successful the offspring of this interbreeding would be. The human-elven mixed offspring brought out most of the best qualities of their parent races. Their lifespans were almost triple those of a human and they moved with elven grace. While not as fecund as humans, they bore a new generation about once per century and very rapidly outnumbered the high elves by hundreds and later thousands to one.

While they call themselves “elfborn” in the Elven language, most other races call these human-elven hybrids low elves, or simply elves. To non-elves, the high elves are often near-mythical beings so they see no point in distinguishing between the two races. It is interesting to note that low elves are smaller than both their high elven and human ancestors. It is believed that this is due to the fact that a small portion of low elven ancestry comes from smaller fey races that live among the elves and occasionally have romantic dalliances with them.

In game mechanics terms, low elves are almost identical to the standard elves in the Player’s Handbook. The favoured class of low elves is either ranger or sorcerer (choose one during character creation).

There are no other elven sub-races known to exist, although strange tales of high elves fallen into evil and breeding with orcs or goblinoids do form the basis for some fantastic tales. It is worth noting that elves find these stories highly distasteful.

Elves, Half-
In low elven bloodlines where the fey blood has grown too thin, the offspring grow taller and studier but also have shorter lifespans and are less graceful. These are the half-elves, called “elfcousins” in the Elven language. A small percentage of half-elves are true half-breeds born to a human parent and a low elven parent, but the vast majority of half-elves are simply members of elven families who are so far removed from the original high elves that they now resemble humans more than high elves.

In game mechanics terms, half-elves are identical to the standard half-elves in the Player’s Handbook except as follows. The favoured class of half-elves is bard, ranger or sorcerer (choose one during character creation). To compensate for losing their “any” favoured class, half-elves receive +4 skill points at first level and +1 skill point per level thereafter, like humans do, to reflect their human heritage.

 

[Enkhidu]

Elves in my campaign are an ageless and elitist race that believe they are the only true form of intelligent life in the world. Goblins, dwarves, humans - these are as far beneath the elves as domesticated animals are beneath other bipeds. As a result of their beliefs elves live as far away from other bipeds as possible, staying in their tree cities, playing esoteric politics, and reveling in things they find beautiful and pleasing.

Needless to say, elves aren't PCs in my campaign!

 

[Tonguez]

IMC I have made elfs into Sidhe (by giving them obscuring mist at will) and gave them the ability to 'sidestep into a parallel dimenison (ie The Dreaming) which is the accumulation of mortal dreams. The Dreaming is mainly controlled by Sprites and other Spirits but the sidhe act as their conduit into the mortal worlds. The Sidhe are in the main haughty and disinterested in the mortal worlds but will punish mortals are tresspass in their territories and occasionally a half sidhe child is born (with half-elf stats) - only half-elfs can be PCs, Sidhe is NPC only.

The other permutation of Elf is that of the Mariner Elfs who live out at sea on huge raft-islands, avooid contact with others and only rarely come ashore to do repairs or gather materials. I derived the idea from the Wizard of Earthsea series (Ursula Le Guin) who had a raft based culture although I can't remember much detail about it - I'm wondering if others with Mariner elfs got the idea from there too.

In my other campaign world Elfs are dead

I don't beleive in the need for subraces (only subcultures)

 

[WayneLigon]

The Greatwood game has two main types: Wood (aka 'High' elves - the PHB race) and Grey. Most humans found elven ruins when they came to the continent many decades ago. The 'Wood' elves are semi-nomadic types that live close to nature. They live in magic-shaped treehouses during the winter and fall. In the summer and spring, they move around a lot, hunting and gathering. Their favored classes are Druid or Ranger.

Humans think that's it. They find fantastic works of art and powerful arcane magic devices in elvish ruins, and to them it's obvious that these are the pitiful remnants of the grand elvish race that once lived here centuries ago. Songs mourn their passing and speak of the Great Golden Age of the Elves.

Grey Elves are the supersmart urbane arcane spell-using elves. Long ago they did have a great civilization but they grew beyond the need for 'things' and abandoned all that to go live in isolated mountain fastnesses that are now mostly empty (of elves; plenty of other things have usually moved into the lower levels). They seldom even notice humans or their comparatively savage cousins.

 

[Laurel]

From The_Universe's A Kingdom of Ashes camp.

Elves come in two groups: High Alder and True Alder
High Alder are the equivalant of High elves, but in common speech are refered to as Elves
True Alder are the equivalant of Dark Elves, and in common speech reffered to as simply Alder.

This is a continuing campaign, and for the most recent installment the high alder live in small communities without political power, shammed for choosing the loosing side in the last big war. Being outcasted they tend to live in more woodsey areas, but just as many live in the cities.
The True Alder however are the elite, they are the kings closest and most honored protectors. They hold place on the high councel and rule lots of places. They are up there with the good old human folk. As with the high alder the true alder live in both urban and rural settings.

 

[Veritas]

In the campaign I'm currently designing, I have 4 elven subraces.

Grey Elves: The elven nobility. These elves lead the elven people by birthwright.
Tall, willowy and graceful, with light hair and fair skin.
+2 Dex, -4 Con, +2 Cha.
Favored class: sorcerer
bonus proficiences: longsword, rapier, bows.

High Elves: The elven commoners: The common folk and the most common elf in the world. These are the standard elves presented in the PHB, but they are still taller than normal elves.
Favored class: wizard
bonus proficiencies: longsword, shortsword, bows.

Wood Elves: the rebel outcasts. Elves that have returned to the forests to live in harmony with nature. Slightly shorter and more robust than other elves, they tend to have brown hair and vibrant green eyes. Their skin tone has a slight green cast.
+2 Dex, -2 Int, -2 Cha.
Favored class: druid
bonus proficiencies: bows, spear, sling

Dark Elves: jungle dwellers. Dark-skinned, white-haired elves that inhabit the jungles as the wood elves inhabit the forests. More survivalist and pragmatic than other elves, they have a more neutral outlook compared to their goodly cousins. They are similar to the drow of other worlds, but they are pre-descent.
+2 Dex, -2 Con, +2 Int, -2 Cha
bonus proficiencies: rapier, shortsword, shortbows, handaxe
Favored class: wizard

The elven kingdom of Cerryn has existed in its present state for several hundred years ad the basics of elven society have been in place for thousands of years. Elven society is one of benevolent segregation. The grey elven nobility lives mostly apart from the high elf commoners, who manage the workings of the kingdom: agriculture, defense, maintanence, commerce, etc. A high elf council oversees the common matters of the kingdom and the grey elven court of nobles oversees diplomatic relations with other nations, education, organization, etc. Several large cities exist, as well as the capital city, and many smaller communties. The wood elves exist apart from the others, preferring to live closer to nature, as they believe the elves were meant to live. Their settlements are at one with the forest. The dark elves live in the darkness of the deep jungles, and defend their territory zealously. They have representation in the elven court and maintain good relations with their neighbors, as long as their rights are respected.

Some notes: Grey elf children are born to both grey, and high elf parents, however by law, any grey elf born to a high elf couple must be given up to be raised in the grey elf noble court. High elves born to grey elf couples are given into orphanages where they are adopted by high elf families, and on occasion, when a high elf and grey elf are born on the same night, their parents swap children.

The government is run by a ruling councel which supports the monarchy and is composed of equal representation from the nobility and the commoners, with the wood elves and dark elves each having an independent seat on the councel (the wood elves rarely attend, but there is always a dark elf representative on hand, from whichever dark elf clan currently rules their society).

 

[mythusmage]

Ki: Humans with a touch of sandhill crane. Long lives, good at magic, like to think they're running things from behind the scenes. Which last greatly amuses the dragons, who are. Populations found both integrated into non-elf society, and living in independent kingdoms. Regardless of where they live Ki elves always work hard to ensure they have some sort of edge over the neighbors. Just in case.

Dragon Earth: Descended from humans. Some small 'g' gods decided they liked a particular paleolithic Human culture (Aurenician as a matter of fact), and made a few changes to the base stock to improve their pets' chance of surival. DE elves are long lived, good at magic, and like to think they're running things from behind the scenes. Which last greatly amuses the dragons, who are. (Notice a theme here? ). Dragon Earth elves also live pretty much integrated into human society, as do most other races.

Both versions have different cultures. Cultures they like to think are in some manner unique, but which borrow from other cultures around them.

Hope this helps.

 

[ForceUser]

Not elves or half-elves, but aelfborn

Bored with elves but enamored of all things fey, I have adopted the following race in my homebrew in lieu of elves and half-elves.

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AELFBORN
Aelfborn are humans with fey ancestry that manifests itself in a variety of startling ways. An aelfborn descended of a dryad might have bark-like skin or green hair, while another with a sidhe ancestor may have pointed ears and lavender eyes; a third born of a satyr’s lust could have a single cloven hoof, small horns, and a six-fingered hand. Whatever their heritage, the aelfborn tend to share the fey susceptibility to cold-forged iron and the fey predilection for magic and music. They are often striking in their deformities, with charisma unmatched by other mortals. Indeed, although they have fey ancestry, the aelfborn are as mortal as any other player character race.

Among the Old Faith practitioners of the Ulvmann and Vangal tribes of the north, the aelfborn are seen as blessed with gifts from the Faire Folk of old, which the humans of northern Eriador once had a close relationship with. But with the conquest by the Thrycians from the south and their Celestine religion over the Old Faith peoples of the north, new converts began to actively hunt and kill any creatures that were considered unholy – including aelfborn. Since the time of the Redeemer, however, those born with fey traits are tolerated, but are considered cursed or disadvantaged by the spiritual descendants of the old Celestine faith. Thus, many aelfborn, feeling marginalized in or distrustful of human society, seek a greater understanding of their Faerie heritage in an effort to find their place in the world. Often looked down upon as throwbacks at best and demon-possessed at worst, some aelfborn, individualistic as they tend to be, find kinship among those with similar heritage. Although their fey ancestry often complicates their lives, it is not without its benefits.

AELFBORN RACIAL TRAITS
• +2 Charisma, -2 Constitution: aelfborn are alluring but frail.
• Medium: As Medium creatures, aelfborn have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
• Aelfborn base land speed is 30 feet.
• Fey: Aelfborn are humans with the fey subtype. Any ability or force that affects fey also affects the aelfborn.
• Immunity to magic sleep effects, and a +2 racial saving throw bonus against enchantment and illusion spells or effects.
• Low-Light Vision: An aelfborn can see twice as far as a normal human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions of poor illumination. She retains the ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions.
• Grace: An aelfborn can always choose to take 10 on a Balance check, even if distracted or endangered. Aelfborn are possessed of unearthly poise, a legacy of their fey ancestry.
• Crossroads Sensitivity: Being children of Faerie, the aelfborn are intuitively aware of the presence of the fey crossroads that dot the landscape of Eriador. When an aelfborn comes within 60 feet of a Faerie crossroad, she becomes instinctively aware of its location relative to herself. When viewing a crossroad, she recognizes it for what it is, and won’t be fooled by a false or illusory crossroad. This ability gives an aelfborn no information on where the backroad connected to the crossroad leads.
• Faerie Friend: Aelfborn are recognized by fey for what they are, and as such gain a +2 circumstance bonus to Diplomacy checks when interacting with them.
• +2 racial bonus on Diplomacy and Gather Information checks. Aelfborn are naturally persuasive, which helps them stay alive in a world that is sometimes harsh to those who are different.
• Weakness to Cold Iron: Aelfborn take 1 extra point of damage per attack from cold iron weapons. Like all creatures of Faerie, the aelfborn are susceptible to weapons forged of this material.
• Automatic Language: Regional human language, usually Arbonnesse, Genovan, or Sturmmen. Bonus Languages: Draconic, Faerie, Gnome, Gobbledygook, and regional human language (Arbonnesse, Eloi, Genovan, Sturmmen, Ulvmann, Vangal, and Vistani). Aelfborn sometimes learn the language of their fey forebears, as well as the language of dragons. They feel a certain kinship with the magically adept gnomes and the marginalized goblins, and so often learn their tongues as well.
• Favored Class: Bard. A multiclass aelfborn’s bard class does not count when determining whether she takes an experience point penalty for multiclassing (see XP for multiclass characters, page 60 of the Player’s Handbook). The magic of heart and song comes naturally to those born of Faerie.

 

[Evilhalfling]

Elves along with all magical creatures fled their own world to inhabit the human one 200 yrs before current day. They were instramental in the founding of two human universities of magic, but the current generation shows less intrest in the high arts.
The first commers - were adults when they arrived, some are still alive, some are even still sane (see sig)
First Child - an elf born in a babyboom generation after arriving in this world. They are the buercarats, the war and temple leaders - who generally get things done.
secondborn - elves born to a First Child, they are the current generation, usually with little poltical power. Most PCs are secondborn.

The Northern kingdom is called Lady's Forest and run by a firstcommer enchantress - they have nomadic society that wanders within her great wood.
They trade with the civilized humans and dwarves - but do not allow barbarian tribesmen to cross the river that divides the two socities.

The Southern tribe refered to as Elfhome. It is fragmented into 5 houses each lead by a firstcomer. Each house believes in a path of destiney for the elven race, from withdrawl, open trading, war on humanoids, absolute conservatism to free thinkers. Each house has a permanet base - and when an elf reaches adulthood s/he is allowed to change houses, if there is another that suits their personallity better. The houses meet in council seasonally, and vote on common problems.

No racial differences, just cultural ones, and favored class changes.
As far as anyone knows there are no dark or sea elves.

The western continent elves have withdrawn into their forest - protected by a barrier of music - (as sound burst to pass through) They have some limited trade with a single human city. Elven wanders tend not to take life very seriously. Mostly conisting of bards or druids.

 

[RangerWickett]

Four thousand years ago, the various Elvish nations ruled the majority of the two continents. Humans and Orcs lived in wilderness fringes, and the short Jispin folk were nomadic travelers who lived without borders.

Then a new group of humans arrived from across the eastern sea. They conquered the eastern coastal nation of Tundarasne and drove the surviving Elvish people west, to seek refuge among other nations of their people. Some Tundanesti were able to hide in the cold northern forests, but it was only a matter of time before humans found them.

This new human nation, the Seren Empire, grew in power over several centuries, and then it expanded again, using alliances with wilderness tribes of native humans to overthrow the nations of Innenotdarasne and Ragos, driving the Elves back from the northern continent until only Shahalos on the western shore was a haven for them. And then the Serens conquered that, establishing a new capital to celebrate their conquest of an entire continent.

The will of most of the Elves was crushed. The Serens allowed a few thousand nobles and survivors from Shahalos to settle in the Ycengled forest on the eastern shore, willing to let the Elves keep lands the humans felt they did not need. But refugees from the entire northern continent fled to Ycengled, hundreds of thousands over the decades. The final arrival was of those last Tundanesti, finally driven from their homeland, and the Taranesti of the southern continent, who had until then been left alone by the Serens.

The small forest nation was divided, light Elves (Shahalesti) and dark Elves (Taranesti), and though politicians provided peace, refugee warriors sought freedom. In an unlikely alliance, the Shahalesti joined forces with the Orcish tribes and native humans, and managed to sack the western capital of the Seren Empire.

Things might have ended there, with a strange unity of Elf, Orc, and Man standing against the Serens, but the Orcish warlord had gained possession of a powerful magic item that let him teleport armies. The Elves remained uncomfortable allies as the Orcish armies conquered the world, ignoring natural borders, bypassing armies, crushing all resistance until the Serens were no longer able to fight back.

Under the rule of this new Empire, the Shahalesti sought to rid themselves of the Taranesti, driving the dark Elves to flee to the only land the Orcish armies could not teleport -- the land below, the caves beneath the earth where the sun never shines.

Eventually this Empire passed, as all things must do, but the chaos that followed in its wake divided the Elvish people, scattered them amid struggling human nations and hundreds of Orc tribes reduced again to savages without their leader. Old grudges keep most humans wary of the Elves.

Today there are three major nations of Elves on the surface.

Tundanesti is a cold land of tundra, mountains, and forests, where much ancient magic lies. It is said that the Shahalesti Emperor who allied with the Orcs is hidden in an impenetrable tomb in a grove that never sees sunrise. The Tundanesti are perhaps the most historically-oppressed race in this world, having been driven from their homeland by armies, taken as slaves in the fall of the Empire, and distrusted by all nations around them. Yet they endure, though with much less land than what they once held.

Tundanesti strongly delineate magic and traditional skills, with only truly gifted Elves training in both skills. As the symbol of the old Shahalesti Emperor was a straight-bladed sword of light, the Tundanesti favor curved blades, and tend to revere the moon.


Innenlesti is a forest nation with an ally on one border, an enemy on its other. Nozama, a human nation to the south, treats the Innenlesti favorably, while Kequalak, a human nation to the north, seeks to take Elves as slaves. The Innenlesti benefit from ancient magical defenses created in the time when empires sought to control the world, though today they are more of an agricultural society. Fire tends to appear as a motif in many of their stories and myths. In combat they generally eschew heavy weapons and armor, preferring mobility and archery.


Aside from a few hundred years after the fall of the Elf-Orc Empire, the nation of Vaneljesti has been relatively stable. It has generally been left alone on the southern continent, while wars wracked the northern lands. The Vaneljesti view themselves as the purest race of Elves, and their traditions stretch back thousands of years. Families are important and complex, with any given Vaneljesti family having almost as much power as an entire human city. But the Vaneljesti are insular, possessing enough magic and natural resources that they trade for little. Indeed, many families employ skilled thieves to travel the world and steal things, rather than trade for them; in the right context, theft is a respected artform in Vaneljesti.

Though their lands do extend slightly beyond the woods of the great Vaneljesti Phuurst, the Vaneljesti have a strong tie to the trees of their homeland. Throughout the centuries, mages have shaped trees to act as libraries and spellbooks. Homes are built around, atop, or within trees. Some trees are magically animated to defend the nation's borders. An Elvish life parallels a tree's - very long, often stretching in numerous directions, but firmly rooted in the land that gave birth to it.


Additionally, on numerous islands in the Otdar Sea live the Kohalesti, brown-skinned Elves that may have been descended from the Taranesti of old. They travel all around the shores and islands of the sea, and are skilled stoneshapers, growing new land from the ocean when they need to expand, but they do not live the same culture that other humans or Elves do. The Kohalesti are the closest thing to tribal Elves found in the modern day, and while the humans of the coastal nations value Kohalesti as navigators and guides, few Kohalesti want to leave their island homes.


There is no statistical difference between Elves of different nations.