Elves resemble young trees, amidst which most make their home. Thin and flexible, they contain a strength that is not readily apparent by looking at them. Their eyes and hair run a gamut of colors, from earth tones to metallic silvers, and their skin goes from an ethereal white to a deep tan. Though they are long-lived enough to appear almost immortal to humans, their frail bodies do not lend themselves to toughness or endurance. Elves have a great love of beauty and growing things, and many study dance or music as a human would study magic or war. Elven artistry is a thing to behold and their work in jewelry and sculpture is only rivaled by dwarves and gnomes.

To humans, and especially to the stolid dwarves, elves often seem frivolous and lazy. They rarely seem to work hard at anything, preferring to take their time and finish products piecemeal. However, this is merely an illusion of perspective. Where a human might feel the passing of seasons in his blood and rhythms, and a dwarf the passing of years, elves feel the passing of decades, and thus feel that their time is less limited. Since the time it takes an elf to reach maturity is longer than the human life span, they tend to view time as rather unimportant… after all, they have all the time in the world. Because of their long lives and view of time, few elves adventure as other races do, but rather spend their time on various projects and on the delights of this world. Those elves that do adventure, however, become well known, having careers that can span centuries.

Like the trees, elves can often seem aloof to other races. Indeed, many do hold themselves aloof or superior to the "lesser" races of the world. For many others, however, it is a defense mechanism. Since others live such short lives to an elf, they attempt to save themselves the pain of the parting of a friend or loved so soon after they’ve met. One an elf considers a friend likely has a friend for life… if not the lifetime of his descendants, as well. Those who an elf considers an enemy, however, will never be forgotten, and should look over their shoulders even when old and grey.

There are many varieties of elves, beyond the High elves described here. Aquatic elves live beneath the sea, and have so well adapted to life below the surface that most can no longer live above the waves for long. Dark elves, or drow, live beneath the ground, shunning and shunned by all that is good. Grey elves consider themselves the nobility of the elven race, and are both scholarly and haughty towards other races (and even other elves). Wood elves are more temperamental than other elves, and tend to live even closer to nature than their elven kin. Half-elves (explained later) are those elves who have human blood, and they are often treated poorly by both their human and elven kin.

Elven eyesight and hearing is incredibly keen, and their eyes are well suited to the dark. So long as there is light equivalent to starlight, elves can see almost perfectly. They also get a +1 to their perception scores when making a check or saving throw based on vision or hearing (in addition to their racial bonus). However, this sensitivity to light also hurts them, giving them a –2 to saving throws to avoid blindness caused by bright lights, such as a Light spell or a Fireball, and –1 to save vs. deafness caused by loud sounds.

As a side effect of an elf’s long life, they don’t often sleep as other mortals do. Instead, they slip into a sleep-like trance known as reverie. While in reverie, an elf relieves moments of the past, helping to reinforce their memory for events long past. This period of reverie lasts about as long as human sleep, and is as difficult to get out of. Some few elves have practiced reverie to the point where they need only half as much as normal, but this is fairly rare.

Since elves sleep so rarely, and have such a strong connection to who they really are through reverie, they gain one more saving throw vs. sleep and charm based spells than normal. For example, an elf targeted with a sleep spell would get a saving throw, where other races would not, while one targeted with a charm person spell would get a second saving throw if the first one failed.

The elven rather cavalier attitude towards time also hinders them, as far as other races are concerned, in advancing in level. Elves must pay a 5% penalty to their experience for every century (or fraction thereof) of life, simply because they tend to let some opportunities pass them by that other races would grab, reasoning that the opportunity will come by again. Since this conviction only increases as they grow older, they pay more with each passing century.

Elven culture stresses certain skills and weapons above others, and so elves find those skills much easier to learn. They may learn the skills of Ancient History, Animal Lore, Bowyer/fletcher, Dancing, Herbalism, Hunting, Local History, Musical Instrument, Painting, Reading/Writing (Elven), Singing, Spellcraft, Swimming, Tailoring, and Weaving. Also, certain weapons are traditionally elven, thus they may earn proficiency in short sword, long sword, and weapons in the "Bows" broad group for one less character point.

Finally, elves are very agile and possess wonderful hand-eye co-ordination, and so get a +1 to Dexterity. Their generally sharp senses as well as inquisitive nature causes them to pay close attention to details, giving them a +1 to their Perception as well. However, their frames are very light and fragile, and thus have a –1 to both Strength and Constitution.

Elves have 25 points to spend on optional abilities. The average high elf will have Bow bonus, Sword Bonus, Stealth, and Secret Doors.

Bow bonus (5): +1 on attacks with long or short bows.

Cold resistance (5): +1 bonus on saving throws vs. cold- and ice-based attacks, as the elf’s body is less susceptible to extreme temperatures.

Companion (10): The elf gains the companionship of a cooshee or an elven cat. See the Animal Master kit for more specifics on companion animals.

Dagger bonus (5): +1 attack roll bonus with daggers.

Detect secret doors (5): because of his or her acute senses, the character is quick to spot concealed doors and hidden entranceways. Merely passing within 10' of a concealed door allows the character a Perception roll at one-half their full ability to notice it. If actively searching, they may make two such rolls for each attempt. Of course, doors that are especially well concealed may impose penalties on those searching.

Empathy with animals (10): When dealing with a domestic or non-hostile animal, the elf can approach and befriend it automatically. The elf also can discern the health and nature of such animals. When approaching wild animals or those trained to attack, the animal must make a saving throw vs. rods to resist the elf’s friendly overtures. There is a –1 penalty to the roll for every three experience levels of the elf. For example, if the approaching elf is 7th level, the animal’s saving throw penalty is –2. If the animal fails the save, the elf can adjust the animal’s reaction by one category.

Heat resistance (5): +1 bonus on saving throws vs. heat- and fire-based attacks, as the elf’s body is less susceptible to extreme temperatures.

Javelin bonus (5): +1 attack roll bonus when using a javelin.

Less sleep (5): The elf requires only four hours worth of reverie to be rested. This is especially valuable to spellcasters.

Magic identification (10): A 5% chance per experience level of identifying the general purpose and function of any magical item, reflecting their interest in the arcane and the variety of stories an elf will hear over a long life.

Speak with animals (5): Once a day a ranger can speak with animals, as the spell.

Speak with plants (10): Once a day, the elf can use the speak with plants ability, as a priest of the same level.

Spear bonus (5): +1 attack roll bonus when using a spear.

Spell Point Bonus (10): Because of a long apprenticeship and innate ability, the elf gets two extra spell points per level of experience. Non-magic-users with this ability are limited to Cantrips until 10^th level, when they may learn 1^st level spells.

Stealth (10): When the elf is alone and is not wearing metal armor, he gains a bonus to surprise opponents. The opponent suffers a –4 penalty, a –2 if the elf has to open a door.

Sword bonus (5): +1 on attack rolls using a short sword or a long sword.

Elves are counted as medium creatures, and have a base movement rate of 12. Their defense score is a 10. The average height is 55+1d10 inches for males, and 50+1d10 inches for females, while the average weight is 90+3d10 pounds for males and 70+3d10 pounds for females. The average elf is CG, and there are very few exceptions to this rule.

Most elves are in their prime 100 and 550 years of age, though they start learning their craft soon after entering adolescence at age 75. From adulthood at 100 years of age, elves age very little until the last years of their life. While most elves choose to travel to the elven afterlife of Arvarnaith at around 1000 years of age, those who remain in the mortal realm beyond that suffer a loss of one point from Dexterity, Constitution, and Strength, but gain a bonus of one each to Intelligence and Wisdom. No elf has ever lived in the mortal realm more than 1600 years.