Ghost Elf

# Ghost Elves

*"Ghost is a misnomer. We're as living as our mainline kin."-Theriel, ghost elf historian.*

*"Just about the only elves I like."-Magtharn Battlepride, dwarf priest of Moradin.*

*"It's nice to be among people that don't stare for a change. Can't say I care much for the infernal tongue however, makes me nervous."-Lokeemon, tiefling trader, on his time with the ghost elves.*

## Physical Description:

Ghost elves have the same range of height and weight as high elves but are generally frailer, a consequence of the destruction of their bond with the material. They reach adulthood around thirty and have a life span roughly a hundred years shorter than that of other elves, although they do not show their age until a few years before death. Gray hair and pale skin are nearly universal, with the occasional throwback having jet-black hair. The eyes of ghost elves are their most striking feature; they are like twin mirrors lacking white, iris, and pupil. Their skin glows with a pale white light in the darkness. They are often mistaken for ghosts even by other elves, hence their name. Ghost elven attire is usually light and flowing, colored gray, silver, or white. In battle, they favor light armor such as leather or mithral shirts. On the Material Plane they dress like ordinary elves in an effort to disguise themselves from distant observers though such disguises never work up close; the physical change is simply too impactful.

## History:

The high elf colonies on Apia were an important extension of Istial but less defended than they should have been. One such colony suffered a worse fate than anyone deserved. During the Apian Blood War, when demons and devils fought each other, and everything else they encountered across Apia's surface, a nameless high elf colony was cut off from the mother island. Despite the orders to return home, this colony was unable, or unwilling to comply, remaining behind on mainland Apia. When a hoard of devils swept through that region, killing everyone they could find, the colonists put up the best fight possible but it wasn't enough. The leader of this band of devils was a pit fiend archduke named Thulizakat who, for reasons known only to himself, decided to take this group of elves back to the Nine Hells with him. While dwelling in the bowels of the Nine Hells, these elves were either slain in vile experiments, tortured for the devil's amusement or forced to serve as warriors in the Blood War. Due to the unusual nature of time in the Nine Hells, the equivalent of hundreds of years passed for these elves, even though it was only several on the material plane. The elves grew hardened under the turmoil of their new lives, learning powerful diabolic battle tactics and spells. However their spirit was unbroken, and over the decades they plotted their escape. Their salvation did not come from an expected source, as their own gods and their own allies seemed to have abandoned them. As these elves prepared to make their escape, a team of dwarf war-priests and paladins on a raiding mission, came across these ghost elves. Their dwarven spirits were moved despite centuries of racial turmoil and the war-priests helped the elves escape the Nine Hells in a bloody battle. Fearing fiendish retribution, the ghost elves searched for somewhere to hide. It was then that they noticed a startling change in themselves: By severing their connection to the material, Thulikazt had accidentally gifted the ghost elves with a strange connection to the Ethereal Plane, granting the most powerful ghost elves the ability to slip between the material world and the Ethereal Plane. Upon coming to grips with their newfound powers, the ghost elves set about creating a portal to the Ethereal Plane, and one stone at a time, they transferred materials to the Ethereal Plane to build their new homes. Today ghost elves live on the Ethereal Plane. Their cities are usually built deep in woodlands and all are at least partially underground. Due to their long captivity and the dangers their settlements attract, their society has a strong martial bent. The devils' anger has not cooled and even today they seek out and destroy ghost elves whenever they can.

## Geography:

While ghost elves are mostly located on the ethereal plane, they do require settlements on the material plane. The Haunt Wood is home to the largest community of ghost elves, but smaller ones are known to exist.

## Personality:

The ghost elves have been strongly affected by their history. Before the Tempering, they were a carefree people with a passion for life. Much of that has evaporated, replaced by a harsher outlook. The typical ghost elf now seems a stern creature with little passion. In truth, ghost elves are gentle and nurturing at heart, forced to extreme measures to survive. They are wary; earning their trust involves many subtle tests and trials. Never intentionally haughty, a trait they despise in their cousins, they maintain a distance that makes them seem cold. Ghost elves are still passionate about their homes and people, and they defend these to the last, exacting terrible vengeance against those who wrong them. A serious, calculating mindset allows them to hold their own against their many enemies. Dwarves compare ghost elves to mithral: beautiful and delicate in appearance, but stronger than the hardest steel.

## Society:

Ghost elven cities are wondrous places, lit by silvery light and laid out without regard to gravity. They are often covered with imported vegetation that has grown into bizarre shapes under the unusual influence of the Ethereal Plane. Visitors must contend with streets that wind up, down, and from side to side. Domesticated phase spiders occasionally roam the cities but are more commonly found in ghost elven patrols. The typical settlement houses many more inhabitants than a Material Plane counterpart: Ghost elves band together for protection and are accustomed to close quarters after their long captivity. A typical community numbers about a thousand, and every adult member is able to bear arms in times of crisis. The elves produce food by cultivating plants from the Material Plane, and by foraging and occasionally hunting in material forests bordering their ethereal cities. Ghost elven kings keep in contact through messengers and magic, allying to help one another as the need arises. Ghost elven cities have well-protected gateways to and from the Ethereal Plane that allow lower-level ghost elves access to the Material Plane, as only powerful ghost elves can cross the boundaries between the planes on their own. The stern ghost elves do not open such portals lightly, but they sometimes permit young ghost elves to sate wanderlust on the Material Plane rather than allow them to be exposed to the dangers of the Ethereal that often lurk outside the well-guarded ghost elven cities.

## Religion:

Thanks to his deliverance, ghost elves worship Moradin, the dwarf god of ancestry and smithing. Religious ceremonies are private things among the ghost elves and the few clerics they have tend to make house calls, rather than public sermons.

## Alignment:

The trials of the ghost elves have shifted their generally good nature to one of neutrality. A ghost elf is willing to do whatever is necessary to survive. The handful of Material Plane dwellers who have conversed with ghost elves describe them as almost humorless in comparison to their cousins. Neutral is the most common alignment among ghost elves, with a minority tending to neutral good. Adventuring ghost elves can be of any alignment but are typically neutral or chaotic good.

## Relations:

Ghost elves deliberately limit their contact with half-orcs and halflings, whose intentions they do not trust. Gnomes are a mystery to the ghost elves - although the two races have a lot in common, the less-than-serious outlook of the little folk prompts the elves to keep them at arm's length. Humans and dwarves intrigue the ghost elves, who frequently spy on them from the Ethereal Plane and occasionally contact them in the guise of ordinary elves.The only mortal race the ghost elves truly despise are the drow, whom they treat mercilessly. The few Material elves who know of their ethereal kin pity their plight, and the ghost elves hate them for it. They believe themselves betrayed by their cousins and snub those they happen to meet. Ghost elves treat half-elves as they do humans, giving them the benefit of the doubt. Half-ghost elves are so rare as to be practically unique, so there is no general opinion on them. An individual ghost elf will go to extraordinary lengths to hurt any dark elf that crosses her path. Many drow raiding parties have been thwarted by elves who materialized from thin air - centuries in the service of fiends has forged the ghost elves into warriors of deadly cunning and ability.

## Language:

Ghost elves speak an archaic dialect of Elven that is difficult to understand. The language borrows heavily from Infernal, particularly for words relating to battle and magic. Anyone who can speak both Infernal and Elven can pick up the ghost elven dialect after only a little practice.

## Adventurers:

Ghost elves rarely leave their ethereal homes and do not share the wanderlust that distinguishes material elves. Those who do adventure often have a long-term goal: to gain power, allies, or magic to aid their people. Such adventurers may spend centuries abroad. Some never return home, seduced by the enticements of the Material Plane. Some adventuring ghost elves are outcasts whose temperament does not fit the grim ghost elven society. These are frequently throwbacks to the time before the Tempering and have more in common with their Material kin than their own kind.

### Names:

**Male First Names:** Griminnir, Kidsanat, Mendicalt, Peldraco, Quilvarin, Rhilianis, Stiragoth, Tolduart, and Xelunixio.

**Female First Names:** Akasa, Cherigi, Druilia, Ilrith, Kisurinda, Linseeri, Mistil, Sulista, Theriel, and Tyrisiss.

## Traits:

Ghost elf stats were originally presented in Dragon Magazine #313. They are reprinted below for convenience

+2 Dexterity, -4 Constitution, +2 Intelligence: The ghost elves' time away from the Material Plane has weakened them physically. However, they have learned to adapt rapidly to any situation.

Medium: As Medium creatures, ghost elves have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.

Ghost elf base land speed is 30 feet.

Low-Light Vision: A ghost 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.

Immunity to magic sleep effects.

Weapon Proficiency: Ghost elves receive the Martial Weapon Proficiency feats for the short sword and scimitar as bonus feats, weapons suited to the fighting styles of fiendish gladiatorial arenas. They do not share their cousins' proficiency with bows: Such weapons are useless in the obscuring mists of the Ethereal Plane. Ghost elven children's games feature practice weapons, ensuring familiarity with the real thing in adulthood.

A ghost elf glows with the brightness of a candle in the dark (5-foot radius of light). She can suppress this aura at will as a free action but must make a DC 10 Concentration check as a free action each round to maintain the suppression.

+2 racial bonus on Listen, Search, and Spot checks.

A ghost 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 it.

Ghost elves have Knowledge (the planes) as a racial class skill.

Ethereal Power (Sp): A ghost elf can invoke her connection to the Ethereal Plane once per day in one of several ways depending on her level. A ghost elf can choose to use the ability available to her at her current level or the ability available at any lower level, but once a ghost elf uses an ethereal power she cannot use another one until the following day. Caster level is equal to the ghost elf's character level. Level - Ethereal Power 1st - Slip Binding: The ghost elf gains a +10 enhancement bonus to Escape Artist checks for 1 minute per level. At 5th level, this bonus increases to +20, and at 9th level, it increases to +30. 4th - See Invisibility: As the see invisibility spell. 6th - Blink: As the blink spell. 14th - Ethereal Jaunt: As the ethereal jaunt spell. 18th - Ethereal Shift: The ghost elf may shift herself and objects she carries to or from the Ethereal Plane and remain on the destination plane until this ability is used again or other magic transports the character to a different plane.

Automatic Languages: Ghost Elven and Infernal.

Bonus languages: Common, Dwarven, Elven, Sylvan, and Terran. Ghost Elven is a blending of Infernal with an archaic form of Elven. A creature that knows both languages can understand Ghost Elven, but a creature that knows only one of the languages must succeed at a DC 15 Sense Motive check to understand a creature speaking Ghost Elven. Reading Ghost Elven writing without knowledge of Ghost Elven or both Infernal and Elven requires Decipher Script checks.

Favored Class: Wizard. Many ghost elves specialize in conjuration and transmutation, taking advantage of their control over planar travel and knowledge of extra-planar entities. They spent years mastering these magical arts in the pits of Baator as tools for their escape.