Half-Elf
Legacy
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Species Details
Flint squinted into the setting sun. He thought he saw the figure of a man striding up the path. Standing, Flint drew back into the shadow of a tall pine to see better. The man’s walk was marked by an easy grace—an elvish grace, Flint would have said; yet the man’s body had the thickness and tight muscles of a human, while the facial hair was definitely humankind’s. All the dwarf could see of the man’s face beneath a green hood was tan skin and a brownish-red beard. A longbow was slung over one shoulder and a sword hung at his left side. He was dressed in soft leather, carefully tooled in the intricate designs the elves loved. But no elf in the world of Krynn could grow a beard
. . . no elf, but . . .“Tanis?” said Flint hesitantly as the man neared.
“The same.” The newcomer’s bearded face split in a wide grin. He held open his arms and, before the dwarf could stop him, engulfed Flint in a hug that lifted him off the ground. The dwarf clasped his old friend close for a brief instant, then, remembering his dignity, squirmed and freed himself from the half-elf’s embrace.
Walking in two worlds but truly belonging to neither, half-elves combine what some say are the best qualities of their elf and human parents: human curiosity, inventiveness, and ambition tempered by the refined senses, love of nature, and artistic tastes of the elves. Some half-elves live among humans, set apart by their emotional and physical differences, watching friends and loved ones age while time barely touches them. Others live with the elves, growing restless as they reach adulthood in the timeless elven realms, while their peers continue to live as children. Many half-elves, unable to fit into either society, choose lives of solitary wandering or join with other misfits and outcasts in the adventuring life.
Of Two Worlds
To humans, half-elves look like elves, and to elves, they look human. In height, they’re on par with both parents, though they’re neither as slender as elves nor as broad as humans. They range from under 5 feet to about 6 feet tall, and from 100 to 180 pounds, with men only slightly taller and heavier than women. Half-elf men do have facial hair, and sometimes grow beards to mask their elven ancestry. Half-elven coloration and features lie somewhere between their human and elf parents, and thus show a variety even more pronounced than that found among either race. They tend to have the eyes of their elven parents.
Diplomats or Wanderers
Half-elves have no lands of their own, though they are welcome in human cities and somewhat less welcome in elven forests. In large cities in regions where elves and humans interact often, half-elves are sometimes numerous enough to form small communities of their own. They enjoy the company of other half-elves, the only people who truly understand what it is to live between these two worlds.
In most parts of the world, though, half-elves are uncommon enough that one might live for years without meeting another. Some half-elves prefer to avoid company altogether, wandering the wilds as trappers, foresters, hunters, or adventurers and visiting civilization only rarely. Like elves, they are driven by the wanderlust that comes of their longevity. Others, in contrast, throw themselves into the thick of society, putting their charisma and social skills to great use in diplomatic roles or as swindlers.
Half-Elf Names
Half-elves use either human or elven naming conventions. As if to emphasize that they don’t really fit in to either society, half-elves raised among humans are often given elven names, and those raised among elves often take human names.
EXCELLENT AMBASSADORS
Many half-elves learn at an early age to get along with everyone, defusing hostility and finding common ground. As a race, they have elven grace without elven aloofness and human energy without human boorishness. They often make excellent ambassadors and go-betweens (except between elves and humans, since each side suspects the half-elf of favoring the other).
Half-Elf Variants
Some half-elves in Faerûn have a racial trait in place of the Skill Versatility trait. If your DM allows it, your half-elf character can forgo Skill Versatility and instead take the elf trait Keen Senses or a trait based on your elf parentage:
Half-Elf Traits
Your half-elf character has some qualities in common with elves and some that are unique to half-elves.Ability Score Increase
Your Charisma score increases by 2, and two other ability scores of your choice increase by 1.
Age
Half-elves mature at the same rate humans do and reach adulthood around the age of 20. They live much longer than humans, however, often exceeding 180 years.
Size
Half-elves are about the same size as humans, ranging from 5 to 6 feet tall. Your size is Medium.
Speed
Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Darkvision
Thanks to your elf blood, 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.
Fey Ancestry
You have advantage on saving throws against being charmed, and magic can’t put you to sleep.
Skill Versatility
You gain proficiency in two skills of your choice.
Languages
You can speak, read, and write Common, Elvish, and one extra language of your choice.
I think I'm actually addicted to half-elves. Most character concepts I come up with involve some sort of versatility and this race can facilitate. Charisma is always useful but then there's the increase to two other ability scores of your choosing and skill versatility which allows for variety with half-elven character. Love the mechanics.
I like them too
I got 2 19's, 3 20's and an 18 for rolls on my druid this race is perfect
I love half-elves. The fact that you gain proficiency two skills and an increase of two ability scores of your choice really underlines the flexibility of this race. With that, they can be good at almost any class.
I’m gonna play a Half-Elf Paladin 😀
where do you find languages
Has anyone had experience with a dm allowing the variant half elf in their game? Seems a bit op to me. But I've never had anyone play one. You're feed back is much appreciated
I'm currently making a Half-Sun Elf Celestial Warlock, but I'm just sticking with the Skill Versatility and passing on the special High Elf stuff since the wording kinda seems to me like it's a choice up to the player. My DM is allowing for it because the Sun Elf situation kinda matters for my backstory and I'm doing it in a way that doesn't alter my stats.
I'm making a bard, and half elves look great
Having fun with my first DnD character as a half-elf. To add to the conflicting personality, I made it a druid outlander. To quote Shrek: The Musical, "I'm a mess of contradictions in a dress." It's always a laugh to me when my DM/GM comments "but you're a druid.." when I do Outlander-ish things that a druid might not exactly do. And yet, because of me being slightly chaotic, I somehow tend to be the most level of the group with my husband who's an "act first, think last" dragonborne paladin and his coworker who's a human warlocke named "warlocke"
I was thinking of making a Half-Elf fighter but maybe it would be easier to be a human fighter. Any thoughts?
I made a Half-Drow Arcane Archer. Haven't played her yet. But I think it's going to be really fun.
They seem as fair as Mountain Dwarfs, +4 stats and passive resist, great for making paladins or bards and choosing the last 2 stats can make for some nice multi classing options.
Half-Elves are ridiculously good, especially for Paladins, Sorcerers, and Warlocks. +2 to the main casting stat plus 2 +1s into your secondaries? Then you add on 2 free skills and fey ancestry and you're really just a better human. It's really hard to justify not being a half-elf from a powergamer's perspective.
With the new Eberron material, am I reading the variants right. So you get the plus two for CHA and plus one to two other abilities for the race. Then for the sub race/ variant if you take a house Lyrandar you get an additional plus one two CHA and dex and one other ability. Giving a total of plus 3 CHA plus one dex and plus one to 3 other ability scores, which in theory could be plus two depending on how you allocate the increases between sub race and race.
No. The traits from the Eberron content REPLACE the traits from the regular half-elves, including the ability score increases.
Thank you. I read the actual material and found that afterwards. I was just looking at the variant race section in DnD beyond and no the actual content for Eberron.
would a half-elf fit the warlock/ranger I will make? The plan is to shoot a arrows and eldritch blast the enemy away from you. Having high charisma would make my eldritch blast very powerful and being able to boost my dex and constitution would be nice.
Hello. In the description of Mark of the Storm Half Elf it describes its racial traits as +2 Charisma, +1 to two other ability scores, etc.
However the ability scores in the drop down menu, gives you:
+1 Dexterity & +1 Charisma instead of +2 to charisma.
And 1 extra point to allocate where you desire instead of two.
I'm a little confused, is there an error in the description or in the drop down menu?
It says I have "Skill Versatility" as a High Half-Elf, but the option is not showing up to choose two skills on the character creation of DnDBeyond.