High Elf

Ancestral Traits

High elves have the same ancestral traits as normal elves.

Cultural Traits

Elven communities can sometimes be found beyond the material plane, most commonly on the Plane of Faerie, in part because the elves claim an ancestry that originates on that mystical plane. Some of these communities were founded by elves who traveled from the material plane, but others may very well have always existed among the fey. Those who grow up in a fey elf community share certain traits.

Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 2 and your Charisma score by 1.

Alignment. More so than other elven communities, those that dwell on the plane of Faerie often exhibit the same fickle variety that personifies the plane itself. As such, their communities tend strongly toward chaos.

Fairy Pathways. Those who grow up in fey eleven communities come to learn how to see the invisible seams of reality all around us.

With effort, you can step through one of these seams, momentarily passing through a nebulous area of the plane of faerie, only to step out in another location near to where you started. As a bonus action, you can cast the misty step spell. Once you use this trait, you can’t do so again until you finish a short or long rest.

Cyclical Magic. Members of fey elven communities come to attune to the seasons to a remarkable degree, learning to draw magical power from the seasons. During the winter, you know the ray of frost cantrip. During the Spring, you know the druidcraft cantrip.

During the Summer, you know the firebolt cantrip. And during the Autumn, you know the chill touch cantrip. If you already have one of these cantrips, then, when you cast that cantrip during the season it is active, you may reroll any damage roll from the spell once each casting and take the higher result.

Languages. You speak, read, and write Common, Elvish, and Sylvan.

Cultural Traits

Shadow elf communities are those founded by elves who have passed from the material plane into the plane of Shadow. These elven communities have dwelt in the Shadow for long enough to have developed their own beliefs and practices, ones colored by the dismal and dreary realm around them. Some of these communities originated in those who worshiped the deities of Shadow, but just as many found themselves pulled through a portal, or fled here to hide from some threat. Now, though, these communities remain because this is where their history lies. In general, members of shadow elf communities tend to have certain traits.

Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 2 and your Constitution score by 1.

Alignment. Shadow elf communities are reserved and quiet places, in which folks spend time contemplating life miseries and mysteries. Many among them adopt a stoic pessimism that nevertheless does not prevent them from striving for greatness. As such, their communities tend toward neutrality.

Shadow Resistance. The many years spent amidst the shadows have hardened you against the dark energies that swirl here. You have resistance to necrotic damage.

Shadow Step. Your time in the shadow has taught you to see the mystical connections that all darkness shares. As a bonus action, you can cast the misty step spell, but the space in which you cast the spell and the space of your destination must be in dim light or darkness. Once you use this trait, you can’t do so again until you finish a short or long rest.

Languages. You speak, read, and write Common and Elvish.