# Dusk elf stats?



## Mercule (Mar 17, 2016)

I'm reading through "Curse of Strahd" and there are a few dusk elves mentioned. I'm not familiar with this subrace. Is it new? Are there PC stats available?


----------



## pukunui (Mar 17, 2016)

My understanding is that they are just wood elves with slightly darker coloring. And there are no females because Strahd killed them all to stop them procreating. I could be wrong about all that, though.


----------



## ChrisCarlson (Mar 17, 2016)

pukunui said:


> And there are no females because Strahd killed them all to stop them procreating.


----------



## evilbob (Mar 17, 2016)

http://www.dmsguild.com/product/177846/Dusk-Elves-A-Ravenloft-Subrace

The link is to a free download of a preview of a 3rd party book that details that race and others.  Only thing I found on google.  Looking at the document, it basically can be summarized as:  same as other elves, with some difference in flavor.

I have not seen any WotC products with dusk elves, no.


----------



## pukunui (Mar 17, 2016)

Dusk elves were first introduced in Dragon #382 as a playable race for D&D 4e. They were basically just exactly like normal elves, except there was a bloodline feat you could take to grant a stealth aura (either instead of or in addition to the perception aura - can't remember exactly).


----------



## GX.Sigma (Mar 18, 2016)

Curse of Strahd, page 119: "They have dark skin and hair, but otherwise they are similar to wood elves (as described in the _Player's Handbook_)."


----------



## Tyranthraxus (Mar 18, 2016)

Considering the average Barovians take on Demihumans in general and the fact that the total population of Barovia is approx 3,000, the actual volume of Dusk Elves would be negligible.


----------



## pukunui (Mar 18, 2016)

Tyranthraxus said:


> Considering the average Barovians take on Demihumans in general and the fact that the total population of Barovia is approx 3,000, the actual volume of Dusk Elves would be negligible.



Indeed. There are just a handful of them, all males. The majority live in one of the Vistani's more permanent camps. It's unlikely most Barovians have ever seen one.


----------



## MonsterEnvy (Mar 18, 2016)

pukunui said:


> My understanding is that they are just wood elves with slightly darker coloring. And there are no females because Strahd killed them all to stop them procreating. I could be wrong about all that, though.




Actully it was his Dusk Elf Chamberlain who murdered all the females. Because he is an cruel guy even by Strahd's standards.


----------



## Tyranthraxus (Mar 18, 2016)

Yeah Rahadin is/was a Dusk Elf himself. Kinda Poetic in a way that Strahd got a Dusk Elf to do it.


----------



## MonsterEnvy (Mar 18, 2016)

Tyranthraxus said:


> Yeah Rahadin is/was a Dusk Elf himself. Kinda Poetic in a way that Strahd got a Dusk Elf to do it.



Strahd did not order him to do that to the Dusk Elves. Just to deal with them as punishment. Rahadin came up with the punishment.


----------



## pukunui (Mar 18, 2016)

MonsterEnvy said:


> Actully it was his Dusk Elf Chamberlain who murdered all the females. Because he is an cruel guy even by Strahd's standards.



Ah right. I missed that bit. I was just going by the part that says Strahd had them all put to death in retaliation for the murder of Patrina.


----------



## I'm A Banana (Mar 18, 2016)

I blame     [MENTION=607]Klaus[/MENTION] . In a _Dungeon_ adventure cited as inspiration for the adventure, he put a group of dusk elves in the forests near Vallaki. Kasimir and his sister are basically ripped right from that adventure, so he'd probably be the person to ask. 

The elves themselves were introduced in 4e in a Dragon article by Robert Schwalb, and in the presumed setting there they were eladrin who refused to take Corellon's side in the war against the drow and, when his anger turned on them for that, they were protected by Sehanine (who, I guess, wasn't as angry at the Drow as Corellon was?). They're now all emotionally dead and suspicious and kind of emo about not being eladrin anymore. 

In the fiction, I suppose Barovia was one of the places they fled to in the war against the Drow, and then they just hung out there until Strahd came along.

Mechanically, they were an attempt to do something a little experimental in 4e - make subraces based on feats (4e did Vistani the same way, actually...). As a dusk elf you were exactly the same as any normal 4e elf (wood elf), except you spent one of your feats on something that gave everyone +1 to Stealth within 30 ft. And then you could spend some more feats to basically reward you for finding concealment and being invisible. And there was a paragon path mechanically about being invisible / concealed and fictionally I guess about being some sort of elf vengeance ninja. 

In 4e, for most of the time you played, you had better things to spend your feats on than a racial feat that didn't benefit you much, so I didn't see them played a lot.

But _Curse of Strahd_ has certainly re-invigorated interest in them. 

In 5e, they'd probably just be wood elves. If you're being very technical, maybe replace *Mask of the Wild* and *Fleet of FooT* with something like 

*Dusk Elf Stealth.* You gain proficiency in Stealth. Allies within 30 feet of you can add half of your proficiency bonus to Dexterity (Stealth) rolls they make that don't already include their proficiency bonus.​
_Edit: Fleet of Food?...like some sort of laxative?_


----------



## The Grassy Gnoll (Mar 18, 2016)

Fleet of Food belongs in the ruinaspell thread &#55357;&#56832;


----------



## Klaus (Mar 18, 2016)

I'm A Banana said:


> I blame     [MENTION=607]Klaus[/MENTION] . In a _Dungeon_ adventure cited as inspiration for the adventure, he put a group of dusk elves in the forests near Vallaki. Kasimir and his sister are basically ripped right from that adventure, so he'd probably be the person to ask.
> 
> The elves themselves were introduced in 4e in a Dragon article by Robert Schwalb, and in the presumed setting there they were eladrin who refused to take Corellon's side in the war against the drow and, when his anger turned on them for that, they were protected by Sehanine (who, I guess, wasn't as angry at the Drow as Corellon was?). They're now all emotionally dead and suspicious and kind of emo about not being eladrin anymore.
> 
> ...




Guilty as charged.

I wanted to bring a variety stuff into the adventure. I wanted to showcase Patrina Velikovna (who was in I6 already), and the Dusk Elves' demeanor made them a better fit for Ravenloft than just having a random population of elves in Valakki, plus it gave me the excuse to give them the "culturally blend into the general population" vibe from 3e RL demihumans.

Another example of this intent was the addition of the Thaani humans (from Bluetspur) by using Kalashtar stats (from Eberron).


----------



## pukunui (Jun 26, 2017)

Never mind. Didn't mean to resurrect this thread.


----------

