When Spelljammer: Adventures in Space cruises in from Wildspace, we'll be introduced to spacefaring races for players to use in their adventures—among which are the astral elves! These otherworldly beings set their sights beyond the mortal realm and have chosen to live on the plane of thought and dream, the Astral Plane. Their deep connection to this vast ocean of adventure allows them to channel the plane's signature celestial light, tap into the knowledge of the multiverse, and achieve immortality.
Today, we’ll reveal some lore behind the astral elves, take a look at their traits, and discuss what kinds of characters you could create with these starry-eyed creatures!
- Elves ... From Space!
- Astral Elf Racial Traits
- An Astral Elf's Outlook on Life
- Building Your Astral Elf Character
Elves ... From Space!
After leaving the side of their god, Corellon, on the Outer Plane of Arborea, astral elves sought to be closer to their deities and thus traveled to the Astral Plane—a realm that connects the Material Plane with the Outer Planes of the gods.
Among the endless silver waves of the Astral Plane, creatures become untethered from their mortal needs. Those that pass into the plane of thought and dream do not age, and they shed the need for air, food, or water. This allows astral elves to live forever as long as they avoid death by some other means.
Astral Elf Racial Traits
Like their cousins from the Feywild and Shadowfell, the astral elves’ Starlight Step grants them the ability to teleport as a bonus action. While Starlight Step doesn’t have a rider effect like the eladrin’s Fey Step or the shadar-kai’s Blessing of the Raven Queen, being able to essentially cast misty step for free a couple of times a day or more is something that most characters dream of!
The starlight theme doesn't stop there! Thanks to their relationship with the celestial realm of the Astral Plane, astral elves get access to some divine cantrips that are typically reserved for clerics, sacred flame being chief among them. This stellar cantrip can be a tool in any character's utility belt as it deals radiant damage, which is rarely resisted, and targets Dexterity saving throws, which can be useful to exploit the weakness of certain creatures.
On top of all these astral-themed goodies, the astral elf also gets access to a trait similar to the githyanki's Astral Knowledge. This feature allows your astral elf to tap into the knowledge of the infinite multiverse to pick up a skill and a weapon or tool proficiency of your choice each long rest. This enables cool builds that otherwise rely on out-of-reach weapon proficiencies—I'm looking at you heavy crossbow-wielding rogue. Having a proficiency for whatever challenges you're expecting that day can go a long way, too!
We’ll have to wait until Spelljammer: Adventures in Space releases to see the full extent of the astral elf's racial features. For now, let's take a look at what it might be like to meet an astral elf!
An Astral Elf’s Outlook on Life
Just as the Feywild made eladrin emotional and passionate, and the Shadowfell made shadar-kai dreary and somber, the Astral Plane has strongly influenced the behavior of astral elves.
The near-immortality granted by the Astral Plane means time has little meaning for astral elves, even more so than for other elves. The timelessness of an astral elf usually makes them appear melancholic or emotionless to creatures who are affected by the passage of time. Those that seek the aid of astral elves may be frustrated to find that denizens of the Astral Plane usually have no want or need to intervene in scenarios that can simply be waited out.
That’s not to say that all astral elves are averse to adventure. Astral elves that have grown bored with the monotony of everlasting life may be intrigued, for example, by a group of hot-headed, gun-wielding giff.
Building Your Astral Elf Character
The astral elves’ connection to the Astral Plane and timeless, emotionless nature makes them work better for some classes than others. Classes fueled by emotion may be hard to fit with the stoic nature of an astral elf. On the other hand, classes that focus on spiritual fortitude or patient training will be a perfect fit for an astral elf’s personality.
Artificer. Due to their extraordinarily long life span, astral elves often seek creative outlets to occupy their time. This could allow them to master the necessary skills to become an artificer: deft fingers, a keen eye, and an urge for innovation.
Cleric. Most astral elves originally traveled to the Astral Plane to be closer to their gods. Whether they worship Corellon or follow the teachings of another deity, astral elves have a particular inclination to walk the path of a cleric. Imbued with the divine light of the Astral Plane, most astral elves will follow domains of Knowledge, Arcana, or Light. That said, the proximity of the Astral Plane to the Outer Planes could allow for a connection to any deity, even one typically unaligned with an astral elf’s values. The free addition of sacred flame will allow your astral elf to pick up other needed cantrips (guidance, anyone?).
Fighter. An astral elf with centuries ahead and behind them might devote themselves to an art form that transcends traditional mediums. Studying the art of war with the cool perspective granted by everlasting life could make an astral elf the perfect Battle Master or Samurai. Plus, the bonus action teleportation you gain from Starlight Step will be a huge boost to your battlefield mobility.
Monk. The rigorous lifestyle and spiritual enlightenment needed to become a monk makes them an ideal choice for astral elves. The astral elf's spiritual nature allows them to thrive at the intense training needed to tap into their body’s ki. An astral elf following the Way of the Astral Self could be trying to permanently separate their body from their astral form, using their connection to the Astral Plane to further their divine mission. On the other hand, an astral elf that follows the Way of the Open Hand could have dedicated their long-lasting life to becoming the ultimate master of martial arts combat. Because monks typically pump their Wisdom modifiers, sacred flame would be a sweet pickup for a ranged option.
Wizard. Wizards are known for their obsessive studying and ability to draw power from intelligence rather than emotion. These facets suit the astral elf’s predisposition, whose long lifespan allows them to research and discover the secrets behind manipulating the universe's fundamental forces. As a wizard, more spell resources like sacred flame and the teleportation offered by Starlight Step are always welcome. Wizards can also make great use of the ability to change out skill proficiencies on a long rest. Need to become an expert in Nature overnight? Just tap into your multiversal knowledge and away you go!
Breaking the Mold
Not all astral elves are aloof immortals. Some might find purpose in telling the stories they learned over their long life, thus making perfect bards. Others might have formed a connection to Pandemonium, an Outer Plane of madness and howling winds, and can channel their connection into a barbaric Rage.
The Wonders of Wildspace Await!
The astral elves are only a glimpse into the unique character options contained within Spelljammer: Adventures in Space, which releases on August 16. The stoic nature of astral elves serves as a counterbalance to the raucous adventures you’ll enjoy while traversing the far reaches of Wildspace and the Astral Sea. Will the astral elves you come across be friends or foes to your party? Only time will tell!
Mike Bernier (@arcane_eye) is the founder of Arcane Eye, a site focused on providing useful tips and tricks to all those involved in the world of D&D. Outside of writing for Arcane Eye, Mike spends most of his time playing games, hiking with his girlfriend, and tending the veritable jungle of houseplants that have invaded his house.
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Posted Jul 24, 202214 if you count blood hunter
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Posted Jul 24, 2022but yeah your right
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Posted Jul 24, 2022especially when updated rules can have you mix and match and make any race basically whatever you want it to be anyway..... i never thought i'd be getting... ehhhh... like some of the concepts are interesting but also hate how it basically manipulated however you want anyway. /rant
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Posted Jul 24, 2022Boy if that ain't the truth.
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Posted Jul 24, 2022The only problem is that Wizards is pretty much purely pro money and it's much faster, cheaper, and easier to balance a few races than develope sub-classes.
That's the same reason why they still haven't taken the time over the course of owning D&D to actually make the books work well as referantial manuals and instead we've ended up here, on DNDBeyond, where it's been made searchable. And now that the work has mostly been done and they're making money with it, Wizards bought this too.
Hasbro's (Wizard's parent company) decisions are demonstrably about money and not at all about maintaining cohesion amongst their current audience. They're, unfortunately, always trying to expand it to those who don't have an interest in their games at the moment. This is happening in Magic the Gathering and appears to be slowly creeping into D&D and I'm concerned with where it might go. As it stands with MtG, the blatant cross promotion with properties like Stranger Things, The Walking Dead, Godzilla, general anime things and whatnot, saps the stylized flavor and story out of the game and feels like I'm playing Doritos brand Magic cards. Seeing them pick up and run hard with the whole Vecna thing as soon as it gained any notoriety in the modern zeitgeist immediately became concerning to me. I don't mind them adding different distinct campaign settings, however, the fact that they made a Rick and Morty D&D adventure and a Strange Things one as well are concerning to me.
We are all capable of the homebrewing of stuff like that plenty on our own Wizards/Hasbro, that's part of the damn fun of making referential character or using a catchphrase from time to time. But I swear to the many D&D gods, if you keep trying to sell me a Disney/Marvel/Star Wars collaboration brought to me with special codes by Mountain Dew to unlock new feats or whatever other dumb crazy CEO in a boardroom is touching himself over the idea of, I will drop all of this in a heartbeat, just like I have for Magic.
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Posted Jul 24, 2022As opposed to 2e, which had at least 77 player races (not including a bunch a variants like different types of elves), or 3e which had a literally incalculable number including things like literal intelligent stingrays and vast swaths of the monster manuals.
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Posted Jul 25, 2022You know I guess that makes senesce.
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Posted Jul 25, 2022I Agree with all coments
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Posted Jul 25, 2022I think it's looking a tad busted, ngl. I'm concerned that this is the start of a motif.
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Posted Jul 25, 2022I for one enjoy the fact that elves are so varied and diverse. Corelion and Gruumesh battled across the cosmos. Where Corelions blood fell, elves did grow and flourish. Wild space seems a perfect place to find elven kind considering how far-flung that primordial battle was....For that matter, Space faring orcs are a thing, right? Oh, it's a thing!! WAHHHH!
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Posted Jul 25, 2022Ah, elves. The planar cockroach.
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Posted Jul 26, 2022This sounds very interesting with the astral elves, but I think its time to move on from elves and make way for a new class, or maybe introduce a new race and since we have multitudes of different races based on the many different species I believe they missed out on one, a dog like race since we have cats why not dogs
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Posted Jul 26, 2022When is the release date?
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Posted Jul 26, 2022Yay more elves 🙄
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Posted Jul 26, 2022Ik it's so exiting :)
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Posted Jul 26, 2022This subrace sounds extremly fun and I am very excited to play as one.
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Posted Jul 26, 2022I don't think more elves, and more OP immortal elves is what 5e needed..
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Posted Jul 26, 2022Interesting but between Tasha and MoTM most races are flavored variant human / custom lineage anyways as so much is adjustable or 'removeable for uniqueness'.
I'd rather have adjusted classes or sub-classes that fix some of the broken aspects of 5e (spell >>> anything else or optimized AS >>> uniqueness).
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Posted Jul 26, 2022Oh yeah. I had an idea for German themed dwarves for my setting (to break the whole Scottish/Scandinavian dwarf mold) and it would be cool to see what else could come out of the mountains instead of the forests.
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Posted Jul 26, 2022I aready agreed with the first Quote and yeah i want to see 10 dwarf subraces
Edit: Elfs are still my favorite race, but you can see where Where were going with this.