What does it mean to be ageless? The astral elves of Dungeons & Dragons have been touched by the divine, giving them long lives to spend on endless adventures. Or at least until they’re eaten by a gnoll, although gnolls will find astral elves difficult to consume thanks to their ability to teleport.
Astral elves are a uniquely adaptable species, able to fulfill many roles within an adventuring party and enhance most of D&D’s classes. If you’re looking to start your next campaign as an astral elf, read on for some helpful tips for your next adventure.
Information on the astral elf species can be found in the Spelljammer sourcebook.
The History Of The Astral Elves
A life untethered by time. Although all elves are long-lived, the astral elves have unnaturally long lives. Some say they're even immortal. And they're immortal lives have imbued these elves with divine powers and a shared memory that allows them to draw upon the collected experiences of their entire species.
The astral elves were once merely elves from the Feywild, but they ventured into the Astral Plane in order to be closer to the gods. Because nothing ages in the Astral Plan, the astral elves gained longevity that no mortal beings could comprehend. But being ageless has its disadvantages as some astral elves lose touch with time and even their own emotions.
Astral elves have fair skin and hair as well as dark eyes which possess a starry gleam. They're considered elves for the purposes of in-game effects or prerequisites. Astral elves are medium creatures with a walking speed of 30 feet. When choosing to play as an astral elf, increase one ability score by two points and another ability score by one point.
Astral Elf Features
Astral Fire | You know one of the following cantrips of your choice: dancing lights, light, or sacred flame. Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma is your spellcasting ability for it (choose when you select this race). |
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Because astral elves already have Darkvision, dancing lights and light aren't quite as useful as sacred flame. As such, most characters are probably going to pick sacred flame for a free damage-dealing cantrip.
Darkvision | You can see in dim light within 60 feet of yourself as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You discern colors in that darkness only as shades of gray. |
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Darkvision is always great, even if it means you don't get the same utility out of a few vision-enhancing cantrips. With Darkvision, you can see 60 feet in darkness, although you can only see in shades of gray.
Fey Ancestry | You have advantage on saving throws you make to avoid or end the charmed condition on yourself. |
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Nobody likes being charmed, so having advantage on saving throws to avoid being charmed is a nice perk for astral elves--particularly for melee fighters who otherwise might be vulnerable to Wisdom or Charisma saves.
Keen Senses | You have proficiency in the Perception skill. |
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Perception is the most-used skill in the game, so proficiency here is obviously a big bonus. Combined with Astral Trance, you're probably going to find yourself permanently on watch during every long rest.
Starlight Step | As a bonus action, you can magically teleport up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space you can see. You can use this trait a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest. |
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Being able to teleport as a bonus action is a fantastic skill for any character. For melee fighters, it lets you close the distance to get into combat range quickly. For ranged fighters or magic users, you can use this to disengage or keep distance between you and the angry horde of monsters.
Astral Trance | You don’t need to sleep, and magic can’t put you to sleep. You can finish a long rest in 4 hours if you spend those hours in a trancelike meditation, during which you remain conscious. Whenever you finish this trance, you gain proficiency in one skill of your choice and with one weapon or tool of your choice, selected from the Player’s Handbook. You mystically acquire these proficiencies by drawing them from shared elven memory and the experiences of entities on the Astral Plane, and you retain them until you finish your next long rest. |
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Not needing to sleep is already pretty good for keeping watch, but Astra Trance also grants you a skill proficiency and a weapon or tool proficiency every long rest. Having to wait four hours to gain proficiency with thieve's tools is probably too inconvenient to replace your Rogue, but you'll be able to fill any skill gaps in your party.
You're most likely going to set these proficiencies and then forget about 'em, but even if you do, that's still a permanent skill proficiency and either a weapon or tool proficiency.
This feature is notable as it allows astral elves to use any weapon in the game regardless of whether their class provides them proficiency or not.
Best Classes For Astral Elves
Astral elves are great at everything, so you can truly choose any class and be effective as an astral elf. That said, there are a few classes that benefit a tiny bit more from the astral elf's features.
Barbarian | Two skills, a tool or weapon proficiency, and charm resistance are all good things for a Barbarian. Sacred flame isn't going to be a particularly good damage option, so you might want to pick dancing lights as your cantrip instead. Being able to teleport into combat, however, is the big draw here. |
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Monk | Monks are already fast. Throw in a 30-foot teleport and astral elf monks can basically be anywhere in a single turn. Two skills and a tool proficiency even let astral elf Monks perform like discount Rogues. Charm resistance is less useful once you get Stillness of Mind, but it's still a bonus. |
Fighter | Charm resistance and a bonus action teleport are likely your biggest benefits here. You could make sacred flame your damage-dealing cantrip as an Eldritch Knight, but you're better off with fire bolt. |
Bard | Sacred flame gives astral elf Bards a far better damage-dealing cantrip than vicious mockery. Skills, charm resistance, and a teleport are also groovy. |
Paladin | As with the martial characters, Paladins benefit greatly from the teleport and charm resistance. For players that want to play as a weaponless Paladin, Sacred Flame offers a great damage-dealing cantrip. |
Ranger | Everything that the astral elf does just makes a Ranger better. Teleport gets you into combat or keeps your distance for ranged attacks. Skill and tool proficiencies keep you relevant outside of combat. And Sacred Flame offers an interesting non-weapon damage option, although you're probably better off sticking with weapons. |
Rogue | More skills are always a boon for Rogues, but the big draw here is the teleport. Being able to blip from hiding spot to hiding spot is incredibly strong with Rogue characters to keep those sneak attacks coming. |