All the different kind of elves

[CowardlyPaladin]

D&D has like an Elf....thing there are so many different types of elves so I was wondering if anybody has a comprehensive List. I'll list what I have so far, if i've missed any left me know. I am going to divide this into a few categories


Standard Elves
These are the Elves from the Greyhawk/D&D standard campaign in 3.5

High Elves (The Standard), kinda happy chaotic creative elves

Wood Elves/Slyvan Elves: The Ranger stoic elves in the woods

Wild Elves/Grugarch: Sort of Druid/Barbarian Elvse

Grey Elves: The arrogant haughty look down their nose elves of arcane lore

Valley Elves: I don't know about them but they are from Greyhawk evidently

Drow/Dark Elves: The really nice friendly elves who love everybody

Aquatic Elves: The elves with the least creative names


Forgotten Realms

Avariel: Winged Elves with hollow bones
Lythari: WOLF ELVES
Marels: Evil Aquatic Elves
Moon Elf/Silver Elves: Basically High Elves but more friendly
Sun Elves/Gold Elves: Grey Elves but somehow more arrogant
Star Elves/Mithral Elves: Elvse with points of light in their for heads
Cooper Elves: Wood Elves but more smug about it
Green Elves: Wild Elves but with more of a refugee focus
Celadrin: A type of celestial elf
Fey'ri: A race of elven Tiefligns
Deep Elves: Sort of non Evil Underdark Races
Ghost Elves: Former slaves of Devils who are now Etheral and all vengeful
Dragonlance
I only knew a few of them, some of these were mentioned on the wiki without any other information

Dargonesti: Aquatic Elvse who can turn into dolphins
Dimeresti: Deep water Aquatic Evlves who can turn into sea otters
Mahkwahb: Evil Shark Elves
Kagonesti: The Wild Elves who are persecutioned
Silvanesti: The super arrogant Elves who are somehow LG
Qualinesti: Look less arrogant by comparison

The other elves that were mentioned except on the wiki were
Cha'asil
Hulderfolk
Tamirnesti
Armachnesti
All seem to be some sort of "savage elf" template

Mystara
I never played this, all I now is that there are Shadow Elves in this, I don't know what that means


Spelljammer


Wildspace Elves: Just sort of arrogant victorian elves


Ravenloft
These guys seem to mostly just be traditional fairy creatures more than a race

Eberron
These guys aren't given different stats as I recall
Aerenal: Deathless Worshiping Brazilian Elves
Valenar Obsessive warrior elves with ancestor worship and
Drow: Scorpin worshiping jungle elves aren't necessarily evil
Umbragen: These elves are shadow masters who fight evil

Planescape
Le'Shay: Not actaully elves, epic level Fey

Dark Sun
Athas Elves, seven foot tall jerks who don't like people

Points of Light
Eladrin, sort of magical feywild elves
Elves: Kinda wood elf creatures


Pathfinder
Fair ones: Really creepy looking elves
The Forlorn: Elves who have like adapted to Humans
Drow/Accursed Elves: Samea s normal but more flesh warpy


Unearthed Arcana/Supplements
Desert Elves: They live in a Desert
Arctic Elves: They live in the Arctic
Jungle Elves: They live in Scotland
Fire Elves: They are elves who are on fire
ForestLord Elves: Technically different book but I don't care, these are like Green Dragon style elves
Illaeli Elf: Actually from the Psionic Handsbook, they are psionic elves who are psionic and do the psionic stuff
Snow Elves: Creepy monsters from Skyrim....no wait creepy arctic snow elves from Frostburn

Painted Elf: From Sandstorm I literally don't know how they got their name. Also Describes Zevran from Dragon Age Origins

Third Party Settings


Kingdoms of Kalamar
Seems to be the same except that Dark Elves are culturally different and they have something called Twilight elves. New Names though
Lathlani (High Elves)
Dark Elves (Drow)
Doulathan( Gray Elvs)
Seleeris (Wild Elves)
Aralarai (Wood Elves)
Twilight Elves: Some different type of creepy evil evles?

Scarred Lands
Forsaken Elves: They lost their god and can't reproduce

Midnight

Caransil (Wood Elves): More of a unified kingdom and love arcane magic
Danisil/Jungle Elves: Sort of South East Asian Elves
Frunsil/Snow Elves: Northern arctic elves
Miransil/Sea Elves: Not actually aquatic, they sail and trade

Blackmoor
Cumasti Elves: Sort of the friendly Nerd Elves
Westryn Elves: Mega Xenophobic militant elves who are like extremely anti human

Moongoose Pulishing

Wandering Elves, sort of Romani based Elves
Mist Elves/Daoine:

Sovereign Stone
I think the Elves are just normal but I might be misremebering

Iron Kingdoms
Summer Elves: the Standard race who know that their god is going to die in their life time and it makes them sad
Winter Elves: They are Isolated and stuff

Ptolus
Harrow Elves: Tortured Sad ruined elves
Shoal Elves: Traders and merchants
Cherubim Elves: Different winged elves?


Hourglass of Zhija
I don't think it has elves

I don't know if Oathbound, Arcana Evolved, Wilderlands, Iron Heroes, Dawnforge, Freeport, Aerth, Grim Tales, Black Company, Forbidden Kingdoms, Book of the Righteous, Argyle Lorebook, and Bard's Gate as I haven't read them in years or only heard about them



Also is the Dark Eye a D&D setting that is just German or its own thing?

[Berenger]

Also is the Dark Eye a D&D setting that is just German or its own thing?

The Dark Eye is a german system and setting that really hasn't much to do with D&D regarding mechanics or fluff.

There are four types of elves: those that live in the far north, those that live in the deep forest, those that live in more accessible terrain near humans and half elves (listed in descending order of xenophobia). TDE is a bit different from D&D in that is has an about equal number of different dwarves. Note that these subdivisions of elves and dwarves are not seperate races but cultures. In D&D terms, dwarves and elves work as "classes" rather than "races" since they inform starting abilities, skills, available spells etc. The humans are less defined by their race and instead just get the starting skills of their class modified by a template based on the culture they grew up in.

[Lazymancer]

I don't know if Oathbound, Arcana Evolved, Wilderlands, Iron Heroes, Dawnforge, Freeport, Aerth, Grim Tales, Black Company, Forbidden Kingdoms, Book of the Righteous, Argyle Lorebook, and Bard's Gate as I haven't read them in years or only heard about them

Black Company doesn't have Elves. Or anyone except humans There were some living monoliths, sentient tree and other things, but no usual Tolkienesque races.

[Satinavian]

The Dark Eye is a german system and setting that really hasn't much to do with D&D regarding mechanics or fluff.

There are four types of elves: those that live in the far north, those that live in the deep forest, those that live in more accessible terrain near humans and half elves (listed in descending order of xenophobia). TDE is a bit different from D&D in that is has an about equal number of different dwarves. Note that these subdivisions of elves and dwarves are not seperate races but cultures. In D&D terms, dwarves and elves work as "classes" rather than "races" since they inform starting abilities, skills, available spells etc. The humans are less defined by their race and instead just get the starting skills of their class modified by a template based on the culture they grew up in.

Since at least 4th Edition, character creation works as race+culture+class, so the different kinds of elves have long ago stopped being a class equivalent.

Also while 3rd edition TDE had those three (playable) kinds of elves, 4th edition also supplies stats for playable nomadic speppe elves. And there are still a couple of non playable elves : an demonic tainted arctic variant, some lone aquatic elves (whose ancestors used magic to tramform their small tribe after losing contact with the rest) on a lost island and remnants of high elves in some kind of pocket dimension (the same pocket dimension also features a seafaring elf culture). And until recently there existed some desert elfs. Most of this was introduced lorewise several decades ago and then rarely ever mentioned again.


But no, it is not a D&D setting, even if the first edition was inspired by the D&D of the 80s. The more recent editions are more similar to GURPS.


All D&D elves i am aware of are already listed.

[sktarq]

In pathfinder you also have

The samurai elf of Tien-total Katana Elf fan service.
The seaborne elf watching the ruins to the west
Jungle elves of the Minw. Expanse.
And
Homeworld elf-on the planet one in. Where the normal one banished to via the Gates.

Which are all more culturally and feat based than Stat based I think

[Karl Aegis]

Paizo added Ghost Elves in Dragon #3-something. Probably #313. Basically, they didn't want to participate in the elf/drow war so they were attacked by both sides before they became slaves in Baator. Now they reside on the Ethereal Plane so the devils, drow and elves don't find them. True Neutral and look spooky because, you know, a few generations in Baator does that.

[CowardlyPaladin]

Oh I never knew about the Ghost Elves, I wish I could find info on them


On those pathfinder elves, do they have different stats or are they just culturally different?

[sktarq]

I think they are at least mostly the same ability stat block but some have different special abilities etc. I havn't looked recently.

[Tanarii]

Mystara has a bunch of different kinds. Most of them are branches of Sylvan Elves, that migrated from the Sylvan Realm.

Explicitly Sylvan Elves all from the same series of migrations:
Wendar Elves
Alfheim Elves
Callarri Elves (Karmeikos)
Vyalia Elves (Thyatis)
Erewan Elves (Glantri, migrated from Alfheim)

I think they're Sylvan Elves that come from a different migrations:
Meditor (Minrothad 'sea' elves, not aquatic)
Verdier (Minrothad reclusive 'wood' elves)

Not sure if they're native elves or extra planar migrants:
Belcadiz elves (Glantri)
Shiye-Lawr elves (Alphatian)

Special:
Shadow elf (went underground during the Blackmoor Rain of Fire disaster 3000 BC, then again in the later Glantri blast they caused after surfacing 1300 years later.)
Hollow World elves (various cultures the Immortals have moved from the Known World - Blacklore elves, Gentle Folk, Icevale elves, Shattanaflen)

[Lord Torath]

Dark Sun has Athasian Elves, which are tall (6-7 feet), thin, and almost completely untrustworthy. According to the Boxed Set, there's also no elven language; all elves in the Tablelands (main adventuring area) speak common.

[NecroDancer]

I believe ravenloft has the dusk elves.

Basically when the elves and dark elves fought each other the dusk elves took no sides and were exiled because of it. Now they are in ravenloft for some reason (specifically Barovia from what I know).

[Arbane]

Don't forget Keebler Elves!

....Oh, and Exalted's Fair Folk, aka Raksha, aka "Potentially World-Ending Menace #4" (In line behind the Dead, the Yozis, and the Exalted themselves), who are soul-devouring horrors from the writhing chaos beyond the edges of reality that, to survive in Creation, imitate human form better than actual humans can.

[CowardlyPaladin]

Mystara has a bunch of different kinds. Most of them are branches of Sylvan Elves, that migrated from the Sylvan Realm.

Explicitly Sylvan Elves all from the same series of migrations:
Wendar Elves
Alfheim Elves
Callarri Elves (Karmeikos)
Vyalia Elves (Thyatis)
Erewan Elves (Glantri, migrated from Alfheim)

I think they're Sylvan Elves that come from a different migrations:
Meditor (Minrothad 'sea' elves, not aquatic)
Verdier (Minrothad reclusive 'wood' elves)

Not sure if they're native elves or extra planar migrants:
Belcadiz elves (Glantri)
Shiye-Lawr elves (Alphatian)

Special:
Shadow elf (went underground during the Blackmoor Rain of Fire disaster 3000 BC, then again in the later Glantri blast they caused after surfacing 1300 years later.)
Hollow World elves (various cultures the Immortals have moved from the Known World - Blacklore elves, Gentle Folk, Icevale elves, Shattanaflen)

Do you have any more detail about these elves like "What is their Schick"

[Ravian]

Iron Kingdoms elves are actually Spring and Winter, not summer. Well technically they're Iosans and Nyss, and technically the Iosans are only Spring by default since the Spring goddess is the only one of their pantheon that's still alive (aside from the Winter god that the Nyss worship, but most Iosans didn't know he's still kicking.)

I'd also say that the terms that define them are a little different. Sure a good deal of Iosans are sad that their gods are all dead/dying, but the biggest thing that defines them in the setting are those elves that aren't interested in going quietly into that good night, which mostly involves trying to exterminate all human magic users.

Meanwhile the Nyss's biggest trait is that they're mostly refugees from their formerly isolated home. Mostly because an evil dragon corrupted the majority of their race to become soldiers in his army of dragonspawn abominations.

Just some nitpicking

[Khedrac]

Do you have any more detail about these elves like "What is their Schick"

The simple answer is that most of them are not different types of elves, just different tribes, they all use identical stats (with a couple of caveats).
I would classify all of them as "elves" or "high elves") and none (or possibly Icevale elves) as "wood elves" or anything similar from AD&D.
Probably the most important point is that elf clans in Mystara have a clan relic which is a special living tree (in theory all descended from an original tree).

So, to expand Tanarii's list:

Mystara has a bunch of different kinds. Most of them are branches of Sylvan Elves, that migrated from the Sylvan Realm.
Explicitly Sylvan Elves all from the same series of migrations:
Wendar Elves - Elf
Alfheim Elves - Elf
Callarri Elves (Karameikos) - Elf
Vyalia Elves (Thyatis/Karameikos border) - Elf
Erewan Elves (Glantri, migrated from Alfheim) - Elf

I think they're Sylvan Elves that come from a different migrations:
Meditor (Minrothad 'sea' elves, not aquatic) - Elf but clan relic is a special artifact
Verdier (Minrothad reclusive 'wood' elves) - Elf
Also all the little elf clans of Norworld (unless they are off-shoots from the Wendar elves)

Not sure if they're native elves or extra planar migrants: My read is native, they just happen to live where the migrants from a destroyed world happened to settle; but they too could be immigrants.
Belcadiz elves (Glantri) - Elf, described as "Flamenco elves" they have a very different cultural style but are probably still elves in everything that counts, including clan relic.
Shiye-Lawr elves (Alphatian) - Elf

Special:
Shadow elf (went underground during the Blackmoor Rain of Fire disaster 3000 BC, then again in the later Glantri blast they caused after surfacing 1300 years later.) - Elf; no normal clan relic (but I cannot remember if Rafiel has given them anything instead), pale skin and nearly uniform white hair from their underground centuries
Hollow World elves (various cultures the Immortals have moved from the Known World -
Blacklore elves, - Elf, no clan relic, use magic devices that mimic their lost technology (as the immortals want to keep the technology lost)
Gentle Folk, - pacifist Elf
Icevale elves, - Elf, there are supposed to be physically robust types, so they could be wood elves in AD&D terms
Shattanaflen) - Elf, offshoot of the shadow elves but following an evil demon

Now, looking at the Valley Elves in Greyhawk - who started as ordinary (high) elves but a few centuries of serving the "Mage of the Vale" has given them a few distinct characteristics and (in AD&D iirc) slightly different stats, had Mystara been AD&D then they probably would have had a lot of different sub-races...

[Lord Raziere]

There are the Duk'zarist and Sylvain, who are basically dark and light elves respectively, from Anima Beyond Fantasy.
Both have superhuman abilities, resistances to disease and poison, little need to eat or drink and are obligated to learn magic of some kind, and quick healing.

Duk'zarist while the more powerful of the two also have a fatal weakness to iron- if they touch ANY iron or its alloy with their bare skin, they need to pass a check or they just instantly vanish, leaving only their clothes behind. Thus they use specially grown wooden weapons to fight with instead, and have kind of separated themselves off from humanity for their own protection after they lost a huge war in ancient times.

Not that humanity is buddy-buddy with the Sylvain who have separated themselves from humanity as well and rule over all the other supernatural races after the Duk'zarist and the Elven Empire screwed each other over in a war over their gods philosophies, thus allowing humanity to gain power and declare a holy war against everything supernatural. which then lead to three conspiracies forming the dimensional barrier that separated humanity, the Duk'zarist and all the other races from each other. Which humanity won out on because humanity got the largest piece of Gaia, the planet and Duk'zarist and Elves got smaller portions because they're fewer in number. But elves get a cool magical sea of clouds and zeppelins, so not a total loss, unlike the Duk'zarist who just get a world similar to human's world but colder with shorter days.

[Khaiel]

Duk'Zarist are not elves, they are a whole different species. In a way, neither are Sylvain, "elves" being a human exonym, but Sylvain do share enough traits with standard fantasy elves to consider them such.

Duk'Zarist were expansionist and militaristic, but after their first attempt to conquer the world ended with a huge loss on them due to the hubris of their leader, they became a bit more cautious (They also lacked another leader for several millenia, which certainly helped). However, before the separation of the world they had territories in at least one other continent besides their own. The majority of their people, however, remained in their continent. They liked it, and it was closer to their Demiurge's seat of power. They viewed most outsiders as weak and needing their guidance and protection, and their culture valued the dominance of the powerful of the weak, seeing it as a way to protect the weak and forcing them to better themselves. In practice, this meant they were highly meritocratic. Of note is the fact that the majority of their population was part of the Dark Empire, a loose collection of city states and flying fortresses whose leaders swore fealty to the Demiurge of the Empire (Although there have only been two of those).

Sylvains had a complex web of social relationships: there were class hierarchies, but while those at the bottom had the obligation to serve those at the top, the ones in power had to care for their servants (In Gaia, human nobility was created trying to copy the Sylvain system). The hierarchy was somewhat rigid, as was their mindset. While they had a fame of being protectors of the world, they weren't as benevolent as they made people think. Their attitude of promoting "good actions" was more of a mechanic impulse due to their ties with positive emotions than true altruism, and while they promoted peace, they also were the first to go to war if diplomacy could no longer help. While their society placed a great value in politeness, it also had a dark side: those few Sylvain born without the Gift of Magic were seens as inferior, even if treated like any other Sylvain while in public. Their rigid mindset could also be seen in their surnames: a Sylvain's surname depends on their position within their family, and having no surname or a Nor surname (Their surname being added to the name behind the particle "Nor", meaning they House had disowned them) marked you as a pariah. Like the Duk'Zarist, most of the Sylvain belonged to a collection of nations. These Fey Nations were led by House Sylvanus, whose leader had the title of Supreme King and commanded the kings and princes of the Fey Nations.

Also, while humanity got the largest piece of land after the separation, this was not a "win" for them any more than it was for the others. Each of them got the continent/s where their respective races hailed from. In fact, the ones who got the best deal were the Duk'Zarist, who lost only some colonies in Eurakia. The humans got the land most affected by the cataclysm of Utnapishtim, while the Sylvains got most of the territories of the Fey Nations but not its capital, Sylvania (Which also meant that the Fey Nations were left headless, since Supreme King Taumiel and his wife were both in Sylvania).

EDIT: On a side note, the topic of the thread was about D&D elves (D&D really has a thing with them...), and there are more than enough diferences between Anima and D&D to make a discussion trying to cover the two quite difficult (Even more so because knowledge about D&D elves is much more common, so Anima's Sylvain will probably be examined through that lense).

[Lord Raziere]

Duk'Zarist have pointy ears, live longer than humans, use magic and have a nasty allergy to iron. Thats not just elf, thats hardcore Fair Folk, thats so elf that they are Alfar.

[Tanarii]

Do you have any more detail about these elves like "What is their Schick"

Their 'schtick' is they are vastly different culturally, and sometimes racially (ie appearance) depending on how far they've branched from the Grunland elf (the first, immortal created, elves in the world).

Unlike AD&D, Classic doesn't distinguish a lot of things mechanically. Like sub-races of non-humans. IMO if that's your requirement, you've fallen into a classic D&D trap of requiring mechanics for everything. But that doesn't mean they're all totally different. It'd be fair to group the majority of the post-migrant Sylvan elves as generally similar racially and culturally, just scattered around different locations in the Known World part of Mystara (and just outside for Wendar).

[CowardlyPaladin]

Their 'schtick' is they are vastly different culturally, and sometimes racially (ie appearance) depending on how far they've branched from the Grunland elf (the first, immortal created, elves in the world).

Unlike AD&D, Classic doesn't distinguish a lot of things mechanically. Like sub-races of non-humans. IMO if that's your requirement, you've fallen into a classic D&D trap of requiring mechanics for everything. But that doesn't mean they're all totally different. It'd be fair to group the majority of the post-migrant Sylvan elves as generally similar racially and culturally, just scattered around different locations in the Known World part of Mystara (and just outside for Wendar).

Well my question mostly is what kind of cultural differences they have, I haven't read Mystara but most of what I keep hearing is "These elves are different because...they are different" without any details

Also what exaclty is Anima, is that a 3rd party game?

[Khaiel]

Anima is a Spanish RPG. Not sure why Raziere mentioned it here, I just clarified a bit about its races.

[JeenLeen]

In the webcomic Erfworld, which is based on fantasy wargaming (and big on puns), there are several elves, listed here: https://wiki.erfworld.com/Elves
For example, High Elves are known for using various intoxicating substances. Eager Elves look like Link from Legend of Zelda.

[Dr_Dinosaur]

You could populate an entire setting with nothing but elves at this point, and still have a spread of different "races" for players to choose

[meschlum]

Don't forget Keebler Elves!

....Oh, and Exalted's Fair Folk, aka Raksha, aka "Potentially World-Ending Menace #4" (In line behind the Dead, the Yozis, and the Exalted themselves), who are soul-devouring horrors from the writhing chaos beyond the edges of reality that, to survive in Creation, imitate human form better than actual humans can.

We're number 4! Unless you count for the Sidereals as part of the Exalted, in which case we're number 3!

As a reward, add Birthright's elves to the mix. Each one is capable of wielding true magic, making them, as a species, a rather scary force in setting (non elves cannot be wizards unless they are regents, which is quite rare). They are fairly stereotypical in terms of behavior otherwise (though they do have an openly genocidal regent, which is more blatant than usual).

[Scots Dragon]

On those pathfinder elves, do they have different stats or are they just culturally different?

In early Pathfinder adventures they used the standard D&D 3.5E / Greyhawk options, and that is kinda technically still canonical as far as I know, so they have high elves, grey elves, etc.

[Psyren]

Pathfinder
Fair ones: Really creepy looking elves
The Forlorn: Elves who have like adapted to Humans
Drow/Accursed Elves: Samea s normal but more flesh warpy

Pathfinder has many more than this; the idea though is that you're supposed to use the alternate racial traits (and even the Race Builder, if needed) to make all the Chocolate, Butterscotch and Caffeine-Free Elves your campaign could need. For example, you can make Desert Elves, Aquatic Elves, Star Elves and Wood Elves purely by mixing and matching these traits.

[CowardlyPaladin]

Pathfinder has many more than this; the idea though is that you're supposed to use the alternate racial traits (and even the Race Builder, if needed) to make all the Chocolate, Butterscotch and Caffeine-Free Elves your campaign could need. For example, you can make Desert Elves, Aquatic Elves, Star Elves and Wood Elves purely by mixing and matching these traits.

Yea you could get potentially limitless elves from the pathfinder Race Builder, i'm only really counting elves who have an established presence in the world, which I don't think the subtypes do? BUt if they do let me know

[Arbane]

Orkworld's Elves are evil energy-creatures exiled from another dimension for being too abhorrent even for their peers, who possess humans, eat their souls, and warp their bodies to be taller, stronger, and prettier. (And have pointed ears, for some reason.)

RuneQuest's Glorantha has the Aldryami: elves that are literally part of their home forest, being intelligent humanoid plants.

[Psyren]

Yea you could get potentially limitless elves from the pathfinder Race Builder, i'm only really counting elves who have an established presence in the world, which I don't think the subtypes do? BUt if they do let me know

Golarion is a kitchen sink setting - while you get the base/stereotypical ones from Kyonin and their drow counterparts from the Darklands, you can do aquatic elves and snow elves and desert elves and avariels and everything else just about anywhere. There are also many other planets besides Golarion itself, and islands/continents that are not part of the Inner Sea region.

[Elderand]

This is one part of the riftwar series of book I actually liked.

There are two kinds of elves, the good elves and the evil elves. And they look exactly the same, it's all about attitude and culture, it's not actually different races. That was a good change from standard dnd were even the simple fact some elves eat withe the fork in the right hand and other eat the fork in their left hand somehow justify the creation of yet another race of elves !