
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.
Placing the Elf as the variable in “mating” (as l see no way it would be voluntary for some of the Casts of Elven Hierarchy) then the age of the Half-Elf should follow an appropriate division of traits according to the gene mix. If you compare High Elves and Grey Elves you will see that a High Elves average Lifespan is 1500 years. Now look at the Grey Elves in comparison they live from 100 to 500 years longer than the High Elves on average.
So my question is how would properly calculate the average lifespan of a Half-Grey Elf or A Half-High Elf for that matter?
Grey Elves
Grey elves built the old elven cities which now stand abandoned or were given up to other races as they moved through. They are more given to intellect than other elves, but physically weaker. They practice the oldest elven arts, but hide from the eyes of younger, shorter lived races in their isolated settlements. Grey elves are typically reclusive, especially when surrounded by hostile human settlements, but some grey elf cultures are militant in nature. In Sunndi and the Vast Swamp, Grey elves are unusually aggressive to outsiders. They are thinner than high elves, and have either silver hair and amber eyes or pale golden hair and violet eyes. The latter sort are generally called faeries. They wear complex gowns and flowing robes, favouring clothes the colour of pure driven snow, the noon day sun, silver and gold, with accessories of polished leather, and contrasting colours and jewels. Their cloaks are often deep blue or purple. For battle grey elves favour plate or chainmail, with winged helmets. They live beyond the age of 1,500 years, sometimes reaching 2,000 years. They're known to use Hippogriffs or even Griffins as mounts.
Appear in: 1e; Monster Manual 1 (1977), Dungeon Masters Guide (1979), World of Greyhawk (Boxed Set) (1983), Unearthed Arcana (1985). 2e; Complete Book of Elves (1992), Greyhawk: The Adventure Begins (1998). 3.5- Living Greyhawk Gazetteer (2000), Monster Manual, (2003).
- My character (yet to be named) only stays in one place in each fake identity for so long, (a decade or two, perhaps), so people don't get suspicious of her... not aging.
- She's able to have fake identities as both humans and elves ;] it also helps that she knows both human and elvish
- Her mom is a high elf, her dad is a human. (She was raised by her dad though, so spends more time with humans. She was given an elven name by her mother, though, before her mom went to jail for murder)
- She's 5'6 (quite literally between 5' and 6' because why not)
I love playing as half elves because there's so much room for drama in the backstories
Please add a eladrin halfelf variant to the choices. I want fey step instead of skill versatility.
Weird Question, but does a half-elf have to be half-human, or can you have half-elf and half tiefling?
I am doing a biuld on a male, wood half-elf, hunter, monk and that's just about all I got right now
I am playing as a half elf 🧝♂️ paladin
i just started last year and this race was the right choice
Love half-elves, they're great. A little op sometimes, but if you play your cards right, their perfect.
I am Creating a Halfling/Wood Elf Hybrid Dragon Sorcerer for my first novel. Does anyone have any ideas on names and if he would be the height & Weight of a halfling or wood elf?
I'm creating a half-elf who is a ranger druid. It is OP!!!
This is really helpful and I’m very glad to have found this, I’m new to dnd and I’ve been looking at each of the character race’s there are. This one really caught my eye and I’m glad I clicked on it. Thank you!
:>
I'm making a character bases off Jack Black.
He is half elf bard
I'm stuck on if I should just do plain run of the mill half elf, or use one of the different types like wood half elf.
Any suggestions?
I want to add wizard and Druid and rouge to him
Half elf paladin!
Wow haven't played since 1st edition to open this site to Tanis and Flint from Dragonlance has blown me away aaah the nostalgia
Do you have the races of Dhampir in a DnD
I think that they are Just perfect for rangers
Cleric
half-elf
tempest
Sailor
Such a cool race! :)