Humans and elves sometimes wed, the elf attracted to the human’s energy and the human to the elf’s grace. These marriages end quickly as elves count years because a human’s life is so brief, but they leave an enduring legacy — half-elf children.
The life of a half-elf can be hard. If raised by elves, the half-elf seems to grow with astounding speed, reaching maturity within two decades. The half-elf becomes an adult long before she has had time to learn the intricacies of elven art and culture, or even grammar. She leaves behind her childhood friends, becoming physically an adult but culturally still a child by elven standards. Typically, she leaves her elven home, which is no longer familiar, and finds her way among humans.
If, on the other hand, she is raised by humans, the half-elf finds herself different from her peers; more aloof, more sensitive, less ambitious and slower to mature. Some half-elves try to fit in among humans, while others find their identities in their differences. Most find places for themselves in human lands, but some feel like outsiders all their lives.
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 colour 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 more than 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 human-like 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 and human energy without human boorishness. They make excellent ambassadors and go-betweens (except between elves and humans, since each side suspects the half-elf of favouring 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 disfavour toward half-orcs. Perhaps the similarity between themselves and half-orcs (a partly human lineage) makes these half-elves uncomfortable.
Alignment: Half-elves share the chaotic bent of their elven heritage, but, like humans, they tend toward both good and evil in equal proportion. Like elves, they value personal freedom and creative expression, demonstrating neither love of leaders nor desire for followers. They chafe at rules, resent others’ demands, and sometimes prove unreliable, or at least unpredictable.
Half-Elven Lands: Half-elves have no lands of their own, though they are welcome in human cities and elven forests. In large cities, half-elves sometimes form small communities of their own.
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 half-elves do better than non-elves.
Names: Half-elves use either human or elven naming conventions. Ironically, a half-elf raised among humans is often given an elven name in honour 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.
Source: Player’s Handbook (Page 18)
Your character can be either male or female.
Every player character starts as an adult. You can choose or randomly generate your character’s age. If you choose it, it must be at least the minimum age for the character’s race and class (see Table: Starting Ages). Your character’s minimum starting age is the adulthood age of his or her race plus the number of dice indicated in the entry corresponding to the character’s race and class on Table: Starting Ages.
Alternatively, refer to Table: Starting Ages and roll dice to determine how old your character is.
| Adulthood | Intuitive1 | Self-Taught2 | Trained3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20 years | +1d6 (21—26) years | +2d6 (22—32) years | +3d6 (23—38) years |
1 This category includes barbarians, rogues and sorcerers.
2 This category includes bards, fighters, paladins and rangers.
3 This category includes clerics, druids, monks and wizards.
With age, a character’s physical ability scores decrease and his or her mental ability scores increase (see Table: Aging Effects). The effects of each aging step are cumulative. However, none of a character’s ability scores can be reduced below 1 in this way.
| Middle Age1 | Old Age2 | Venerable3 | Maximum Age |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62 years | 93 years | 125 years | +3d20 years |
1 -1 to Strength, Dexterity and Constitution; +1 to Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma.
2 -2 to Strength, Dexterity and Constitution; +1 to Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma.
3 -3 to Strength, Dexterity and Constitution; +1 to Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma.
When a character reaches venerable age, the DM secretly rolls his or her maximum age, which is the number from the Venerable column on Table: Aging Effects plus the result of the dice roll indicated on the Maximum Age column on that table, and records the result, which the player does not know. A character who reaches his or her maximum age dies of old age at some time during the following year, as determined by the DM.
The maximum ages are for player characters. Most people in the world at large die from pestilence, accidents, infections or violence before getting to venerable age.
Choose your character’s height and weight from the ranges mentioned in the appropriate race description or from the ranges found on Table: Height and Weight. Think about what your character’s abilities might say about his or her height and weight. A weak but agile character may be thin. A strong and tough character may be tall or just heavy.
Alternatively, roll randomly for your character’s height and weight on Table: Height and Weight. The dice roll given in the Height Modifier column determines the character’s extra height beyond the base height. That same number multiplied by the dice roll or quantity given in the Weight Modifier column determines the character’s extra weight beyond the base weight.
| Gender | Base Height | Height Modifier | Base Weight | Weight Modifier |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Male | 4’ 7" | +2d8 (4’ 9"—5’ 11") | 100 lbs. | ×2d4 (104—228 lbs.) |
| Female | 4’ 5" | +2d8 (4’ 7"—5’ 9") | 80 lbs. | ×2d4 (84—208 lbs.) |
Source: Player’s Handbook (Page 109)