Elf

## Overview

Elegant, haughty, and patient beyond belief, elves are mortal creatures with an innate connection to nature and an inborn appreciation for beauty and beautiful things. Elves get along best with other elves, as their perception of time makes it seem like the short lifetimes of other races pass in a blink, with a mere fraction of that life beautiful enough to be worth paying attention to.

Some take responsibility for the natural world, speaking on behalf of it, and others take up the role of advisors and guides for other races who do not live long enough to learn the lessons that they have. Outside of this, however, elvenkind tends to be insular, certain in their long-held beliefs and unwilling to change based on the words or actions of those who - to them - were literally born yesterday.

Often, the only personal changes an elf makes in their life are those that are the result of a slow, unconscious shifting of views. At once irritating and comforting to short-lived races, elves are a stable, reliable constant in an otherwise unpredictable world, with an appreciation for beauty and the talent to create it themselves.

## Mechanics

Standard Racial Traits

* **Ability Score Modifiers**: Elves gain +2 Dexterity and Intelligence, but a -2 penalty to Constitution.
* **Type**: Elves are humanoids with the elf subtype.
* **Size**: Elves are medium sized, and thus have no bonuses or penalties from their size.
* **Base Speed:** Elves have a base speed of 30 feet.
* **Languages**: Elves begin play speaking Elven. Elves with a high Intelligence score can choose from the following languages: Celestial, Draconic, Gnoll, Gnome, Goblin, Orc, and Sylvan.

Other Racial Traits

* **Elven Immunities**: Elves are immune to magic sleep effects and gain a +2 racial saving throw bonus against enchantment spells and effects.

* **Keen Senses**: Elves receive a +2 racial bonus on Perception checks.
* **Elven Magic**: Elves receive a +2 racial bonus on caster level checks made to overcome spell resistance. In addition, elves receive a +2 racial bonus on Spellcraft skill checks made to identify the properties of magic items.
* **Weapon Familiarity**: Elves are proficient with longbows (including composite longbows), longswords, rapiers, and shortbows (including composite shortbows), and treat any weapon with the word "elven" in its name as a martial weapon.
* **Low-Light Vision**: Elves can see twice as far as Drelman and Parman in conditions of dim light.

## Society

Elven society is consistent - not due to any particular respect paid to law or traditions, but simply because elves outlive anyone who may be inclined to change it. Year after year, century after century, they go about their business, and so it is of utmost importance that their business is sustainable. Elven patience is unmatched and their foresight is impeccable, allowing them to figure out the most harmonious ways to live in almost any situation or environment.

This slow but certain pace becomes a hindrance when elven plans must contend with sudden change, so many elves simply limit their lifestyles in order to avoid interacting with too many unknown variables. Instead, they focus on relatively constant things, such as the natural world or their own inborn talents, resulting in a culture that seeks beauty that can properly express awe similar to nature itself. With time being no obstacle, elves are able to dedicate centuries to exploring and expressing this beauty, and especially value the elegance of focal magic, written epics, druidic architecture, and large-scale artistic works.

## Religion

Many elves remember a time before the youngest gods, finding it difficult to worship them as powerful beings, and thus there are almost no elven followers of Nothing Left of Quibatus, Agathon, or Ketar Mozog. They favor gods of nature, including Basang Ba and Fa'qamuu Twice-Heavenbound, as well as those that exemplify their patient struggle towards elegance and beauty, such as Jolein Composed of Desire and Vicenta Salcedo - although elven standards are much more focused on outward beauty than Vicenta's own, who has needed to rebuff her elven congregations more than once for denigrating an artist due to a lack of technical skill instead of appreciating their efforts and personal expression. Due to the necessity of elven sustainability, regular reverence is also given to Zhihao Jin's, Petya Naumov's, and Pahala Kadam's Apparitions.

## Relations

Elves prefer the company of other long-lived races above all others, including aasimar, aphorites, ganzi, fetchlings, dhampir, suli, ifrits, sylphs, undines, and oreads. In particular, the strong, attractive features of suli make them a favorite of the elves.

Dhampir, despite their longevity and strange charm, are too dangerous to fully accept, and elves tend to push away any that can't be recruited to defend their homes or art.

Drow are a notable exception, as the elves heap disdain upon their underground cousins and the emotionally volatile drow do not react well to it.

Changelings find that the elves' dismissal of their individual circumstances is far better than their usual victimization, and can live relatively normal lives among them.

Dwarves and drelmans both chafe against elvenkind's perceived pretentiousness, and though they can work together, usually all groups would prefer otherwise. Kobolds, especially, can't stand being looked down upon, and are the most likely to react to an elf with explicit violence.

Duergar do not care enough about elves' opinions to take them into account, and thus are content to live and work alongside them, although no relationship between the two is possible.

Gnomes and tengu will occasionally pique elven interest with magic or literature, but the focus of those interactions is on the work rather than any people involved.

Hobgoblins and orcs both consider elves consummate cowards, and take their insular nature as fearful deference - with any deviation from that illusion considered an insult.

Ghorans and elves can get along quite well, as both are very in-tune with the natural world and only ghorans reliably outlive elves, but there's always the chance of such relationships ending after an elf speaks over or for a ghoran who very much has the ability to speak for themselves.

Grippli and lizardfolk have favorable opinions of elves as a whole but find them grating as individuals: a result of being considered the 'good ones' of the shorter-lived races due to traits that the grippli and lizardfolk take no pride in.

Kitsune and vishkanya love elves due to how long it takes for elves to catch on to a prank or a hidden insult, making interactions with them hours worth of fun.

Halflings and parmans enjoy the company of elves, who always have something beautiful to display or talk about, but tend to inadvertently enrage them due to their lifestyles which place personal ease and convenience over sustainability.

Nagaji and elves get along well - not only are nagaji physically beautiful and humble compared to other short-lived races, they're eager to listen to whatever complaints an elf may have without disagreement.

Elves tend to idolize beastfolk such as ratfolk, vanara, and skinwalkers due to their connection to the innocent beasts of nature and their tragically short lifespan, and are often too focused on their preconceptions of these races to interact with them as individuals. Ratfolk and vanara are often made uncomfortable by being placed on a pedestal and seek other relationships, but skinwalkers take the praise well and integrate relatively easily into an elf's life.

Goblins are among the most short-lived of all races, but elves make an exception for them - the sheer wondrous beauty of goblins enraptures most elves on first sight, and many an elf has taken up the role of guiding a goblin settlement in order to spend the rest of their life in euphoria.