The most prominent of the races of mixed heritage, half-elves can be found throughout Faerun, but have few lands to call of their own. They feel at home both in the sprawling human empires and the secretive elven retreats, standing between elf and human culture but truly belonging to neither. They are a handsome and even-tempered race who handle the challenges of their mixed heritage with grace and reserve.

The common half-elves are those whose elven parents hail from the moon elf, sun elf, wild elf, and wood elf peoples. When someone refers to a half-elf, they are almost certainly referring to a half-elf of this descent.

No true half-elven realms exist in Faerun, but half-elves are far more prevalent in some lands than others. In the Unapproachable East, in the Yuirwood of distant Aglarond, a culture of common half-elves descended from wild evels, moon elves, and Damaran human settlers thrives beneath the Yuirwood's green boughs. Half-elves are also common in places where humans and elves have lived alongside each other peacefully, such as the domain on Silverymoon in the North or some of the southerly Dales.

Half-elves have at least one elven grandparent, or two half-elven parents. To put it another way, the child of a half-elf and a human will be human, unless the half-elf parent was the child of a full-blooded elf. Unless a half-elven line marries into other elven or half-elven families, their elf characteristics fade in a generation or two. On occasion elven traits can reappear in otherwise human children born several generations later, but half-elves of such remote descent are very rare.

Common

Common half-elves are descended from humans and moon elves, sun elves, wild elves, or wood elves. Common half-elves blend human and elven features, influenced by the subrace of their elven parent and the ethnicity of their human parent. Moon half-elves have pal skin tinged bluish around the ears and chin, framing their lower faces. Sun half-elves have bronzed skin, and hair of gold. Wild half-elves have brown skin. Wood half-elves have coppery skin tinged with green highlights.

Half-elves are more slender than humans, and more heavily built than elves. Since the elves of Faerun are taller and more sturdily built than the elves of other worlds, Faeruian half-elves are very close to human size and weight.

Outlook

While elves and half-elves are respected and admired in many parts of Faerun, humans in lands where elves are not commonly encountered can be resentful of elven blood. Elves are graceful, attractive, long-lived, mysterious, and skilled with mighty magic, and humans who do not know them well can easily come to regard elves – and, by extension, half-elves – with envy and fear. In places such as Silverymoon or the Dalelands, a half-elf's race is nothing remarkable, and she faces little or no bigotry. In lands where there is a long history of elven-human conflict, such as Tehtyr or Sembia, her elven blood marks her as different and dangerous, with all the fears and suspicions one might expect.

Many half-elves respond to the suspicion and slights of their human neighbors by staying well away from human civilization, preferring a solitary life in the wildernesses of Faerun. Others instead take up a life of travel, never staying in one spot long enough for racial prejudices to distance them from the folk around them.

Characters

Among them can be found people of every character class and nearly every mutliclass combination, for flexibility is a key trait among half-elves.

Society

Half-elves are loners and often keep to themselves. Some treasure the camaraderie and the sense of family when traveling with a group of adventurers.

Deities

Common half-elves can choose any human or elven deity as a patron. Many favor Sune for the love that brought their parents together. The worship of Eilistraee has spread beyond those with drow blood in their veins, and many common half-elves who enjoy midnight revelries – mostly bards, it has to be said – choose Eilistraee as a patron.

Names

Half-elves use either human or elven naming conventions. Ironically, half-elves among humans are often given elven names in honor of their heritage, just as half-elves raised among elves often take human names.