Elf

Elves are often considered flighty or frivolous, and this is the case when they do not believe a matter to be of import. They concern themselves with the natural beauty around them, dancing and frolicking, playing and singing unless necessity dictates otherwise. Because elves love nature, they are not fond of ships or mines, but of growing things and the lands under the sky. They do not make friends easily, but friend or enemy is never forgotten.

Their humor is clever, as are their songs and poetry. Elves are brave but never foolhardy. They feast, but eat sparingly, drink mead and wine, but seldom become drunk from excesses. While they find well wrought jewelry a pleasure to behold, they are not overly interested in money or gain. Magic fascinates elves, however, and if they have a weakness it lies in this desire. If elves tend towards haughtiness and arrogance at times, they are not inclined to regard their friends and associates as anything other than equals.

Elven player characters are [normally] considered to be high elves, the most common sort of elf.

[Campaign Rule. In addition to high elf, elven player characters may choose to be wood elves (sylvan elves) or gray elves. All the same rules apply, except that gray elf magic-users that somehow achieve a 19 Intelligence can achieve a maximum of 12th level. Wood Elves. Also known as sylvan elves, they are more reserved than gray elves, and do not mix with the organized societies of other races on a regular or recurring basis. Wood elves have fair complexions, with hair color ranging from copper red to blonde and eyes of light brown, light green or hazel. Gray Elves. These elves are not as common as high elves, and do not normally associate with humanoids other than elves for long periods. They are thinner than high elves, and have either silver hair and amber eyes or pale golden hair and violet eyes. The latter sort are generally called faeries.]

A character of elven stock can opt to be a fighter (maximum of 7th level), a magic-user (maximum of 11th level), a thief, or an assassin (maximum of 10th level). An elven character can also be multi-classed, i.e. a fighter/magic-user, a fighter/thief, a magic-user/thief, or a fighter/magic-user/thief.

[Campaign Rule. Gray elven magic-users that somehow achieve a 19 Intelligence can achieve 12th level.]

If the character is multi-classed, the following restrictions and strictures apply: Although able to operate freely with the benefits of armor, weapons, and magical items available to the classes the character is operating in, any thieving is restricted to the armor and weaponry usable by the thief class. All earned experience is always divided equally among the classes of the character, even though the character is no longer able to gain levels in one or more of the classes.

Elven characters have a 90% resistance to sleep and charm spells, (if these spells are cast upon them a percentile dice roll of 91% or better is required to allow the magic any chance of having an effect, and even then the saving throw against spells is allowed versus the charm spell). (1, 2)

Secret or concealed doors are difficult to hide from elves. Merely passing within 10 ft. of the latter makes an elven character [20%] (1-in-6) likely to notice it. If actively searching for such doors, elven characters are [35%] (2-in-6) likely to find a secret door and 50% likely (3-in-6) to discover a concealed portal.

If alone and not in metal armor (or if well in advance—90 ft. or more—of a party which does not consist entirely of elves and/or halflings) an elven character moves so silently that he or she will surprise monsters [70%] (d6, 1 through 4) of the time unless some portal must be opened in order to confront the monster. In the latter case, the chance for surprise drops to [35%] (d6, 1-2).

Elves have the ability to see into the infra-red spectrum, so they are able to see up to 60 ft. in darkness, noting varying degrees of heat radiation.

When employing either a bow of any sort other than a crossbow, or a short or longsword, elven characters gain a bonus of +1 on their die rolls “to hit”.

All elven characters are able to speak the following languages in addition to that of their chosen alignment: elvish, gnome, halfling, goblin, hobgoblin, orcish, gnoll, and the “common tongue” of mankind. Elven characters of above 15 Intelligence are able to learn one additional language for every point of Intelligence over 15, i.e. a character with an 18 Intelligence score could learn three additional languages.

As has been shown previously, elven characters add a bonus of +1 to their initial Dexterity score. Likewise, as elves are not as sturdy as humans, they deduct 1 from their initial Constitution score.