Half Elves

Humans and elves sometimes wed, the elf attracted to the human’senergy and the human to the elf’s grace. These marriages endquickly as elves count years because a human’s life is so brief, but  they leave

an enduring legacy—half-elf children.

Personality
Most half-elves have the curiosity, inventiveness, and ambition of the human parent, along with the refined senses, love of nature, and artistic tastes of the elf parent.

Physical Description
To humans, half-elves look like elves. To elves, they look like humans—indeed, elves call them half-humans. Half-elf height ranges from under 5 feet to about 6 feet tall, and weight usually ranges from 100 to 180 pounds. Half-elf men are taller and heavier than half-elf women, but the difference is less pronounced than that found among humans. Half-elves are paler, fairer, and smoother-skinned than their human parents, but their actual skin tone, hair color, and other details vary just as human features do. Half-elves’ eyes are green, just as are those of their elf parents. A half-elf reaches adulthood at age 20 and can live to be over 180 years old. Most

half-elves are the children of human–elf pairings. Some, however, are the children of parents who themselves are partly human and partly elf. Some of these “second generation” half-elves have humanlike eyes, but most still have green eyes.

Relations
Half-elves do well among both elves and humans, and they also get along well with dwarves, gnomes, and halflings. They have elven grace without elven aloofness, human energy without human boorishness. They make excellent ambassadors and gobetweens (except between elves and humans, since each side suspects the half-elf of favoring the other). In human lands where elves are distant or not on friendly terms with other races, however, half-elves are viewed with suspicion. Some half-elves show a marked disfavor toward half-orcs. Perhaps the similarities between themselves and half-orcs (a partly human lineage) makes these half-elves uncomfortable.

Religion
Half-elves raised among elves follow elven deities, principally Corellon Larethian (god of the elves). Those raised among humans often follow Ehlonna (goddess of the woodlands).

Language
Half-elves speak the languages they are born to, Common and Elven. Half-elves are slightly clumsy with the intricate Elven language, though only elves notice, and even so halfelves do better than nonelves.

Names
Names: Half-elves use either human or elven naming conventions. Ironically, a half-elf raised among humans is often given an elven name in honor of her heritage, just as a half-elf raised among elves often takes a human name.

Adventurers
Half-elves find themselves drawn to strange careers and unusual company. Taking up the life of an adventurer comes easily to many of them. Like elves, they are driven by wanderlust.

Racial Traits
Medium: As Medium creatures, half-elves have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.


 * Half-elf base land speed is 30 feet.


 * Immunity to sleep spells and similar magical effects, and a +2 racial  bonus on saving throw against enchantment spells or effects.


 * Low-light Vision: A half-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.


 * +1 racial bonus on Listen, Search, and Spot checks: A half-elf does  not have the elf’s ability to notice secret doors simply by passing near them. Half-elves have kee n senses, but not as keen as those of an elf.


 * +2 racial bonus on Diplomacy and Gather Information checks:  Half-elves get along naturally with all people.


 * Elven Blood: For all effects related to race, a half-elf is considered  an elf. Half-elves, for example, are just as vulnerable to special effects that affect elves as their elf ancestors are, and they can use magic items that are only usable by elves. (See the Monster Manual for more information about elves, and the Dungeon Master’s Guide for more on magic items.)


 * Automatic Languages: Common and Elven. Bonus Languages: Any (other than secret languages, such as Druidic). Half-elves have all the versatility and broad (if shallow) experience that humans have.


 * Favored Class: Any. When determining whether a multiclass halfelf  takes an experience point penalty, her highest-level class does not count.

Notable Half-Elves

 * Swabbie is an aquatic half-elf renowned across the skies for her deck-mopping abilities.