Homebrew Ascendant Elf Species Details

"I have never imagined such beauty existed,”  SIlvermoon said softly.  It had been difficult to gain the loyalist's trust, but years of effort were about to finally pay off.

Before him was an alabaster figure, sitting with its head downcast, as if deep in thought, upon what appeared to be a throne of pure mithril.  The Elf was garbed in a midnight robe, affixed with stunning gems dotted across in strange patterns, and upon its head sat a thin-golden crown.  Silvermoon began to step forward, but his body refused to budge.  It was if he was held in place by the gravity of such a supreme being's presence.  As he stood there frozen, his mind began to wander to the old horror stories of his youth, tales of never-ending torture and the creation of the monsters of the wilds.  He shook his head and took a deep breath.  He had come much too far to turn back now.  He had to know the truth. 

As he cautiously continued his approach, the figure’s face, previously obscured by flowing, silvery hair, slowly looked up and gazed in his direction.  “Such perfection,” he gaped, awestruck by the Elves' features and stunning gold eyes. His mortal mind struggled to process how such an ancient being, supposedly older than the eternal empire itself, could retain such iridescent beauty. Yet… as Silvermoon's gaze settled upon those golden eyes... the awe began to fade away.  "…There’s nothing there...”  And at that moment, he realized he would never find the truth. 

- Veeta Melniir, Lies of the gods

 

Elves are the rarest and most precious of all the god’s creations.  Self-proclaimed saviors of humanity, it is said in that the first elves emerged from the ashes’ of an incredibly ancient human-led civilization and brought mankind back from the brink.  Smarter, more beauteous, and far more graceful than the lesser races - few in history have doubted the superiority of the elves.  They ruled over all creation for countless millennia.  However, since the fall of the “everlasting” empire, the elven order has all but disappeared. Very few elves remain, most of them incredibly young and raised by human parents who know nothing of the old elvish ways. 

Slender and Graceful

With their unearthly grace and fine features, elves appear hauntingly beautiful to humans and members of many other races. They are much taller than humans on average, ranging from just under 6 feet tall to just over 7 feet. They are also more slender than humans, weighing only 130 to 175 pounds despite their height. Males and females are about the same height, and males are only marginally heavier than females.

Elves’ coloration encompasses the normal human range and also includes skin in shades of copper, bronze, and almost bluish-white, long hair colored blonde bordering on white or dark bordering, but never quite reaching jet black, and eyes like pools of liquid gold or silver. Elves have no facial and little body hair. They favor elegant clothing in regal colors, and refined accessories. 

A Timeless Perspective

Elves are biologically immortal. Their long lives give them a broad perspective on events that might trouble the shorter-lived races more deeply.  The worries of mere-mortals are pathetic matters to the typical elf.  They are more often amused than excited, and more likely to be curious than greedy. They tend to remain aloof and unfazed by petty happenstance. When pursuing a goal, however, whether adventuring on a mission or learning a new skill or art, elves can be focused and relentless. They are slow to make friends and enemies, and even slower to forget them. They reply to petty insults with disdain and to serious insults with vengeance.

The Crushing Weight of Immortality 

Despite their biological immortality, most elves fail to make it past their first millennia.  Existence is, in many ways, suffering and time does little to heal the wounds of the past.  Instead, every wound builds upon the last until it just becomes too much to handle.  It is at this point, usually around several centuries into their lives, many elves suffer severe mental breakdowns and/or choose to end their lives. Many elves have come to view their immortality as more of a test - or curse - than a gift.  It is said in the days of the empire there were a variety of institutions to deal with this problem of immortality more handily, but they have been lost to time. 

Biological Perfection and Curious Origins

The body of elves mature at the same rate as humans… to a point. After reaching the age of 25, elves cease to age and their bodies continuously regenerate their cells, giving them biological immortality.  Their brains continue developing until age 100. Elves can either be produced by the union of two elves, an elf and a human, or two humans. In any of such pairings, a true elven child is only born 1 out of tens of thousands of pairings making elves exceedingly rare. 

Experimentation and Control

Elves are famously intense in their curiosity and creativity.  It is said that all of the races, other than humans, are products of elven design and experimentation.  Many modern elves take up in this old tradition but under significantly more restraints as many of the other races distrust continued elven meddling with nature.  For elves with less of a knack for creativity, social manipulation and control is their preferred art. 

Mistrusted and Feared

Since the loss of their elevated station, elves are largely viewed with a mixture of mistrust, awe, and fear by the other races.  Many stories remain of their cruelty and the vast majority of elder elves have either been hunted down and killed or are hidden away.  Some races, such as the dwarves, hold deep grudges against the elves and would prefer for them to be wiped out completely.  Others, especially humans who are often the parents of elven children, still try to cling to the old ways and continue to hold elves in high regard.  Loyalist factions go as far as to try to continue the ways of the old empire and try to appoint elves as their leaders (though the Elves themselves are often ill-equpied for such responsibilities).

Elf Names

The vast majority of modern elves were raised by humans are often have common human names.  For those rare enough to be a child of an elf, they instead may be named in elvish (think Tolkein names).

 

Ascendant Elf Traits

Your elf character has a variety of natural abilities, the result of thousands of years of elven refinement.

Ability Score Increase

Your Intelligence score increases by 2 and your charisma score increases by 1.

Age

Elves are biologically immortal and may live forever unless killed.  Elves reach a human-level maturity and cease to physically age upon becoming 25, however, their brain continues to develop until they are a hundred.

Alignment

Elves are aloof and, while being immensely curious, often desire to establish control over their surroundings.  Only the meekest of elves will accept the commands of lesser races. They are generally true-neutral or chaotic neutral. 

Size

Elves range from under 6 to over 7 feet tall and have slender builds. Your size is Medium.

Speed

Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Impenetrable Mind

Your thoughts cannot be read by someone with an INT lower than yours and you have advantage on charm saving throws.

Arcane Insight

You can see the weave with far more clarity than other races.  You may innately gain the benefits of the detect magic spell once per short rest.

Trance

Elves don’t need to sleep. Instead, they meditate deeply, remaining semiconscious, for 4 hours a day. (The Common word for such meditation is “trance.”) While meditating, you can dream after a fashion; such dreams are actually mental exercises that have become reflexive through years of practice. After resting in this way, you gain the same benefit that a human does from 8 hours of sleep.

Children of the gods

Starting at 3rd level, you gain strange new abilities linked to your “divine” heritage.  Choose one of the following abilities to gain (Aspect of Terror, Master of Creation, or Psychic Manipulator).

Languages

You can speak, read, and write Common, Elvish, and one non-exotic language of your choice.