Elf 5e race & species

Elf race (2014, SRD 5.1)

Ability Score Increase

Dexterity +2

Size

Medium

Speed

30 feet

Languages

Common, Elvish

Age. Although elves reach physical maturity at about the same age as humans, the elven understanding of adulthood goes beyond physical growth to encompass worldly experience. An elf typically claims adulthood and an adult name around the age of 100 and can live to be 750 years old.

Alignment. Elves love freedom, variety, and self-expression, so they lean strongly toward the gentler aspects of chaos. They value and protect others' freedom as well as their own, and they are more often good than not.

Size. Elves range from under 5 to over 6 feet tall and have slender builds. Your size is Medium.

Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and Elvish. Elvish is fluid, with subtle intonations and intricate grammar. Elven literature is rich and varied, and their songs and poems are famous among other races. Many bards learn their language so they can add Elvish ballads to their repertoires.

Darkvision. Accustomed to twilit forests and the night sky, you have superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can't discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.

Fey Ancestry. You have advantage on saving throws against being charmed, and magic can't put you to sleep.

Trance. Elves don't need to sleep. Instead, they meditate deeply, remaining semiconscious, for 4 hours a day. (The Common word for such meditation is "trance.") While meditating, you can dream after a fashion; such dreams are actually mental exercises that have become reflexive through years of practice. After resting in this way, you gain the same benefit that a human does from 8 hours of sleep.

Keen Senses. You have proficiency in the Perception skill.

High Elf

As a high elf, you have a keen mind and a mastery of at least the basics of magic. In many fantasy gaming worlds, there are two kinds of high elves. One type is haughty and reclusive, believing themselves to be superior to non-elves and even other elves. The other type is more common and more friendly, and often encountered among humans and other races.

Ability Score Increase. Intelligence +1.

Elf Weapon Training. You have proficiency with the longsword, shortsword, shortbow, and longbow.

Cantrip. You know one cantrip of your choice from the wizard spell list. Intelligence is your spellcasting ability for it.

Extra Language. You can speak, read, and write one extra language of your choice.

Elf species (2024, SRD 5.2)

Creature type

Humanoid

Size

Medium

Speed

30 feet

As an Elf, you have these special traits.

Darkvision (60 ft.). You have Darkvision with a range of 60 feet.

Elven Lineage. You are part of a lineage that grants you supernatural abilities. Choose a lineage from the Elven Lineages table. You gain the level 1 benefit of that lineage.

When you reach character levels 3 and 5, you learn a higher-level spell, as shown on the table.

You always have that spell prepared. You can cast it once without a spell slot, and you regain the ability to cast it in that way when you finish a Long Rest. You can also cast the spell using any spell slots you have of the appropriate level.

Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma is your spellcasting ability for the spells you cast with this trait (choose the ability when you select the lineage).

Fey Ancestry. You have Advantage on saving throws you make to avoid or end the Charmed condition.

Keen Senses. You have proficiency in the Insight, Perception, or Survival skill.

Trance. You don't need to sleep, and magic can't put you to sleep. You can finish a Long Rest in 4 hours if you spend those hours in a trancelike meditation, during which you retain consciousness.