For the month of November we are presented with even more race options. This time it’s Elves. Let’s jump into it.

We get four Elf subraces, the Avariel, the Grugach, the Sea Elf, and the Shadar-kai. They aren’t new to the D&D lore and for two of them, the Avariel and the Sea Elves, we have gotten a tiny bit of lore in the Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide (page 106 for those interested).

Avariel

These Elves have wings, because why not? They are a bit rare nowadays, but there are a few left of them in the Material Plane and the Elemental Plane of Air. And that’s what we get lore wise.

• Flight. These Elves have a flying speed of 30 feet, but only if they aren’t wearing any medium or heavy armor. This restriction seems fair, since it exists in the other race that can fly, the Aarakocra from Elemental Evil Player’s Companion (page 3).
• Languages. You can speak, read, and write Auran. Makes sense since they live in the Elemental Plane of Air.

And that’s it. This subrace doesn’t get anything else. No Ability Score Increase, no Elf Weapon Training, no other feature. I guess that’s because of Flight. Being able to fly from level 1 is already a great advantage on its own.

This can end up damaging a campaign pretty quickly. I believe this character option should be handled with care. It doesn’t fit in any campaign and definitely not in every play style. It will require talking with your Dungeon Master to see if something like this can fit in what they have in mind. This same also goes for the Aarakocra.

Grugach

These Elves can be found in the Greyhawk setting, They’re kinda wild, but with the bad meaning of the term. They don’t like other races, even other Elves, they only care about their own folk, and just want to leave in peace. I will be calling them Grumpy Elves from now on and their motto will be “Get off my lawn!”.

• Ability Score Increase. If an Elven subrace should get a Strength increase, this one is perfect for the job. Their Strength score increases by 1.
• Grugach Weapon Training. It gives you proficiency with spears, shortbows, longbows, and nets. So this one swaps longsword and shortsword with spear and net proficiency. Spears aren’t bad. I don’t see them being used as much as I want them to be, though, and the net isn’t really that good. However, they definitely fit the flavor of the subrace.
• Cantrip. You get to pick one Druid cantrip. That’s nice. The only issue here is that the spellcasting ability is Wisdom. You can’t have great stats in every ability and, depending on your class, you may end up with more than three abilities that will need developing. However, there are some really good utility cantrips for the Druid as well.
• Languages. You don’t know Common but you know Sylvan. Okay. This may fit flavor wise but it could create issues gameplay wise. If a character can’t communicate with the rest of the party, then the game will slow down, at best, for no good reason.

I like the lore behind these Elves but I don’t believe they can be a character option at their current form. They are hostile to everyone but their subrace to the point of possibly not even being able to communicate with the rest of the party.

Sea Elf

These Elves love the sea. They have explored them and now live in the Elemental Plane of Water.

• Ability Score Increase. You get a +1 to your Constitution. I don’t really have to say anything about it. It’s okay.
• Sea Elf Weapon Training. The weapons in this feature are completely different from the ones Elves usually get. Spears, tridents, light crossbows, and nets fit seafaring Elves much better than longbows and longswords, though shortswords could work as well.
• Child of the Sea. You can breathe underwater and gain a swimming speed of 30 feet. These abilities are a lot more situational than flying, so I doubt they can break the game that easily. Also, it’d be weird if these Elves didn’t have those.
• Friend of the Sea. This is the Forest Gnome’s Speak with Small Beasts feature, but it’s tweaked to only affect only beasts with  an inborn swimming speed. The beasts have to be Small or smaller. This is a very flavorful feature and I like it.
• Languages. You know Aquan. The Avariel Elves are tied with the Elemental Plane of Air and know Auran. It would be really weird, at least for me, if the Sea Elves didn’t know Aquan.

Compared to the two subraces we’ve already seen, this is a lot more balanced. The swim speed doesn’t break the game and they aren’t hostile to everyone else. Also, Friend of the Sea is a fun feature that will be situational, without putting the game in danger.

Shadar-kai

I’m a great fan of the Raven Queen but I promise I’ll try to be objective. I say this because the Shadar-kai are Elves that are sworn to the Raven Queen’s service. They live in the Shadowfell and have piercings and tattoos.

• Ability Score Increase. You gain a +1 to Charisma. To be honest, I don’t know the reasoning behind this but it’s okay, I guess.
• Cantrip. You get to choose one cantrip from chill touch, spare the dying, or thaumaturgy. I don’t have anything bad to say about any of them. Actually, chill touch represents the Winter domain of the Raven Queen, and spare the dying represents the domain of Death. Thaumaturgy is just cool.
• Blessing of the Raven Queen.  Using a bonus action, you can teleport up to 15 feet and gain resistance to all damage until the start of your next turn. This feature recharged with as short or long rest. That’s really powerful. It can be used both offensively and defensively, because nothing here says you can’t attack, even if the feature mentions you appear ghostly and translucent.

The Shadar-kai are the best option of the ones presented in this Unearthed Arcana. Maybe they’re even better than the official options that are currently available. They have two really good features and I bet they could make good paladins.

This month’s Unearthed Arcana is okay. There’s not much to explore, but with the Xanathar’s Guide to Everything release the community has a ton of new content. The options presented here weren’t really bad but I have some concerns. A flying character option and one that’s really hostile can create issues for the game. The other two are better and I don’t have anything bad to say about them. Of course, more tweaking will be needed.

That’s all for now. You can read the full article here and download the PDF here.

And until next time, have fun!