Homebrew Brekka'n Elf Species Details

Mountain Halls deep underground, or guilds of artificers travelling in a nomadic caravan. Elfs in Brekka strive for purpose and work. They generally don't like to be controlled and think highly of their families, houses, guilds, clans or race as a whole

All Bark, All Bite

Bold and hardy, elfs are known as intense warriors, precise and skilled miners, and workers of stone and metal. They generally stand at between 5' 10" and 6'5" Their courage, endurance and pride make them rememberable characters. Elfs tend to either have a strong hatred towards an individual or feel a deep kinship and protectiveness with a companion.

Elf'n complexion varies from land to land, dark skin is more common in Darna and Silvalle, while paler elfs are seen more often in Umga and Beftaar. They usually have long hair of any colour, with more high born elfs often magically alter the way it looks. Elfs can't grow facial hair naturally but yet again some nobles wish to conform and so seek illusions to remedy this.

Long Memory, Long Grudges

Elfs can live to be more than 400 years old, so the oldest living Elfs often remember a very different world. For example, some of the oldest elfs living long after the turning can remember long before the war when people lived without real knowledge of the gods. These elders are greatly respected and looked up to as they become sparse in an aging world and this longevity grants them a perspective on the world that shorter-lived races such as humans and halflings lack.

Elfs are solid, rugged and enduring like the mountains they love, weathering the passage of centuries with stoic endurance and little change. They respect the traditions of their clans, tracing their ancestry back to the founding of their most ancient strongholds in the youth of the world, and don’t abandon those traditions lightly. Part of those traditions is devotion to the gods especially Жaydubbe and Ûgaarsĭ, who created the dwarves in the creation.

Individual elfs are headstrong and fierce, true to their word and decisive in action, often to the point of stubbornness. Most elfs have a strong sense of justice, and they are slow to forget wrongs they have suffered. A wrong done to one elf is a wrong done to the elf’s entire clan, so what begins as one elf’s hunt for vengeance can become a full-blown clan or house feud.

Clans and Kingdoms

 

Organisations only have one thing in common, they work together. Apart from that, they have different political systems, different jobs, different cultures and different names. However, elfs are usually organised into either clans, guilds or members of a noble house.

Clans are non-noble families that have massive halls in castles or labyrinthine mining tunnels underground. They are like the houses but without any ruling authority over how the land is governed.

Guilds are large groups of elfs brought together by a common profession, such as the miners' guild or guild of blacksmiths. They work together and sell their wares to a code, working in each others' interest instead of competing. They also bring back advice and complaints to the rulers of the land.

Some of the Noble houses are mad up by Elfs so they govern the land like all the others.

Gods, Gold, and Clan

Elfs who take up the adventuring life might be motivated by a desire for treasure—for its own sake, for a specific purpose, or even out of an altruistic desire to help others. Other elfs are driven by the command or inspiration of a deity, a direct calling or simply a desire to bring glory to the gods. Clan and ancestry are also important motivators. An elf might seek to restore a clan’s lost honor, avenge an ancient wrong the clan suffered, or earn a new place within the clan after having been exiled. Or an elf might search for the axe wielded by a mighty ancestor, lost on the field of battle centuries ago.

SLOW TO TRUST

Elfs get along passably well with most other races. “The difference between an acquaintance and a friend is about a hundred years,” is an elf saying that might be hyperbole, but certainly points to how difficult it can be for a member of a short-lived race like orcs to earn an elf's trust.

Dwarfs. “The dwarfs are fickle and driven by their own interests. They would just as easily sell you to the enemy than save you from a spear flying at the back of your head." As much as elfs would never admit it, they are too much like the dwarfs to get a long at first meeting. They both work for themselves and so are generally incompatable unless a mutual trust is established for a certain reason.

Halflings. “Sure, they’re pleasant folk. But show me a halfling hero. An empire, a triumphant army. Even a treasure for the ages made by halfling hands. Nothing. How can you take them seriously?”

Humans. “You take the time to get to know a human, and by then the human’s on her deathbed. If you’re lucky, she’s got kin—a daughter or granddaughter, maybe—who’s got hands and heart as good as hers. That’s when you can make a human friend. And watch them go! They set their hearts on something, they’ll get it, whether it’s a dragon’s hoard or an empire’s throne. You have to admire that kind of dedication, even if it gets them in trouble more often than not.” 

Subrace

Two main subraces of elfs populate the worlds of D&D: Surface Elfs and Mountain Elfs. Choose one of these subraces or one from another source.

 

Brekka'n Elf Traits

Your dwarf character has an assortment of inborn abilities, part and parcel of dwarven nature.

Ability Score Increase

 Your Intelligence score increases by 1.Your Constitution score increases by 1.

Age

Elfs mature at the same rate as humans, but they’re considered young until they reach the age of 45. On average, they live about 350 years.

Alignment

Most elfs are lawful, believing firmly in the benefits of a well-ordered society. They tend toward good as well, with a strong sense of fair play and a belief that everyone deserves to share in the benefits of a just order.

Size

Elfs stand between 5'10" and 6'5" and average about 150 pounds. Your size is Medium.

Speed

Your base walking speed is 30 feet. Your speed is not reduced by wearing heavy armor.

Darkvision

Accustomed to life underground, 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.

Elf'n Resilience

You have advantage on saving throws against poison, and you have resistance against poison damage (explained in the “Combat” section).

Elf'n Combat Training

Elfs are trained to either use dextrous and graceful weapons or go all out with the big guns. You have proficiency with the battleaxe, shortsword, warhammer and dagger.

Tool Proficiency

You gain proficiency with the artisan’s tools of your choice: smith’s tools, brewer’s supplies, or mason’s tools.

Stonecunning

Whenever you make an Intelligence (History) check related to the origin of stonework, you are considered proficient in the History skill and add double your proficiency bonus to the check, instead of your normal proficiency bonus.

Languages

You can speak, read, and write Common and Elf'n. Elf'n is full of hard consonants and guttural sounds, and those characteristics spill over into whatever other language a dwarf might speak.