99
Let me start by saying that this is a well-known potential "fallacy" in the settings/rule interaction
Human Level 1 Fighter: "Let me get this straight. You're a hundred and twenty."
Elf Level 1 Fighter: "Right."
Human Level 1 Fighter: "And I'm sixteen."
Elf Level 1 Fighter: "Right?"
Human Level 1 Fighter: "And we're equally skilled even though ...
97
An elf receives the benefits of a long rest in 4 hours while using the "Trance" trait.
According to the 2017 update to the Sage Advice Compendium:
Q: Does the Trance trait allow an elf to finish a long rest in 4
hours?
A: If an elf meditates during a long rest (as described in the
Trance trait), the elf finishes the rest after only 4 hours. A
...
66
Elves don't get their first character level until age 120. That means they spend a lot of time until then doing... well... something.
If we look at humans and what they learn in their first 15 or so years, we can come to quite a range of different subjects.
As toddlers, we learn to communicate. This takes quite a few years to do proficiently. Making yourself ...
58
RAW - Yes, catnap can affect elves
Catnap is a bit deceptively named because, despite the name and the fact that one of its effects mimics a short rest, Catnap does not actually technically put creatures to sleep. And this is not the only example of a spell/ability confusingly named.1
The important thing to realize about this is that the names of spells/...
50
I wrote my original answer in April 2015. More than 2 years later, the rules changed. While I am annoyed, I actually prefer the new rules as they sidestep the issue and just make sense.
To summarize: Now a long rest means 8 hours without exertion, of which 6 must be spent sleeping. And a completed 4-hour elvish trance explicitly counts as a long rest.
(...
50
Gary Gygax (2007): Elves' positive energy makes them immune to paralysis from ghouls
Gary Gygax answered exactly this question on a forum in 2007, (typo original):
When I devised the ghoul for the D&D game it was most assuredly with non-living energization, that is undead status, that enabled these creatures to exist and hunger for the flesh of dead ...
47
It's up to the GM
A wish like this falls under this section:
You might be able to achieve something beyond the scope of the above examples. State your wish to the DM as precisely as possible. The DM has great latitude in ruling what occurs in such an instance, the greater the wish, the greater the likelihood that something goes wrong.
The question is ...
47
A stabilized elf can finish a long rest in 1d4+4 hours.
The rules for “Stabilizing a Creature” state (emphasis mine):
A stable creature doesn't make death saving throws, even though it has 0 hit points, but it does remain unconscious. The creature stops being stable, and must start making death saving throws again, if it takes any damage. A stable creature ...
45
There aren’t rules for doing that: the rules offer “half-elves” (and “half-orcs”) as a race, but in both cases they aren’t mix-‘n’-match options, but static races that always offer (more or less) the same features—and whose other half, in both cases, is always human. In other words, Wizards of the Coast figured out what someone with an elf and a human parent ...
45
No negative effects
Including the details on the Elven Trance feature here:
Trance: Elves do not need to sleep. Instead, they meditate deeply 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. ...
44
An elf is not immune to the Dragon's Sleep Gas
Jeremy Crawford has clarified in a tweet that Fey Ancestry only protects against magical sleep.
Nonmagical sleep gas/poison/etc. can knock an elf unconscious, unless its description says otherwise.
He also clarified in another tweet that a Dragon's breath is not magical.
The breath weapon of a typical dragon ...
38
While elves get Common and Elvish, high elves get an additional language of their choice.
Extra Language. You can speak, read, and write one
extra language of your choice. (PHB p.24, "High Elf")
With two more languages of choice from their background this gives a high elf acolyte a total of 5: Common, Elvish, and 3 of their choosing. In the case of the ...
38
5E Realms lore does not specifically address this. 4E Realms lore, on the other hand, does. Their exact origin is subject to some debate, even among the elves.
Collectively, the elves are known as the Tel’Quessir6 ("The People"), a title that encompasses Eladrin, Wood Elves, High Elves, Sea Elves, and so on. It is 'widely accepted' that the Tel’Quessir are ...
38
The most optimal way to do this would be to play a Half-elf Hexblade.
Drow (PHB) & Shadar-Kai (UA Elf Subraces) come in second (+1 to Cha vs Half-Elf's +2), and other elves are still viable (just a little behind on Cha). You can start using a heavy weapon once you reach 3rd level in Warlock with the Hexblade Patron.
Hex Warrior (XGtE 55,56)
...
38
Reading the rules as written for both, Elven Accuracy does not apply.
Elven Accuracy states "Whenever you have advantage on an attack roll", not "Whenever circumstances would grant you advantage".
If you choose to forgo advantage, you no longer have advantage on the attack roll. So Elven Accuracy does not apply.
Consider this; If I would have advantage on ...
38
They're still a Bladesinger
If you take a real persnickety reading of the rules, the SCAG says specifically that:
Only elves and half-elves can choose the bladesinger arcane tradition. In the world of Faerûn, elves closely guard the secrets of bladesinging.
In order to choose the bladesinger arcane tradition, one must be an elf or half-elf. But you only ...
37
XGtE suggests the result is a Half-Elf
This book includes a table (p. 62) for determining parent races when your character is a half elf. It includes the possibility of:
One parent was an elf and the other was a half-elf.
Therefore we can infer that the offspring of an elf and a half-elf is a half-elf, or at least that that is a valid result.
37
They have diametrically opposed cultures
Hobgoblins, though generally opposed to most other races besides their fellow goblinoids, have been described as having a specific hatred of elves since the earliest editions of D&D, with the 1e Monster Manual noting that:
If elves are nearby, hobgoblins will attack them in preference to any other troops because ...
35
RAW - No, Otto's Irresistible Dance is not a Charm spell
It does not say that the target will be "charmed", and the condition it imposes is significantly different than the description of the "Charmed" condition.
OID:
A dancing creature must use all its movement to dance without leaving its space and has disadvantage on Dexterity saving ...
35
You don’t give us a criterion for “should”
If your criterion is damage potential - maybe. The long bow has a higher average damage on a hit than a Fire Bolt (6.5 vs 5.5). However, if her Intelligence bonus is better than her Dexterity bonus then the bow will miss more often. Where the crossover point on damage output is depends on the difference in the bonus ...
34
This comes from the Elf's Acolyte Background.
From BD&D:
Proficiencies: Insight, Religion (p37)
So here's how this breaks down.
Elf: Perception
Acolyte: Insight, Religion
Wizard: Arcana, Investigation
That is now you get to 5 skills.
It's important to note that most characters will get skill proficiencies from their race, class and background.
32
I've seen three (4, now that I've seen harlandski's Gygax quote) reasons for Elves being immune to a Ghoul's paralysis ability:
Positive Energy
Per the Gygax quote, elves are suffused with positive energy, rendering them immune to the negative energy which powers a Ghoul's paralysis.
Tolkien Immortality (and historical inertia)
Apparently, an old source ...
32
Nope. The mechanical effects for each race, the racial traits, are laid out after the description of each race/subrace. The traits of High Elves are
Ability Score Increase,
Elf Weapon Training,
Cantrip, and
Extra Language,
none of these relating to the Keen Mind feat. It is a bit of descriptive text to match the lore with mechanics.
32
Yes
Elves are able to maintain concentration during a long rest if they use their Trance trait.
Concentration is only broken by:
Casting another spell that requires concentration. You lose concentration on a spell if you cast another spell that requires concentration. You can't concentrate on two spells at once.
Taking damage. Whenever you take damage while ...
32
Elvish is the language, elven is the adjective
Are there rules on when to use elf (as an adjective) versus elvish versus elven in D&D?
In D&D 5e, at least, there actually are!
The official D&D Style Guide can be found as part of this style guide resource pack on DMsGuild. The latest version is v1.08a, though an older version (v1.04a) of the PDF ...
29
Constitution is everyone’s second-most-important ability
That’s it, that’s all it comes down to. There are elf subraces without a Constitution penalty; those are fine. But for “Elf” race, and most elven subraces, you get −2 Constitution, and that’s just terrible. Even if Dexterity is your most-coveted ability score, you can get +2 Dexterity without taking a −...
28
You should be okay but be careful of stepping on the druid's toes
There is nothing particularly unbalanced about the feature. You can sort of compare it to gaining a bit less than 1/3 of the Magic Initiate feature for Find Familiar which can be done with Variant Human. (As long as the Tiny beasts are of a low CR, thanks @PL457)
However, it does fill a very ...
28
Superior Darkvision is the major advantage
The most significant mechanical advantage that a Drow has over a Half-Drow, and indeed most other races, is their 120-foot darkvision. Drow can see in the dark about twice as far as most other creatures with darkvision, which - in their natural environment of the lightless underdark - allows them to effectively ...
27
You would have four cantrips.
The general rule is that features from your race, class, archetype, or whatever, are additional to one another. Features do not stack only when explicitly noted by the rules.
26
The spell states that
Creatures that can't be charmed are immune to this spell
So, for purposes of immunity, the spell is considered to be a charm-type spell.
I would argue that, since this applies for immunity, it applies for resistance as well.
So, Elves should get advantage on their saves.
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