Half-Elf Guide 5e

Adam Paquette – Wizards of the Coast – Freyalise, Llanowar ‘s craze
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What is this guide?

This guide is meant to give you an idea of whether or not the half-elf will be right for your 5e character build .
The semblance code below has been implemented to help you identify, at a glance, how good that option will be for your half-elf. This color coding international relations and security network ’ metric ton a hard and fast rule ; there are plenty of sub-optimized options out there that will be viable to your party and will be fun to play .

• Black is a trait shared by many races and or will not impact the effectiveness of your character build
• crimson isn’t going to contribute to the effectiveness of your character build at all
• orange Situationally good, but a below-average option otherwise
• fleeceable is a good option
• Blue is a great option, you should strongly consider this option for your character
• Sky Blue is an amazing option. If you do not take this option your character would not be optimized

Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything Update

Tasha ‘s Cauldron of Everything has added the “ Customizing Your origin ” option that may affect the ability seduce increases, languages, and proficiencies in this guide. To read more about this, visit our D & D Race Guide .

What are Half-Elves in 5e?

generator : Player ‘s Handbook Half-elves are a race that is split between two worlds. Humans and elves are about american samoa different as you can get when it comes to their perspective on the earth around them, this is chiefly due to one main factor : fourth dimension. Half-elves who choose to walk among humans see their friends and loved one ’ second age, while time barely touches them. Half-elves that live around elves grow restless with the eternity of the company and tend to mature much faster than their equal aged counterparts .
It is because of this inability to fit in that draws most Half-elves to become adventurers .

Half-Elf 5e Traits

Ability Score Increase : a +2 CHA increase is one of the more common racial bonuses available. What sincerely makes the half-elf racial bonuses stand out is the ASI that comes along with the bonus to CHA. This means that a half-elf would make a great option for any CHA based caster because they can always boost their next most authoritative stat. Paladins can boost STR or CON, Bards and boost DEX, etc .
Size : average
Speed : 30ft
Darkvision : 60ft of Darkvision is always nice .
Fey Ancestry : This is where the benefits of the Half-Elves well half ( get at me humans ) truly starts to shine, advantage on saving throws against being charmed is going to come up multiple times in the length of a crusade. Immune to sleep effects from charming is less common but can still be important .
Skill Versatility : An absolutely amazing racial trait. cipher has even said, “ belly laugh, I am technical in besides many skills ! ”. Bards and rogues will love half-elves because it will increase their ability to skill monkey, early classes get to pick Perception, Stealth, or a social ability that they don ’ metric ton get access to so they can be more well rounded .
Languages : Common, elfin

Half-Elf 5e Subraces

Aquatic

Swimming Speed : Swimming accelerate is about never worth giving up two skill proficiencies. The alone exception would be if you are planning on playing a pirate-themed campaign .

Drow

Drow Magic : Forgoing two skill proficiencies for three spells is going to benefit some classes more than others, the most noteworthy class that gets a commodity conduct out of this would be the Warlock .

• Dancing Lights: Not a particularly impressive Cantrip, although it has its uses. Lighting dark spaces before entering as well as distracting guards the chief among them.
• Faerie Fire

  Read more : How does the Mirror Image spell interact with the Trickery cleric’s Invoke Duplicity ability?

  : An often overlooked spell, Faerie Fire is something that should be stocked by all parties. Invisible creatures are a pain to deal with and this provides a great, low-level answer to dealing with it. The spell also has the versatility of simply casting into a crowd of creatures and giving your party members advantage on their attacks against them.

• Darkness: Darkness is a tough spell to pull off, unless you have the Warlock’s Devil’s Sight.

High

Elf Weapon Training : Most classes that are going to need proficiency with longswords, shortswords, shortbows, and longbows already have them. This is not worth giving up skill versatility for .
Cantrip : Taking a Cantrip of your option from the Wizard spell number can be very beneficial to the CHA based casters that don ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate want the High Elves racial bonuses .

Mark of Detection

Ability Score Increase : This replaces the vanilla Half-Elf racial bonuses and gives a greatly sought after +2 WIS bonus. This is great for Druids, Clerics, Rangers, and Monks .
Deductive Intuition : Adding a d4 to Investigation and Insight is alright, but won ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate stack up long term to the bonus you get from skill versatility .
Magical Detection : Detect Magic, Detect Poison and Disease, and See Invisibility are all recess spells. Making them based on your INT modifier makes them flush nicher for a race that gets +2 to WIS .
Spells of the Mark : There are some reasonably decent spells here and access to 9 more spells international relations and security network ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate something to scoff at for most classes

• 1st level
• Detect Evil and Good
• Detect Poison and Disease
• 2nd level
• Detect Thoughts
• Find Traps
• 3rd level
• Clairvoyance
• Nondetection
• 4th level
• Arcane Eye
• Divination
• 5th level
• Legend Lore

Mark of Storm

Ability Score Increase : Because you are given the +1 DEX alternatively of an ASI, this is just a worse version of the Vanilla Half-Elves ’ racial bonus for most classes .
Windwright’s Intuition : Adding a d4 to Acrobatics and Navigator ’ second Tools international relations and security network ’ t great, it won ’ metric ton stack up to the benefit you get from skill versatility .
Storm’s Boon : wrong electric resistance is always dainty, Lightning damage is fairly common but not deoxyadenosine monophosphate common as something like Fire .
Headwinds : Gust and Gust of wind are extremely niche .

• 1st level
• Feather Fall
• Fog Cloud
• 2nd level
• Gust of Wind
• Levitate
• 3rd level
• Sleet Storm
• Wind Wall
• 4th level
• Conjure Minor Elementals
• Control Water
• 5th level
• Conjure Elemental

Wood

Which 5e Classes Work With Half-Elves?

Artificer : nothing hera for an Artificer .

Barbarian : Being able to take +1 to CON or STR is not enough to make a Half-Elf barbarian work .

Bard : The +2 CHA, ASI, and skill versatility make this is one of the better races for the Bard class .

Cleric : The CHA bonus is largely unproductive for Clerics, but increasing two ability scores by 1 allows you to boost WIS and CON/STR/DEX to create a preferably all-around character. advantage on saving throws against being charmed and exemption to being put to sleep keeps you healing and buffing your party in dangerous situations. The +2 WIS bonus offered by the Mark of the Detection subrace is very tempting for Clerics as it is not offered by many early races. The spells and racial traits are an add bonus .

Druid : The CHA bonus is largely unproductive for Druids, but increasing two ability scores by 1 allows you to boost WIS and CON/STR/DEX to create a rather all-around character. advantage on saving throws against being charmed and exemption to being put to sleep keeps you healing and helping your party in dangerous situations. The +2 WIS bonus offered by the Mark of the  Detection is very tempting for Druids as it is not offered by many other races. The spells and racial traits are an total bonus .

Fighter : Being able to take +1 to CON or STR is not enough to make a Half-Elf Fighter optimum .

Monk : CHA is bad but you can increase DEX and WIS by 1. proficiency in two skills is besides a nice bonus .

Paladin : Half-Elves get a buff to CHA and get two free Ability Score Increases ( ASIs ). This combined with Dark Vision and two loose skills make Half-Elves one of the best races for Paladins .

Ranger : The CHA bonus is largely unproductive for Rangers, but increasing two ability scores by 1 allows you to boost WIS and STR/DEX to create a rather all-around character. advantage on saving throws against being charmed and immunity to being put to sleep is courteous. The +2 WIS bonus offered by the Mark of the Detection subrace is very tempting for rangers as it is not offered by many other races. The spells are an total bonus to the Ranger ‘s limited spell tilt .

Rogue : No +2 to DEX will be a huge charge for Rogues, but skill versatility can be important for skill monkeys. If your rogue is going to be the party ‘s font, you can get away with a +2 CHA, +1 DEX, and pickup Deception and Persuasion .

Sorcerer : The +2 CHA, ASI, and skill versatility make this is one of the better races for the Sorcerer course. The Mark of Storm subrace is particularly tempt because it offers a count of spells while keeping with a solid ability mod bonus.

Warlock : The +2 CHA, ASI, and skill versatility make this is one of the better races for the Sorcerer class. The Half-Elf Drow subrace is great because it provides a couple of useful Warlock spells and wo n’t make you burn any of your precious slots for them .

Wizard : not being able to pick up a +2 to INT is going to make the Half-Elf a bully run for Wizards .

Mike Bernier

Mike Bernier is the lead content writer and founder of Arcane Eye. Outside of writing for Arcane Eye, Mike spends most of his time playing games, hiking with his girlfriend, and tending the veritable jungle of houseplants that have invaded his house.

He is the author of Mike Bernier is the lead message writer and laminitis of Arcane Eye. Outside of writing for Arcane Eye, Mike spends most of his time playing games, hiking with his girlfriend, and tending the regular jungle of houseplants that have invaded his house. He is the writer of Escape from Mt. Balefor and The Heroes of Karatheon. Mike specializes in quality creation guides for players, homebrewed mechanics and tips for DMs, and one-shots with alone settings and scenarios. Follow Mike on Twitter

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