Editing Elf (section)

===4th Edition===
4th edition decided that the vast array of different elven subraces were, really, kind of silly. Plus, the basic divide between High Elf & Wood Elf was never really very clear - both races are simultaneously highly magical and highly enamored with nature, which itself doesn't make a lot of sense in D&D - there's a reason the [[wizard]] and the [[druid]] don't get along. So, they decided to twist things around.

Elves in 4e originate from the [[Feywild]]. Once, they were [[Eladrin]] clans who felt a deep affection for the nature, especially that present in the mortal world rather than their own faerie realm. Choosing to take [[Melora]] and the [[Primal Spirits]] as their patrons instead of [[Corellon]] and [[Sehanine]], they gave up the cities and pursued a tribal existence, venturing deep into the uncharted regions of the mortal world. When [[Lolth]] promoted her civil war, a side-effect was that the ties between the Eladrin clans were broken, and much like the renegades who followed Lolth into the [[Underdark]] ultimately transformed into [[Drow]], so did the mortal worlder eladrin mutate, losing some of their fey nature and becoming more tied to nature.  Despite the fact that [[D&D 4e|4th edition]] elves all descend from extraplanar eladrin outsiders, which fits the very definition of ''[[planetouched]]'', [[Wizards of the Coast|Wiztards of the Coast]] somehow entirely neglected to use the word ''planetouched'' when describing their elves-descended-from-extraplanar-outsiders.

Personality wise, elves are described as a simple and earthy people; eladrin may be reserved and scholarly, but an elf would rather tell jokes or go out and do some target shooting whilst sharing a drink with some buddies than sit around being gloomy all day. They're much darker-colored than their ancestors were - though more in the sense of brown/black hair and tanned skin than being full-on black-skinned - and lack the characteristic "one solid color" eyes that define an eladrin.

4e's elves favor martial, divine and primal classes over arcane ones; their initial ability score modifier was +2 Dexterity and +2 Wisdom, and it wasn't until later in the game that they got the ability to trade their Wisdom bonus for an Intelligence bonus. The [[Seeker]] was created as the iconic elf class, combining their cultural and mechanical predilictions for the [[Ranger]] and the [[Druid]].

A 4e elf's statblock goes like this:

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::+2 Dexterity, +2 Wisdom OR +2 Intelligence
::Medium
::Speed: 7 squares
::Skill Bonuses: +2 Nature, +2 Perception
::Elven Weapon Proficiency: You are Proficient with the Longbow and the Shortbow.
::Fey Origin: You count as a Fey creature for effects that key off of origin.
::Group Awareness: Non-elf allies within 6 squares of you gain a +1 racial bonus to Perception checks.
::Wild Step: You ignore difficult terrain when you shift.
::Racial Power - Elven Accuracy: 1/encounter, you can reroll an attack roll, though you must use the second roll even if it is worse than the original.
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It bears mentioning that elves attracted a lot of flak for Elven Accuracy, simply because it's a single attack re-roll once per encounter (with a +2 bonus to the re-roll if you've got the Elven Precision racial feat). This isn't really as powerful as it seems, because A: 1 re-roll per fight sequence isn't going to guarantee every attack hits, and B: most of the Leader classes can hand out attack re-rolls like freaking candy anyway. Most anons on /tg/ either hadn't read any of 4e's actual combat mechanics, couldn't get over the idea of elves not having a [[Strength]] penalty (never mind that races like [[Orc]]s, [[Bugbear]]s and [[Goliath]]s still got Strength bonuses and so '''still''' had higher average bonus damage than elves did), or both.

[[Dragon Magazine]] #382 then introduced an elven subrace called the Dusk Elves, who are... different. These pale-colored elves (skin "like moonlight", fair hair, light blue or light violet eyes) are descendants from a 4th group of eladrin: during the great civil war between [[Corellon]] and [[Lolth]], their ancestors just wanted to stay out of it entirely, refusing to take part in the fighting on either side. This attempt at neutrality backfired on them when both the Corellon-loyalists ''and'' the proto-Drow turned on them; if it weren't for [[Sehanine]] taking pity on them, they probably would have been exterminated. As such, they've been forced into exile in hidden cities and enclaves throughout the mortal world, protected by complex layers of illusion magic. Described as furtive, haunted and suspicious by nature, they are very emotionally withdrawn and '''extremely''' touchy about the topic of loyalty. Unlike other elves, dusk elves have no particular loyalty to the [[Prime Material]]; they view it as being a prison, at best a gilded cage, and culturally yearn to return to the [[Feywild]] once more.

As with most early subraces in 4th edition, Dusk Elves are represented by taking an elf and buying the appropriate "bloodline feats". The core bloodline feat is ''Dusk Elf Stealth'', which grants a +1 racial bonus to Stealth to all allies within 6 squares who don't have this feat. It's... rather unimpressive, and the race rather relies on its other unique feats to stand out;'' Gathering Night'' lets you become invisible for a turn by taking a Total Defense action whilst concealed, ''Gloaming Ward'' grants you a turn of free concealment the first time you get bloodied, ''Sehanine's Boon'' means you gain extra HP from healing surges sent whilst concealed, and and ''Umbral Wind'' means you can use your second wind to gain concealment (or bump concealment to total concealment) for a turn instead of granting +2 all defenses for a turn. Oh, they also have ''Dusk Elf Weapon Training'', which is free proficiency with light blades and a small damage boost with them.

Dusk Elves have a unique racial [[Paragon Path]], called the Darkening Blade; a Dexterity-focused melee attacker who uses a combination of mobility, stealth, and swift but accurate strikes to prevail.

Similarly to the Eladrin, Elves also got a set of alternate racial traits in the ''Neverwinter Campaign Setting'' to portray the neglected wood and wild elves. Since the Eladrin were covering the High Elves, this enabled for elves to cover the more primal versions of the species. The unfortunate factor of this is that both variants replaced the racial power, where a good number of racial feats dedicated their existence to, though they did get some consolation prizes.

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'''Wild Elf Variant Traits'''
::Replace Elven Accuracy with Subtle Step (1/encounter ability to shift at full speed)
::Replace Group Awareness with Wild Elf Weapon Proficiency (Javelin, Spear, Longspear)

'''Wood Elf Variant Traits'''
::Replace Elven Accuracy with Sense Threat (Use Perception for Initiative, allies within 10 squares of you gain +2 to Initiative rolls if they scored below you)
::Replace Group Awareness with Wood Elf Reactive Stealth (Can use Stealth to hide when rolling Initiative)
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