Elf (Greyhawk Action)

Greyhawk Action!

Attributes and Schticks

Body: 3-7
Mind: 6-10
Reflexes: 6-12

Grace

Basic Action

Grace is a variant of Sneak where you become supernaturally light and can move in places where you normally could not. You do not actually need to Sneak in order to use Grace, but you still move only at normal pace and cannot take other actions. You can walk along any surface, even one that could not carry your weight, a distance equal to your Move. You are not deterred by vertical surfaces, narrow ledges, slack ropes and can even walk along a thin thread, spider web, or on soft snow. You still need to use Free Running, but ignore difficulties based on the narrowness of your path, the weight your path can support, and the inclination of the surface. You cannot walk on inverted or liquid surfaces. This can be used to make you hard to spot because you are in positions where nobody would think to look for you, so you are assumed to have concealment enough to Sneak as long as you can stay above your prey or otherwise in a blind spot they would not normally look. After this action, you can stand still in a position that could not normally support you for the rest of the round, but must use Grace again if you wish to continue moving in such terrain.

Long Life

Trigger Action (Combo)

You have lived a very long time. For each schtick you take in Long Life, you have lived about about a hundred years more than a typical character. You have great experience and have lived through many things, so whenever you are unsatisfied with a knowledge roll, you may roll again to represent things learnt during your long life. The GM should slant such information based on the time it is from. You can make a number of rerolls equal to your number of Long Life schtick picks.

Long Life has a drawback; you are less energetic and driven, causing you to do less in downtime.

Elves can pick Long Life any number of times, and are thus immortal. Some even go so far as to let go of other skills and abilities in order to pay the cost to keep on living. Exceptional elves can be over a thousand years old.

Mystic Form

Inherent

You have an association with a Form of power. Using powers of this form is natural to you. Your use of this power cannot be affected by Metapowers used by others. This means that powers of your Mystic Form can be detected and dispelled based on their Form, but not because they are powers or because of your power origin. You can use powers of this form, even if you lack a power tradition. You never lose these powers as a result of your Methods or Power Loss limitations.

Elves are bound to the form of their tribe. Prodigal elves can be bound to almost any form, tough the metaforms are exceedingly rare.

Description

Elves are fey creatures, thing and otherworldly, never fully of the material plane. While they have many things in common with other Folk, they are also magical and lead enchanted lives.

Appearance

Elves are shorter and slighter than men, usually about 150 cm (5') tall. They resemble human adolescents, and facial or body hair is quite unusual. Head hair is fine, and often plentiful. All elves are considered good-looking, but seem fragile and otherworldly by human standards. Some elves have strange physical features, such as extremely long hair, horns, vestigial fur, fangs, webbed hands and feet, claws or unusual colors. Such peculiarities are often associated with particular bloodlines or clans.

Role

Elves are quite leisurely, and don't really enjoy hard work or physical labor. They cherish arts and fine crafts, but tend to regard them as diversions. A typical elf knows a little of many professions, being a master of none and changing profession as whims or markets dictate. Sometimes, an elf becomes obsessed with a particular occupation or task, seeking absolute excellence in it to the exclusion of all else, but this is seen as quite unhealthy by other elves.

Politics

Elven kingdoms are collections of individuals living together, often led by a charismatic leader with a cult of personality as the guiding force of the realm. There is no real sense of civic duty. Elves have a range of titles and noble holdings, but these are mainly honorifics and have limited effect on day-to-day life.

There are three elven kingdoms in Greyhawk, along with numerous wild and wood elven tribes. These are Celene, Lendore Isles, and the City of Dawn in eastern Perrenland. Sunndi, while populated mainly by humans, has elven nobility. The Valley of the Mage supports a large population of XXX elves, but these are hostile to the high elves of the cities.

Integration

Elves are physically similar to humans, can live in the same houses, and enjoy the same food and the same diversions. They rarely have their own section of human cities, and tend to move about quite a bit over the course of their lives. Most seek not to identify too closely with any group or location, preferring to keep options open. They are usually welcome in human lands, but not as trusted as a well-known human, dwarf or even ork. It is said that an elf becomes your friend in the evening and forgets you when the morning comes.

Family

With long life spans and few children, elves spend just a tiny part of their lives as parents. Most take to this unusual situation with sensual devotion, doting on both mother and child. Thus elves grow up pampered, which make them independent but somewhat emotionally vulnerable. Elves from isolated communities usually take to the children of other races, but after a while the novelty passes.

Vices

Elven self-confidence and demand for liberty easily gets bruised. Having had things go their way, elves can get sullen and rash when faced with opposition, unable to see the other side of an issue or have enough wherewithal to pursue a matter to the finish. They can also be vain and proud. Tough rarely evil, they can be antisocial to a catastrophic degree.

Elven Tribes

Elves are by nature magical, and form strong ties with the different Forms of magic. Groups of elves all with the same Mystic Form join together and become tribes. These tribes are based on both magical and blood ties in ways not fully understood even by the elves themselves. A few elves develop unique Forms baffling even other elves, many of them having grown up outside elvish communities.

These are the most important elvish tribes, and the forms they are associated with.

	Tribe	Form	Habitat
	High Elves	Light	Elven Cities
	Fey Elves	Space	Faery
	Wood Elves	Plant	Forest
	Wild Elves	Animal	Wilderness
	Drow	Darkness	Caverns
	Nereids	Water	Aquatic, Lendor isles
	Ice Elves	Ice	Crystalmists, Thillorian Peninsula, far north
	Jinn	Air	Clouds?
	Jann	Fire	Desert
	Teuflings	Gifts	Broken lands, Great kingdom
	Valley Elves	Order	Valley of the Mage
	Shadar-Kai	Death	Shadowfell
	Dis	Flux	Reclusive
	Prodigal Elves	Any form	Anywhere

High Elves

Civilized, enlightened, living in cities or villas seemingly grown from nature, high elves are the epitome of culture. They have their own settlements, and also mingle well with other elven tribes and even with outsiders. They often form the nobility among other elven tribes. People used to think high elves were in retreat or hiding, surviving only as the royal houses among other elven tribes, but the opening of the Feywild and the invasion of the Lendor Isles has shown that high elves are more numerous and potent that expected. High elves have fair skin and black, silver or gold hair. A few high elves have coppery hair; this is common among their heroes, but is considered a sign of an especially unruly character.

Fey Elves

Variously called grey elves and eladrin, the Fey Elves are otherworldly. They live in great citadel-cities in faery, often located to guard a planar boundary or against some great evil. They come out of their cities to trade, explore, and mingle with high elves and occasionally other people. A large part of the resurgence of the elves are Fey Elves returning from the feywild. When seen in the mortal world, they live amongst and are often mistaken for High Elves. They share the High Elves fair skin, having pale blonde or silvery white hair and eyes, sometimes with a tint of purple or green.

Wood Elves

The most commonly seen type of elf, practical and civilized people living in tune with their forest homes. As a people they are very self-sufficient and elusive. An entire wood elven kingdom might escape the notice of an adjacent human nation. Wood elves have skins of pale earth tones such as greens or browns, sometimes changing complexion with the seasons. Their hair has similar colors in brighter patterns. They wear minimal clothing, instead adorning themselves with garlands and flowers, and often use body paint.

Wild Elves

Considered barbarians by other elves, wild elves live rustic lives accompanied by the animals that taught them to survive in harsh environments. Wild elves are ruddy or swarthy of complexion with wild hair of natural colors. Many have the eyes, tails, ears, or other features of animals.

Drow

The dark elves or drow are the antithesis of the high elves. Civilized yet cruel and depraved, they live in isolated communities far from the light of the sun, most often at war with other elves. Drow have shiny black or dark purple skins and long white hair. They are even lither than other elves, almost spidery.

Nereids

Nereids love water and live in shallow seas, marshes, rivers, and lakes. Some tribes are amphibian, others mariners. Nereids have alabaster complexions with brown, green, or pale gray hair and dark eyes that shift towards blue or sea green in bright light. Nereids lead the invasion of the Lendor Isles, which gave them a reputation as traitors in eastern Flaeness.

Ice Elves

At homes on snow-shrouded mountain tops and glaciers, Ice Elves are elusive creatures living in forbidding environments where few others could survive. They depend on their remote location for protection. Ice elves are pale, with black or ice blue hair and eyes of different shades of blue. A legend in most of Greyhawk, they can be found high in the Crystalmists and on the Trilloan peninsula - but not in the land of black ice.

Jinn

Creatures of the air, living on clouds, Jinn are rarely seen except when their clouds come down to earth as mist. Jinn have flashing eyes of bright primary colors and are otherwise pale to the point of translucence. Often called sylphs, these elusive creatures are very rarely seen.

Jann

Elves of the desert, Jann thrive on heat and dance in the midday desert when no other things move. They have brick-colored skin, black hair and deep red, amber, or yellow eyes. Some rare Jann have matching hair and eye color, this is considered a mark of both beauty and fate among them.

Teuflings

There was once a great elven city in what is now the Bandit Kingdoms. The City of Dawn in Perrenland is but a remnant of this great kingdom, which fell due to the machinations of Iuz and the fomorians. Fleeing their fallen citadels, the high elves were exposed to magic of a power and intensity they had not experienced before - and it twisted them. The chaotic teuflings show demonic traits; horns, pointed tails, tiny hooves. They are the least trusted of a whimsical breed and many settlements might flat-out refuse to admit a teufling. In turn, many teuflings take their demonic reputation to heart and become rogues or tricksters.

In the Great Kingdom, a human species of half-teufling has appeared, humans with Hybrid Race as teuflings or (rarely) drow. These are technically not elves or elf-kin at all.

Valley Elves

Perhaps the most enigmatic of all elves, and also the most human-looking, the Valley Elves are creatures of physical perfection, tall and stately. The nonhuman traits of other elves are less pronounced in Dis, but they still have the slim build of other elves. They live reclusive lives at places of power; even others who live there might only have perceived them trough the choral music they love to sing. When about in the world, it is to experience fate at work; they accompany heroes who live out a great destiny, good or bad. They parted ways with other elves many centuries ago, forging their own kingdom in the Valley of the Mage, and have refused to aid their kin in their struggles. This has bred a great deal of hostility between them and the High Elves.

Dis

Sometimes refereed to as muses, the dis are not really a tribe but a calling. Some see them as Prodigal_Elves, but they have higher status than others of that ilk. Seen as a blessing when they appear in other tribes, dis are artists extraordinaire even by elven standards. Still, they are outsiders even as they are praised, and it is common for a dis to leave their communities and wander the world, even into the lands of other races.

Dis are slimmer even than other elves and whisp-like in their movements, sometimes it seems their bodies are not physical at all but rather reflections, as in a pool of water.

Shadar-Kai

Perhaps the oddest of all elves, these pale creatures have pale skin and contrasting, dark or strongly colored physical details like hair, eyes, eye sockets, lips, and nails. They favor piercings, tattoos, wild hair and rich dark clothes, often torn or tattered. They are the elves of death and frequent old battlefields, graveyards and the shadowy forecourt of the land of death. Sometimes they can be met along the road, traveling from one such spot to another.

Prodigal Elves

Not all elves fit neatly into the tribes. Variously refereed to as lost, orphans, or prodigies, these elves either rebelled against their tribal traditions to grow into an unusual Form, or were brought up outside elven society and had the magic find them. Always regarded as outsiders, the prodigies are usually welcome among other elves but not fully trusted until they prove themselves. Their lack of facility for the tribe's magic often means they are unable to share in the subtler aspects of tribal culture. On the other hand, their unusual gifts can make them very valuable and praised members of a tribe. Sometimes they can band together in small groups, which could potentially grow into tribes over the centuries.

Prodigal elves usually have a less distinct look than other elves, with colors similar to humans. Some of them have physical oddities, but these don't run true; that one Space prodigy has checkered skin does not mean they all do.

Pantheon

Corellon Larethian leads a pantheon of carefree immortals. Some might be his children and/or mates, others might be alternate manifestations, yet others are human gods adopted by the elves.

Name	Rank	Alignment	Sphere	Domains
Aerdrie Faenya	Lesser	CG (CN)	Air, Weather, Birds	Air, Animal, Luck	Elf
Celene	Lesser	LN	Companionship, Loyalty, Hope, Undeath, Shadowfell	Darkness (Moon), Liberation, Luck (Fate), Travel, Void (Stars)	Flan, Elf
Corellon Larethian	Greater	CG	Elves, Magic, Art, Music, War	Good, Liberation, Nobility, Void (Stars), War	Elf, Elder
Deep Sahelas	Intermediate	CG	Sea elves, Creation, Knowledge	Chaos, Good, Knowledge, Ocean, Water	Elf
Ehlenestra	Intermediate	NG	Forests, Flora and fauna, Fertility	Animal, Glory (Heroism), Good, Plant, Sun (Day)	Flan, Elf, Common
Erevan Ilesere	Lesser	CN	Mischief, Change, Thievery	Trickery, Celerity, Luck	Elf
Hanali Celanil	Lesser	CG	Romantic Love, Beauty	Charm, Good, Water, Lust	Elf
Labelas Enoreth	Lesser	CG	Longevity, Time	Time, Destruction, Oracle	Elf
Lolth	Greater	CE	Drow, Spiders, Evil, Darkness	Animal (Fur, but spiders only, and spiders are treated as animals to Lolth's clergy), Charm (Lust), Darkness (Normal or Loss), Nobility, War (Tactics)	Elf, Elder
Luna	Intermediate	CN	Moon, Change, Fate, Feywild	Darkness (Moon), Knowledge (Memory), Luck (Curse), Magic, Repose (Souls)	Flan, Elf
Sehanine Moonbow	Intermediate	CG (NG)	Mysticism, Dreams, Far Jorneys, Death, Full moon	Chaos (Protean), Community, Darkness (Moon), Madness, Magic (Arcane)	Elf
Solonor Thelandira	Lesser	CG	Archery, Hunting	Elf, Trickery, War	Elf
Ye'cind	Demigod	CG	Music, Magical songs	Chaos, Good, Knowledge, Magic	Elf

Gadhelyn

Gadhelyn the Archer (Gad-THEL-en) is the elven hero-god of Independence, Outlawry, Feasting, and Hunting. His symbol is a leaf-shaped arrowhead. Gadhelyn is a very old figure in elven myth, once a part of the Fey Mysteries but now largely forgotten except among the grugach. He is depicted as an elf with sharp features, long yellow hair, and vivid green eyes. He wears rough clothing of fur and hide, of colors to match the season. Gadhelyn is still a potent hero among the grugach. Sylvan elves and even a few half-elves and humans revere him and participate in his rites. Followers of Gadhelyn prey on the wealthy who dare to cross their woodlands, but they are not truly dangerous unless attacked, or if their forests are despoiled.

Keptolo

Keptolo (kep-toe-low) is the drow deity of drow males, expressed in flattery, intoxication, rumor, and opportunism. His symbol is a stylized mushroom, which symbolizes intoxication and male fertility. He is intelligent, stylish, and exquisitely decadent; in all ways he is the ideal of the upper class male drow. His typical appearance is that of a young dark elvish noble, dressed in elegant silks of red, purple, jet black, and amber hues. He carries on his person a thin and elegant poniard and longsword, and in combat he wields them both simultaneously. Alternatively, he may be dressed as if for a hunt, wearing a velvet cloak and carrying an expensive crossbow. Keptolo is the consort of Lolth. He is polite and unctuous to Kiaransalee and Vhaeraun, but insincere in his flattery. He despises Zinzerena, who tricked a portion of his power from him in order to empower her own ascension.

See Also

• Elves in Action