The Fair Folk; Elves and Half Elves

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Elves

Originally hailing from another realm far removed from Faerûn in the distant past, the elves have proved to be one of the most successful and diverse races to appear on Abeir-Toril. They have taken to the lands, the seas, and even the skies of Faeûn, colonizing and expanding through the ages. Today, the great elven realms may have retreated from the encroachment of humans and humanoids, but the elven influence in the world is unmistakable and pervasive.

Elves adapt and change dramatically to meld with their surroundings, so through the generations the various tribes of elves have become quite divergent in appearance and outlook. Despite this, all elves retain certain characteristics that set them apart from the other races of the world. Collectively, the elves know themselves as the Tel-quessir (translated into the common tongue, this means, "The People"). They refer to all other beings as the N-Tel-Quess, a less-than-diplomatic elven expression meaning "not-people."

Elves are graceful, lithe, and beautiful. Regardless of their particular heritage, they are viewed by other races as highly magical and wondrous people. This awe and respect has unexpected corollary - many people view elves as haughty and shamelessly introverted as a race. The reasons for this are numerous, including jealousy, envy, and religious hatred. It is the nature of the elf to elicit such reactions from others, for it seems impossible upon first encountering the elves to react with anything resembling disinterest or apathy.

Overview

Many of Faerûn's inhabitants believe there to be only six different subraces of elves, but there are at least seven. Most common on Faerûn are the moon, sun, and wood elves. The drow are easily the most notorious. Less well known are wild elves and aquatic elves, who dwell in distant, remote and inhospitable regions that see few human visitors. Beyond these six subraces stands a seventh - the avariels, or winged elves. Driven nearly to extinction in ancient times, the last tribe of avariels is only now rekindling ties with the outside world.

Despite the incredible diversity of the various elven subraces, all elves share a number of characteristics. Perhaps the strongest thing they share is their affinity for magic. The use of magic pervades elven society at every level. The most impressive examples of elven magic are the mythals, powerful fields of magical energy created by the ancient elves to cloak entire cities with protective and useful magical auras. The elves' natural resistance to enchantment spells is likely due in part to the fact that every moment of their lives is spent immersed in such magical environments.

Elven cities, even without the common magical enhancements that many carry, are beautiful sights indeed. To an elf, a building is little different than a mountain or a tree. They strive to fashion their homes and structures in such a way that they blend completely with their natural surroundings, adding to the natural beauty and purity of the landscape rather than detracting from it. The squat, functional buildings constructed by most humans strike most elves as ridiculous and intrusive.

Elven doors are of particular interest. Traditional elven architecture tries to blend into nature, and as a result, external doorways into elven structures are often disguised cleverly in the side of a large tree, as a large stone on the side of a hill, and so on. Elven children quickly become quite well practiced at finding and noticing doors, and this skill follows them into adulthood. Secret doors built by other races often amuse the elves with their crude attempts at disguise.

Unlike other humanoid races, elves don't truly sleep. An elf needs only to rest and relax in a trance known as a reverie for four hours every day. Most elven "bedrooms" more closely resemble lounges or studies furnished with comfortable couches or divans. The elven reverie has another interesting effect: An elven town never really seems to change in activity level. The length of the reverie allows most elves to enjoy periods of activity approaching 20 hours in a single day. In combination with their incredibly long lifespans, the reverie means that elves can afford to take their time with their projects. If the elves had the humans' bustling need to complete projects as soon as possible, there would truly be no limit to what they could accomplish.

Although elves are thought of as peace-loving people, their racial history is filled with bloodshed and terrible wars to rival any other race. Even today, all elves spend their formative years training with the traditional weaponry of their kind. A proper elf should be ready to defend her home with magic and with steel should the need arise. Despite this, elves do not succumb to feral savagery in their training. They view combat and other martial activities as yet another face of the natural world, and no less deserving of their careful attention and respect. As a result, the elves treat combat almost as a masterfully choreographed dance.

Elven Racial Traits
(subraces may provide alternate ability score adjustments)

• +2 Dexterity, -2 Constitution: Elves are graceful but frail. An elf's grace makes her naturally better at stealth and archery.
  
• Medium: As medium creatures, elves have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
  
• Elf base land speed is 30 feet.
  
• Immunity to magic sleep effects, and a +2 racial saving throw bonus against enchantment spells or effects.
  
• Low-Light Vision: An elf can see twice as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions of poor illumination. She retains the ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions.
  
• Weapon Proficiency: Elves receive the Martial Weapon Proficiency feats for the longsword, rapier, longbow (including composite longbow), and shortbow (including composite shortbow) as bonus feats. Elves esteem the arts of swordplay and archery, so all elves are familiar with these weapons.
  
• +2 racial bonus on Listen, Search, and Spot checks. An elf who merely passes within 5 feet of a secret door or concealed door is entitled to a Search check to notice it as if she were actively looking for it. An elf's senses are so keen that she practically has a sixth sense about hidden portals.
  
• Automatic Languages: Common and Elven. Bonus Languages: Draconic, Gnoll, Gnome, Goblin, Orc, and Sylvan. Elves commonly know the languages of their enemies and of their friends, as well as Draconic, the language commonly found in ancient tomes of secret knowledge.
  
• Favored Class: Wizard. A multiclassed elf's wizard class does not count when determining whether she takes an experience point penalty for multiclassing. Wizardry comes naturally to elves - indeed, they sometimes claim to have invented it, and fighter/wizards are especially common among them.

Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 Edition - Player's Handbook page 16

The Elven Peoples

Aquatic Elves (Sea Elves / Alu'Tel'Quessir) Avariel Elves (Winged Elves / Aril-Tel'Quessir) Drow (Dhaerrow) Moon Elves (Silver Elves / Teu-Tel'Quessir)

Sun Elves (Gold Elves / Ar-Tel'Quessir) Star Elves (Mithral Elves / Ruar-Tel-quessir) Wild Elves (Green Elves / Sy-Tel'Quessir) Wood Elves (Copper Elves / Or-Tel-quessir)

It should be noted that only Sun, Moon, Wild and Wood elves are playable elven subraces on SFS.


Random Starting Ages

Race	Adulthood	Simple¹	Moderate²	Complex³
Elf	110 years	+4d6	+6d6	10d6
Avariel	40 years	+4d6	+6d6	9d6

¹ The simple classes are barbarian, rogue, and sorcerer.
² The moderate classes are bard, fighter, paladin, and ranger.
³ The complex classes are cleric, druid, monk, and wizard.


Aging Effects

Subrace	Middle Age¹	Old Age²	Venerable³	Maximum Age
Elf, Avariel	100 years	150 years	200 years	+3d% years
Elf, Sun	210 years	315 years	420 years	+6d% years
Elf, Other	175 years	263 years	350 years	+4d% years

¹ -1 to Str, Con, and Dex; +1 to Int, Wis, and Cha
² -2 to Str, Con, and Dex; +1 to Int, Wis and Cha.
³ -3 to Str, Con, and Dex; +1 to Int, Wis, and Cha.



Random Height and Weight

Subrace	Base Male Height	Base Female Height	Base Height Mod	Base Male Weight	Base Female Weight	Base Weight Mod
Avariel	5'0	4'8"	+2d8	70 lb.	65 lb.	x (1d6) lb.
Aquatic	4'10"	4'5"	+2d10	100 lb.	80 lb.	x (2d4) lb.
Drow	4'5"	4'5"	+2d6	85 lb	80 lb.	x (1d6) lb.
Moon	4'10"	4'5"	+2d10	90 lb.	70 lb.	x (2d4) lb.
Sun	4'10"	4'5"	+2d10	90 lb.	70 lb.	x (2d4) lb.
Wild	4'10"	4'5"	+2d10	100 lb.	80 lb.	x (2d4) lb.
Wood	4'10"	4'5"	+2d10	100 lb.	80 lb.	x (2d4) lb.

Source: Player's Guide to Faerûn. / Races of Faerûn.

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Half-Elves

The most prominent of the races of mixed heritage, half-elves can be found throughout Faerûn, but have few lands to call their own. They feel at home both in the sprawling human empires and the secretive elven retreats, standing between elf and human culture but truly belonging to neither. They are a handsome and even-tempered race who handle the challenges of their mixed heritage with grace and reserve.

There are three major subraces of half-elves in Faerûn: common half-elves, half-drow, and half-aquatic elves. The common half-elves are those whose elven parents hail from moon elf, sun elf, wild elf, and wood elf peoples [as well as dark elves, star elves]. When someone refers to a half-elf, they are almost certainly referring to a half-elf of this descent. The half-drow have drow blood in their veins, and are extremely rare exceptions in most southerly lands of of Faerûn. Finally, the half-aquatic elves can be found in small numbers along any of Faerûn's coastlines, caught between their human and their sea-elf heritages.

No true half-elven realm exists in Faerûn, but half-elves are far more prevalent in some lands than in others. In the Unapproachable East, in the Yuirwood of distant Aglarond, a culture of common half-elves descended from wild elves, moon elves, and Damaran human settlers thrives beneath the Yuirwood's green boughs. In isolated Dambrath in the south, half-drow rule over their human neighbors. Half-elves are also common in places where humans and elves have lived alongside each other peacefully, such as the domains of Silverymoon in the North or some of the Southerly Dales.

Half-elves have at least one elven parent or grandparent, or two half-elven parents. To put it another way, the child of a half-elf and a human will be human, unless the half-elf parent was the child of a full-blooded elf. Unless a half-elven line marries into another elven or half-elven family, their elf characteristics fade in a generation or two. On occasion elven traits can reappear in otherwise human children born several generations later, but half-elves of such remote descent are very rare.


Racial History

Half-elves have little racial history. Scarce in number and widely dispersed across the face of Faerûn, half-elves have left little to mark their presence. True half-elven cultures have arisen in only a handful of times and places.

Humans and elves have shared Faerûn for many thousands of years, and rare individuals of both elven and human descent have been around since the time of the Elven Crown Wars or before. However, it is only within the last dozen centuries that the decline of the great old elven kingdoms and the rise of human civilization have allowed the two races to blend in any numbers. The ancient elven kingdoms of Illefarn and Cormanthyr sheltered large numbers of half-elves in their final days, as both incorporated rising human lands beneath elven crowns in the centuries following the raising of the Standing Stone. The fall of Myth Drannor in 714 DR brought an end to the first of these blended realms, but by that time Silverymoon was already rising as a second Myth Drannor in the North.

In Aglarond, the settlement of the Yuirwood by humans in the 8th and 9th centuries led tot he rise of a half-elven folk who still thrive today. Although the mercantile humans of Aglarond's coastal cities and the forest-wise rangers of the kingdom's hidden depths do not always get along, Aglarond stands as the best example of a half-elven realm in Faerûn today. Dambrath on the other hand, presents an entirely different example. Seven hundred years ago, he barbaric human kingdom of Dambrath was conquered by drow from a powerful city. Those who can trace their decent to the great drow families who rules as suzerains over their human subjects govern their homeland as proud overlords. Where half-elven blood is a sign of racial harmony (or commerce, at least) in other lands, in Dambrath it is the legacy of conquest and oppression.


Elven Racial Traits
(subraces may provide alternate ability score adjustments)

• Medium: As Medium creatures, half-elves have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
  
• Half-elf base land speed is 30 feet.
  
• Immunity to sleep spells and similar magical effects, and a +2 racial bonus on saving throws against enchantment spells or effects.
  
• Low-Light Vision: A half-elf can see twice as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions of poor illumination. She retains the ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions.
  
• +1 racial bonus on Listen, Search, and Spot checks: A half-elf does not have the elf's ability to notice secret doors simply by passing near them. Half-elves have keen senses, but not as keen as those of an elf.
  
• +2 racial bonus on Diplomacy and Gather Information checks: Half-elves get along naturally with all people.
  
• Elven Blood: For all effects related to race, a half-elf is considered an elf. Half-elves, for example, are just as vulnerable to special effects that affect elves as their elf ancestors are, and they can use magic items that are only usable by elves.
  
• Automatic Languages: Common and Elven. Bonus Languages: Any (other than secret languages, such as Druidic). Half-elves have all the versatility and broad (if shallow) experience that humans have.
  
• Favored Class: Any. When determining whether a multiclass half-elf takes an experience point penalty, her highest-level class does not count.

Source: Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 Edition - Player's Handbook page 18.

The Half-elven People

• Aquatic Half-elves.
  
• Common Half-elves.
  
• Drow Half-elves.

It should be noted that only common half-elves are playable on SFS.

Random Starting Ages

Race	Adulthood	Simple¹	Moderate²	Complex³
Half-elf	20 years	+1d6	+2d6	3d6

¹ The simple classes are barbarian, rogue, and sorcerer.
² The moderate classes are bard, fighter, paladin, and ranger.
³ The complex classes are cleric, druid, monk, and wizard.

Aging Effects

Subrace	Middle Age¹	Old Age²	Venerable³	Maximum Age
Half-elf	62 years	93 years	125 years	+3d20 years

¹ -1 to Str, Con, and Dex; +1 to Int, Wis, and Cha
² -2 to Str, Con, and Dex; +1 to Int, Wis and Cha.
³ -3 to Str, Con, and Dex; +1 to Int, Wis, and Cha.

Random Height and Weight

Subrace	Base Male Height	Base Female Height	Base Height Mod	Base Male Weight	Base Female Weight	Base Weight Mod
Half-elf, aquatic	5'0"	4'7"	+3d6	120 lb.	85 lb.	x (2d4) lb.
Half-elf, common	4'10"	4'5"	+2d10	110 lb.	80 lb.	x (2d4) lb.
Half-elf, drow	4'7"	4'5"	+2d8	100 lb.	80 lb.	x (2d4) lb.

Source: Player's Guide to Faerûn. / Races of Faerûn.

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The Aquatic Elves
~ Sea Elves / Alu'Tel'Quessir ~

Regions: Aglarond, Dragon Coast, Impiltur, Sembia, Vilhon Reach, Aquatic elf.
Racial Feats: Breathing Link, Landwalker, Rapid Swimming.
Level Adjustment: +1.

Rarely encountered by the landbound races, the aquatic elves are a civilized and good-hearted people who inhabit the seas surrounding Faerûn. Most aquatic elves hail from underwater cities in the Sea of Fallen Stars or in the Great Sea south of Faerûn, but small settlements of this race can be found in the seas along Faerûn's western coasts as well.

The aquatic elves are tall, standing 6 feet or more in height. They have long limbs with strong swimming muscles, and their fingers and toes are long with thick webbing. Their most striking features are sets of gills along the collarbone and ribcage. Aquatic elves are nowhere near as thin as their landbound cousins, and their hair is usually stringy and thick, cut short for warriors but otherwise worn long. Great Sea aquatic elves have radiant skin of deep green with irregular thin brown stripes and patches. Aquatic elves from the Sea of Fallen Stars have skin in many shades of blue with white patches and stripes. Eye colors for both types of aquatic elf come in every shade seen among gold, moon, or wild elves. Their clothing is made of various undersea plants in shades of green, black, and brown, although aquatic elves usually go about lightly clad, if dressed at all, while underwater.

Aquatic elves have the life expectancy and age categories defined for elves in Tables 6-4 and 6-5 of the Players Hand-book and use the heights and weights added to table 6-6. (see first post)


History

Aquatic elves first appeared in the Great Sea untold ages ago, the last of the major elven races to migrate from the elven homeland into Faerûn. For many years, these elves lived nomadic lives and spent much of their time exploring the waters of their new world. The aquatic elves did not begin to settle down and form permanent communities in the depths until the time of the First Crown War. They knew of the Crown Wards, and often watched the battles from the safety of the water, but kept their interactions with their loundbound kin to a minimum. Unfortunately, their attempt to avoid becoming entangled in the wars proved futile, and by the time of the Fourth Crown War, many aquatic elves fled to the Sea of Fallen Stars to establish a new nation sheltered from the madness of their kin.

The Aquatic elves of the Sea of Fallen Stars have raised several distinct realms of varying size. Major colonies include Naramyr and Selu'Maraar, in the Dragonmere and Dragon Reach areas respectively. There are also several outposts east of the mouth of the Vilhon Reach and west of the Alamber, known as the Sharksbane Wall. Another colony called Faenasuor lies on the continental slopes east of Starmantle, and a number of small villages can be found among the reefs of the Fang of western Aglarond. In the Trackless Sea, a major sea elf city near Evermeet is called Iumathiashae ("Mother of Oceans"). Many additional colonies also lie off the coast of Tethyr.

Aquatic elves have fought many wars against the evil races of the sea, especially the sahuagin, but surface-dwellers know very little of these tales.


Outlook

Aquatic elves are viewed by many land-dwelling folk as skittish, distrustful creatures who are afraid to leave the water. While this is not necessarily true, an aquatic elf trusts only his close neighbors and family, even though he shares many strong bonds of history and culture with any land dwelling elf acquaintance.

The aquatic elves believe that alliance and community mean survival, while factionalism and arrogance mean death. They are standoffish even to other aquatic races, except when it serves the elves to have allies or trade partners. Despite this attitude, the aquatic elves of the Sea of Fallen Stars have recently started to overcome their natural tendencies, and have begun to open trade with their neighbors, both aquatic and landbound.

Aquatic Elf Characters
These are not playable on TSM and this note is included for the sake of completeness only.
Aquatic elves share the seas with a number of vicious and dangerous races, such as kapoacinths, sahuagin, scrags, and krakens, and often become very capable fighters and rangers. They have little taste for the wizard's studies or the cleric's devotions, but many aquatic elves take up the path of the bard, learnin g eerily beautiful songs of great power. Sorcerers are more common than wizards among the aquatic elves. Typical multiclass combinations include bard/fighter, bard/sorcerer, and fighter/ranger.

Favored Class: An aquatic elf's favored class is fighter. While aquatic elves have few organized armies, individual fighting skills are highly prized. Landbound elves may prefer stealth and archery, but the underwater environment dictates speed and skill in melee instead.


Aquatic Elf Society

Aquatic elves form loose feudal societies. The nobility rules in a reasonably enlightened manner, and all social conventions follow a patriarchal structure for inheritance and the transfers of power. While women wield considerable influence among aquatic elves, particularly as bards and sorcerers, the bulk of the political power devolves on the eldest male child.

Aquatic elves form closely knit communities. While each family or single resident often has a home to call his or her own, private property is rare. Tools, weapons, and other miscellaneous objects trade hands often. An aquatic elf in need of a particular item simply takes one he finds, without fear of repercussion. Theft is relatively unknown in aquatic elf society as a result; one cannot steal something if everyone considers the object community property. This attitude does not extend to non-aquatic elf visitors, however, and such visitors are often watched to make sure that they keep their hands to themselves.


Language and Literacy

All aquatic elves speak Elven, written with a distinctive style of Espruar characters that shows Aquan influences. Aquatic elves native to the Sea of Fallen Stars also speak Serusan, the trade language of the marine peoples of the Inner Sea, while aquatic elves from the Great Sea or Trackless Sea speak Aquan. Both of these languages use the Aquan alphabet. Those aquatic elves who have the inclination also learn various languages of the surface world, notably Common, Chondathan, and Sylvan.

All aquatic elf characters are literate, except for barbarians, warriors, and commoners.


Abilities and Racial Features

Aquatic elves have all the elven racial traits listed in the Player's Handbook (as listed in the first post), except as follows:

• +2 Dexterity, -2 Intelligence. This replaces the standard bonuses and penalties most elves receive. Aquatic elves are as fleet of foot and coordinated as their land-based kin, and while they are more sturdily built than most of the other elven subraces, they have little use for study.
  
• Proficient with trident, longspear, and net. This replaces the standard elven proficiency with longsword, rapier, and bow.
  
• Swim speed 40 feet. An aquatic elf gains a +8 racial bonus on all Swim checks and can always choose to take 10 with Swim checks, even if rushed or threatened. Aquatic elves can use the run action while swimming, as long as they swim in a straight line.
  
• Improved Low-Light Vision (Ex): An aquatic elf can see four times as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions of poor illumination. They retain the ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions.
  
• Gills (Ex): Aquatic elves breath salt water with ease. They can also breathe fresh water, but most find the experience to be very uncomfortable and are treated as fatigued while doing so and for 10 minutes afterward. Aquatic elves can survive out of the water for 1 hour per point of Constitution (after that, refer to the suffocation rules in Chapter 3 of the Dungeon Master's Guide).
  
• Automatic Languages: Common, Elven, home region. Bonus Languages: Aquan, Draconic, Giant.
  
• Favored Class: Fighter
  
• Level Adjustment: +1. Aquatic elves are more powerful and gain levels more slowly than most of the other common races of Faerûn.

Aquatic Elf Magic and Lore

Of the eight elven subraces, the aquatic elves are the ones who have embraced the art of magic the least. This is not to say that there are no spellcasters among their kind, just that the proportion of spellcasters to nonspellcasters in aquatic in aquatic elf society is more like that found among dwarves than humans or elves. Nevertheless, the long life span of the aquatic elf allows him to spend much more time perfecting his magical training than a similar human.

Spells and Spellcasting
Aquatic elf wizards write scrolls on specially cured sharkskin or on papyruslike sheets of thick, fibrous seaweed. In either case, both are alchemically treated (Craft (alchemy) DC 10, cost 5gp per scroll) to resist rotting or damage from exposure to water. The inks are much thicker and more viscous than surface inks and do not diffuse upon contact with water.

Aquatic Elf Magic Items
Aquatic elves have the same range of magic items used by their surface kin, although they are by necessity often altered in form due to the elves' underwater existence. For example, the aquatic elves have developed "potions" that are closer to unguents, pastes, or even magic sea fruits or seaweed. Scrolls are prepared on specially treated sharkskins or sea-reed papyrus. Magic items normally crafted out of metal are made from materials that do not corrode in salt water.

Aquatic elves do not wear much clothing, so magical garments are rare, including armor. Wearing armor tends to hamper an aquatic elf's ability to swim. Aquatic elves rely upon Dexterity and magical means of protection in battle such as rings of protection and amulets of natural armor.

Iconic Item: Aquatic elves patrolling the barrier reefs around their settlements frequently carry tridents of serenity. As long as such a trident is nearby, their hated foes, the sahuagin, will be unable to enter blood frenzy.


Aquatic Elf Deities

Although the aquatic elves acknowledge the Seldarine, their true deity is Deep Sashelas. Almost all aquatic elves venerate the Lord or the Undersea to some extent. Temples dedicated to Deep Sashelas can be found in all aquatic elf cities. These buildings are usually built of stone and carved to resemble gargantuan shells; they serve as the spiritual, physical, and social centers of many aquatic elven communities. Some religious aquatic elves wander the seas, floating with the currents, exulting in the natural beauty of the undersea world, and spreading the word of their lord to all they encounter.


Relations with Other Races

Aquatic elves are a cautious folk. Although there are many races friendly to the aquatic elves, such as the merfolk and the tritions, there are just as many menaces in the deeps. As a result, aquatic elves remain in their cities and interact with others only when forced to. This caution extends to surface communities, but is often tempered with curiosity. Aquatic elves who live close to shore often spend long hours spying on their air-breathing neighbors. They make little distinction between the various land-dwelling subraces of elves.

Once race in particular should be mentioned in the context of the aquatic elves: The sahuagin. Aquatic elves possess a fierce, blinding hatred for the sea devils and often wage senseless wars against them. The one sure way to overcome an aquatic elf's natural shyness and wariness is to offer him the chance to attack and possibly kill some of his race's hated enemies.


Aquatic Elf Equipment

Aquatic elves rarely use metal tools due to the inevitable damage most metals suffer to saltwater corrosion. One notable exception is gold. Many aquatic elves have mastered the art of beating gold into beautiful jewelry, because forging metal is all but impossible underwater. For the most part, their tools, weapons, and armor are made from materials such as stone, coral, and shells of various sorts. Shipwrecks are a major source of materials for aquatic elves, although they are careful to honor any who may have died before looting the sunken cargo holds.

Because of the difficulty in drinking potions underwater from normal vials, aquatic elves use potion bladders to hold their potions.


Arms and Armor
In an underwater world, bludgeoning and slashing weapons are nowhere near as efficient as piercing weapons Tridents and spears are therefor the favored weapons of the aquatic elves, and these weapons can be found in amazing varieties and styles throughout the various undersea communities. Bone, narwhal horns, and even coral are used to build these weapons. Although they are more fragile than regular steel weaponry, they are easy to construct. Weighted nets are also a popular weapon for aquatic elves, who have perfected methods of throwing such weapons so that they drift and unfold in the water almost like large octopi or manta rays. As described in the Dungeon Master's Guide, weapons made of inferior materials have a -2 attack and damage penalty (with a minimum damage of 1).

Armor is generally eschewed by aquatic elves for two reasons. First, it slows their swimming speed and agility. Second, most metal deteriorates over time underwater. As a result, most aquatic elves simply rely on their natural quickness to protect them in combat. Shields crafted from shells are common, and those elves with the resources often resort to magical means of protection such as rings of protection and amulets of natural armor.

Unique Items: Aquatic elves living in areas that are harassed by sahuagin or other enemies have come up with two ingenious forms of armor that work equally well on land or underwater. These two new forms of armor include sharkskin armor and chitin armor.

Aquatic elf weaponsmiths have also master the art of crafting bows that can fire underwater. While they lack the range of a surface elf's longbow, the aquatic longbow provides aquatic elves with a potent ranged weapon for underwater combat.

Animals and Pets
Aquatic elves have a strong affinity for dolphins and porpoises, and they usually live in the same areas as these aquatic mammals. Most aquatic elf communities have several of these creatures as guardians, messengers, and playful companions.

Aquatic elves also have a great and abiding respect for the larger whales, and although the migratory habits of the great sea mammals precludes the possibility of recruiting them as guardians or companions, many aquatic elves build communities along established migrations routs so that twice yearly they receive visits from the stately creatures. A young aquatic elf often leaves home for a year just to accompany a pod of migrating whales.

Some aquatic elf communities have been known to train and keep sea loins as guardians as well, especially in dangerous areas. Sharks are universally hated by aquatic elves. Many think of these creatures as unnatural monsters trained with perversion by their enemies, the sahuagin.


Aquatic Elf Region

Aquatic elves are isolationists, and as a result most of them simply take the Aquatic Elf region, which is detailed below. An aquatic elf occasionally has enough contact with a region bordering his homeland to select a surface realm as his home region.

Preferred Classes: Bard, fighter, ranger, sorcerer. A character of one of these classes may choose a regional feat and gain his choice of the bonus equipment below as a 1st-level character. An aquatic elf character of any other class may not select one of the regional feats here and does not gain the bonus equipment.

Automatic Languages: Common, Elven, and Aquan (Great Sea) or Seusan (Inner Sea).

Bonus Languages: Aquan, Chondathan, Draconic, Giant, Serusan, Sylvan.

Regional Feats: Blooded, Landwalker, Survivor.

Bonus Equipment: (A) Trident* or longspear, or (B) chitin armor and small wooden shield*, or (C) 3 100gp pearls.

Source: Forgotten Realms: Races of Faerûn

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The Avariel Elves
~ Winged Elves / Aril-Tel'Quessir ~

Regions: Most avariel choose the Avariel region, but other valid regions include Damara, the High Forest, Narfell, the North, Silverymoon, the Vast, and the Western Heartlands.
Racial Feats: Flyby Attack (see Monster Manual), Hover (see Monster Manual), Improved Flight, Rapid Flight.
Racial Prestige Class: Bladesinger.
Level Adjustment: +3

The avariels, or winged elves, are without a doubt the most reclusive and least numerous of the elven subraces on Faerûn. Many scholars have long dismissed them as creatures of myth. In truth, small numbers of avariels still dwell in Faerûn, concealed in hidden enclaves and remote regions.

The most striking feature is their soft, feathered wings. These wings have spans of anywhere from twelve to sixteen feet and are usually white, but may also be gray, brown, black, or speckled. Avariels take great pride in their wings and spend long hours grooming them. Their skin is pale, often porcelain white, with tinges of blue or faint silver. They have silver-white or black hair, with other shades being rare but not unheard of. The avariels' eyes are rather large and more expressive than those of other elves, and they tend to be brilliant shades of blue or green. A few avariel have scintillating violet eyes as pure as amethysts. Avariels stand 5'9" tall on average, with thin, graceful limbs and angular facial features. They are the most beautiful and striking of the elven races, although too often this beauty is marred by haughtiness and condescension toward their landbound kin, whom they often pity.

Avariels are even more delicate than other elves, and their movements are quick, calculated, and graceful. They prefer to wear loose fitting, diaphanous clothing that catches the wind in flight and ripples and weaves in the air. Armor is almost never worn, because it tends to weigh the avariels down and hinder their graceful motion. Avariels cannot fly while wearing heavy armor.

Avariels age more quickly than most elves, having the starting age and life expectancy defined for gnomes. (These notes are added notes to tables in the first post)


History

Along with the green elves and lythari, the avariels are one of the three oldest elven races. Today, though, they are all but extinct, forced into the far corners of the world ages ago by the ancient dragons and hunted mercilessly by evil folk.

The avariels, upon first migrating to Faerûn millennia ago, found the world to be a vast, beautiful place. Unfortunately, vicious dragons ruled the skies above ancient Faerûn. The newly arrived avariels were nearly wiped out by the dragons before the First Flowering. The last of their race flew eastward long before the first Crown War, wandering the skies only when they had to, hiding on the ground liek vermin and living terrible, dirty lives as nomads and scavengers.

The last redoubt of the avariels today is known as the Aerie of the Snow Eagles, a crystal citadel hidden atop one of the most remote peaks in the Icerim Mountains of distant Sossal. The exact location of the Aerie of the Snow Eagles is one of the avariels' most closely guarded secrets.

The aerie itself resembles a tremendous castle or tower of glass, built on a sheared-off mountaintop. A flight of avariel nomads discovered it abandoned ages ago. The avariels believe that the original mountaintop was taken by a Netherese archmage who wished to use it to build a floating city. The present-day aerie is a wonder to behold. The walls of the glass aerie are magically hardened to the strength of steel. Inside, the Aerie of the Snow Eagle supports a tropical climate, complete with jungles of plants and trees long extinct elsewhere in Faerûn

For two centuries, this last lair of the avariels has been led by Winged Father Aquilan Geartspan (CG male avariel Ftr4/Clr12/Dis5/Hie1). The avariels fly there still, fishing in the freezing waters of the Great Ice Sea and hunting the icy reaches of the Great Glacier.


Outlook

Avariels came dangerously close to extinction long ago, and it has taken them thousands of years to recover to the point where they don't have to worry about the fate of their race. Only recently have they begun to expand back into the world, sending explorers, diplomats, and merchants south into Faerûn proper. Small, scattered bands of avariels still exist in the heartlands of Faerûn, but these groups rarely number more than a dozen and usually avoid civilized areas.

Avariels are free spirits who would like nothing better to do than to simply soar on the currents high above the ground, taking in the views Faerûn has to offer. They possess an irrepressible zest for life. Even in the darkest, most desperate situation, an avariel remains cheerful. Unfortunately, while friendly to those they consider their equals, avariels also tend to be condescending and even downright rude to londbound races. The avariels are usually unaware of this; it's just their natural reaction to threat landbound races as lesser creatures. Given time and enough exposure to other cultures, avariels can overcome their natural bias.

Avariel Characters
Winged elves combine a tradition of vigilance and skill at arms with a joyous reverence for the sheer peaks and open skies of their homelands. Many become fighters, rangers, or clerics. Avariel civilization is old and established, so avariel barbarians are unheard of. Winged elves lean towards the divine rather than the arcane, but a small number take up the study of wizardry and generally excel at it. Common multiclass combinations include fighter/cleric, cleric/ranger, and cleric/wizard.

Favored Class: The favored class of the avariels is cleric. While many avariels are drawn to the study of combat and skill at arms, the hearts of the winged elves favor a more contemplative and philosophical existence. Even those who spend their lives studying the martial path often set aside these pursuits in order to return to a holier calling.

Prestige Classes: Some avariels practice the art of the bladesong and use it to protect their communities. Like other kinds of elves, winged elves greatly respect the skill needed to become a bladesinger. Avariel wizards often aspire to become arcane devotees or loremasters, while avariels of all other classes are drawn to the divine champion and divine disciple prestige classes.


Avariel Society

The avariels have a unique model for their societies, separating into two groups when they congregate in large numbers: a warrior like society of fighters and soldiers, and a peaceful society of thinkers and religious scholars. These two subcultures, as diametrically opposed as their separate philosophies may be, work together to forge a powerful symbiotic relationship.

Warlike avariels have a complex code of honor that they use to guide and temper their militaristic activities and training. These avariels spend their lives defending their kin. Their lives are geared towards war and power, and they answer to their war chiefs, who share responsibility for ruling the society with the religious leaders of the peaceful avariels. The martial avariels are proud and hearty, and they form eternal friendships with those who earn their respect and trust.

In combat, warlike Avariels have little pity or remorse about cutting down their enemies. The concept of surrendering is highly dishonerable to these avariels, both for themselves and for their enemies. Once lethal combat begins, few avariels break off until they or their enemies are dead. Drawing blood from an enemy is nothing less than a promise to honor the enemy with once's skill in combat and not humiliate him by leaving him alive to dwell on an embarrassing defeat. The act of slaying an enemy is viewed simply as delivering on that promise.

Warlike avariels prefer to use ranged weapons, and they aren't above using wings to gain an advantage over landbound enemies. This is supported by their code, which allows them to cut down an enemy from an unassailable distance in the skies above. Those who cannot defend themselves against an attack from the skies should know better than to make an enemy of a clearly superior foe.

The peaceful avariels, unlike their warlike kin, focus mainly on arts and the intellectual aspects of life. When faced with conflict, a peaceful avariel relies on her brains and diplomatic abilities - and often on her magic power. Peaceful avariels are artists, philosophers, and researchers who spend their lives studying the world and its history and creating works of art simply for the sheer joy of creation. The peaceful avariels are also responsible for providing their society with food, entertainment, and education. Many peaceful avariels are also very religious and spend much of their time contemplating the ways of their deity, Aerdrie Faenya.

Despite their divergent personalities, these two subcultures interact surprisingly well. Young avariels typically spend time immersed in each subculture, learning from both warriors and priests. These exchanges, which often last for a decade or longer, allow avariels raised in one subculture to learn how the other subculture lives.


Language and Literacy

All avariels can speak Elven and Common, and each learns an additional language based on his or her native region. Most winged elves are intelligent enough to pick up at least one additional language. This additional language is usually Auran, so the avariels can speak with allied creatures of the air such as the giant eagles they adore. Additional languages often learned by avariels include Goblin, Orc, Sylvan, and the predominant human language(s) of their home region. Avariels also often learn the Draconic and Giant languages so that they can converse with their hated enemies if the need arises.

All avariels are literate except for avariel barbarians (assuming they exist).


Abilities and Racial Features

Avariels have all the elven racial traits listed in the Player's Handbook (see first post), except as follows:

• +4 Dexterity, -2 Constitution, +2 Intelligence, +2 Wisdom. Avariels have hollow bones and, as a result, are more fragile than humans. At the same time, they are gifted with a keen intuition and intellect, and an almost otherworldly grace.
  
• Keen Sight (Ex): Avariels gain a +4 racial bonus on all Spot checks; this replaces the standard +2 racial bonus that most elves gain.
  
• Proficient with either rapier or longsword; proficient with lasso and bolas. This replaces the standard elven weapon proficiency with longswords or rapiers and proficiency with shortbow, longbow, composite longbow, and composite shortbows.
  
• Flight (Ex): Avariels have a flying speed of 50 feet with average maneuverability, as long as they do not carry more than a Medium load, are not wearing Heavy armor, and are not fatigued or exhausted. Avariel wings have a span of 12 feet on average; they cannot fly in an area that does not allow them to fully extend their wings.
  
• An avariel may make a dive attack A dive attack works just like a charge, but the avariel must descend a minimum of 30 feet and attack with a piercing weapon; if she hits, she deals double damage. An avariel can use the run action while flying, provided she flies in a straight line. For more information on flight, see the Tactical Aerial Movement section in Chapter 3 of the Dungeon Master's Guide.
  
• Automatic Languages: Common, Elven, home region. Bonus Languages: by region.
  
• Favored Class: Cleric.
  
• Level Adjustment: +3. Avariels are more powerful and gain levels more slowly than most of the other common races of Faerûn.

Avariel Magic and Lore

Although the warlike subculture of avariel society appreciates magic and respects its power, members of the peaceful subculture are the true masters of divine and arcane magic. The avariels, like most other elven races, have wholly and completely embraced the art of both divine and arcane magic. Unlike most other races, though, the avariels have only recently (in elven terms) become re-established on Faerûn. For most of their history, the avariels simply haven't had the luxury of experimenting and toying with magic; they were too focused on simply surviving. But with their discovery and colonization of the Aerie of the Snow Eagles they have, for the past 500 years, felt safe enough to begin researching magic once again.

Spells and Spellcasting
Avariels favor conjuration and transmutation magic for their versatility, and the miniature jungle world within the Aerie of the Snow Eagles is the culmination of their most potent conjurings and transmutations. Avariels have also been focusing more on divination spells of late, as they seek out their lost - and well hidden - brethren.

Avariel Magic Items
The avariels are commonly thought to be the originators of wings of flying. Ancient rumors hold that powerful and compassionate avariel spellcasters invented the first wings of flying as gifts for landbound friends so that they too could know the bliss and rapture of soaring the skies above Faerûn. It stands to reason that winged boots may have also been introduced into the world by generous avariels as well.


Avariel Deities

Like the aquatic elves, the avariels acknowledge the Seldarine as a whole and pay lip services to most of these elven deities, but they hold a special reverence for a single member of that pantheon - in their case Aerdrie Faenya, the elven goddess of the skies, weather, and avians of all sorts. Although they do not elevate their religious beliefs to the level of fanaticism, the avariels as a whole are deeply religious, and the thought of not venerating a deity is alien and unwholesome to most of them.

Avariels believe that it is due to Aerdrie Faenya's intervention that they are able to survive at all. Ages ago, Aerdrie Faenya gifted the avariels with their wings because she knew that they would face great trials and danger in the future and would need the advantage of flight if they were to have any hope of survival. Avariels also believe that she takes more of a direct hand in their lives than do the gods of the other elves. Avariels often attribute to Aerdrie Faenya's intervention events that most other races would view as simply fortuitous coincidences.


Relations with Other Races

The avariels are on good terms with other sentient, good-aligned avian races. They admire and respect giant eagles, a bond that survived the dark centuries of draconic persecution. The avariels are also fond of the aarakocras, but since the winged elves were driven from the Star Mounts, their interaction with these bird-men has dropped off significantly. They get along well with air genasi as well, although they are often frustrated with the genasi's ambivalence and disinterest in good and evil.

Avariel relations with landbound races are not nearly as productive. The avariels have traditionally viewed those who can't fly as objects of pity (at best) or derision (more commonly). Recently, the avariels have begun to realize the error of their ways - the landlocked races, despite their lack of wings, can be powerful and helpful allies. Avariels from the Aerie of the Snow Eagles have recently sent diplomats to neighboring kingdoms (Narfell, Rashemen, Damara, and the Great Dale in particular) and have been doing their best to treat the ground races as equals.

The avariels are still hunted to this day by evil dragons, who view the winged elves and their magical aptitude as the greatest threat to their domination over the skies of Faerûn. Dragons have nowhere near the presence in the skies as they did in the ancient past, but their memories are long. In particular, the white dragons of Hoarfaern are particularly dedicated to the final destruction of the avariels and the Aerie of the Snow Eagles.


Avariel Equipment

The avariels have taken the craft of glassblowing and elevated it to an art form. When most races turn to metal, wood, or stone to craft gear, the avariels have turned to the fragile and delicate medium of glass. In a way, their affinity for glass as a medium reflects their very nature, for the avariels themselves are fragile and beautiful people.

While much avariel glass is delicate and decorative, the winged elves have also mastered glassteel, a form of glass as strong as metal. Many avariel outposts are made of glassteel, as are some armor, weapons, and tools.


Arms and Armor
The avariels prefer to fight with ranged weapons and usually carry bows of some sort when they are away from the Aerie. The avariels sometimes prefer ranged weapons that incapacitate their victims. As a result, the winged elves train with lassos and bolas extensively. When forced into melee combat, avariels use swords almost exclusively, with a marked preference for longswords (for stronger avariels) or rapiers (for more dexterous avariels). Avariels prefer lighter armors that do not restrict their ability to fly, so mithral armor is especially valued.

Animals and Pets
The avariels have long had a close bond with the giant eagles of Faerûn, and they settle in the same areas. Giant eagles are intelligent creatures and are considered allies, not pets. Avariels are naturally fond of any nonevil avian creature, particularly birds; most avariels keep a few birds as companions or pets. Pet birds are never caaged, though, and can come and go as they please. Cages don't sit well with Avariels.

Avariels sometimes employ arrowhawks, griffons, and hippogriffs as guards for their aeries. They adore rocs and think of them as magnificent beasts touched by Aerdrie Faenya. Rocs are admired from afar, however, as such massive creatures don't easily fit in avariel cities.


Avariel Region

Small numbers of avariels live with their elven kin in various refuges across the northern portions of Faerûn, but this region describes a character native to the Aerie of the Snow Eagles, north of Rashemen.

Preferred Classes: Cleric, fighter, ranger, wizard. A character of one of these classes may choose a regional feat and gain her choice of the bonus equipment below as a 1st-level character. An avariel of any other class may not select one of the regional feats here and does not gain the bonus equipment at 1st level.

Automatic Languages: Common, Elven, and Auran.

Bonus Languages: Damaran, Draconic, Giant, Rashemi, Sylvan, Tuigan.

Regional Feats: Artist, Education, Mind Over Body, Rapid Flight, Strong Soul.

Bonus Equipment: (A) rapier* or longsword*, or (B) wand of cure light wounds (1st level, 20 charges), or (C) scroll with 6 1st-level and 1 2nd-level cleric spells.

Source: Forgotten Realms: Races of Faerûn

[sandcastles]

Drow
~ Dhaerrow / The Spider Kissers ~

Regions: Elf (Drow), Cormanthor Drow.
Racial Feats: Arachnid Rider, Deeping Darkness, Highborn Drow, Improved Levitation, Lolth's Blessing.
Level Adjustment: +2. Refer to the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting entry for drow racial abilities.

Of the various elven subraces, none are more notorious than the drow. Descended from the original dark-skinned elven subrace called the Ssri-tel-quessir, the drow were cursed into their present appearance by the good elven deities for following the goddess Lolth down the path to evil and corruption.

Also called dark elves, the drow have black skin that resembles polished obsidian and stark white or pale yellow hair. They commonly have blood-red eyes, although pale eyes (so pale as to be often mistaken for white) in shades of pale lilac, silver, , pink and blue are not unknown. They also tend to be smaller and thinner than most Faerûnian elves. Most drow on the surface are evil and worship Vhaeraun, but some outcasts and renegades have a more neutral attitude, and there are even groups of good drow who worship Eilistraee or other deities not of the traditional drow pantheon.

Though divided by endless feuds and schisms, the drow are united in one terrible desire: they seethe with hatred for the surface elves. By their way of reckoning, they proved themselves the superior race in the Fourth Crown War, and the fact that the Seldarine (and Corellon in particular) punished them for their success is a poison that churns in their hearts and minds eternally. They burn with hatred for the Seldarine and their coddled children, and want nothing more than to return to the surface and bring to the elves there suffering a thousand times greater than that which the drow have been forced to endure over the past ten thousand years.

Drow have the life expectancy, age categories, and height and weight characteristics as defined for elves in the Player's Handbook.

Alternate Height and Weight Chart

Random Height and Weight

Subrace	Base Male Height	Base Female Height	Base Height Mod	Base Male Weight	Base Female Weight	Base Weight Mod
Drow	4'4"	4'6"	+2d6	80 lb.	90 lb.	x (1d6) lb.

Source: Forgotten Realms: Underdark

History

In the beginning, the Ssri-tel-quessir were the most successful of the elven colonists to the new old of Faerûn. The nation of Ilythiir quickly became one of the most powerful of the early elven nations. But the Ssri-tel-quessir were not only the most successful of the elves of their time, they were also the most cruel and jealous. Despite their own accomplishments they envied those of their neighbors all the same. While the First Crown War Raged to the north, the dark elves waged their own war against their neighbors, seeking to dominate the elven realms of southern Faerûn.

Unsuccessful in three attempts to subjugate the neighboring realms, the dark elves of Ilthiir turned to a new and secret patron at the opening of the Fourth Crown War. The dark elves pledged their loyalties to the outcast Seldarine of the Demonweb Pits, and to Lolth in particular. The Spider Queen and her fellow exiles (with the notable exception of Eilistraee) granted the dark elves of Ilythiir great magical powers, fiendish allies, and support in return for their alliance, and the Ilythiiri wreaked great havoc among the other elven realms.

But their success and victory were short-lived, for Corellon was shocked and deeply enraged by the traitorous acts of the dark elves. By his decree, the Ilythiiri elves were cursed, transformed into drow and banished from the surface world into the Underdark. They became known as the dhaeraow (the elven word for traitor), and over the centuries this word has sinec given them the name by which they are known: drow.

After their exile below ground, the drow lived as nomads, scavengers, and feral beasts. Eventually, through the guidance of Lolth they drew themselves together as a race and began to make the best of their situation, colonizing large portions of the Underdark. The first underground drow civilizations were established in southern Faerûn around -9600 DR. in -9000 DR, the drow seized the great cavern of Bhaerynden from the gold dwarves and established the first great drow kingdom, Telantiwar. Unfortunately, the drow of Telantiwar quickly fell into terrible civil wars, the eventual result of which were several massive magical explosions that collapsed the caverns of their nation and formed the Great Rift in southern Faerûn.

The few drow survivors of this cataclysm scattered throughout the Underdark, slowly settling regions farther and farther away from their original homelands in the South. In time, the drow built dozens of magnificent, terrifying cities deep underground, quite nan achievement for a people so predisposed towards treachery, infighting, and civil war. Sshamath, the City of Dark Weavings, was founded beneath the Far Hills in -4973 DR. Menzoberra the Kinless, a High Priestess of Lolth, established the city of Menzoberranzan in -3917 DR. House Nasadra, exiled from Menzoberranzan, founded Ched Nasad in -3843 DR. Many other cities lie beneath other parts of Faerûn, sometimes exerting their baleful influences on the lands above, such as the conquest of the human realm of Dambrath by the drow of T'lindhet in 804 DR, or the centuries-long rule of Maerimydra over Shadowdale hundreds of years ago.

Recently, the drow have begun to extend their influence to the surface in greater numbers than ever before, moving into abandoned elven cities and homes. They have begun training and conditioning to allow them to function in the brilliant surface world. Much to their surprise and delight, they have found that due to the Elven Retreat the presence of surface elves is much smaller and more poorly organized than they anticipated. Small bands of drow opposed to this return to the surface have made efforts to alert the surface world of this new threat, but so far no organized resistance to the drow invasion to the surface world has appeared.


Outlook

Drow are, on the whole, sadistic, destructive, and treacherous. They view themselves as the rightful heirs to Faerûn and still remember the perceived injustice of their exile to the Underdark. They hate other races and either wish to make war upon them or view those others with contempt and tolerate them only a necessary for trade or temporary military alliances. Even among their own kind, drow are cruel and suspicious. There is little room for love and friendship in drow society. They may value alliances with other family members or acquaintances, but no drow truly trusts another. Drow forge alliances only when they are more powerful that an "ally," possess blackmail-worthy knowledge, or have a common enemy that overrides their mutual hatred. Even then, they keep their eyes and ears primed for the slightest hint of treachery. The motto for the drow may well be, "Do unto others first so they cannot do unto you."

Of course, there are always exceptions to the rule. A fair number of drow have come to value their position in the Underdark and now think of themselves as true natives of their dark realm. They have little desire to return to the surface and would rather rule in the depths than struggle to regain a realm they no longer hold any interest in ruling. Even more rare are those few drow who have atoned for their evil ways and think of their fellows as monsters that need to be stopped. Those drow are either surface dwellers who are struggling to become accepted into new societies, or fugitives dwelling in out-of-the-way caverns deep underground. With the new expansion into the surface, more drow than ever before are being exposed to the truth on the surface, and many realize that life on the surface is much nicer than they were led to believe by the agents of Lolth and her kin. It is possible, with proper acceptance and encouragement, that the numbers of neutral or even good drow on the surface of Faerûn could skyrocket in the coming years. The priesthood of Eilistraee is in the forefront of this movement, desperately trying to divert the drow war on the surface into a mass conversion from the dark elves' dreadful ways.


Drow Characters
The drow are renowned for their skill as clerics, fighters, rogues, and wizards. While many drow are naturally gifted enough to excel in almost any career to which they may turn their attention, their society has long rewarded skill at arms, divine power (primarily in the hands of female clerics of Lolth), and arcane might (primarily in the hands of male wizards). Likewise, all drow have a deep-seated admiration for stealth, guile, and the unexpected blade in the dark. Dark elves are well-suited to make good bards, but few follow this path; the bards exuberance does not fit well in drow society, although all drow can admire a work of skill. Drow rangers are valuable, too, seeking out threats to the great cities of the dark elves. Drow do not often multiclass, as their society tends to reward specialization in the expected roles and skills.

Favored Class: Centuries of tradition and social pressure have resulted in a schism between male and female drow in regards to their favored class. Female drow are favored by society as clerics, because the Spider Queen favors clerics of her own gender. As a result, a female drow's favored class is cleric. There is no similar favoritism for male drow, who have the standard elven favored class of wizard.

Prestige Classes: The most common prestige class among the drow is without a doubt the assassin. Many drow cities have prestigious and infamous academies that train prospective youths in various philosophies of death, and these assassin's guilds have produced some of the deadliest and most successful killers in the Underdark. Blackguards are also common among the drow, as are other divine prestige classes such as the divine champion, divine disciple, and divine seeker. Any drow who wishes to thrive within drow culture does well to tie himself or herself to Lolth's faith.


Drow Society

Drow live in militaristic societies with strong religious foundations. They are a matriarchal society, ruled by the most powerful drow priestesses. Drow do not form nations, but congregate in vastly powerful city-states located in massive caverns deep underground. Drow cities trade with each other but frequently fall into open warfare.

A typical drow city is ruled by a large group of powerful drow families, the strongest of which rule the city itself. Each family is in turned ruled by a Matron Mother, typically (though not always) a powerful cleric of Lolth. Infighting is common, even expected, among the ruling families of a drow city. The power ranking of the families shifts almost daily, although the top five or ten families are relatively stable.

Drow cities tend towards a haphazard organization, as the strong families seize the best territory for themselves and leave the common drow to build their warrens and feed themselves in whatever fashion they can manage. The various family estates are often grouped close together in the most defensible part of the cavern, but this is not always the case. Typically, a large public temple dedicated to Lolth is located in the same area, often as part of the ruling family's estate. The city itself is usually a tangled, chaotic mess of hundreds of architectural styles. Magic items emitting faerie fire adorn the more prosperous buildings, as well as most of the family estates. For the most part, poverty, oppression, and depression are the rule in the heart of a drow city.

Beyond the city proper are vast farms where slaves raise deep rothé, edible fungus, and other necessities for the survival of the city. Garrisons of the city's standing army (segregated by gender) are located nearby, along with academies that cater to wizards, bards, rogues, assassins, and experts of various fields (even psions and psychich warriors, if you use psionics in your game). Often, a drow city enters an alliance with a powerful denizen of the Underdark such as a beholder or a deep dragon, encouraging the creature to keep a lair on the outskirts of the city. Menzoberanzan, home city of the famed exile Drizzt Do'Urden, is the most famous drow city-state and serves as an excellent example of how such locations are structured.

Surface drow have yet to form anything resembling a society of their own. For the most part, surface drow live as outcasts and hermits, interacting with established societies only when necessary.


Language and Literacy

Mot drow speak Elven, Undercommon, and the language appropriate to their native region. Those with the time or inclination, particularly warriors, learn Drow Sign Language (see below) or languages commonly spoken by beings that settle nearby, including Abyssal, Common, Draconic, and Goblin. Drow also learn common languages spoken on the surface near the entrances to their particular corner of the Underdark, such as the Illuskan language.

Drow have developed a unique sign language, Drow Sign Language, which allows silent communication with hand gestures up to 120 feet away as long as both parties can see each other. Drow Sign Language has no alphabet or written form.

All drow characters are literate except for barbarians.


Abilities and Racial Features

All drow have the elven racial traits listed given in chapter 2 of the Player's Handbook except as follows:

• +2 Dexterity, -2 Constitution, +2 Intelligence, +2 Charisma. The drow have ruthlessly selected for agility, intelligence, and force of personality over generations.
  
• Spell-Like Abilities: 1/day - dancing lights, darkness, and faerie fire. These are as the spells cast by a sorcerer of the drow's character level.
  
• Darkvision up to 120 feet. This replaces elven low-light vision.
  
• Proficient with either rapier or shortsword; proficient with hand crossbow and light crossbow. This replaces the standard elven weapon proficiencies.
  
• Light Blindness (Ex): Abrupt exposure to bright light (such as sunlight or a daylight spell) blinds a drow for 1 round. In addition, drow suffer a -1 circumstance penalty on all attack rolls, saves, and checks while operating in bright light.
  
• Spell resistance of 11 + character level.
  
• Automatic Languages: Elven, Undercommon, home region. Bonus languages: Abyssal, Common, Draconic, Drow Sign Language, Goblin, Illuskan.
  
• Favored Class: Wizard (male) or Cleric (female).
  
• Level Adjustment +2: Drow are more powerful and gain levels more slowly than most of the other common races of Faerûn.

Source: Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting pg 13 "Drow"

Drow Magic and Lore

The drow have developed an astounding number of unique (and often disturbing) spells; many of these have since filtered up through the Underdark and have become well known even on the surface world. Drow have a particular affinity for levitate spells and effects, and often build structures and defenses that require levitate (or some other form of flight) to get from one level to another. Many important or influential drow own a drow house insignia that allows the use of levitate.

Spells and Spellcasting
Drow have an affinity for magical glyphs and runes, and have long warded their homes with potent magics woven into various sigils and runes placed where they can ward against intrusion. These glyphs are similar to those created by the glyph of warding or greater glyph of wardeing spells, except that they remain in place even after discharging power. Drow glyphs fall into one of three categories, way-marker runes (used in areas patrolled or traveled by drow but not inhabited by them), sacred glyphs (special glyphs placed by the clerics of Lolth to protect areas sacred to the Spider Queen), and house defense glyphs (specialized glyphs developed by members of noble houses to protect their homes and families). These runes are placed by drow clerics who have become runecasters and often contain unique spells that have been researched specifically for a particular rune or location.

Drow Magic Items
Drow are particularly fond of magic weapons and armor, and all drow in service to a powerful drow city or family can expect their arms and armor to have at least some minor magical enhancements. Drow are likely to carry drow house insignias, piwafwis (cloaks of elven kind), and greater piwafwis. Because they are selfish and paranoid, drow sometimes craft their magic items so they can only be used by drow, which keeps the items out of the hands of their enemies - at least, those that aren't also drow.


Drow Deities

The drow worship a pantheon of deities known as the Dark Seldarine. These deities were cast out of the Seldarine ages ago and exiled to the Demonweb Pits. They are led by Lolth, the Spider Queen, and it is she whom the vast majority of drow worship. The second most popular drow deity is Vhaeraun, worshiped by most of the surface-dwelling drow. The other drow deities remain minor in the grand scheme of things, either too absorbed in their own interests to increase their worshippers (such as Ghaunadaur), or too afraid or comfortable as Lolth's servants to make a move for more power (such as Kiaransalee and Selvetarm). A notable exception is Eilistraee, the solitary good-aligned deity in the drow pantheon. As more and more drow turn to the surface in an attempt to expand their domains, an increasing number are being converted away from their evil ways by the church of Eilistraee, which of late has significantly stepped up its effort to “save” the drow from their destructive ways.


Relations with Other Races

The drow do not interact well with the various other sentient races of Faerûn. At best, the drow think of other races as merely laughable or contemptible. They hold low opinions even of their erstwhile allies, such as the kuo-toa. Against most other races, the only way the drow know to react is with hatred and outright war. They have built up powerful city-states based on the motion that the path to power lies in the subjugation of lesser races and the eradication of those who pose a threat to their homes.

Prisoners captured in drow raids and battles are usually brought back to the cities to serve out the remainder of their lives as slaves. Orcs, hobgoblins, ogres, and other savage humanoids, are common slaves. Most drow households have two or three such slaves for every drow in the house. The breeding and selling of slaves is a thriving business in drow cities, because these hapless thralls perform all menial and unskilled labor in a drow city.

The true focus of drow hatred, though, is reserved for the surface elves. They act quickly and cruelly to seize any chance to bring pain, suffering, and death to other elves the encounter. Even the few evil surface elves are seen as enemies. Drow sometimes enter into truces with other races or individual if doing so helps them to realize their sinister goals, but these truces are by their nature temporary affairs. It's only a matter of time until the drow turn on their allies.


Drow Equipment

Drow often make use of poisoned weapons. Their favorite is a powerful knockout toxin used to capture live prisoners. Drow poison makers extract this toxin from a slipper, black fungus that grows like great slicks of oil in certain Underdark caverns. Various natural predators of the underground, such as scorpions, purple worms, and especially spiders, are other common sources for poison.

Unique Item: Drow knockout poison.

Arms and Armor
Drow prefer to fight with weapons that take advantage of their Dexterity, so rapiers are a favorite implement of the dark elves. Most drow are also well versed with the hand crossbow and use this weapon to deliver potent knockout poison with stealth and precision. They wear mithral chainmail or mithral chain shirts when they can afford it, but the drow eschew most other armors that hamper their agility or speed.

Animals and Pets
Drow do not keep animals as pets; they prefer pets that can fully comprehend the scope of their reliance and dependence on their masters. Accordingly, many drow keep a favored slave as a personal servant or thrall. These minions are, in truth, little more than pets for the drow, and they are generally treated as such.

The "pets" that most visitors to a drow city remember are the spiders. These vermin are the favored of Lolth, and because her church rules most drow cities, it is only natural that spiders would be common in drow lands. Smaller monstrous spiders are often kept as pets or simply let loose to wander the streets, serving as pest control. Larger spiders are often kept as guardians or even mounts in some cases. Training unintelligent vermin to do anything is exceedingly difficult, so many drow cities have bred specialized types of spiders to serve them. The sword spider is said to be one of the most successful of these.

The drow also use various breeds of subterranean lizards. They have bred species with sticky pads on their feet for use as pack animals and mounts. Drow sometimes use bats of all sizes and breeds as scouts or alarms. Various molds, fungi (especially shriekers), and oozes see common use in drow traps or sanitation areas. More rarely, drow train cavvekans as pets or guards.

Finally, the drow often bring in dangerous outsiders from the Demonweb Pits to serve as guardians or minions. Myrlochar, bebiliths, and retrievers are the most common due to their spiderlike appearances.


Surface Drow Region

Many drow have begun to train and acclimate themselves for life on the surface. The surface drow region reflects a drow from one of the Vhaeraun-worshiping factions of Cormanthor, such as House Jaelre or Clan Auzkovyn.

Preferred Classes: Cleric, fighter, rogue, wizard. A character of one of these classes may choose a regional feat and gain his choice of the bonus equipment below as a 1st-level character. A drow of any other class may not select one of the regional feats here and does not gain the bonus equipment at 1st level.

Automatic Languages: Common, Elven, and Undercommon.

Bonus Languages: Abyssal, Chondathan, Draconic, Drow Sign Language, Orc, Sylvan.

Regional Feats: Blooded, Daylight Adaption, Highborn Drow, Stealthy, Survivor.

Bonus Equipment: (A) rapier* or light crossbow*, or (B) chain shirt* and potion (1st-level spell), or (C) hand crossbow and 3 doses of drow knockout poison.

Regions:
Menzoberranzan, home city of the famed exile Drizzt Do'Urden, is the most famous drow realm. Drow hailing from Cormanthor or the High Forest may instead choose the wood elf region and its associated feats and equipment.
Source: Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting

Source: Forgotten Realms - Races of Faerûn

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Moon Elves
~ Silver Elves / Teu-Tel'Quessir ~

Regions: The Dalelands, Elf (moon), Evermeet, the High Forest, the North, Silverymoon, the Western Heartlands.
Racial Feats: Gift of Tongues.
Racial Prestige Classes: Bladesinger, Spellsinger.

The most common of the elven sub races on Faerûn are the moon elves. They have fair skin, sometimes tinged with blue, and hair of silver-white, black, or blue; human-like colors are somewhat rare. Their eyes are blue or green, with gold flecks. As far as the elves of Faerûn go, moon elves are most like the elves presented in the Players Handbook.

Moon elves prefer to dress in rustic clothes of simple cuts and fashions that are nevertheless of fine and exquisite make. They adorn their dress with embroidered patterns, beads, and similar trappings, preferring earthen colors for everyday wear, hues that make it easy to conceal themselves in foliage. In places of safety or in times of revelry, moon elves enjoy dressing in bold colors – the more brightly colored the better. Hair is worn in braids or ponytails, twined with wires or beads. Moon elves sometimes wear body paint or tattoos in mystic patterns, although not to the extent wild elves do.

Moon elves have the life expectancy and age categories defined for elves in the Players Handbook (Included in first post).


History

Although the moon elves were not the first elves to migrate to Faerûn, they comprised the largest migration. Even in the ancient past their joy for travel seems to have been present, for they came to Faerûn in great numbers indeed. The moon elves wanted to explore this new world rather than settle down, and so did not establish nations of their own for some time, preferring to settle in other elven nations, such as Othreier and Keltormir. The only one of the ancient elven nations that the moon elves could truly call their own was Orishaar, which was defeated in -11, 200DR by the Ilythiiri.

Following the Crown Wars, moon elves helped to raise many of the nations of the second generation of elven realms. Survivors of Orishaar, in conjunction with clans from other realms that had been destroyed during the Crown Wars, founded the secret refuge of Evereska in -8600DR, and many moon elves populated the glorious realm of Cormanthyr, found in -3983DR in the woods of the Elven Court. One by one the old elven realms faded away, until the fall of Myth Drannor in 714DR left Everska as the last moon elf city in Faerûn. Many nomadic moon elf bands still roamed the great forests of northern Faerûn, but no new elven kingdoms rose after the fall of the second-generation realms.

Despite the fact that only a single realm of moon elves has survived the ages since the Crown Wars, the moon elves have fared well compared to many of their elven kin. Content to gather in small, secretive, and relatively short-lived settlements or to simply wander across the wild lands of Faerûn as their hearts call them, the moon elves have built few places worth destroying. When the Elven Retreat began, the moon elves were slow to heed its call, and even then answered the call in much smaller numbers than did the sun elves and other elven races.


Outlook

Moon elves are more impulsive than the other elves, and dislike remaining in one place for any significant amount of time. Most moon elves are happiest when traveling, especially across the expanses of untrodden wilderness that still survive in Faerûn. This is probably the single greatest reason why they are so much more friendly and accommodating to other races than many other elves. The do not isolate themselves from the human lands behind impervious defenses. Moon elves have watched humankind for much longer than their sun or wood elf kin, and they know that non-elves aren’t as foolish and unimportant as most other elves think. They feel that engaging promising human realms such as Silverymoon and instilling elven values and culture in these young lands is a better way for the elven race to survive and thrive than hiding away and avoiding all contact with ambitious, grasping humans.

Moon elves are drawn to adventure though sheer wanderlust. They desire to see and do everything possible during their long lives. Like their allies the Harpers, moon elves believe that a single person of good heart who stands up to injustice or evil can make a big difference. The typical moon elf adventurer tends to be a wandering protector of the common folk, not a dungeon plundering slayer of monsters.

Moon Elf Characters
More so than other elves, moon elves are drawn to a variety of paths. They have a great love of music and make excellent bards. Moon elves do not possess the depth of reverence for the Seldarine the sun elves do, nor the bond of nature of the wood elves, but clerics and druids are not uncommon among the subrace. Many moon elves are skilled warriors as they have long made up the bulk of the elven armies. But moon elves prefer stealth over strength, and often choose to become rangers or rogues instead. Finally, like all elves, moon elves are enamored of magic, and a great number take up the wizard’s arts.

Favored Class: Moon elves share a natural affinity for arcane magic with the sun elves, although they tend to be more impulsive with their spells. Unlike their more disciplined kin, moon elves frequently pursue two or more paths at the same time, combining the study of magic with the arts of the sword master or the rogue. Their favored class is wizard.

Prestige Class: The moon elves were the first to develop the bladesinger prestige class, and they have the most bladesingers of any the elven subraces. Moon elves often become arcane archers, as one might expect. Any moon elf adventurer of good heart who has a little experience under her belt is likely to become a Harper and often chooses to advance as a Harper Scout. Moon elves also make very good spellsingers.


Moon Elf Society

Moon elves are nomadic spirits who rarely settle down for long in one place. They are comfortable living among sun elves and wood elves, but just as often they live in areas dominated by humans, halflings, or even gnomes. Their homes tend to be simple, unassuming, and comfortable.

Moon elves are much less solemn and serious in their ways and actions than sun elves. Their songs and poems are lighter and often quite humorous; tragedies have their place but the moon elves prefer to balance such things with light hearted and often bawdy tales and songs. They also enjoy a wide variety or art styles, including paintings and sculpture. Moon elves are fond of game of chance and gambling. Drinking, feasting, and reveling are all a strong part of their society.

A more serious side to the moon elves emerges in times of trouble. Moon elves are just as skilled with weapons and magic as their fellow elven subraces, and do not hesitate to act if a situation calls for violence as a solution. Even in warfare, they try to find hope and humor, for it is during these dark times that levity and joy are most valuable.

Moon elves gather in loose bands, composed of a dozen or so extended families. Leadership is democratic; all elves of the band have a say in important decisions, although the voices of one or two of the wiser and more experienced family heads tend to carry the day. In times of danger, the bands choose an elder or war leader to see them through the peril. Moon elves travel light and travel often, rarely staying in the same place for more than a season or two before moving on.


Language and Literacy

All moon elves speak Elven, Common, and the human language of their home region. Their nomadic nature encourages them to pick up additional languages as they travel as well, and most moon elves can speak at least one or two additional languages beyond these. Common choices include Auran, Chondathan, Gnoll, Gnome, Halfling, Illuskan, and Sylvan.

All moon elf characters are literate, except for barbarians.


Abilities and Racial Features

Moon elves have all the elven racial traits listed in the Player's Handbook (see first post).


Moon Elf Magic and Lore

Moon elves crave magic like no other race (except perhaps their sun elf cousins). Arcane and divine spell casters alike are encouraged to push the boundaries of known magic and discover something new, adding to the moon elves’ collective magical knowledge.

Magic is not just a vocation for a moon elf - it’s an avocation. The joy in casting a complex spell or creating a potent magic item is as profound and all-encompassing as any great work of art or music. While the sun elves have a stunning accumulation of spell-lore, the moon elves engage in ceaseless experimentation.

Spells and Spellcasting
Moon elves, along with sun elves and a few wood elves, are the only elven subrace to still practice High Magic, although sun elves still make up the bulk of those practitioners of this potent form of magic. Moon elf wizards usually prefer to focus their learning on discovering new forms of magic and methods of spell casting.

Moon Elf Magic items
Creating magic items takes a long time and a willingness to stay in one place during that period. As a result, moon elf spell casters focus on creating less powerful magic items so they don’t have to “waste” valuable travel time sitting around building things, Sun elves in particular find this trait somewhat embarrassing, but moon elves are comfortable with their own less-than-obsessive interest in crafting magic items.

Common Items: Boots and cloaks of elvenkind are among the most popular items by moon elves.


Moon Elf Deities

Moon elves worship the Seldarine. A moon elf identifies with all the elven deities, but usually choose one as a patron deity above the others. Unlike their sun elf cousins, many moon elves worship the elven deity Angharradh, who they believe to be a melding of the three goddesses Sehanine, Aerdrie Faenya, and Hanali Celanil. The moon elves view her as equal in power to Corellon Larethian, who is often regulated to the status of a consort. Moon elf religious ceremonies are exuberant, joyful, and loud. Even deeply religious moon elves recognize that some ceremonies and festivals are simply excuses for revelry.


Relations with Other Races

Of the elven subraces, moon elves are the most tolerant of non-elves. They travel extensively and a moon elf can expect to interact with hundreds of different races throughout her life. Moon elves find the diversity of Faerûn's races to be intoxicating and forever surprising, and they especially value the insights of other races because other often think of things no elf would ever consider. This openness and willingness to accept new ideas is regarded as foolish and dangerous by other elves, so ironically their own kin often give moon elves the coolest receptions.

Despite their open minds, moon elves have little patience or interest in the various evil beings, and they hold orcs and gnolls in particular contempt. They avoid regions where such cultures hold sway, although moon elf adventurers often infiltrate these areas to spy on them. The moon elves share with the other elven subraces a hatred and loathing for the drow.


Moon elf Equipment

Moon elf musical instruments are true wonders to behold. Their instruments are never less than masterwork in quality and often bear magical enhancements of some sort. These instruments are refined and delicate in appearance, often adorned with gemstones and made with precious materials.

Arms and Armor
Moon elves prefer to fight with longswords, rapiers, longbows, and shortbows. Moon elf armor, like moon elf garments, tends to look ancient or primitive at first glance. A closer look reveals impeccable artistry that both mimics and amplifies nature's beauty.

Animals and Pets
Moon elves value the companionship of animals, beasts, and magical beasts on their travels, and they often keep two or three pets at a time. Favored pets include hunting dogs, falcons and other raptors, and cats. Moon elves rarely keep mounts, as they feel they see more when they do their traveling with their own two feet. More powerful moon elves often take the Leadership feat to gain a magical beast as a cohort; common choices include blink dogs, pegasi, unicorns, and even dragonnes.

Source: Forgotten Realms: Races of Faerûn

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The Sun Elves
~ Gold Elves / Ar-Tel'Quessir ~

Regions: Elf (Sun), Evermeet, The North, Silverymoon, Western Heartlands.
Racial Feats: Gift of Tongues.
Racial Prestiage Classes: Bladesinger, Elven High Mage.

The majority of Faerûn's sun elves live on Evermeet, having abandoned what remained of their ancient realms during the centuries following the falls of Illefarn and Cormanthyr. They are only now returning to the mainland to reestablish their presence there. The sun elves are famed for their command of both arcane and divine magic, which exceeds that of any other living race. Works of elven high magic thousands of years old still survive in the hidden refuges of the sun elves.

Sun elves are responsible for the majority of the great elven cities of legend, although other elven subraces aided in the construction of many of these cities. Myth Drannor is perhaps their most famous creation, although probably not their most magnificent. Sun elf realms are the stuff of legends are made of, an integral part of the history of Faerûn for thousands of years. The sun elves certainly know this, for they distance themselves from nonelf races and often won't let such "lesser beings" into their lands.

Sun elves have bronze skin, hair of golden blond, copper, or black, and eyes of green or gold. They favor contemplation, lore, and study over the quick games and light-hearted songs of other elves, but seem to embody the unearthly beauty, grace, and presence of the elven folk.

Sun elves dress in clothing that is at the same time magnificent and understated, favoring cool colors such as blue and green. They decorate their clothes with intricate gold or mithral thread embroidery in exacting patterns whose subtle designs are easy to miss at first. Jewelery is simple but painstakingly crafted.

Of all the elven subraces, sun elves are the most arrogant and haughty - even more so than the avariels, whose haughtiness is rooted in pity for the land bound races. Sun elves believe that they are the true elven race, the builders and the leaders of the elven realms, and that the other elven subraces fail to live up to the solemnity and dignity of their ancient stock.

Sun elves are unusually long-loved, even for elves, and use the aging effects different from those listed in the Player's Handbook. (These are listed in the first post of this thread.)

Like most other Faerûnian elves, sun elves are comparatively tall and thin, and they use the random height and weight characteristics described (in the first post) rather than the ones listed in the Players Handbook.


History

The sun elves migrated to Faerûn at the same time as the moon elves and the dark elves. Although they were the least numerous of the three peopels, they nonetheless quickly established several great nations, including Aryvandaar and Othreier. Under the leadership of House Vyshaan, a dynasty of sun elves, the nation of Aryvandaar in particular soon became the most powerful elven realm of its time.

The Vyshaanti were aggressive expansionists, and their obsession with increasing the size of their empire at the expense of the other races is thought to be the major cause of the terrible Crown Wars of ten thousand years past. After the Fifth Crown War, the Vyshaanti were finally overthrown, and the sun elves returned to a less aggressive lifestyle that has changed little over the intervening millennia.

The next great nation founded by the sun elves was Cormanthyr in the year -3983 DR. This time they chose to build a realm founded on compassion, lore, and subtle magic instead of military might and great battle-mages. As a result, the nation was much kinder and more powerful in the long run, and the elves of Cormanthyr accomplished many amazing magical wonders. For thousands of years, Cormanthyr stood as the most powerful realm in northern Faerûn, eclipsed only briefly by Netheril at its height. For their city of Myth Drannor in the heart of the forest, the Coronals of Cormanthyr checked for centuries the burgeoning strength of young human lands such as Cormyr or Sembia that rose in the years after Netheril's fall.

The raising of the Standing Stone and the Dales compact of 0 DR, peaceful though they were, signaled the beginning of the end of elven might in Faerûn. Although Myth Drannor achieved its greatest flowering in the years of peaceful human and elven coexistence, its days were numbered. Cormanthyr finally fell in 714 DR, when an overabundance of portals in the vicinity of Myth Drannor weakened the boundaries between worlds, allowing a disastrous invasion of fiends.

Today, the bulk of Faerûn's sun elves live in a third great nation, the distant island of Evermeet. First settled in -9800 DR by sun elves from Aryvandaar, the young realm's remoteness protected it from the ravages of the Crown Wars and the ensuing rise of human power on Faerûn. For more than ten thousand years, Evermeet has been the safest haven for elvenkind and the hidden refuge of elven civilization. From Evermeet came the call for the Elven Retreat in 1344 DR, and the sun elves of Faerûn felt that call most deeply of all the elven peoples.

Now that the Retreat has ended, the haughty sun elves are among the last to return to Faerûn. Most sun elves still prefer to remain sequestered on their island nation, even though recent events have proved that Evermeet is not safe from harm. Today, the =only large community of sun elves remaining in Faerûn is the hidden city of Evereska, on the boarders of Anauroch.


Outlook

The sun elves believe that they were selected by Corellon Larethian to be the defenders of elven tradition and history. They are also the most patient of the elven races, and they devote their time to perfecting a task rather than just merely completing the task. To a sun elf, rushing a job or finishing a project in anything less than perfection is betraying the elven ideal. As a result, they tend to have a much narrower range of skills than other elves, but they are the unrivaled masters of the skill, art, or craft to which they turn their efforts. The only exception to this rule is combat. Sun elves have no love for combat, but they are nevertheless well trained in its ways. They view combat as a necessary evil,, and one that should be resolved quickly so the task can be done and once can return to more pleasant and constructive pursuits.

Sun elves are the least likely of the elven subraces to take up the adventurer's path. They see little point in roaming around the world and meeting other peoples, especially when any sun elf can enjoy as much comfort, study, and contemplation as she likes by remaining in one of the hidden sun elf realms. Most sun elf adventurers are more properly thought of as spies, dutiful scouts who make it their lifelong task to observe the other peoples of Faerûn and keep a vigilant watch for the rise of any threats to the elven homelands. A few sun elves are also drawn to the mystery of ancient power and seek to add to the lore of their people by exploring ruins of ancient empires all across Faerûn.

Sun Elf Characters
Sun elves favor the traditional paths of the elven folk: fighter and wizard. No sun elf could truly be described as a barbarian, although a sun elf raised among wilder kin might, on very rare occasions, choose to take levels in the barbarian class. They make good bards, and even if they are not noted for their light-hearted revels, the ancient songs and lore of a learned bard are worthy of a sun elf's respect. Sun elves are also the foremost clerics and paladins among the elven races. The arts of stealth and archery are not widely praticed among sun elves, so rangers and rogues are relatively scares among them.

Favored Class: Sun elf society and culture is steeped in a fascination with magic and learning. They often become incredibly talented wizards, and their natural intellect makes them powerful ones as well. Few sun elf adventurers do not take up the study of magic at some point in their careers.

Prestige Classes: Sun elves often choose prestige classes that allow them to continue their specialized studies. They are particularly drawn to arcane devotee, archmage, and lore-master prestige classes, although some of the more warlike of the race practice the uniquely elven arts of the arcane archer and bladesinger.


Sun Elf Society

Sun elves are deliberate, patient, and solemn, and their society reflects this. Their buildings, while aesthetically beautiful and architecturally brilliant, tend to be ostentatious. Nevertheless, the sun elves take great pride in their buildings, believing that nothing less than perfection will do for the chosen defenders of elven tradition and history. Their art, poetry, and songs also reflect their deliberate and regal attitudes. They prefer tales of ancient battles, songs of the gods, and stories of great heroes beset with terrible tragedies.

Sun elves revere wisdom and learning. Even the humblest sun elf abode features a room or two filled with old scrolls, maps, and books. Sun elves have a strong tradition of rule by nobility, and most sun elf communities are ruled by a monarch who can trace his or her line back to the First Crown War. Where a human noble measures his power by the expanse of the lands under his rule and the numbers of soldiers at his command, a sun elf noble is known by the honor of her family name, the magical power and lore her family has accumulated, and the wealth and beauty of her palatial home.


Language and Literacy

All sun elves speak Elven, Common, and the human language of their home region. Although they often learn other languages (in particularly Auran, Celestial, Chondathan, Gnome, Halfling, Illuskan, and Sylvan), they prefer to use magic to communicate with neighbors or simply insist that visitors learn elven. Many sun elves choose to study dead languages such as Aragrakh, Loross, or Seldruin in order to increase their access to ancient works and lore.

All sun elves are literate, except for barbarians, if any exist.


Abilities and Racial Features

Sun elves have all the elven racial traits listed in the Player's Handbook (see first post).


Sun Elf Magic and Lore

The pinnacle of sun elf knowledge is elven high magic, spells that can ward an entire city against evil, conceal an invading army, or cause a forest to grow up overnight. Such magic is not without its risks, a fact that the sun elves are keenly aware of since the fall of Myth Drannor. While the sun elves still remember the secrets of high magic, they refuse to share such knowledge and are hesitant to use such power themselves beyond the borders of Evermeet.

Sun elves have another key advantage - an unparalleled collection of spellbooks, laboratory notes, and other accumulated lore. FOr ten thousand years, the sun elves have been practicing magic, and the libraries of Evermeet and Evereska are full of magic secrets too numerous to properly catalog.

Spells and Spellcasting
The art of high magic is still practiced in Evermeet by the sun elves, who in this day and age comprise almost all elven high mages. They guard the secrets of high magic jealously, and are reluctant to teach its ways to other elves.

Sun Elf Magic Items
Whereas the moon elves prefer to focus on smaller, easier to craft magic items, the sun elves view such things as wastes of time good only for young wizards to practice on. To a sun elf, a magic item must be powerful and perfect in all ways. Sun elves know that their magic items often find their way into the hands of lesser races, and as a result they view these items as the true legacy of their race. To craft anything less than perfect is to do a disservice to the lesser races - an the reputation of the sun elves.

Common Items: Among the more affordable sun elf magic items are celestial armor and elven chainmail, which is made of mithral and often magically enhanced.


Sun Elf Deities

Religion infuses every aspect of sun elf society. Sun elves believe themselves to be the chosen representatives of the Seldarine in the mortal realm, and are quick to offer prayers and thanks to their deities. These prayers and ceremonies are invariably long, drawn-out affairs during which loud voices, merry songs, or joyful worship are deemed disrespectful. Religion is a serious, solemn subject to the sun elves. They worship all the Seldarine equally, and most choose Corellon Larethian as their patron.

The sun elf devotion to magic, skill at arms, and the superiority of elven civilization means that they have a great and abiding veneration for the leader of the elven pantheon. Like their own nobles, Corellon is a wise, generous, and firm leader who brings forth beauty in the world, then defends his work resolutely. Clerics of the church of Corellon advise the rulers of sun elf communities and Corellon's clerics form the heart of a sun elf army when the sun elves must take the field to defend their lands.

Sun elves also venerate Labelas Enorath, the elven deity of longevity, time, and wisdom. While Corellon is seen as the divine leader and protector of the sun elves, Labelas is revered as a counselor and advisor, a source of wisdom in times of trouble. Clerics of Labelas are changed with the keeping of knowledge and records among the sun elves.


Relations with Other Races

The sun elves feel affection for the moon elves, although this affection is often unintentionally patronizing. They fear that their moon elf cousins are too flighty and irreverent, and they strive to help them return to the proper elven path with stern lectures and fatherly advice. They admire the wood elves and feel that they embody the elven spirit of nature. Relations are good between sun elf and wood elf, although the reclusive nature of the wood elves makes direct contract rare. Sun elves are a bit puzzled by the wild elves, and hope one day to civilize them. Aquatic elves are thought of as near-equals, and the sun elves believe that their water-breathing kin were placed in the world to bring to the seas what the sun elves bring to the lands above. The sun elves deeply regret the sufferings of the avariels, and occasionally send out explorers to seek out avariel aeries and offer them a place on Evermeet.

Sun elf prejudice toward other races (humans in particular) can be quite severe. Many sun elves won't even deign to speak to a human and would rather leave a dying man to meet his fate than to save him. This attitude is somewhat understandable, given the way humans have historically treated the sun elves and their lands, but it wins the sun elves few friends among their human neighbors.

If their is one race that the sun elves hold in absolute contempt, it is the drow. They view the drow as abominations and insults to the Seldarine, and often attack these hated enemies on sight. As word of the drow invasion of Cormanthor begins to spread through Evermeet, it is likely that more and more sun elves will return to the mainland, if only to bring war to the drow and force them from the ruins of what sun elves still consider their lands.


Sun Elf Equipment

Two things are almost certain about any item of sun elf manufacture: it's of the finest quality and it's exceedingly old. Given their long lifespans and obsession with perfection, sun elves make their goods very slowly, throwing them out if even slight imperfections are discovered. Their reverence for history encourages them to keep and treasure antiques. Even a beginning sun elf adventurer might wield a sword that's several centuries old, and she can probably describe its history and the lineages of its previous owners in great detail.

Sun elves favor gold for decorative elements and mithral for anything that must be strong, such as weapons and armor. Sun elves also known how to make items from glassteel, although they have only used the transparent material on Evermeet and in the enclave of Evereska.

Arms and Armor
Sun elf weapons and armor are only rarely of less than masterwork quality. They are viewed as works of art in and of themselves and are carried or worn proudly into battle. Sun elves are known to make some of the most exquisite suits of chainmail armor in Faerûn. Some suits of elven chainmail actually contain entire texts of ancient elven works, the words of the work carved with painstaking detail into the very links of the armor.

Sun elves also fashion other suits of armor, including suits of streamlined, beautiful full plate. While the quality of this armor can rival the best work of the dwarves, the sun elves are so obsessed with perfecting every possible aspect of heir creations that in the time it takes a sun elf armorer to build one suit of armor, a dwarven smith can crank out a dozen suits of equal quality.

Animals and Pets
Unlike the other elven subraces, sun elves do not usually keep animals in their homes or cities as pets. Their communities are at peace with nature, though, and the sun elves welcome the company of any animals who pass through the area or choose to make their lairs nearby or within a city. Sun elves are far more likely to call upon powerful elementals or outsiders than good-hearted beasts and woodland creatures to aid in the defense of their homes.

More than other elven subraces, sun elves are keen riders, though they favor winged mounts such as pegasi and giant eagles over more conventional steeds.


Source: Forgotten Realms: Races of Faerûn

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Star Elves
~ Mithral Elves / Ruar-Tel-quessir ~

The green depths of the Yuirwood hide an ancient secret long forgotten by folk beyond Aglarond's borders, and not widely known even within - the star elves, an elven subrace that retreated from Faerûn to an extraplanar refuge known as Sildëyuir. Sometimes referred to in ancient texts as mithral elves, the star elves concealed the existence of their hidden kingdom for almost two thousand years, leaving behind nothing but mysterious ruins and old, strong magic in the stone circles of the Yuirwood.

While the star elves have kept themselves apart from the rest of Faerûn for many centuries, their isolation is coming to an end. Besieged by an insidious peril from beyond the circles of the world, they face the possiblity of being driven from Sildëuir back to their ancient abode in the Yuirwood.

Names
Male: Aeril, Brevel, Dhisten, Jhered, Mourel, Ourevel, Thaeleven.
Female: Bracatha, Calastra, Evindra, Falindra, Lauratha, Nimara, Varele.
Surnames: Dawnsong, Duskwood, Moonshadow, Nightsong, Nightwind, Starwind, Woodsong, Woodwalker.


Personality

Star elves are caution and aloof, keeping an emotional distance from events. They can be judgmental, although they take their time and consider many factors before passing judgement on a creature or action. Once won, a star elf's friendship (and enmity) is deep and long lasting. Star elves love beauty in any form and have a knack for perceiving inner beauty rather than outward appearances and actions. Among their own kind, star elves delight in song, dance and works of magic, but away from their homeland they are slow to bestow the gift of voice or artistry.


Physical Description

Of all the elven subraces, star elves most closely resemble moon elves. They have pale skin that sometimes takes on a pearly gray or faintly violet tinge, and hair of gold, red, or silver-white. Their eyes are gray or violet, sometimes with gold flecks. Like the sun elves or moon elves, star elves are tall and slender; men average between 5 1/2 and 6 feet in height and weigh around 140 pounds, while women are about half a foot shorter and weigh around 110 pounds. In their homes they favor elegant, embroidered tunics but dress in neutral colors with dappled gray-green cloaks to remain unseen in woodlands. Star elves are graceful and strikingly handsome by human standards.


Relations

Most star elves have removed themselves from the every day life of Faerûn and therefor have little understanding of humans, dwarves, and other races. They think of humans as aggressive expansionists who readily take up blade and spell to get what they want, and they regard humans with caution. They get along well with other elves, especially sun and wood elves, but fear troule from the moon elves' unguarded generosity and engagement of human realms.


Alignment

Most star elves prefer not to involve themselves in the worlds troubles. Star elf society values individual accomplishment and rights over collective effort, so they lean towards chaotic rather than lawful alignments.


Religion

Star elves venerate the Seldarine, the pantheon of elven deities. They are not a devout race but hold a very special reverence for Corellon Larethian.


Languages

Star elves speak Common and Elven. Those who venture to Faerûn from Sildëyuir often learn Aglarondan, Mulan, or Rashemi. In their refuge, Auran, Celestial, and Sylvan are common, while some star elves learn Abyssal and other evil tongues to converse with those seeking to destroy Sildëyuir.


Adventurers

After two millennia in isolation, star elves have realized that they know little about the world from which they took refuge. As their ancient haven no longer shields them entirely, many have begun to debate whether Sildëyuir should remained closed. Certain Faerûnian realms might make poewrful and reliable allies in their war against the abominations who threaten Sildëyuir. A few have taken it upon themselves to spy out the lay of the land, seeking knowledge to defend their home - or a place to call their own if Sildëyuir must be abandoned.


Regions

Most star elves live in the extraplanar realm of Sildëyuir. A Small numbver already live quietly among the people of Aglarond, and choose that region instead.


Star Elf Racial Traits

• +2 Charisma, -2 Constitution: Star elves are graceful but frail.
  
• Medium-size.
  
• Land speed 30 feet.
  
• Immunity to magic sleep spells and effects, and a +2 racial saving throw bonus against enchantment spells and effects.
  
• Low-light Vision: Star elves can see twice as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, or similar conditions of poor illumination. They retain the ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions.
  
• Otherworldly Touch (Su): Between sunset and sunrise a star elf confers the ghost touch ability on any melee weapon she wields and any armor she wears, but only so long as she keeps the weapon in hand or wears the armor. Star elves have a magical affinity for starlight that gives them an unusual edge in fighting extra-dimensional foes.
  
• Extraplanar (Su): Star elves are not outsiders, but they are not native to Faerûn. Spells and effects that target extraplanar creatures affect star elves. Banishment, dismissal, and similar effects that banish outsiders return a star elf to Sildëyuir.
  
• +2 racial bonus on Listen, Search, and Spot checks. A Star elf who merely passes within 5 feet of a secret or concealed door is entitled to a Search check to notice it as if she were actively looking for the door. A star elf's senses are so keen that she practically has a sixth sense about hidden portals.
  
• Star elves have no racial weapon proficiencies.
  
• Automatic Languages: Common and Elven. Bonus Languages: By character region.
  
• Favored Class: Bard. A multiclassed star elf's bard class does not count when determining whether she suffers an XP penalty.

Source: Forgotten Realms : Races of the East

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Wild Elves
~ Green Elves / Sy-Tel'Quessir ~

Regions: Chondalwood, Chessenta, Chult, Elf (wild), or the Shaar.
Racial Feat: Tattoo Magic.

The wild elves of Faerûn are insular and savage, and as a result are rarely seen outside their forest homes. In ages past the wild elves (or green elves, as they were more commonly known) raised great kingdoms in the forest and fielded armies to defend their homes, but with the march of time they have abandoned the trappings of civilization, becoming a furtive, reclusive race. The wild elves were always close to nature, even more so than other elves, but they have forgotten many of the high arts and lore of their people, choosing stealth and survival over building and book learning.

Wild elves are stocky and strongly built for elves. Their skin tends to be dark brown, and their hair ranges from black to light brown, lightening to silvery white with age. They are quiet around anyone except their own kind, and quickly become hostile in these uncomfortable situations. Clothing is kept to a minimum among the wild elves, although they make up for this with body decoration of all sorts - tattoos, war paint, feathers, and beaded jewelry that shows a surprising streak of complex and beautiful artistry.

Wild elves share the height of their moon and sun elf kin but are more heavily built. They have the aging characteristics described in the Player's Handbook, but use alternate height and weight characteristics instead. (These notes are included in the tables presented in the first post.)


History

The wild elves were not always the feral creatures they have become today. Ages ago the green elves, as they were then known, were the first elven explorers (among with the lythari and the avariels)to discover Abeir-Toril, and they quickly became entranced with the wondrous young world. Of this first migration of elves, the green elves were easily the most successful, and they established several territories destined to become great nations: Thearnytaar, Eiellûr, Syòpiir, Miyeritar, and Keltormir.

Unfortunately, with the coming of the Crown Wars, these nations were among the first to fall. Eiellûr fell to the Ilythiri (the dark elves) in -11,400 DR, and the Thaernytaar in -11,200 DR. The realm of Miyeritar, located where the High Moor now lies, was utterly consumed by the Dark Disaster in -10,500 DR, and the other green elf realms fared little better. The peaceful green elves proved to be relatively easy prey for the cruel dark elves, and by the time the Crown Wards ended in -9000 DR, the idyllic world of the green elves had been shattered. Their great nations razed in centuries of relentless warfare, the green elves began a time they refer to as the Wandering. They never recovered fully from the setbacks of twelve thousand years ago, and raised no more great cities in Faerûn.

The Wandering of the green elves lasted for many long elven generations. Forced to live for centuries as fugitives, slaves, or rootless vagabonds, the surviving green elves receded further and further from elven society, withdrawing to the deepest forests and mountains of Faerûn. While the other subraces raised the second generation of elven realms in places like Evermeet and Cormanthyr, the green elves placed their trust in secrecy and stealth instead of walls and might, remaining hidden within their forest homes. By the time of Jhaamdath's rise around -5,80 DR, the green elves had settled into several of the places that are still their ancient homelands: the Chondalwood, the Forest of Amtar, and other great old woodlands of southern Faerûn.

Over the course of many years, the green elves forgot more and more of their ancient lore and skill, focusing on the only skills that mattered: stealth, survival, hunting and hiding. They became first a clannish folk, then a tribal culture, and finally a primitive people. They remained elves, of course, creatures of nobility and magic, but they lost the arts of crafting mighty spells and forging magic weapons. Their fleeting contacts with the rising human empires of the day reinforced the green elf reclusiveness, driving them deeper into the wilds and further from their old ways. Today, the green elves are more widely known as the wild elves, a race lost in time in the sweltering forests of southern Faerûn.


Outlook

The tragic history of the wild elves has left them untrusting of outsiders. Their tactics for dealing with intruders vary from tribe to tribe. Some simply hide and allow the trespassers to go by unknowing, while others attack to capture such interlopers. They rarely kill those they capture, preferring to use magic to alter their memories and carrying them far away before releasing them. They make friends slowly, and most nonelves simply don't have the lifespans required to gain the trust of a tribe of green elves. They excel in combat and often revel in its chaos and primal fury. Little can match the fury of an enraged tribe of green elves.

Wild Elf Characters
More so than any othe relves, wild elves value the martial skills. Barbarians and rangers are very common among the wild elves. The wild elves do not feel close to the Seldarine and do not often become clerics, instead venerating nature itself as druids of Mielikki, Silvanus, or Rillifane Rallathil. Wild elves have no written tradition and little patience for hours of study in any even and so rarely become wizards. Unlike other elves, they prefer the sorcerer's arts.

Favored Class: Despite their lack of learning and skill, wild elves are just as naturally talented at arcane magics as most other elves. Their favored class is sorcerer, a path of power that rewards spontaneity and creative energy instead of hours of dry study in ancient, moldering tomes.

Prestige Classes: A small number of wild elf fighter/sorcerers follow the path of the arcane archer, but the most common prestige class among the green elves is the hierophant. Wild elves can become very powerful druids, and their leaders often turn to druids for guidance and support.


Wild Elf Society

Among their friends and kinfolk, wild elves are pleasant and outgoing, somewhat like moon elves. Their feasts and celebrations are events of great joy, with singing, dancing and all manner of merry-making. One of the most beloved ways to celebrate is to engage in a hunt. Hunts are tribal affairs in which all elves, young and old, have a part. The actual hunt itself is sometimes only a small part of the overall event, which also includes a religious ceremony an tribe wide festival.

The scattered, tribal nature of the green elves also means that no two tribes are exactly alike. Some have settled in permanent villages with crude huts while others are nomadic dwelling in tents and wander over vast wilderness territories. Gender segregation is common' some tribes are exclusively matriarchal, while others are patriarchal.

Although they have a great interest in music and art, wild elves create few permanent works of art. To the wild elf, the joy of art lies in the creative process, the spontaneous creation of song or dance or effects. They view with distaste attempts to "capture" this process by making permanent works of art, recording songs or stories in writing, and so on, maintaining that to do so imprisons the ever-changing beauty of the world.


Language and Literacy

All wild elves speak Elven, Common, and the language of their home region. They are isolationists and do not trust outsiders, so they rarely learn the languages of their neighbors, especially their enemies. Common additional languages include Gnoll, Illuskan, Mulan, Orc, Shaaran, Sylvan, and Tashalan.

Wild elf characters who choose a player character class (other than barbarian) are literate, but all other wild elf characters are illiterate.


Abilities and Racial Features

Wild elves have all the racial traits listed in the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting except as follows:

• Proficient with halfspear, short bow, and log bow, Unlike the other elf subraces, wild elves favor weapons they can make without a source of metal and a smithy.

Wild Elf Magic and Lore

Although in ancient times the green elves were one of the key developers of elven high magic, their days as practitioners of this potent art are long gone. Today, their spellcasters are almost all druids or sorcerers.

Spells and Spellcasting
Wild elf magic is often tied closely to nature. Although the theory behind their spells may be identical to that practiced by other races, wild elf spellcasters often add verbal, somatic, and material components to a spell simply to make it seem more naturalistic (see the Primitive Caster Feat). These additional components do not significantly increase the actual casting time of the spell.

Wild Elf Magic Items
Wild elves eschew even the most powerful magic items if they appear to be too far removed from the natural world. They have a particular aversion to forged metal and to most clothing. Their own magic items appear to be crude and primitive, but they are just as effective as their more civilized counterparts. They are particularly fond of magic tattoos, and many wild elves take the Tattoo Magic Feat.


Wild Elf Deities

The wild elves worship the Seldarine, in particular Rillifane Rallathil, but this worship does not approach the regimented, organized structure of the other elven subraces. Rather, the green elves worship individually when the urge takes them. They commune constantly with a pantheon of nature spirits, each representing an archetypal member of an animal or natural phenomenon.


Relations with other Races

The green elves do not seek out relations with others, and they do their best to remain unseen and unknown. Nevertheless, wild elves have been known to interact with adventurers, explorers, and lost travelers. Usually, these people are captured, their memories magically erased, and then let go somewhere far from the tribal lands. Rarely, the elves allow a wanderer to visit their camp, usually in times of dire peril when they are forced to call upon outside aid. Those who manage to impress and even befriend a tribe of wild elves find that their friendship is strong and loyal, and such individuals are often gifted with wild elf tattoos or spirit animals.


Wild Elf Equipment

Wild elves prefer weapons and tools they can make and fix in the middle of a battle or hunt. Despite their disdain for "civilized" goods, wild elves are adept at crafting things in harmony with nature. Their treetop villages, for example, are inextricably part of the healthy trees that support them - an engineering feat that would baffle the best gnome architect.

Arms and Armor
Wild elves prefer using simple weapons that can be crafted from materials found in the wilderness: bows, crude bone daggers and knives, and clubs. They have a particular fondness for bows and halfspears. Wild elves prefer to wear hide armor, if anything at all. For the most part, wild elves find armor too restrictive, relying on concealment and agility for defense.

Animals and Pets
Wild elves are quite fond of animals, and most tribes use them as guardians and hunters' companions. Wolves are commonly found in wild elf tribes, as are birds of prey of all kinds, great cats, and even wolverines. Dire versions of these animals are only slightly more rare.

Wild elves also believe that each of their kind is born with a spirit animal, a guide of sorts that serves as a combination of guardian angel and advisor to the natural world. All young wild elves undergo an involved ritual that demands several hours (often in excess of a day) in an enclosed area filled with steam and the smoke of burning herbs. At some time during this period the elf receives a vision of his spirit animal, and for the rest of this life he feels guarded and protected by this animal.


Source: Forgotten Realms: Races of Faerûn

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Wood Elves
~ Copper Elves / Or-Tel-quessir ~

Regions: The Dalelands, Elf (wood), Great Dale, High Forest, the North, Tethyr, Western Heartlands
Racial Feats: None.

The wood elves are among the most numerous of Faerûn’s elven people, a young and confident folk who hold the old elven forest homelands in strength. Heirs to the second generation of elven nations, the wood elves see their realms as the natural successors to lands such as Eaerlann and Cormanthyr. Where the old empires expanded with strength and pride, the realms of the wood elves hope to grow with compassion and humility. The wood elves do not view their homelands as a land apart from Faerûn; they understand better than their kindred that for better or worse, their fates are bound up with the fates of the humans, dwarves, and halflings around them.

Also known as copper elves or sylvan elves, these people have coppery skin tinged with green, and brown, green, or hazel eyes. Hair is usually brown or black, occasionally blond or coppery-red. Wood elves prefer to dress in simple clothing, similar to the moon elves but not quite as colorful. They favor a simple cut to tunic or dress, set off by common embroidery in natural designs.

They are particularly fond of leather armor, and they often wear lovingly tooled and well-crafted suits even when they do not feel endangered. Their clothing, leather armor or not, is usually in dark shades of green and earth tones to better blend with their natural surroundings. They are a humble race and only rarely do they enhance their appearance with jewelry or similar accessories.

Wood elves are as tall as most other Faerûnian elves but more heavily built. They have the aging characteristics described on the Player’s Handbook, and use the alternate random height and weight characteristics. (These are included in the tables in the first post).


History

The wood elves are the most recent addition to the various elven subraces of Faerûn, although the history of their civilization still exceeds that of many other races of Toril. They also have the unusual distinction (often thought of as an honor by copper elves) of being the only subrace of elves to be actual natives to Faerûn. The first copper elves did not appear at once; their race coalesced slowly over the course of several centuries after the last Crown War, blending several of the older elven kindreds.

The Crown Wars brought down most of the great nations of the First Flowering. In the wake of these terrible wars, thousands of elves were left bereaved and homeless. Families were torn apart, and for many centuries (a time known to the elves as the Wandering Years) these elves simply led the lives of nomads. Some of Faerûn’s elves retreated to their ancestral homes and started to build anew, but on a smaller scale, raising the second generation of elven nations. But a significant portion of elves never felt the need to do so. These elves (mostly moon, sun, and green elves), vowed never again to let internal strife tear their kind apart, retreating to the deepest woodlands to seek shelter from the madness of the world.

Unlike the green elves, these self-imposed exiles did not slip into barbarism. Rather, they formed tightly knit societies that stayed in touch with other like-minded elven communities hidden away in other forests. Over time, these secluded elves grew closer to the natural world and further apart from the high magic and ancient lore of the elves had brought from their first home, and became a new subrace of elves apart from their kin: the wood elves.

While the sun elves and moon elves founded realms such as Evermeet and Evereska after the Crown wars, the great realm of the wood elves was ancient Eaerlann, a realm founded in the eastern High Forest around -4700 DR. The elves of Eaerlann engaged other young empires of the North in peaceful trade and diplomacy, befriending the dwarven realm of Delzoun soon after its establishment in -3900 DR, and tutoring the early Netherese in magic around -3830 DR.

The human empire of Netheril soon eclipsed its elven neighbors, growing in martial and magical might at an alarming pace. In -3533 DR the Netherese uncovered the Nether Scrolls in the ruins of Aryvandaar, eagerly exploiting magic so powerful and terrible that even the sun elves of the First Flowering had no dared to employ it. For centuries the wood elves of Eaerlann sought to quietly check Netheril’s pride and expansionism, but in -339 DR, the Netherese destroyed themselves as Karsus sought godhood and instead brought cataclysmic destruction down on his people. The elves of Eaerlann took in many Netherese survivors, allowing them to settle in the city of Ascalhorn.

The elves and humans of the North lived in peace for a time, but Ascalhorn too was doomed to fall through the folly of mages. Careless summoning of powerful fiends led to a sudden, terrible assault by an army of devils who overthrew the proud city in 882 DR. This time, Eaerlann did not survive the destruction of the neighboring human realm. Already gravely weakened by a year of battling against ferocious orc hordes, Eaerlann fell soon after Ascalhorn became Hellgate Keep.

In the years since the fall of Eaerlann, the wood elves have not raised any more great realms, choosing to put their trust in stealth and vigilance instead of castles and cities. Although they felt the call of the Elven Retreat, the wood elves did not respond. With the end of the Retreat, the wood elves have engaged from their secret homes in the depths of Faerun’s woodlands as a strong and confident people whose wariness is tempered by compassion. The wood elves of the High Forest dream of reestablishing old Eaerlann, but this time their realm will be a real of reclusive villages and watchful foresters, not walled cities and proud warriors.


Outlook

Wood elves are calm, serene, and difficult to surprise. Their patience is legendary. They are at one with the world of nature, and are not comfortable in areas of heavy civilization. They have lost the urge to build and replace nature with walls and palaces; event he cities built by their elven kin seem to be foolish to the wood elves. They have come to believe that buildings of stone are transitory in nature, and that in time, the forest returns to overgrow the greatest of cities. Other races interpret this attitude as fatalistic or condescending, and as a result wood elves find it hard to understand anyone who isn’t a wood elf.

Wood Elf Characters
Of all the elven subraces, the copper elves have the least fascination with arcane magic. They understand its power and a number of their folk study its ways, but ultimately the artifice of arcane lore is simply one more way of expressing dominion over the natural order of things, and the wood elves view it in that light. Wood elves make excellent fighters, rangers, and rogues, relying on their natural strength and quickness to meet challenges. Wood elves from particularly remote forests sometimes become barbarians. Clerics are somewhat rare among this people, but druids are very common and are the most prominent spellcasters of the race.

Favored Class: Wood elves are master hunters, and most train enough to possess at least one level of ranger. Favored enemies usually include orcs, gnolls, outsiders (planetouched), and other savage races that dwell near the traditional homelands of the wood elves.

Prestige Classes: When wood elves choose to take up a prestige class, they are usually drawn to the arcane archer or hierophant classes. Like the moon elves, wood elves are friendly toward the Harpers and all they represent, so they are commonly Harper scouts. Few wood elves become spellsingers or bladesingers.


Wood Elf Society

Wood elves live at ease with nature, using what naturally occurs in the world to shelter or defend themselves. They are not nomadic, and claim large territories in the deepest woodlands of Faerûn. Some wood elves choose to do without houses, furnishings, and any possessions they can’t carry, using the high branches of great trees or natural caves in their roots for shelter and storage. Most wood elves instead prefer to dwell in small villages of permanent homes of natural field stone and lovingly carved wood, so carefully concealed among the surrounding wilderness that a human hunter might walk through the center of a wood elf village and not even notice that he had done so.

Wood elves adhere to a tradition of leadership by their oldest and most experienced druids, although most villages form a council of elders selected from the wisest and most experienced elves of each family to handle day-to-day affairs. The druidical hierarchy serves to unite wood elves of different villages and weld all the wood elves of a particular forest into a common realm. The druids do not presume to tell the elders how to run a village, but the elders generally give great weight to anything a druid chooses to say.

Wood elves excel in the hunt. They spend much of their time stalking their chosen territory on the search for food or intruders into their realm. The rest of their time is spent frolicking among the branches; in this regard, they are quite similar to moon and wild elves. With the end of the Retreat, wood elves are quickly coming back into contact with the civilized world. Although they are reluctant to allow others into their lands, wood elves understand that times are changing. If they are to survive as a people, it may be time to change for the copper elves to change as well.


Language and Literacy

All wood elves speak Elven, Common, and the language of their home region, if any. The average wood elf has neither the interest nor the dedication required to learn other languages, but those who do often learn Chondathan, Draconic, Gnome, Goblin, Gnoll, and Sylvan.

All wood elf characters are literate except for barbarians.


Abilities and Racial Features

Wood elves have all the elven racial traits listed in the Player's Handbook (see first post).

Wood Elf Magic and Lore

Among the wood elves, magic finds its truest expression in the power the druid is able to coax from the natural world. Wizardly magic is suspect - all that time among tomes divorces the spellcaster from the surrounding world - and clerics need to call on distant gods for help. By contrast, druids use the power of the forest itself. More importantly, druids use that power to protect and nurture the forest, and wood elves are pragmatic enough to judge magic by its end result.

Spells and Spellcasting
While the wood elves are as magical as the other elven subraces, they have for the most part abandoned their interest in arcane magic. Most wood elf spellcasters are druids and rangers, and although wood elf bards, sorcerers, and wizards are far from unknown, they have developed no specific magical traditions of their own.

Wood Elf Magic Items
Wood elf magic items are invariably crafted from materials found in nature, much like those created by the wild elves. Unlike the work of the wild elves, these objects are not primitive in appearance; wood elf magic items are often quite beautiful and graceful. Druidic magic is most commonly used in their society to fashion magic items.


Wood Elf Deities

Wood elves worship the Seldarine, but they hold a special respect and reverence for the ancient forest powers of Faerûn, Silvanus and Mielikki. Among the Seldarine, the wood elves hold a particular reverence for Solonor Thelandira, the Great Archer, and Rillifane Rallathil, the Leaflord. Solonor, as the deity of archery and the hunt, is viewed as the special patron of the wood elves, and before battle a wood elf will often invoke his name.


Relations with other Races

In the five hundred years since the fall of Eaerlann, the wood elves have been forgotten by most of the other peoples of Faerûn. Only those humans and dwarves native to the North and familiar with the borders of the High Forest have seen copper elves, and even then, they most likely met a solitary hunter or ranger. While the wood elves shelter deep inside forbidding forests and are therefore inaccessible to their neighbors, they are ironically among the more compassionate and understanding of the elven subraces. Like the moon elves, they accept the power of humankind and seek to live alongside their human neighbors and guide their expansion instead of seeking ways to deter or intimidate the human lands.

Wood elves have a long history of cooperation with the shield dwarves, whose realm of Ammarindar stood alongside their own realm of Eaerlann for many centuries in the vale of the Delimbiyr River. By extension, they look favorably on most other dwarves, too. Gnomes and halflings are both greeted as friends and potential allies. On the other hand, the wood elves have a cold place in their hearts for creatures such as orcs and gnolls, who bring axes, fire, and slaughter to the forests the wood elves have sworn to preserve.


Wood Elf Equipment

Wood elves do not often work with metal, but this is not because they lack the skill or knowledge to do so. Rather, they simply have no interest in working with metal. They prefer to fashion their weapons of wood and stone.

Arms and Armor
Wood elves are masters at building armor and weapons. In particular, they seem to have a knack for building bows of all kinds (but not crossbows). The wood elves have developed a large number of specialized arrows as well, including arrows that fly farther than normal or serve as signal devices.

These arrows are not generally sold to visitors because wood elves have little use for outside money in their society, but they often give these arrows to allies as gifts. Of course, the majority of wood elf arrows make their way into the world after they are shot at intruders. Any Fletcher not trained by the wood elves suffers a -4 penalty on any Craft check made to construct these specialized arrows.

Wood elves are adept at dying their leather armor in the exact shades of green and brown of the surrounding foliage. When in their home forest, wood elves wearing armor treated with the camouflage dye receive a +4 circumstance bonus on Hide checks.

Animals and Pets
Wood elves are completely at home with the other creatures of the woods and often ally themselves with any who live in the region. They do not necessarily keep them as pets, but instead just happen to share the same territory. Their favored animal companions are the various great cats, especially mountain lions, pumas and leopards (treat all as leopards). Wood elves also share a kinship with giant owls, one of the only sentient creatures with whom they feel completely at ease. The two groups often live in harmony, with the owls serving as advance scouts for the elves and the elves serving as protectors in times of peril to the owls.

Source: Forgotten Realms: Races of Faerûn

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The Half Aquatic Elves

Regions: Aglarond, Dragon Coast, Impiltur, Sembia, Vilhon Reach.
Racial Feats: Water Adaption.

Half-aquatic elves have no real society of their own. Born of human and sea elf blood, they are extremely rare, since sea elves rarely venture into human lands. Normally they live alone or in small groups along the shore, or they simply take up life in a human coastal community.

Half-aquatic elves have pale green skin. Their hair can be any human color, but it usually has a faint green or blue cast to it. As they age, their hair becomes blue-silver. They have slight webbing between their fingers and toes, making them excellent swimmers.

Although they cannot breathe water like their aquatic elf ancestors, half-aquatic elves feel drawn to the sea. If they seem distant or aloof, it's not because they're ignoring someone on purpose. They're always listening to the roar of the nearby surf, or imagining its sound if they travel far from the sea.

Half-aquatic elves reach the age of majority at 20 years old and can live to be over 180 years in age. Since aquatic elves are larger and heavier than most elves, half-aquatic elves have the same height and weight characteristics as a full-blooded human.


History

Half-aquatic elves do not have a history as a subrace. They are simply too rare to ever form a community larger than a thorp on their own, and even these are almost unheard of. Half-aquatic elves (or the rare family of half-elves) only meet a handful of other half-aquatic elves in the course of their lives.


Outlook

Forced by nature to remain with her air-breathing parent, a half-aquatic elf is cut off - except for short visits - from any aquatic elves with whom she could identify, costing her half of her heritage. Where some people with such an unusual heritage would become bitter outcasts, half-aquatic elves instead tend to be dreamers, content to keep their own company but not resentful of their circumstances. Their human neighbors know much less about aquatic elves than humans in other places know of landbound elves, and therefor have little reason to fear the half-aquatic elf's elven blood.

Half-Aquatic Elf Characters
Half-aquatic elves display the half-elven flexibility out of necessity, for their heritage is forever divided against itself. Often loner,s, half-aquatic elves tend to be rogues, sorcerers, or fighters.

Favored Class: The highest class a half-aquatic elf has is considered her favored class.

Prestige Class: Half-aquatic elves can use any prestige classes open to humans. They also have access to the arcane archer, spellslinger, and bladesinger prestige classes.


Half-Aquatic Elf Society

Most half-aquatic elves hail from a beach culture. As children, they often get their sea legs on the family fishing boat. Some such elves are fortunate to have aquatic elf parents who care about them and visit them regularly. When they are on the sea, these children have a guardian angel watching them from the depths.

When half-aquatic elves reach the age of majority - and often before that - they are drawn to the sea. They often work on fishing boats or as pearl divers. They can swim much faster than a human, although not even half as fast as a true sea elf, so they find that employment in and around the water suits them well. As they get older, half-aquatic elves find themselves drawn more and more to the serenity of the sea. More than one half-aquatic elf has been found alone in her boat, having passed away from old age while fishing once again.


Language and Literacy

Half-aquatic elves speak Common, Elven, and the human tongue of their home region. All half-aquatic elves are literate except for barbarians, commoners, and warriors.


Abilities and Racial Features

Half-aquatic elves have all of the half-elven racial traits listed in the Player's Handbook, except as follows:

• Swim speed of 15 feet. An aquatic half-elf gains a +8 racial bonus on all Swim checks and can always choose to take 10 with Swim checks, even if rushed or threatened. Aquatic half-elves can use the run action while swimming, as long as they swim in a straight line.
  
• Sea Longing: A half-aquatic elf who remains out of sight of the sea for more than a tenday longs for the sea, suffering a -1 penalty on Wisdom-based checks until she returns to the shore.
  
• Favored Class: Any.
  
• Automatic Languages: Elven, Common, Home Region. Bonus languages: Any (except secret languages, such as Druidic).

Half-Aquatic Elf Magic and Lore

Half-aquatic elves can use the racial spells of both humans and elves. They have no spellcasting traditions of their own. However, half-aquatic elf clerics often choose Water or Ocean as one of their domains. Similarly, half-aquatic elf wizards usually concentrate on water-oriented spells. Water breathing is a true favorite, as it allows the half-aquatic elf to visit the world of her watery heritage.


Half-Aquatic Elf Deities

Half-aquatic elves can choose any human or elven deity as a patron. Many who have contact with their aquatic kin worship Deep Sashelas, the elven god of the deeps. Deep Sashelas is even said to bless unions between sea elves and humans because they often lead to a greater understanding between these two peoples.

A small number of evil half-aquatic elves venerate Umberlee as their patron. However, all half-aquatic elves respect and fear this capricious goddess, like any who earn their living from the sea. She seems to have a fondness for playing with the lives of half-aquatic elves, these individuals caught between the airy world and the one below.


Relations with Other Races

Half-aquatic elves get along with most of the common races. They usually prefer the company of humans, but they find elves of all sorts fascinating. They enjoy the company of dwarves, gnomes, and halflings as well, and they don't even mind half-orcs. Like their aquatic elf parents, they loathe sahuagin and other evil creatures of the sea.


Half-Aquatic Elf Equipment

Half-aquatic elves have no unusual racial equipment of their own. However, they can make use of any equipment or weapons special to humans or elves. They have a special affinity for the weapons of aquatic elves, including spears, nets, and tridents.

Animals and Pets
Half-aquatic elves keep animals or pet s as often as any seafaring humans. Aboard ship, they prefer cats. They like to play with fish and sea mammals in the surf, but they rarely domesticate such creatures.


Source: Forgotten Realms: Races of Faerûn

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The Common Half Elves

Common half-elves are descended from humans and moon elves, sun elves, wild elves, or wood elves. While these people can be found all over Faerûn, this section describes the half-elf culture of Aglarond, the land where the largest number of common half-elves live.

Common half-elves blend human and elven features, influenced by the subrace of their elven parent and the ethnicity of their human parent. Moon half-elves have pale skin tinged bluish around the ears and chin, framing their lower faces. Sun half-elves have bronzed skin, and hair of gold. Wild half-elves have brown skin. Wood half-elves have coppery skin tinged with green highlights.

Most common half-elves are a bit distant, used to being cast in the role of outsiders. In the Yuirwood, this isn't so. The half-elves make up the majority and have a long and proud history. Many half-elves come to the Yuirwood once they are old enough to leave home. Here, at least, is a place in which they can hope to be accepted.

Half-elves are more slender than humans, and more heavily built than elves. Since the elves of Faerûn are taller and more sturdily built than the elves of other worlds, Faerûnian half-elves are very close to human size and wight. Use the random height and weight characteristics provided provided [in the second post] instead of the default values of the Player's Handbook.


History

The Yuirwood, home to many thousands of half-elves, is located in Aglarond in the Unapproachable East. The Yuirwood was once populated by a large number of wood elves. In 756 DR, however, humans arrived in the area and began establishing settlements. At first the two cultures clashed, but they eventually banded together against the mutual threat of the monsters that then lived in the woods. The two races living in the Yuirwood intermingled for centuries, eventually blending to form a true half-elven culture.

In 1065 DR, the half-elves of the Yuirwood made peace with the humans living along the coast between their lands and the Sea of Fallen Stars, and the nation of Aglarond was born. Those humans who refused to make peace left for the western tip of the Aglarondan peninsula, and formed their own country, Altumbel. Aglarond was ruled by half-elven monarchs for generations. About fifty years ago, the royal line died out, and the last queen passed the throne on to her apprentice, the Simbul. Under her rule, the people of Aglarond prospered in the face of Thayan aggression, and through their stalwart defense of their land have forced their powerful neighbors to abandon (at least temporarily) the dream of expanding to the Sea of Fallen Stars.

The Yuirwood is unique among forest, in that it is impenetrable by detection and scrying magics. This has been a great advantage to the Simbul and her people, as it makes it impossible for hostile forces to monitor the movement of people and troops within the forest that covers most of Aglarond. Relkath's Foot is the largest settlement of half-elves in the Yuirwood (and all Faerûn, for that matter). It is home to some 5,080 people, most of whom are half-elves.


Outlook

While elves and half-elves are respected and admired in many parts of Faerûn, humans in lands where elves are not commonly encountered can be resentful of elven blood. Elves are graceful, attractive, long-lived, mysterious, and skilled with mighty magic, and humans who do not know them well can easily come to regard elves - and by extension, half-elves - with envy and fear. In places such as Silverymoon or the Dalelands, a half-elf's race is nothing remarkable, and she faces little or no bigotry. In lands where there is a long history of elven-human conflict, such as Tethyr or Sembia, her elven blood marks her as different and dangerous, with all the fears and suspicions one might expect.

Many half-elves respond to the suspicions and slights of their human neighbors by staying well away from human civilization, preferring a solitary life in the wilderness of Faerûn. Others instead take up a life of travel, never staying in one spot long enough for racial prejudices to distance them from the folk around them.

As the homeland of a mixed society of elves, humans, and half-elves, Aglarond is unique among the lands of Faerûn. In Aglarond, a half-elf's race is unremarkable, and a half-elf is judged by her own actions and accomplishments, not her kindred. Aglarondan half-elves are a quiet, thoughtful, and courteous folk, slow to befriend outsiders, but unfailingly loyal to the friends they've made. Many half-elves from other lands journey to Aglarond at least once in their lives, and more than a few remain there, enriching the Simbul's realm.

Half-Elf Characters
The half-elves of the Yuirwood are a diverse community who welcome immigrants. Among them can be found people of every character class and nearly every multiclass combination, for flexibility is a key trait among half-elves.

Favored Class: The highest class a half-elf has is considered to be his favored class.

Prestige Classes: Common half-elves can use any prestige classes open to humans. They also have access to the arcane archer, spellsinger, and bladesinger prestige classes.


Half-Elf Society

Aglarondan society is generally free and open. Despite being caught between the reclusive people of Altumbel and the aggressive zulkirs of Thay, Aglarond has known peace in recent years. However, the Aglarondans know that the price of their freedom is eternal vigilance. Only their resolve, courage, and skill hold Thayan conquest at bay. Any folk of good heart who are willing to stand shoulder-to-shoulder in defense of their homes and their liberty are welcomed in Aglarond, and over forty years of the Simbul's rule, Aglarond has been greatly strengthened by the immigration of half-elven craftsfolk, foresters, and adventurers.

In Aglarondan, humans, half-elves, and elves live side by side, each accepting their neighbors' ways. The half-elves here reach adulthood at about age 20 and then take on whatever role they feel best suited for in their society. Many work in the woods, hunting wild animals, collecting pelts, harvesting rare woods and herbs, and gathering nuts and berries. Aglarondan foresters take care not to despoil the Yuirwood, and go to great pains to avoid taking too much game or felling too many living trees.

Elders are respected in Aglarond for the wisdom they have presumably gained over the years. Once a half-elf is too old to work, he is cared for by his family or his village until he passes on.

When outside a place like Aglarond, half-elves are loners and often keep to themselves. Some treasure the camaraderie and the sense of family they get when traveling with a group of adventurers.


Language and Literacy

The half-elves of the Yuirwood speak Common, Elven, and Aglarondan. Aglarondan is a relatively young language that developed from the blending of Elven with the Damaran tongue of the human settlers who colonized the Yuirwood's coasts five hundred years ago. For bonus languages, half-elves often choose Chessentan, Damaran, Draconic, Elven, Mulhorandi, Orc, or Sylvan.

All common half-elves are literate, except for barbarians.


Abilities and Racial Features

Common half-elves have all of the half-elven racial traits listed in the Player's Handbook.


Half-Elf Magic and Lore

Common half-elves can use the racial spells of both humans and elves. They have no spellcasting traditions of their own, however. Aglarondan arcane spellcasters often follow the Simbul in the choice of magical schools in which she concentrates: Evocation and Transmutation.


Half-Elf Deties

Common half-elves can choose any human or elven deity as a patron. Many favor Sune for the love that brought their parents together. Aglarondan common half-elves favor Chauntea, Selune, Valkur, and the elven pantheon (the Seldarine). Those good-aligned half-drow who live in Aglarond have brought the worship of the Lady of the Dance with them. The worship of Eilistraee has spread beyond those with drow blood in their veins, and many common half-elves who enjoy midnight revelries - mostly bards, it has to be said - choose Eilistraee as a patron.


Relations with Other Races

The common half-elves of Aglarond get along well with most of the major faces of Faerûn. They favor their own kind first and foremost, but they happily work with both humans and elves too, as well as dwarves, gnomes, and halflings. The half-elves of Aglarond show a marked tolerance for half-orcs. On the other hand, Aglarondans are deeply suspicious of Thayans, Mulhorandi, and Untherites. These old, corrupted enemies have sought to control the Aglarondan peninsula for centuries, and even though Mulhorand and Unther no loner have territorial aspirations in the area, the free folk of Aglarond have long memories.


Half-Elf Equipment

Common half-elves have no unusual racial equipment of their own. However, they can make use of any equipment or weapons specific to humans or elves.

Animals and Pets
Common half-elves often raise animals and keep pets of the sort that both humans and elves do. Sinec many Aglarondan half-elves are rangers or druids, they often have unusually smart, strong, and loyal animal companions. Wolves, hawks, and eagles are common in Aglarond.


Source: Forgotten Realms: Races of Faerûn

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The Half-Drow

Regions: Dambrath, Elf (drow), Half-drow, the North.
Racial Feats: Drow Eyes.

In most lands, half-drow are rare. Since so many drow are irredeemably evil, they only mate with humans by way of rape or slavery. The only exception are the half-drow of the land of Dambrath in the Shining South, who arise from the centuries-old drow subjugation of the human folk of that land.

Half-drow have dusky skin, silver or white hair, and a broad range of eye colors. They are often just as dark-hearted as their elven parents, but with a bitter resentment that comes from knowing that they are considered second-class members of drow society. In human society, half-drow are distrusted nearly as much as their full-blooded cousins. Despite this, good half-drow are much less rare than good drow. Whether this has to do with the influence of their human blood, or the desire to rebel against the drow who treat them so poorly, is difficult to tell.

Half-drow use the same age categories as the other half-elves. They use the standard half-elven height and weight entries from the Player's Handbook (provided in the second post).


History

Around 500 years ago, the barbaric human kingdom of Dambrath warred with the powerful drow city-state of T'lindhet beneath the nearby Gnollwatch Mountains. When the drow won, they enslaved the humans of the region. Over the course of several human generations, the conquering dark elves took human lovers from their slaves, resulting in a large number of half-drow. Today, such people make up about 15% of the country's population.

In time, the ruling drow nobles came to spend less and less time on the surface, returning to their subterranean city and leaving their surface conquests in the hands of their half-breed children. They great Houses of T'lindhet carved up the broad lands of Dambrath into their personal fiefs, and their half-drow scions served as good stewards for their vast estates. These great old families of half-drow rule Dambrath to this day, each nominally loyal to an ancient House of T'lindhet. Drow blood is a sign of powr and wealth in Dambrath, but when the half-drow of the surface visit their ancient families below the Gnollwatch Mountains, they find that their full-blooded drow relations treat them as inferiors.


Outlook

Dambrathan half-drow combine cold, condescending arrogance with secret shame. Although they consider themselves the better of the humans over which they rule, they know that their drow cousins feel similarly about them. They spend a great deal of time trying to prove themselves to everyone around them, including each other.

Many half-drow become adventurers to escape the bigotry they face in just about every community they find outside Dambrath. Dambrathans, on the other hand, often range far outside their homeland to garner the wealth and fame that can prove their superiority back home.

Half-Drow Characters
The half-drow of Dambrath are often fighters and wizards - two quick paths to power on the surface world. Unlike the caste-driven society their drow forebears came from, half-drow show all the adaptability of other half-elves. Accordingly, many of them opt to multiclass.

Favored Class: The highest class a half-drow has is considered his favored class.

Prestige Class: Half-drow can use any prestige classes open to humans. They also have access to the arcane archer, spellslinger, and bladesinger prestige classes.


Half-Drow Society

In Dambrathan society, half-drow are aristocrats by birth. They grow up pampered, but a great deal is expected of them. When they become adults, they must do their best to prove that they are worthy of their blood. If they fail, they disgrace their entire family, and may be disowned and expelled from the country in shame.

Eldery half-drow who have proved themselves can settle down and teach the younger ones what they know. Otherwise they must keep at their chosen profession until they finally are deemed worthy. In any event, elderly half-drow rarely live long after age begins to weaken them, sinec there are always younger relations hungry for the opportunity to claim the wealth and station of an aged half-drow.

Outside Dambrath, many half-drow are solitary souls, proffering to keep their own counsel than sully themselves with the opinions of others. Other times, they band together into a self-important group, often bullying those they feel they can intimidate.


Language and Literacy

Half-drow speak Elven and the human tongue of their home region. If they were raised in the Underdark or Dambrath, they speak Undercommon. Otherwise, they speak common.

All half-drow are literate, except for barbarians.


Abilities and Racial Features

Half-drow have all the half-elven racial traits listed in the Player's Handbook, except as follows:

• Darkvision up to 60 feet.
  
• Drow Blood. For all special abilities and effects, a half-drown is considered a drow.

Half-Drow Magic and Lore

Half-drow can use the racial spells of both humans and drow. They have no spellcasting traditions of their own, however.

Common Magic Items: Due to Loviatar's influence in Dambrath, magic whips can be purchased at 10% discount from the half-drow.


Half-Drown Deities

Half-drow can choose any human or drow deity as a patron. Dambrathan half-drow almost always choose either a patron among he drow pantheon or, better yet, Loviatar. Good half-drow almost always take Eilistraee as their patron. For many half-drow of good heart, choosing Eilistraee is a compromise between both sides of their heritage, one that they can happily live with.

Loviatar's faith has a peculiar place among the folk of Dambrath. This goddess of pain and suffering had a following in Dambrath before the drow conquered the land. In fact, without the aid of Loviatar's cult, the drow might never had taken the country at all. IN respect for her, the worship of Loviatar is still the official faith of Dambrath, and most half-drow who live there follow this line.


Relations with Other Races

Most half-drow don't get along well with anyone outside other half-drow. Dambrath is really the place for such people. Good half-drow are often friendly when approached with acceptance or understanding, but standoffish otherwise. They know all too well how most people feel about their drow kin and, by extension, them.


Half-Drow Equipment

Half-drow have no unusual racial equipment of their own. However, they can make use of any equipment or weapons special to humans or drow. They have a particular fondness for the hand crossbow.


Half-Drow Region

While many half-drow native to Dambrath choose that region, a half-drow character living in the more northerly lands is an expatriate and loner. This region represents a solitary half-drow native to the woodlands of Cormanthor or the North.

Preferred Classes: Cleric, fighter, ranger, rogue. A character of one of these classes may choose a regional feat and gain her choice of the bonus equipment below as a 1st-level character. A half-drow of any other class may not select one of the regional feats here and does not gain the bonus equipment at 1st level.

Automatic Languages: Common, Elven, Undercommon.

Bonus Languages: Chondathan, Dwarven, Giant, Goblin, Illuskan, Sylvan.

Regional Feats: Daylight Adaption, Drow Eyes, Strong Soul, Survivor.

Bonus Equipment: (A) rapier* or longsword*; or (B) chain shirt*; or (C) hand crossbow and 3 doses of drow knockout poison.


Source: Forgotten Realms: Races of Faerûn