| humanoid (Tel-quessir) | |
| Elf | |
|---|---|
| Type | humanoid (Tel-quessir) |
| Vision | Low-light |
| Location | Prime Material Plane |
| Alignment | |
| Languages | Common, Elven |
Elves are a long lived race of the Tel-quessir found most commonly in forests, shrublands, and other wildernesses. Almost all elves worship the Seldarine, otherwise known as elven pantheon and the elves are generally, though not always, good in nature.
Ecology[]
Elves mature at a slower rate then humans and are not usually considered past adolescence until they reach 110 years of age. Unlike humans, elves do not age dramatically as their lifespan comes to a close with the most obvious changes being a change in hair color, alternatively graying or darkening. Most elves remain healthy and full of life up until their death, which, if age-related, is usually between two.
Elves do not sleep but find their rest in a meditative state called “Reverie” which is as restful as true sleep but leaves them aware of their surroundings.
Psychology[]
Elves commonly possess strong but swiftly passing passions, moved easily to laughter, anger, or misery and as quickly calmed. Elves are known for their impulsive behavior and as a result many races see them as flighty or impetuous. However, elves are not as flaky as others may interpret them to be, and are typically responsible in spite of their almost whimsical nature. Partially due to their long lifespan (though not entirely since many long-lived races act differently) elves have difficulty taking some matters as seriously as other races, but when threats they recognize do arise, elves are strong friends and allies to those whom they feel loyalty towards.
The following terms aren’t used in every elven realm or community.]]
The mayor or ‘chief of police and defense’ of a community is a DESMRAR (DESMRIL if female) (“DEZZ-mrar” or “DEZZ-mrill”)
A far-traveled, experienced elf who knows or remembers a lot, and can impart it (humans might use the term ‘sage,’ but that often implies book-learning and deduction, whereas the elves mean someone who’s seen with their own eyes, and only augments their own experience with what they’ve learned from others) is often, regardless of gender, called an ALANTAR (“Al-LAN-tar”)
A war leader (unit commander) or mission leader is sometimes called a TELEGAUNT (“TELL-eh-gont”), regardless of gender, but this term is usually used only if the individual is a veteran of proven merit
A SHEE (in some places, “SHREE”) was a wise female elder, strong in magic (in some cases, High Magic specifically; this is a corruption of the very old Elven word VELARSHEE) (“Ssh-EE” or “Shh-REE”)
Finally, IYILITAR (“ILL-i-tar”) was a unigender equivalent to Coronal in elder days, but is nigh-forgotten today
- Subrace:Verralsa
While not strictly a sub-race of elves, the result of a human and elven mating is a half-elf, whereas the offspring of an elf and a half-fiend is a fey'ri.
Items[]
Most elven jewelry is of a silver or silvery-blue metal. They are almost always alloys, involving silver or being variants of electrum, as the elves strive to create a "living metal" (that is, a metal that responds to the body temperature and changes of its wearer, as plants/trees can) that can be pliable rather than brittle, soft rather than hard (yet still strong), AND accept and retain enchantments. Usually in secrecy, but sometimes with the aid of hired half-elves, gnomes, halflings, humans, and even dwarves, elves keep trying to create new and better (that is, having more of the properties mentioned above) alloys for their jewelry. Elves prefer to sculpt molds and cast jewelry-metals, rather than forging them, but have tried - - and continue to try - - almost anything to derive "better" alloys.
Elf families have banners and badges (the former trailed behind airships or borne on lancetips to denote the head or heir or important member of a house being conveyed, and also flown from tower-tops to denote such a personage being "in residence"), but their realms did NOT have "battle-banners." Such heraldry came into use when elves dwelt with other races, so (for instance), Cormanthyr had no battle-banners, but Myth Drannor did: a horizontal-long-axis oval of twelve twinkling white-haloed-in-purple manypointed stars, floating on a field (vertical-long-axis-oval) of deep forest green.
The banners usually took the form of a triangular cloth mounted on a cross-spar affixed to a spear just behind its head, said triangle's lower point trailing off into a long, long straight-sided tail, ending in a chevron-dag like many pennants, with the Ring of Stars "arms" of Myth Drannor displayed on the triangle, and (much smaller) at the "mouth" end of the pennant tail, where it separated into the two points of the dag.
Mythal cities where several races dwelt in harmony adopted arms; all-elf cities that raised mythals did not.
At first, of course. In the end, many decaying elf cities did all sorts of strange things, heraldic and otherwise, as their societies splintered into conservatives, "reformers" and liberals trying all sorts of new ways, ideas, and customs, and so on.
The elves are by no means monolithic in their approaches to forging, and over the years have tried various methods of forging (including travel to mountain or Underdark caverns to do their work). However, over the years, most elves have refined two things used far more by elves (and half-elves) than by dwarves, gnomes, humans, and other smiths: surrounding the forge, anvil, and quenching-baths in sphere-of-force-like spells that contain (and therefore concentrate, so smaller heat sources can be used) flame, sparks, and heat (to protect flammable surroundings, of course), and enspelled quenching oils that contribute to tempering and therefore cut down on repeated heatings, hammerings, and quenchings to strengthen and layer blades. So most elves use traditional forges, fueled by charcoal and/or specific culled creepers and thorn-vines, and augmented by fire retention spells, encircled by the shielding spells that protect forest greenery and the flammable forest loam "ground" (and so allow them to locate smithies in the depths of sylvan homelands). Hope this is of help.
Fhaor'Akh'Tel'Quess[]
Fhaor .Akh .Tel.Quess/ .Tribute of One.s Duty to the People.: This ceremony allows an elf of any age or health to sacrifice his or her life and normal existence in order to better serve the clan or community in a different form. This ritual severs the elf.s ties with the Call to Arvandor, but the duty and the powers of its new form prevent the elf from descending into madness; now, the Call is replaced by the Duty the form gives him. Elves can become undead baelnorn, or Reverend Ones, in which their duty is guardianship of things, places, or people. They can also be transformed into tree spirits (choice of form as dryad, hamadryad, satyr, or treant), in which their duty is the guardianship of the trees and to act as advisers of Elven court. This transformational ritual alters the elf.s dying form into a different state, not quite undead but not alive in the conventional sense for an elf. Transformed thus, the elf.s body is either changed into its new form or the body dies and the spirit then inhabits the new form, and the body is then interred as a special part of the closing ritual. This is one of the greatest sacrifices an elf can make for his community or clan, and thus those who undergo it are accorded the highest honors both before and after the ritual. DM.s Note: Even at this height of elven civilization, a major part of this ritual has been lost. In times past, elves also could be transformed into weave spirits, beings of pure magic who help maintain mythals and spell fields and guard against abuses in magic. High Mages now theorize that the last Weave Spirit was created during Netheril.s rise, and the last High Mage who knew the casting was slain by an archwizard. While there is no proof, some High Mages wonder if such beings as will.o.wisps, nyth, and wizshades are not elven weave spirits gone mad or degenerated into corrupt forms due to the damage to the Weave with the Fall of Netheril.
A High Mage could summon destructive power equivalent to that which created the High Moor. The ritual is known as Mormhaor.Sykerylor/ .The Killing Storm.. Most elves refer to this High Magic Ritual of Myriad as .Miyeritar.s Bane.. The High Moor is enough mute evidence to illustrate that this magic is not to be summoned ever again. In fact, the elves scrupulously pay attention to the talk of wizards in Faerūn; when even a hint has emerged of a mage considering a killing storm, that mage has been dead within a tenday and his books and notes of such magic destroyed irrevocably. (This assassination scenario happened seven times during the time of Netheril alone.)
Archetypes[]
Wizard Archetypes[]
====Spellbinder====(Wizard; Elf)
The spellbinder is an archetype of the wizard class, available to elven wizards.
A spellbinder is an elven wizard who forges an arcane bond between himself and one or more wizard spells. These spells become so well understood by the spellbinder that he can prepare them in spell slots that already have other spells prepared in them. Class Features
A spellbinder has the following class features:
- Spell Bond (Su)
At 1st level, a spellbinder selects any one spell that he knows as a bonded spell. As a full-round action, the spellbinder may replace a spell of the same or higher level as his bonded spell with his bonded spell. For example, a spellbinder who selects magic missile as his bonded spell could spend a full-round action to exchange any 1st-level or higher spell that he has prepared with magic missile. At 3rd level, and every two levels thereafter, a spellbinder may select another spell he knows and add it to his list of bonded spells, to a maximum of nine bonded spells at 17th level.
Upon reaching 4th level, and every two levels thereafter, a spellbinder can choose to select a new spell as a bonded spell in place of one with which he is already bonded. In effect, the spellbinder loses the bond with the old spell (though it is still one of his spells known) in exchange for forging a spell bond with a new spell. The new spell's level must be the same as that of the spell being exchanged. A spellbinder may swap only one spell bond at any given level, and must choose whether or not to swap the spell bond at the same time that he gains two new spells known for the level.
This ability replaces arcane bond. Discoveries
The following discoveries complement the spellbinder archetype: Fast Study, Split Slot.