Hello half-elfs! welcome to my spellbook and thank you so much for checking out the first episode of our half-elf Subrace 5e series. We’re kicking it off..strangely enough with one of the least popular half-elves. We’re going over the aquatic half elf 5e and it was found in the sword coast adventurers guide and you’re kind of like half sea elf if you want to look at it like that.
I’ve never seen one of these chosen…straight up just can be completely honest with you, never seen it happen really don’t know why you’d want to unless you’re in a sea themed campaign in which case you know what go ham i think there are options that make more sense but if you fell in love with this, i far be it from me to tell you a good decision from a bad decision. Now let’s take a look at the traits for the Aquatic half elf.
Table of Contents
Aquatic Half-Elf Description
Some of the half-elves in the Faerûn have a racial trait in place of the Skill Versatility trait. If your DM allows it, your half-elf character could forgo Skill Versatility and instead take the elf trait Keen Senses or a trait based on your elf parentage though.
Traits
Swimming Speed: A half-elf of aquatic heritage can forgo skill versatility and instead choose a swimming speed of 30 feet.
By traits i mean trait. So as a quick desclaimer moving forward there are quite a few of these sub-races that require you to sacrifice skill versatility. If you’re not super familiar because you didn’t read the last article and you’re should be about to do that, skill versatility is a trait you get just for being a half-elf and it lets you gain proficiency in two skills of your choice. It’s a really really good trait. Like top tier “S-tier” trait.
Right up there with the war forges not needing to eat or sleep or anything like that. This is pretty good. So you can decide to forgo that and get a swim speed of 30 feet. It’s implied that this also lets you breathe underwater although it doesn’t expressly say it. So hopefully you’ll have a good DM.
But man….man i don’t know why you would make this decision to forgo proficiency in two skills just to be able to swim a little bit better is beyond me. I mean if you’re in a sea themed campaign…sure i guess that makes sense if you have some cool kind of water idea and you want to try it out for one shot sure that makes sense.
But from a mathematical point of view i really don’t see the benefit in this decision. So yeah and this is all they get by the way it’s not like ” i’m gonna be like and they get a +3 to strength”. No no no this is it, they get you can forgo a great ability to get a swim speed of 30 feet. Yeah…that’s all it is. Let’s get to my personal thoughts on the aquatic half elf 5e.
Personal Thoughts
I feel like i’ve been spoiled by the sub-races until this point. With a couple noble exceptions i guess but this is just it seems a little meh to me. Honestly i would like for them to maybe get some spells you know like saw some shape water you know maybe or make like some level requirement like a third level that gained the ability to cast armor vegafist.
I think that’d be fine, that’d be probably worth it. Right! a little bit of magic to go with that out elven heritage you know. I think that’d be pretty cool but no..no…no. I try my best not to speak badly about anything, i really do, i really do. But there are some things that are kind of like objectively bad.
And this is one of those things where i feel the need to be like “yeah now this is objectively bad”. But i know there are a couple of you who get really upset when i say “the things are bad”. So i’m not going to really say that, i’m just going to really really imply it. And please tell me why this is a good choice, like please please please just fight to me, because i’m at a loss.
Conclusion
In any case let me know what you think down beneath in the comment section. Mention any thoughts, comments, questions, concerns, ideas or cool stories you have involving the aquatic half elf. That being said! i hope you all have a great day and as always happy adventuring.