Elf, Grey

Grey elves are the eldest of the elven races, the first ones to come from their home on a distant plane. Mostly they stay to their kingdom in the Emerald Mountains or take long sojourns to the lands of the Fey. Rarely, they will disguise themselves as a wild or high elf and go out in to the world to see new sights or visit their distant kin.

Eldest of Elves

The grey elves are the eldest of the many races of elves, as evident by their close affinity to the Fey, their longer lifespans, their slower birth rate, and their appearance. Where a human may see a high elf as a slender being of alien beauty, the high elves look upon their grey kin and see the ethereal lightness of the Fey. Grey elves are tall and slender to the point where they appear more as wisps than flesh and bone, radiate a slight glow from their skin of silvered alabaster, and their features are so fine and straight edged that one fears to cut one’s hand upon their cheeks.

Closer to the Fey

The relationship between the most elven subraces and the fey is complex, but to the grey elves there is little difference. They see themselves as part of the Fey and the Fey lands, but living in the real world only part time. Many grey elves spend large portions of their lives among the Fey, and their mindset shows it. Grey elves that have tarried too long in the lands of the Fey are capricious, curious, precise in speech, and given to strange thoughts and notions.

Standard Racial Traits

• Ability Score Increase. Your Charisma score increase by 1.
• Elf Weapon Training. You have proficiency with the longsword, shortsword, longbow, and shortbow.
• Fey magic. You can fade out this reality and partially into the lands of the fey. As a bonus action, you can fade between worlds, appearing less substantial in one while appearing in the other. This condition lasts until the end of your next turn. While fading, you gain resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage from nonmagical weapons, and may pass through physical objects and creatures as long as you do not end your movement inside an object or creature. Any movement you make while fading out does not draw an attack of opportunity. While fading, you are visible both in the world and in the lands of Fey and may interact with both, and become prey to creatures from either side. You may do this once, and regain use of it following a long rest.
• Languages. You can speak, read, and write Elven and Common. The Elven spoken by grey elves has a different accent than that spoken by their brethren, and includes both a greater frequency of archaic words as well as fewer loan words from younger races.