Intro  

A popular and versatile race. They have distinct traits like humans, some unique to elves. It can significantly depend upon their upbringing. A common attribute is that they value personal freedom and self-expression, demonstrating neither love of leaders nor the desire for followers. Compared to their purebred counterparts, they are more open to forming bonds with other races regardless of hierarchy, status, and benefit. That’s why they often work in areas with diplomacy or are wanderers having no true home of their own.

Epic – Definitely! Absolutely! Just YES!

Good – You can. It’s not perfect but it’ll be great too.

Meh – I guess you could but it won’t be as good.

Bad – You shouldn’t! You can but you’d waste a lot of potential.

Half-elf Traits

-Straight out of the handbook list the attributes, racial features, etc.

• ASI: +2 Charisma, +1 for ASI of your choice

• Description:

  • Age: Half-Elves mature at the same rate humans do and reach adulthood around the age of 20. They live much longer than Humans (exceeding 180 years).

  • Height: Medium (5 to 6 feet tall)

  • Walking speed: 30” ft

  • Appearance: To humans, half-elves look like elves. To elves, they look like humans – indeed, elves call them half-humans. Most of the time their skins are paler, fairer, and or smoother than humans and inherit the eye color of their elf parent but this can vary depending on their elven heritage. Some guides mention their ears are slightly shorter and less pointier than that of elves.

  • Language: Common, Elvish, and one extra language of your choice. 

Half-elf Subraces

–Aquatic Half-elf

–ASI: None

–Features: 

• Swimming Speed: Handy if the campaign is set in a watery setting but apart from that it’s almost never worth giving up two skill proficiencies for.

–Drow Half-elf

–ASI: None

–Features:

• Drow Magic: Taking out two skill proficiencies for three spells is a very good deal when it comes to spellcasting classes.

• Dancing Lights: You can create four torch-sized lights. Combining them allows you to shape it into any medium-sized form. Great for lighting dark areas and distraction.

• Faerie Fire: Creates a glowing outline around your target/s making it easier to spot, aim, or even strike. The spellcaster could choose the color of the glow, picking between green, blue, violet, or red. It can sometimes be used for decoration.

• Darkness: Magical darkness spreads from a point you choose within range to fill a 15-foot radius Sphere for the Duration. The darkness spreads around corners. A creature with Darkvision can’t see through this darkness, and nonmagical light won’t illuminate it. You can blanket a moving object with this spell to have the darkness move with it.

–High Half-elf

–ASI: None

–Features:

•  Elf Weapon Training: If your class uses longswords, shortswords, shortbows, and longbows it’s not worth giving up skill versatility for. 

• Cantrip: Magical spells that’re pretty handy when you’re a magic wielding (partly or fully) class.

–Mark of Detection Half-elf

–ASI: +2 Wisdom

–Features:

• Deductive Intuition: When you make an Intelligence (Investigation) or a Wisdom (Insight) check, you can roll a d4 and add the number rolled to the ability check. It’s an okay skill to have.

• Magical Detection: You can see invisibility spells, detect magic, poison, and disease, but unfortunately not other people’s BS. 

• Spells of the Mark: There are some pretty decent spells here and access to 9 more spells is good so long as your class uses magic.:

• 1st

  • Detect Evil and Good: This isn’t a spell for you to know who you can trust or not but it can be used partly for that purpose. You’re able to detect if there is an Aberration, Celestial, elemental, fey, fiend, or Undead within 30 feet of you, as well as where the creature is located. You can do the same with any place or object that has magic or magically been affected (consecrated, desecrated, blessed, or cursed).

  • Detect Poison and Disease: That’s it. It’s literally in the name. You got some form of healthcare.

• 2nd

  • Detect Thoughts: You’re able to view surface thoughts (what’s on its/their mind at the moment), deeper motives, and detect being behind barriers of any creature within 30” feet of you unless it has an Intelligence of 3 or lower or doesn’t speak any language. Great, but you may regret what you might see or read.

*Caution: Do not use it to find out whether your parents are proud of you or to read a horny person’s mind. Emotional damage might not affect your hp, but it can affect your life.

• Find Traps: You don’t learn the location of each trap, but you do learn the general nature of the danger posed by a trap but you don’t need magic to know a trap is dangerous. Useful but wasteful as a second spell.

• 3rd

  • Clairvoyance: You create an invisible sensor in a location familiar to you (a place you have visited or seen before) or in an unfamiliar location but evident to you. The sensor remains in place for the duration, and it can’t be attacked or otherwise interacted with. You can choose whether it’s seeing or hearing and you can switch between those options if you’re within its area.

  • Nondetection: You can hide any willing creature or a place or an object no larger than 10 feet in any dimension that you touch from divination magic or scrying sensors.

• 4th

  • Arcane Eye: You create a magical invisible eye that hovers in the air with normal vision and Darkvision up to 30 feet. It gives you (mentally) visual information from the eye. A solid barrier blocks the eye’s movement, but the watch can pass through an opening as small as 1 inch in diameter. No, you can’t use it to spy on anyone in another plane (astral, ethereal, mirror, etc.) Neither is it ethical to use for peeping in shower rooms.

  • Divination: It’s magic and an offering that puts you in contact with a god or a god’s servants to ask a single question concerning a specific goal, event, or activity to occur within 7 days (Your DM has to answer truthfully). 

• 5th

  • Legend Lore: Basically, this spell gives you a brief summary of lore and a few secrets of a person, place, or object. It sounds useful until you find out if you don’t have basic information yourself or the person, object, or place isn’t of legendary importance, you gain little to no information. You’re basically playing heads or tails if this spell will give you anything relevant.

–Mark of Storm Half-elf

–ASI: +1 Dexterity (this replaces your free to choose ASI)

–Features:

• Windwright’s Intuition: When you make a Dexterity (Acrobatics) check or any ability check with a navigator’s tools (a sextant, a compass, calipers, a ruler, parchment, ink, and a quill), you can roll a d4 and add the number rolled to the ability check. 

• Storm’s Boon: Congrats! You’ve been blessed by a deity/titan of the storm. You now have resistance to lightning damage. Although it can be handy, you won’t be dealing damage from lightning as you would with poison, fire, and water.

• Headwinds: You’re able to airbend…kinda.You’re basically able to cast the spells Gust and Gust of wind.

• Spells of the Mark: There are some pretty decent spells here and access to 9 more spells isn’t something to scoff at for most classes. :

• 1st

  • Feather Fall: You can slow the fall of a maximum of five falling creatures (you and your party count also) and take no fall damage if they land before the spell ends. A good safety measure even if the situation that calls for it is somewhat uncommon.

  • Fog Cloud: You create a 20-foot-sphere of fog. Sounds like a great distraction or getaway trick until you realize you and your party are also affected and they don’t remember which way is the exit.

• 2nd

  • Gust of Wind: You summon a 60 foot long by 10 feet wide gust of wind that can disperse gas, vapor, extinguish fire (50% chance for protected flames like ones in lanterns, and any creature in the line must spend 2 feet of movement for every 1 foot it moves when moving closer to you (they get slower) or be pushed 15 feet away if it loses a strength saving throw. Pretty cool until you realize your own party or quest can be affected.

  • Levitate: Compared to Gust of wind, this spell allows you to lift any creature or object -that is 500 pounds or less and if unwilling, loses a constitution saving throw- up to 20 feet into the air and leave them there. You can also levitate your own self if you want to be dramatic.

• 3rd

  • Sleet Storm: To put it simply you create a 20-foot tall cylinder barrier of freezing rain and sleet (ice pellets) that covers the area around it with ice, kills any exposed flame, and obscures the area. Basically, you pulled an Elsa-escaped-from-prison-in-Frozen-1 move. 

  • Wind Wall: You can create a wall of wind and shape it so long as it’s a maximum of 50 feet long, 15 feet high, and 1 foot thick. Handy as a shield in battle as it keeps out small flying creatures, fog, smoke, gases, and deflect lightweight projectile weapons.

• 4th

  • Conjure Minor Elementals: You call forth an elemental servant/s of air, earth, fire, or water that is friendly to you and your party and follows all your verbal commands. Pretty awesome until you break from concentration and it becomes hostile that you can no longer control and will only disappear after an hour. Just take note that the number of Elementals you summon affects their quality.

    • One elemental of challenge rating 2 or lower

    • Two elementals of challenge rating 1 or lower

    • Four elementals of challenge rating 1/2 or lower

    • Eight elementals of challenge rating 1/4 or lower

  • Control Water: Water bending! As long as there’s a sizeable body of water (100 feet) nearby you can create a flood, part water, redirect the flow of water, and create a whirlpool.

• 5th

  • Conjure Elemental: Similar to conjure of minor elementals except it’s a CR 5 elemental and only one.

–Wood Half-elf

–ASI: None

–Features:

• Elf Weapon Training: You get proficiency with longswords, shortswords, shortbows, and longbows. Not really handy if your class already comes with the proficiency of said weapons.

• Fleet of Foot:  Your base walking speed increases to 35 feet. You just…walk faster.

• Mask of the Wild: This only benefits you in certain environments. You’re capable of hiding with natural phenomena like heavy rain, falling snow, mist, and even light foliage like tall grass, trees, bushes.

Best Classes and Archetypes for Half-Elf

-List each published class/subclass from all official sources.

Artificer 

• A class of magical tinkering and infusing items to give extra abilities or effects. Not the best choice for a Half-elf but plausible if you up your INT but a waste of the +2 CHA. 

• Alchemist – They’re basically a pharmacist in the party -cough- ifnotthedrugdealer -cough-. Their potions don’t just give healing but a variety they can homebrew but by default, there are potions for swiftness, boldness, reliance, flight, transformation, and even harming. 

• Armorer – They can go full metal alchemist with their handmade mecha-suit! Unfortunately, as tanky as this subclass is they’d have to be careful until they reach level 3 since their AC is still pretty weak. It’s not the best choice for Half-elves since the race is more advantageous in speed and dexterity than strength.

• Artillerist – They’re basically equipped with guns, cannons, bombs, a flame thrower, and other weapons. A good offense and defense to go with your Half-elf. 

• Battle Smith – Melee without having to worry about their strength or dexterity plus a steel pet -that you shouldn’t be emotionally attached to because they die easily- that they can use for offense and defense. Apart from that, they can carry two weapons or a shield and weapon that they have infused.

Barbarian

• Anger, steroids, and lots of constitution and strength are required for this class. These tanks have an advantage on grapples and shove while raging. The Barbarian’s biggest vulnerability is mental saving throws, and Gnome Cunning does a lot to address that critical weakness.Intimidation would be effective but apart from that Half-elves won’t be the most effective or efficient of Barbarians.

• Ancestral Guardian –  This path focuses on honoring their ancestors, their greatness, and rousing them from their peaceful slumber to make them fight for them. Thanks, Grandpa! This path focuses on honoring their ancestors and their greatness and rousing them from their peaceful slumber to make them fight for them. Thanks, Grandpa! It’s important to note the risk that one of its attacks makes it prone to becoming a target of the big bad and minions. It won’t be enough for the class to be good at defense. 

• Battlerager – Nope! Dwarf exclusive!

• Beast – They turn into a furry when they get angry with the choice of bite, claws, or tail for each transformation. The bite can be used as a way to heal themselves against higher AC opponents when the risk of making all your attacks might not be worth it. Reaction via the tail can increase their AC situationally against a single attack per round.

• Berserker – the stereotypical barbarian that not even a snickers can calm down. Great if they want to go crazy but unfortunately very exhausting. This can ‘easily’ be dealt with if your DM allows you to change it to something else like penalty points or having it removed. This is where a Half-elf’s ability to intimidate and resistance to sleep spells can come in handy. 

• Depths – They use trauma to traumatize and as a weapon… literally!These Barbarians can grow an extra appendage to use as a weapon and teleport via water. Apart from resistance to the cold, being charmed, or frightened, the subclass abilities mainly come in handy during a watery or underwater campaign. Most of the abilities work better with an aquatic Half-elf.

• Juggernaut – If Berserkers are unstoppable forces, Juggernauts are unstoppable defenses. This subclass has fists and muscles that can slam and bulldoze foes into the ground. Whenever they succeed on a Wisdom saving throw due to a creature casting a spell, that creature suffers Psychic damage equal to twice their rage damage bonus. They become immune to any magic that allows other creatures to read their mind. 

• Storm Herald – The rage inside them turns into power becoming an actual storm that spreads destruction. This path makes them a champion and warrior that stands with those that work close to nature, such as druids and rangers. A pretty decent subclass for a Half-elf.

• Totem Warrior- The most customizable of the barbarian subclass.  The most customizable of the barbarian subclass. The Totem Warrior barbarian accepts a spirit animal as guide, protector, and inspiration. They inherit certain abilities from the totem of their choice.

• Bear – any creature that is a danger to them, within 5 feet and sees/hears/fears them, gets a disadvantage in attack rolls… and attacks them first before their allies.

• Eagle – their flying speed is equal to their race’s walking speed. Decent ability, but only works in short bursts. Mark of the Storm Half-elves can work but it’d be a waste of the spellcasting ability.

• Elk –  They can use a bonus action during their move to pass through the space of a Large or smaller creature. They can knock them over to create a domino effect on their other foes behind them. 

• Tiger – They can use a bonus action while moving at least 20 feet charging towards a target right before making a melee weapon attack.

• Wolf – They can use a bonus action with their melee weapon attack on their turn to knock down.

• Wild Magic – Their anger was so intense that they randomly became a chaotic magical Barbarian. The subclass requires a lot of Constitution and can make your battles drastically different depending on what you roll for Wild Magic Surge. Detecting magic without needing a spell slot is a nifty feature and saves room for your dedicated casters to not worry. Giving spell slots back to casters as well gives you support. 

• Zealot – They’re a bootleg paladin trying to constantly keep themselves alive and resurrecting that it hinders them from becoming efficient. You might as well have become a paladin if you’re interested in this path. Although this class deals with weapons more apt for a Half-elf, there’s a lot of potential wasted.

Bard

• Magic, poetry, music, and Charisma. One -if not the most- suitable class for a Half-elf. As it not only makes use of Charisma but also the lore and capabilities of a Half-elf. 

• Creation – They’ve got the power of music, and sick dance moves so intense that it creates, fabricates, and animates things and creatures without materials. One of the funnest subclasses to play.

• Eloquence – You DO NOT want to argue with a bard of Eloquence. Their words can make and break anyone mentally, emotionally, and physically. Really good for campaigns involving a lot of interaction with character and suitable for a Half-elf’s reputation as a diplomat and middleman.

• Glamour – Bards with superstar levels of Charisma and aura. More of a support class but really good if you’d rather keep an enemy alive for information or as hostage due to their ability to enthrall and command.

• Lore – Considered as the equal of Eloquence. A jack of all trades, whatever their party lacks the Bard of Lore will fill that space. 

• Maestro– Compared to the other subclasses, they take what is given to them and turn it into what they require with their music. This doesn’t refer to objects, but instead, they do more mental and emotional damage/repair/manipulation. they’re literally that guy that has a song for every situation. So-so in using a Half-elf’s capabilities.

• Swords – The stabbiest of the subclasses and focuses more on making offense. A very flexible subclass but wastes some of their bardic inspiration. 

• Valor – Considered an equal of Swords but more on spellcasting with a blend of weaponry. They’re the standard portrayal of what bards are capable of and suitable for beginners trying to get the hang of being a bard. This subclass has bonus proficiencies, a good accompaniment to your Half-elf’s talents.

• Whispers – Sneaky! Well-informed! Could be the imposter among us! Bard College of whispers is suitable for sneak attacks, getting information, breaking in, and breaking out. 

Blood Hunter

• Basically, blood mages that’s considered taboo due to their power requiring… well… blood! It uses a Half-elf’s capabilities in spellcasting and is excellent for a tragic backstory. This class practically throws out the Charisma quality of a Half-elf, prioritizing strength, intelligence, and dexterity.

• Ghostslayer – Oldest and the most standard of Blood hunters. This subclass intends to undo the undead and all those that do it. The ability to be a curse specialist accompanied with a Half-elf’s resistance to being charmed and sleep spells is pretty handy.

• Lycan – A subclass where they receive animal abilities and qualities partnered with a hunger for violence. Pretty good for being melee but losing control can lead to more than just their enemies being torn into bits and pieces. They can use unarmed attacks that’d be very advantageous if you’re looking to do more offense.

• Mutant – These are the more alchemic of blood hunters. Unlike Lycans, they can freely mutate themselves temporarily beyond animal-like qualities as they level (which can be time-consuming in real-time). This subclass does add to immunity and abilities but unfortunately (unless your dm says otherwise), it doesn’t do much for their party or other creatures.

• Profane Soul – A subclass enamored with the endless possibility of power equipped with a few warlock spells. You can piggyback on the ability to hex, but despite this subclass making good use of Half-elf’s Charisma, that’s about it.

Cleric

• If paladins are the crusaders, clerics are well… the clerics! These representatives of the divine are more wisdom and intelligence-powered with few of the subclasses having a use for a Half-elf’s Charisma.  Have no fear though, increasing two ability scores by 1 allows them to boost the other stats.

• Arcana – They’re practically a wizard without the lengthy study like someone who got really good at something through reading and youtube videos instead of getting a degree for it.  Many great utilities, support options, and dealing excellent offense and defense. 

• Blood – A really cool but gory subclass that practices blood bending. Very handy but certain spells are rendered useless against enemies that don’t have blood. 

• Death – Takes some aspects of a Necromancer but pale in comparison to them. Still, Death Clerics do better damage than other clerics and are high on doing offense but not as tanky as some. Mixing martial focus with casting.

• Forge – Great in making weaponry not using them. More of a tank-support cleric than a fighter type. Uses a lot of heavy armor and defense, less use of spellcasting practically dumps most capabilities of a Half-elf.

• Grave – An in between the death and life domain and a crit repellant for enemies. The spell list isn’t as impressive or strong as other clerics but it’s an interesting mix of dealing damage, healing, and being able to “jk” death. 

• Knowledge –  These clerics are fantastic for those that like psychic abilities. Take this Domain and the Ritual Caster feat with the Wizard list if they want to be pretty close to a one-person magic crew. They can cover nearly every base needed in one character, letting everyone else be the stabby-mcstabbington characters.

• Life – A medic, paramedic, and front-line defender with their heavy armor. It’s important to not rely too much on being the walking medical and life insurance and to do some offense.  Your saving throws against being charmed and immunity to being put to sleep keeps them healing and buffing your party in dangerous situations

• Light – Bringing the heat quite literally. These clerics should be used as strikers, buffers, and support rather than fighters in the front line despite their ability to turn a hoard of enemies into crispy chicken tenders. 

• Nature – This subclass is often looked down upon for its mediocre abilities apart from the druidic features. This subclass provides excellent utility (animal friendship, speak with animals) and even battlefield control spells (plant growth, spike growth, wind wall). Considering this and other factors, a nature cleric is pretty capable, especially when it comes to being a bruiser, fighter, and support while keeping enemies at bay. 

• Order – Proficient in heavy armor and intimidation. This subclass is good for front lining and its features add extra functionality to their spells is neat and focuses on enchantment magic which most clerics don’t really do. 

• Peace – Notorious for being broken as in OP due to its bond abilities and ordaining peace through unpeaceful measures. At times they’re misinterpreted as weak due to their lack of offense but they’re capable of turning their party into an unstoppable force.

• Tempest – If they wanna really blast stuff in addition to being a solid melee cleric and practically becoming Thor while you’re at it. They’re able to push, knock over, and break an enemy charge. Despite this, Tempest clerics can become vulnerable to direct hits. 

• Trickery – A very rogue-like subclass capable of pulling a disappearing Houdini act. They have interesting abilities like being able to clone themselves, invisibility, dispel magic, mirroring, charming, and much more uncommon in the cleric class.

• Twilight – This class is the very definition of winning accompanied with “But wait! There’s more!”. Their buffs, utilities, defensive and offense options are impressive, but their channel divinity is being hyped the most. Twilight sanctuary is basically a 30” feet radius centered on the cleric. At the end of each ally’s turns, the cleric can grant 1d6+lvl temp HP to the ally, practically making your party ALMOST UNKILLABLE and immune to charms.

• War – These clerics basically summon DIVINE POWER DOWN FROM THE HEAVENS TO SMITE THY ENEMIES. Despite sounding really cool, they make good fighters but not front liners. The heavy weapons outperform the spiritual weapon’s d8 damage die and the possible damage of the sacred flame at every level. So you’ll basically be trying to balance your spellcasting and weapon attacks to make sure you don’t waste your extra attacks. 

Druid

• It is a class for those who really want to get in touch with nature, be nature, or wield it.. Although this class doesn’t make much use of your Charisma, it takes the AIS bonus and natural talent in magic. 

• Dreams – Dreams Druid has a lot of range in its healing, scrying, and teleportation. This subclass has a more mystical feel for its fey theme. They work better with stealthier segments of a plan.

• Land –  Land Druids are very solid, all-around spellcasters that are a subclass that has a subclass. This subclass can recover spell slots on short rest, and having some wizard spells and situationally being immune to poison and disease is huge. Add that to your saving throws, and it makes a really good combo.

• Moon – Druids that take wild shape up a notch. Although they may falter around the medium level, they can hold their ground and greatly shield against regular attacks at a high level. The ability to wild shape as a bonus action raises the challenge rating cap of beasts they can transform into. This gives them much quicker access to more powerful beasts than other Druid circles. With your half-elven Charisma boost, they could easily become a master of intimidation and be even scarier in your beast form. 

• Shepherd – The most druid out of druids due to having permanent speak with animals ability. Tied being the best healer with life and grave cleric. Apart from healing Shepherd clerics can give endurance, might, keen sight, and even protection with their spirit totem

• Spores –  The spores druid grant tankiness without the casting limitation. Spores aren’t as good as wild shape, but it does soak 8x their level in damage every short rest and has an army of zombies. This allows them to heal their party, throw down another attack, or go to the restroom while you’re at it.

• Stars – If you really want to become the star of the campaign, here’s your chance…literally! Starry Form replaces their beast form, and they can use it for extra damage, team healing, or more resilient casting, depending on what they choose to use. A very flexible class when you want to be on attack, recovery, or switching between both.

• Wildfire – A fire-based sniping offensive support! This subclass doesn’t have wild shape, BUT it gives these Druids a pet (or servant if you’d rather give it a humanoid form and qualities) that assists them. Apart from the fire-based abilities, they have an insane amount of teleportation, and fire blasting isn’t something to scoff at.

Fighter

• It’s a class mainly focused on weapon combat and physical prowess over magical capability but is still suitable for most races. Some guides state that you can have Elven accuracy, but if the DM is a stick in the mud, you can still do other elven feats due to your elven heritage.

• Arcane Archer – A plain sharpshooter fighter gains an extra arcane shot option at a high enough level. They have a reliance on intelligence for their arcane shot DC. Despite using a bow, weaving magic into their attacks, and brutal accuracy, it’s not very compatible with a Half-elf.

• Battle Master – Mathematically, Battlemaster is superior on almost every metric. The best approach to Battlemaster is looking for synergies with other features. Battle Master Fighters can be insane tanks with the help of feats. As Half-elf, it’s best to drop the heavy armor and to up your dexterity more if you want to preserve your speed.

• Cavalier – Offers a plethora of features. Masters of mounted combat, making enemies attack them first, fending off strikes, and cutting down enemy mobility. Although they’re disadvantaged if you intend to protect the party or group and they’re spread out. 

• Champion – A subclass that’s simple and gets the job done but in a great way. They get resilience, remarkable athletics, three chances at a crit with the expanded range, and your elven feats compliment this well. 

• Echo Knight – They create echos, a magical, translucent, gray image of them that lasts until it is destroyed or dismissed. They can look through a keyhole and create their echo on the other side. Then teleport to it. You can do attacks and opportunity attacks through their echo, allowing them to take advantage of pam and sentinel without needing to be in the same level of danger.

• Eldritch Knight – This focuses on magic more than the other subclasses. They aren’t the best in combat compared to Battlemaster, but they do great in shield(when paired with Warcaster), ranged attacks, and blasters. Their capabilities lie in versatility and survival.

• Gunslinger – Challenging to play due to the need to reload and materials or source for gunpowder- unless your DM is nice enough to let them reload as a bonus action and accessible resources. It’s best to not rely heavily on the gun/pistols but have stabby weapons. Although they can deal good damage, it’s hard to keep consistent. 

• Psi Warrior – a.k.a Psionic Warriors, are fighters that use psychic abilities with their weapons and have a Jedi feel. This subclass has more defensive options with its shield and bulwark than offense. It is pretty cool how they can do both melee and range of 30”feet attacks by propelling their weapons. Unfortunately, like in real life, using the power of your mind requires a long rest after use.

• Purple Dragon Knight – Or, in short, a Banneret. Although the class seems to have good abilities such as inspiring, healing their team, and having a creature attack for them, it feels more like a squishy bard knight without potent spellcasting. It doesn’t really put to use your racial potential since some abilities like intimidation are already part of what they can do. It would be like asking for a spoon for your fork, but you’re given another fork instead.

• Renegade – Like Gunslinger, except for slightly being more thought through, it poses the same issue, but let’s move on to its features since that’s been discussed (in Gunslinger). They’re able to choose from doing massive damage with a single shot (sniper) or a quick shot to harm one or more creatures (pistoleer). Apart from that, when they reach a high enough level, they can set small explosives. Although helpful, it is an underwhelming ability at the peak of their level.

• Rune Knight – Fighters that receive supernatural power of runes from the ancient practice of giants. You get to choose runes that can help enhance your Fighter or produce certain effects. Some of those effects boost or top-up to your own racial abilities. If that’s not enough for you, a bonus to this subclass is that they get to grow a couple of inches!…. in height!

• Samurai – Samurai are excellent for having an extra tool it can draw on for combat power. They can get a bonus proficiency of History, Insight, Performance, or Persuasion to add to their abilities. In tough fights, they can even use all three of their bonus action abilities and get an advantage for three rounds of combat. However, a downside is that after an intense battle and using their Fighting Spirit ability, they’ll have to take a long rest. 

Monk

• A class that packs a punch is highly mobile, hard to pin down, and capable of much control/utility. Although they’re allowed to carry weapons, they’re very self-sufficient without them. The downside is that they have little defense and rely a lot more on dodging or attacking in a place and way that wouldn’t put them in a vulnerable position than classes that have armor they can depend on.

• Ascendant Dragon – It has a lot of good abilities wherein they can deal explosive damage to anyone in range when they activate the aura. They’re able to have resistance to acid, cold, fire, lightning, or poison damage, have working wings that they can summon, and even destructive breath- as if yours wasn’t already bad enough. So, what’s the catch? It’s all costly to use!!!

• Astral Self – Allows them to create a visage of their astral form capable of giving them vision in the dark, an advantage in Wisdom and Charisma saving throws, and send telepathic messages, creepy but handy. Apart from that, most of the abilities they get early on just let them do things that every other monk can just do by default. Depending on your elven heritage, some of what the visage can do already comes naturally to you.

• Cobalt Soul –  An intellectual monk knows their enemy and acts upon that knowledge. Aside from slapping their enemies to make them divulge information, they’re able to learn a creature’s attributes like Damage Vulnerabilities, Damage Resistances, their fetishes(kidding about this one), among others, when they use their flurry of blows and mark them as analyzed. 

• Drunken Master – Not a monk with alcoholism but instead moves with the unpredictability of a drunkard. These monks are great when dealing with ranged attacks; they dodge action from shots and only spend a minimal amount of movement to get back up afterward to continue the butt-kicking. They have a style of hit-and-run combat that lets them do damage while also staying out of range of direct attacks

• Four Elements – This subclass has a druidic feel to control certain fish, plants, mountains, and cresting waves. It’s more of a battlefield control class, which most monks don’t really do. Although this subclass has spellcasting, the ki points required are very costly.

• Kensei – A weaponized monk that makes significant ranged weapon attacks. Their ability to parry gives them a bonus to their armor class. Their attacks aren’t that magically based, so a Kensei can come in handy in a low magic setting.

• Long Death – Its very existence is a middle finger to the deities of death. So long as they have a ki point, they can still live even after a deadly blow. Apart from that, they’re capable of terrifying enemies and creatures within 30” feet of them to the point of not wanting to engage in a fight or conflict. This subclass is excellent but unfortunately lacks features to help them do damage. 

• Mercy – A monk can heal as much as they harm, plus get cool masks. With Hands of Harm, they spend 1 ki for a guaranteed amount of damage, with no save and attack roll needed compared to Flurry of Blows. Apart from packing a punch, they can also induce their attack with poison and heal anyone who is blinded, deafened, paralyzed, poisoned, or stunned.

• Open Hand – Open Hand offers some excellent, well-rounded options that squeeze a lot out of the Monk’s core abilities. They literally can just flat out kill someone who fails a con save, that or 10d10 damage

• Shadow – A more tactical and sneakiest of monks that can literally hide, move in, make shadows. This subclass is meant for attacking and missions that require stealth. If you’re more into that than tanking or direct combat, then this is the subclass for you.

• Sun Soul – The subclass lets them punch with the power of God from 30 ft away while screaming “KAMEHAMEHA!” if you like. The damage is pretty so-so for this class, though, but they do have an ability that deals a damage from 150″ ft.

Paladin

• A strength class that puts a Half-elf’s Charisma to good use. They are front-line fighters who excel at dealing a lot of damage very quickly. While they provide a lot of group support, most of that is passive or best suited to combat applications.

• Ancients – A “nature or green knight” subclass that loves the light, all things beautiful and living, and kindness. We get some nature-themed oath spells, a vine-restraining Channel Divinity, healing, and form into an ancient nature being that screams at people for illegal logging. They are less suited to the traditional high-damage striker role, leaning more towards being a battlefield controller and relentless tank.

• Conquest – Paladins seeking glory in battle are pretty evil-aligned, but it could easily be adjusted. They are merciless in action, striking fear in the hearts of their opponents and shattering their will to fight. Casting spells while making melee attacks and making their skin hard as stone for additional defense.

• Crown – A subclass good in defense, support, and even rescue. They’re able to save any creature by swapping health with theirs and taking the damage if it is attacked right after. This can also protect their own skin if their hp is low. Reaching a high enough level makes the Crown Paladin immune to any non-magical weapon attacks and gives their allies an advantage in death and wisdom saving throws once they activate Exalted Champion.

• Devotion – a.k.a white knights or holy warriors.  It is very effective in combat, with the Sacred Weapon Channel Divinity being roughly equivalent to having an advantage on every attack (with +4 or +5 CHA). Turn the Unholy can trivialize encounters with fiends and undead (especially undead swarms). Its spell list isn’t staggering, but not bad.

• Glory – Previously known as the oath of Heroism. Many of their spells require concentration, but the subclass is suitable for grappling, shoving, and speed. Although not mentioned in the handbook, it is recommended they have a steed for better use of their Aura of Alacrity and its effect on their party. 

• Oathbreaker – An oathbreaker is a paladin who still has that internal strength of conviction but has lost the spark that guided them before. They don’t have to be evil for this subclass. Their profane energy can bring death and destruction upon those them touch with necrotic action as a bonus. The spell list is fantastic, with tons of offensive potential and consistent damage. 

• Open Sea – They are paladins with wanderlust, adventure in their hearts, and love for the sea. They’re skilled in creating a fog that allows them and their comrades to see. They’re able to knock back their enemies a maximum of 10” ft away with Fury of the Tides. Additionally, at a higher level, this would be great in a water/pirate style campaign with an aquatic half-elf. Overall, this subclass being a yay or a nay is situational, especially with the campaign theme.

• Redemption – If you want to be a somewhat pacifist, there isn’t a better choice than becoming a complete control caster with this subclass. For race, a half-elf is very suitable. They get bonuses to multiple stats and charisma and are eligible to take prodigy to gain expertise in persuasion.

• Vengeance – If you want to lead your party in a fight against the villain, this may be your calling. Vengeance paladins are great at picking one target, closing distance, and blowing them up. They can literally make a tactical nuke with a combo of Vow of Enmity, Great Weapon Master, & Divine Smite. If anything does go wrong in battle, then they get to have some free self-healing.

• Watchers – This subclass is definitely made by its spell list. Counterspell and Banishment are universally powerful spells, and even Moonbeam is insanely strong as a damage-dealing option. Watcher’s Will and Vigilant Rebuke work very well together and in conjunction with their Aura of Protection. Many of their features rely on facing outsiders. Even with the capstone, it’s only good if they’re facing an outsider, not on their own plane. Watchers are also probably one of the least specialized Oaths mechanically. 

Ranger

• The Ranger class has no inherent abilities that require high Charisma. Charisma has two uses for Rangers – skill checks and saving throws. Playing this class can “waste” your race’s vast array of stat increases, but you’ll still be able to start out with a high dexterity.

• Beast Master – The only rangers with a beast that come with the package. You can deck out their animal companion in gear and use it as a meat shield while they do all the damage themself, which effectively gives them a free, expendable sack of hit points. Their companion also gets a turn whenever the ranger’s out, which is strictly better than just having no turn at all when they’re stunned or unconscious. Unfortunately, their beast dies quickly but is easily replaceable, unlike in pokemon.

• Drakewarden – Compared to Beast Master, their only option is a minor dragon called a Drake. They cannot ride it unless they’re a small race, and they have to constantly resummon it. However, the drake hits harder with extra elemental damage and a breath weapon.

• Fey Wanderer – A spellcasting ranger that does psychic damage. This subclass does give defense against charm or fear, but you’re naturally immune to the former. The ability incentives them to attack multiple opponents instead of focusing down one at a time. Aside from what was mentioned, they can summon fey beings to assist them. 

• Gloom Stalker – The gloom stalker specializes in stealth, ambushing, and delivering a massive alpha strike. The Gloom Stalker is so strong in total darkness that it’s worth it to take the Darkvision spell so they can cast it on that one party member who doesn’t have Darkvision, so no light source is required. Unfortunately, if the campaign barely involves darkness, it’s challenging to use the being undetectable in the darkness ability.

• Horizon Walker – Great mobility, an excellent spell list, a powerful attack that uses force damage, and when they finally get a distant strike, they can teleport around the battlefield like Nightcrawler from X-Men. A decent build can be a solid mid-ranged damage dealer or a decent mobile front-liner.

• Hunter – They can basically attack everyone in a 10ft radius sphere once and 1 creature within 5ft of one creature in the 10ft radius sphere. This can be another creature in the sphere or outside the sphere. If the sphere is filled, they can indeed make a lot of attacks. Against tightly clustered groups of enemies, the hunter will have the best-sustained dps in the game. That’s a relatively limited situation that comes up only once in a while, so overall it’s hardly overpowered.

• Monster Slayer – It’s excellent at anti-mage and anti-magical creature duties, it’s not ridiculous on action economy like the horizon walker, it gets good information-gathering tools. The broad applicability of the Monster Slayer’s Supernatural Defense and later counter to big monsters and the saves of spells cast at them. They kinda stink in fighting, just straight-up monsters that don’t have magic in them. 

• Swarmkeeper – A ranger that really wants to get their horror on. They can summon swarms of creatures at their disposal, be they locusts, roaches, other insects, twig blights, birds,  fairies, whatever makes your skin crawl at the thought of it. They can move people and creatures. If they’re a front-liner, this is great for pushing enemies away from their allies while sticking to them and keeping them within their reach. They can move enemies away from the backline or into melee with their front-liners as an archer.

Rogue

• Rogues are a martial class that does single target burst damage while doing their best to stay out of harm’s way. If you prefer ranged attacks, you pick a shot at a target that will take a sneak attack. If you prefer melee, you dart in and hit a mark that will take a sneak attack, then bonus action disengages to get out without getting hit. Overall, uses the capabilities of a Half-elf well especially with elven feats.

• Arcane Trickster –  As an Arcane Trickster, they’re reaping the benefits of magic while progressing entirely as a rogue. Very versatile and can consistently pull off sneak attacks, even in suboptimal situations. It should be noted, though, Arcane Trickster Rogues are not full casters. Although the spells are Intelligence-based, they don’t waste the Half-Elf’s Charisma.

• Assassin –  It is considered a trap subclass due to the ability to create false identities, mimic voices behavior, practically replace another person, take over their life for a time, but eventually find it difficult because they’ve made an emotional connection. Assassin’s abilities don’t always mesh well with the party and encourage them to separate from the party.

• Inquisitive – They’re given detective-like abilities like deciphering an opponent’s tactics and developing a counter to them. Unfortunately, unless they multiclass or have any additional skills, this subclass limits you in investigating and lie-detecting parts of a campaign apart from bonuses in sneak attacks. 

• Mastermind – Mastermind gives a lot of infiltration and mimicry abilities, allowing them to almost flawlessly pass themselves off as another person and find out information that other characters couldn’t. Not to mention, being able to help as a bonus action is fantastic. It is designed as a utility class; everything else is situational and primarily valuable for social settings.

• Phantom – It’s a subclass that takes time to build. Whenever they finish a short or long rest, they can gain one skill or tool proficiency of their choice, as a ghostly presence shares its knowledge with them. The floating skill proficiency and dealing necrotic damage is pretty cool.

• Scout – Scouts are skilled in stealth and surviving far from the streets of a city, allowing them  to scout ahead of their companions during expeditions. This makes them great at getting the party through hostile terrain alive and basically being a non-magical rogue.

• Soulknife – Has a psychic knack on the rogue chassis makes them insane at skill checks. This plus expertise and/or reliable talent basically lets them choose any skill, regardless of whether they have a relevant mod bonus, and be better at it on average than almost any other class. Their telepathy lets them scout for the party while still being able to instantly and privately communicate what is happening or what they see. Also, it does not require a shared language to communicate.

• Swashbuckler – The swashbuckler is a stealthy duelist thief type subclass. They can impose disadvantages on attacks against the party, and prevent opportunity attacks. Swashbuckler makes a lot of voluntary Acrobatics and Athletics maneuvers and checks during combat.

• Thief –  The subclass is not combat optimized, but it’s made of good utility, support, and sneak. Their bonus action allowing them to use items is fantastic when adequately utilized. For example, healers kits can help the party in a pinch while not ruining their offensive abilities (when there’s no healer present). With Fast Hands, they can drink potions, use a medkit, throw acid, anchor them self, set a small trap, apply poison, and the like as a bonus action.

• Wild Card –  It’s still debated whether this subclass is truly official as it is homebrew. Wild Card Rogues have resistance to all damage and immunity to the grappled, paralyzed, stunned, and restrained conditions. They can move through objects and creatures. If they end their turn inside a creature, that creature takes 1d10 force damage and is shunted into an adjacent space within 5ft of their original location.

Sorcerer

• Where a wizard or cleric is more utilitarian with their spells (buffing/debuffing and crowd control), a sorcerer is more of an artillery piece/DPS. Since they don’t get nearly as many spells as the other two do, you have to choose them wisely with each level, and that usually means most spells do damage in some way. Their meta magic allows for them to manipulate the spell to better effect. The +2 Charisma, +1 in ASI of choice, and skill versatility make the Half-Elf one of the better races for the Sorcerer class. 

• Aberrant Mind – A Sorcerer gifted with psionic powers by an alien. An excellent part of the aberrant mind sorcerer comes from swapping out the bonus spells for different ones if you don’t want or need a given one. Then they can cast any of their bonus spells as a subtle spell for pretty much just the cost of the spell slot, and they’re bonus action(which then means you can toss on a second meta magic to the spell).

• Clockwork Soul – These Sorcerers receive power from another plane or the machinations of Modron. The subclass offers tools to solve various problems in an orderly fashion, including spell options borrowed from the Cleric and Wizard. However, the Clockwork Soul leans heavily on its spell list. They get extra known spells that don’t count towards their spells known limit. Restore Balance lets them support their team by taking advantages and disadvantages which would either harm them or help the enemy.

• Divine Soul – Practically clerics that aren’t officially clerics with their abilities coming from a divine being and their access to cleric’s spell list. Divine Soul Sorcerers have good durability thanks to proficiency in all armours and shields while also gaining a ton of defensive buffs and healing. They have multiple ways to buff their materials by increasing hit chance, defense, healing or giving extra weapon attacks. As cool as their abilities sound, their spell list is limited and fighting on their own without their party would be like “going commando”(vulnerable/naked) into battle.

• Draconic Bloodline –  Their magic is inherited from the draconic blood or blessing of their ancestors. They get the equivalent of permanent Mage Armor and wings. Additional elemental damage type depends on what Draconic Ancestor they have. The downside is that they have to spend a sorcery point just to gain a temporary damage resistance and only after casting a spell of their element.

• Rune Child –  A sorcerer whose magic comes from magical runes while their body collects and stores arcane energy. This subclass is severely outdated. Runes are powerful icons that they can use for a variety of effects. A Rune Child can simply expend sorcery points to immediately charge that number of runes, or, as an action, a Rune Child who has no sorcery points and no charged runes can charge one rune.

• Shadow Sorcery –  Their innate magic comes from the Shadowfell. Their core strength comes from abusing Darkness, dark vision, and teleporting from shadow to shadow. With Shadow sorcery, they have some nice tricks like summoning the shadow dog; besides the edgy flavour it’s a concrete subclass.

• Storm Sorcery – Their magic comes from the power of elemental air. They’re a nice flavour if you want to specialize in lightning and thunder stuff and deal extra damage to enemies within 10 feet. Their abilities have better use as melee, but unfortunately, sorcerers don’t have a good defense. Tempestuous Magic can somewhat help with that as it gives extra movement and allows them to disengage when they cast a spell. 

• Wild Magic – From its origin to abilities, Wild Magic is unpredictable, which can make it unreliable and dangerous. They receive powers that can bend and somewhat tame the Wild Magic, such as controlling its surge, bending luck, reducing the threat, and adding a bit of extra damage. The main issue is that apart from the magic being ineffective, it can also cause some harm to the party or the quest. It shouldn’t discourage anyone from playing this subclass as it can be enjoyable and funny, and preparations can be made by coordinating with the DM.

Wizard

• Unsurprisingly wizards are defined by their spellbook and its contents. You learn a lot of spells and can pick from the most extensive spell list in the game. On top of that, you can add additional spells to your spellbook outside of level-ups. To do that, you simply have to search for spell scrolls and the trusted books of other mages. Sadly, this class almost throws Charisma out the window with little to do with the different abilities of a Half-elf.

• Abjuration –  They certainly have excellent survivability, but they should avoid “tanking” in combat situations. They have features that make them heartier than other Wizards to protect them when they are being attacked, but they tend not to have the sustained AC to have their tank without spending a fair number of spell slots just doing that. 

• Bladesinging – The subclass allows the Wizard to get into melee combat while using a complete Wizard spell list. It can be enjoyable with high armor, haste, misty steps, Contingency combos, and so on. They just need to play clever otherwise, a single hit and they are already in the critical danger zone of dropping.

• Chronurgist -This subclass features a bunch of free stun spells, the ability to incapacitate creatures from the backline, denying enemies a turn in combats that are overwhelmingly determined by action economy. They become a free portable ring of spell storing. Suddenly, giving everyone a familiar that can assist in battle. 

• Conjuration – They’re able to conjure up an inanimate object in their hand or on the ground in an unoccupied space that they can see within 10 feet of them. So long as it’s no larger than 3″ ft and more than 10 pounds. Mechanically, it’s not the strongest subclass around, but they’re still a wizard, which is a great baseline class.

• Divination –  Divination is really powerful in pretty much any game because of portent. Basically, Divination wizards get saving rolls to change outcomes drastically, and they can even replace the enemy’s dice roll. It can give incredibly powerful CC in a big AOE with no concentration cost. It can be stacked with a spell that creates rugged terrain to slow enemies’ movement to 6ft a turn.

• Enchantment –  Wizards are capable of altering and changing memories, enchanting people, and having monsters obey their commands. Ironically, Half-elf can work well with this subclass. The attribute bonuses work well for what you want to do, helping that you are a bit multi-attribute dependent. You get 2 skills of your choice, allowing you to pick up skills like Deception that aren’t on the wizard list.

• Evocation -An elemental blaster caster. The Evocation Wizard is better at controlling than damage output. The strength of the subclass is in flexibility and adaptation. They have a simple go-to-spell list with added bonus damage to pack a punch. 

• Graviturgist – Wizards can control gravity and adjust the density of creatures and objects. Want to make a giant easier to carry? Done. Want to expand their jump? Done. Want to leave their bike somewhere and would be too dense to move or steal? Done. A lot can be done by a Graviturgist, but just because they have gravity powers doesn’t mean they can take on the front line. These Wizards are support spellcasters than front blasters.

• Illusion – These Wizards can create illusions that can terrify, entice, fool, distract, and trick. They’re as good as the player can make them, as this subclass requires quick thinking and creativity. Their strengths and power are primarily qualitative rather than quantitative. They can be very effective in and out of battle, but they can’t pack a punch.

• Necromancy – They animate and create an army of the undead that can overwhelm their foes. The only drawback is that zombies don’t have armor/weapon proficiency (unless the DM allows). They would make a great wall, but they couldn’t do much damage. Skeletons aren’t invulnerable either, and it won’t take much AoE to destroy them, but a tidal wave of the undead is not something to sneeze at. Anyone can squish one, two, three ants, but anyone can be overwhelmed by a whole colony.

• Order of Scribes – Order of the Scribes can have an indestructible Manifest Mind (except for dispelling magic, which most enemies don’t have) that can be 300′ away and cast any spell at all through it, like a delayed fireball. The elemental change is good for avoiding damage Resistance; it has a few synergies with other feats like elemental adept. They also get from that same feature through the ability to cast a ritual at average casting time, which can be huge under the right circumstances.

• Transmutation – School of Transmutation Wizards can transform materials at will, manipulating matter into whatever they see fit. They get many free bonuses: resistances, con save, speed increase, and darkvision. Unfortunately, this school is relatively weak compared to other Wizard subclasses.

• War Magic – A subclass that seems underpowered on paper because it’s not flashy. War Magic is an excellent pick for multiclassing if you have a minimum of 13 in Intelligence. It’s focused on maintaining concentration, so it’s solid if you have in mind the sorts of battlefield control spells that require focus. 

Racial Feats/Best Feats

• Elven Accuracy

  • Increase your Dexterity, Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma score by 1, to a maximum of 20.

  • Whenever you have an advantage on an attack roll using Dexterity, Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma, you can reroll one of the dice.

• Prodigy

  • You gain one skill proficiency of your choice, one tool proficiency of your choice, and fluency in one language of your choice.

  • Choose one skill in which you have proficiency. You gain expertise with that skill, which means your proficiency bonus is doubled for any ability check you make with it. The skill you choose must be one that isn’t already benefiting from a feature, such as Expertise, that doubles your proficiency bonus.