The elf is a humanoid race in the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, one of the primary races available for player characters, and play a central role in the narratives of many setting worlds of the game. Elves are described as renowned for their grace and mastery of magic and weapons such as the bow and sword. Becoming physically mature by the age of 25 and emotionally mature at around 125,Williams, Skip. Races of the Wild. Wizards of the Coast, 2005. they are also famously long-lived, capable of living more than half a millennium and remaining physically youthful. Possessed of innate beauty and easy gracefulness, they are viewed as both wondrous and haughty by other races in-universe; however, their natural detachment is seen by some as introversion or xenophobia. They were usually portrayed as antagonistic towards dwarves.
There are numerous different subraces and subcultures of elves, including aquatic elves, dark elves (drow), deep elves (rockseer), grey elves, high elves, moon elves, snow elves, sun elves, valley elves, wild elves (grugach), wood elves and winged elves (avariel). The offspring of humans and elves are known as "half-elves" among humans and in sourcebooks, and as "half-humans" among elves.
Creative influences Gary Gygax claimed Dungeons & Dragons elves draw very little from Tolkien's version of the elf. However, academic Philip J. Clements sees certain aspects as directly traceable to Tolkien's portrayal. Similarly, academic Philippe Bornet in "Religions in play: games, rituals, and virtual worlds" said that elves in the game are based on Tolkien's version of the elf. Michael J. Tresca, in the book The Evolution of Fantasy Role-Playing Games (2014), stated the elven sub-types in Dungeons & Dragons can be traced to divided lines of Tolkien's elves—Noldor become high elves, Tawarwaith become wood elves and Sindar become grey elves in the game.
Publication history
Original Dungeons & Dragons The elf first appeared as a player character race in the original 1974 edition of Dungeons & Dragons.Gygax, Gary, and Dave Arneson. Dungeons & Dragons (3-Volume Set) (TSR, 1974) The aquatic elf was introduced in the 1975 Blackmoor supplement.Arneson, Dave. Blackmoor (TSR, 1975) Elves in Dungeons & Dragons are immune to paralysis as a holdover from a game balance adjustment in Chainmail. Players with elf characters could choose either the "fighting-man" or "magic-user" class to start with; multiclassing was allowed, however, elf characters could only take a max of four levels in fighter and eight levels in magic-user. Tresca described the Tolkien style of elf as "a burden for game designers" as they were seemingly "more capable than humans". Tresca commented that "Gygax worked hard to curb their power, by giving the race a weak constitution and putting limitations on how high they could level. These limitations would not be removed until the third edition of Dungeons & Dragons".
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st edition The elf appeared as a player character race in the original Player's Handbook (1978). The elf also appeared in the original Monster Manual (1977), with subraces including High Elf, Gray Elf (some of whom are also called Faerie), Dark Elf (also called Drow), Wood Elf (also called Sylvan), and Aquatic Elf.Gygax, Gary. Monster Manual (TSR, 1977) The grugach, valley elf, and cooshee (an elven dog) first appeared in Dragon issue #67 (November 1982) in "Featured Creatures", an ongoing series of articles where Gary Gygax released information on official creatures before their release in the upcoming Monster Manual II. The grugach, valley elf, and cooshee then appeared in the original Monster Manual II (1983).Gygax, Gary. Monster Manual II (TSR, 1983) A number of elven subraces were presented as character races in the original Unearthed Arcana (1985).Unearthed Arcana, by Gary Gygax, published 1985,
Basic Dungeons & Dragons The elf appeared as a character race in the Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set (1977). In subsequent revisions, in order to streamline the game, the non-humans (including the elf) were presented as distinct classes. The elf class is often seen as a blend of the fighter and magic-user classes.
The Shadow elf appears as a character race in GAZ13 The Shadow Elves published by TSR in 1990 as a 64-page booklet and a 32-page booklet.
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition The high elf appeared as a character race in the second edition Player's Handbook (1989). The high elf also appeared in the Monstrous Compendium Volume One (1989).Cook, David, et al. Monstrous Compendium Volume One (TSR, 1989) Several elven races were detailed as player character races in The Complete Book of Elves (1992).McComb, Colin D. The Complete Book of Elves (TSR, 1992) Supplements focused on elves in specific campaign settings include Comanthor: Empire of the Elves, Elves of Evermeet and Elves of Athas.
Dungeons & Dragons 3rd edition The elf appeared as a character race in the third edition Player's Handbook (2000), and in the 3.5 revised Player's Handbook. Elves were detailed for the Forgotten Realms setting in Races of Faerûn (2003).Boyd, Eric L.; Matt Forbeck; and James Jacobs. Races of Faerûn. Wizards of the Coast, 2003 Elves were one of the races detailed in Races of the Wild (2005).
Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition The elf appeared as a character race and as one of three in a family of elven races—the sylvans, the drows, and the eladrins—in the fourth edition Player's Handbook (2008). This version of the elf returns in the Essentials rulebook Heroes of the Fallen Lands (2010). The elf appears in the fourth edition Monster Manual (2008).Mearls, Mike, Stephen Schubert, and James Wyatt. Monster Manual (Wizards of the Coast, 2008)
Tresca explained that this edition allowed elves and humans to be equal in height and "deemphasized their low constitution, a balancing attribute created for earlier editions". Tresca opined that the introduction of eladrin "restored elves in Dungeons & Dragons to the mysterious, sometimes dangerous, and altogether powerful status they enjoyed in Middle-earth".
Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition The elf was included as a player race in the 5th edition Player's Handbook (2014). Three subraces were introduced with it: the high elf, the wood elf, and the drow (dark elf). The Player's Handbook connects the high elves to the gray elves and valley elves of the Greyhawk setting, the Silvanesti and Qualinesti of the Dragonlance setting, and the sun elves and moon elves of the Forgotten Realms setting. They also connect the wood elves to the wild elves (grugach) of Greyhawk and the Kagonesti of Dragonlance.
The 5th edition Dungeon Master's Guide (2014) also presented the eladrin (which appeared in 4th edition as a separate but related race) as an elf subrace, using them as an example for creating a new character subrace. The eladrin later appeared as Unearthed Arcana playtest content in "Race Options: Eladrin and Gith" (2017). Avariel, grugach, sea elves, and shadar-kai were presented as playtest options in "Elf Subraces" (2017). Eladrin, shadar-kai, and sea elves were then featured as playable subraces for elves in the supplement Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes (2018). Those three subraces were then revised in Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse (2022).
In December 2022, Wizards of the Coast announced that the word "race" would no longer be used to refer to a character's biological traits and instead would be replaced with the word "species"; this change went into effect with the December One D&D playtest release. The Player's Handbook (2024), as part of the 2024 revision to the 5th Edition ruleset, updated the elf as a player species choice. The elf now has lineage options for drow, high elf, and wood elf. Connor Lindsay of Screen Rant explained that mechanically the updated elf is focused "more on the species' innate magical connections" and grants each lineage "a selection of spells they can cast as they level up" along with each lineage receiving "its own passive features". Lindsay noted that elves "retain a lot of their old features, keeping Trance, darkvision proficiency, and Fey Ancestry, and get a wider selection for their extra proficiency".
Fictional characteristics
Spirit vs soul In early editions of Dungeons & Dragons, elves had spirits instead of souls which impacted some game mechanics such as various resurrection spells. This distinction was dropped in the 3rd Edition. Christian Hoffer of ComicBook.com commented that "while there are lots of theories about the technical reasons (many believe that D&D co-creator Gary Gygax was not a fan of non-human characters, and thus placed the restriction on them when writing up Advanced Dungeons & Dragons), the only 'official' explanation appears in Deities & Demigods, a D&D supplement released in 1980. [...] The major difference between a soul and a spirit is that souls live one life on the Material Plane and then spend eternity in whatever plane their chosen deity resides, while spirits are eventually reincarnated back into the Material Plane."
Religion
In several campaign settings, elves have their own pantheon often known as the Seldarine; this pantheon usually consists of the leader Corellon Larethian, as well as Aerdrie Faenya, Deep Sashelas, Erevan Ilesere, Fenmarel Mestarine, Hanali Celanil, Labelas Enoreth, Rillifane Rallathil, Sehanine Moonbow, and Solonor Thelandira. Other elven gods may be present in different campaign settings.
Half-elves
Half-elves are the offspring of humans and elves. They look like elves to humans and like humans to elves. Half-Elves have curiosity and ambitions like humans but they have sense for magic and love for nature like their elven parents. Their skin is paler than human skin and they are taller and bigger than elves. Half-Elves have long ears like elves. They live about 180 years.
The half-elf appeared as a player character race in the original Player's Handbook (1978).
Other types of elves Subraces of elves include Dark Elves and Deep elves.Sargent, Carl (1995). Night Below. TSR.
Drow
Grey Elves These elves are the most noble of elves, yet also the most arrogant. They are of higher intellectual capabilities than other elves, but, despite the fact that they are taller than high elves, they are physically weaker. They live in isolated mountain strongholds, and rarely allow access to outsiders. They have silver hair and amber eyes, or gold hair and violet eyes, and wear clothes of white, silver, yellow and gold, and usually wear regally colored cloaks.
Shadow Elves These elves are an isolated race of elves that survived a cataclysm and adapted to live in caves in Mystara. The shadow elves are even paler than normal elves, with white hair and very clear eyes, usually a sparkling blue or gray color. The shadow elves are somewhat smaller and thinner than their surface cousins, standing about five feet tall and weighing about 100 pounds. Their ears are larger than those of wood elves, giving the shadow elves a sort of "walking radar" underground. Shadow elves have high-pitched voices—almost squeaky to human ears.
High Elves
High elves are the original eladrin and the original elves that came Abeir-Toril from the Feywild (dark, sun, moon, green, lythari and star elves), and most commonly encountered by other races, and the most open and friendly of their kind. They travel to other lands more than other elves. They are generally dark-haired and green-eyed, with very pale complexions the color of new cream. They simply do not tan, no matter how much time they spend under Oerth's sun. High elves prefer to wear light pastels, blues and greens and violets, and often dwell in homes built into living wood, high in the trees.
In 4th edition the Eladrin are the High elves.
Painted Elves