Born from two worlds but welcome in neither, halfelves struggle to find their place in a hostile land. Humans and elves rarely share trust or affection, but they travel many of the same roads on Athas, and sometimes romance follows. However, the children of unions between elves and humans are rarely happy. Half-elves typically face intolerance and prejudices throughout their lives. A tribe of elves might go so far as to cast out a female elf who bears a half-elf child, letting the desert dispense with the object of their shame. Humans care less about elven ancestry, but most assume that half-elves are every bit as clever and dishonest as their elven forebears.

Because they must contend with hostility from both sides, half-elves are a people without a homeland, forced to endure on society’s fringes. Some half-elves live as loners in the desert, surviving as herders, hunters, or employees of more tolerant merchant houses. Other half-elves adjust by developing confident, assertive personalities, transforming themselves into people who win friends and engender trust. Ironically, they are treated better by unrelated races than by their own kin. Dwarves, halflings, thrikreen, and others have no particular reason to dislike half-elves and judge them on their merits and character, not their ancestry.

As one might assume of a race of loners, halfelves hold self-reliance as their highest virtue, never expecting or asking for help no matter what their situation. Self-taught and naturally adept at learning, half-elves dabble in a variety of areas, mastering the skills they need to survive on their own. Some halfelves are bitter and sullen, but most seek to make the best of their circumstances. More than anything, half-elves take pride in defeating expectations.

Half Elf Backgrounds

Caught between two worlds, you find few friends among your human or elven kin. If you want to survive, you must depend on yourself and no one else.

Charlatan: You respond to widespread scorn and suspicion by using your talents for ill gain. Defrauding the people who disdain you is a sure way to make them pay for their offenses. At what point did you decide to become a con artist? What sorts of ruses do you employ? Have you made any dangerous enemies? If so, who are they?

Exiled Survivor: Elves often drive out a tribe member who gives birth to a half-elf child, a fate tantamount to a death sentence. How did you and your mother survive? Did you join a slave tribe? Did you scrape by in the slums of a city-state? Did your mother blame you for her fate?

Heartless Mercenary: Finding no practical line of work in your community, you resorted to less noble means to make ends meet—you became a professional killer. Did you operate in the open, or did you conceal your true work behind a cover profession? Do you still kill for coin? If not, why did you stop? How do you think of your time as a sellsword when you look back on it?