Homebrew Cmike's Elf Species Details

This is intended to be a sped up approach to creating an elf of any kind, from high, wood, dark, sea, shadow, etc.  Feel free to work with the dm on what makes elves in your game unique and special beyond the mechanical suggestions put here.
They have 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. Elves take up adventuring out of wanderlust. Since they are so long-lived, they can enjoy centuries of exploration and discovery. 

Elves do not die, as canon to D&D, they instead are always reincarnated, traditionally into another elf, but sometimes on the rare chance they come back as a new race or creature, they will live a whole life as that creature, never knowing they were an elf until after death when they once again are born as an elf and learn to trance.  This gives them mountains of knowledge and wisdom onto of their extended life span when it comes to comparing them to other races and creatures.

 Elves can live to be over 750 years old.

Creating Your Character

At 1st level, you choose whether your character is a member of the human race or of a fantastical race. If you select a fantastical race such as the Half-Elf in this section, follow these additional rules during character creation.

Ability Score Increases

When determining your character’s ability scores, increase one score by 2 and increase a different score by 1, or increase three different scores by 1. You can’t raise any of your scores above 20.

Languages

Your character can speak, read, and write Common and one other language that you and your DM agree is appropriate for the character. The Player’s Handbook offers a list of languages to choose from. The DM is free to modify that list for a campaign.

Creature Type

Every creature in D&D, including each player character, has a special tag in the rules that identifies the type of creature they are. Most player characters are of the Humanoid type. A race in this chapter tells you what your character’s creature type is.

Here’s a list of the game’s creature types in alphabetical order: Aberration, Beast, Celestial, Construct, Dragon, Elemental, Fey, Fiend, Giant, Humanoid, Monstrosity, Ooze, Plant, Undead. These types don’t have rules themselves, but some rules in the game affect creatures of certain types in different ways. For example, the cure wounds spell doesn’t work on a Construct or an Undead.

Life Span

The typical life span of a player character in the D&D multiverse is about a century, assuming the character doesn’t meet a violent end on an adventure. Members of some races, such as dwarves and elves, can live for centuries.

Height and Weight

Player characters, regardless of race, typically fall into the same ranges of height and weight that humans have in our world. If you’d like to determine your character’s height or weight randomly, consult the Random Height and Weight table in the Player’s Handbook, and choose the row in the table that best represents the build you imagine for your character.

 

Cmike's Elf Traits

As an Elf you have the following traits

Creature Type

You are a Humanoid but are also considered a Fey for any prerequisite or effect that requires you to be a Fey.

Size

You are Medium.

Speed

Your walking speed is 30 feet.

Darkvision

You can see in dim light within 30 ft. of you as if it were bright light and in darkness as if it were dim light and discern colors in that darkness as 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.
The Season you were born may have minor influence on your personality.

Autumn is the season of peace and goodwill, when summer’s harvest is shared with all.

Winter is the season of contemplation and dolor, when the vibrant energy of the world slumbers.

Spring is the season of cheerfulness and celebration, marked by merriment as winter’s sorrow passes.

Summer is the season of boldness and aggression, a time of unfettered energy.

Trance

You don’t need to sleep, and magic can’t put you to sleep. You can finish a long rest in 4 hours if you spend those hours in a trancelike meditation, during which you retain consciousness.

Whenever you finish this trance, you can gain two proficiencies that you don’t have, each one with a weapon or a tool of your choice selected from the Player’s Handbook. You mystically acquire these proficiencies by drawing them from shared elven memory, and you retain them until you finish your next long rest.

Elven Magic

An Elf born under the moon or sun, determines your Elven Magic.
You know one cantrip of your choice from the wizard spell list.

Starting at 3rd level, you can cast the invisibility spell if you were born under the moon or see invisibility spell if you were born under the sun.  Once you cast with this trait, you can’t cast your chosen spell with it again until you finish a long rest. You can also cast your chosen spell using any spell slots you have of the appropriate level.

Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these spells when you cast them with this trait (choose when you select this race).