Seas and seclusion, learn how to optimise your Sea Elf character with our guide
What are Sea Elves?
Elves are graceful beings that originated from the Feywilds. They have slender features, pointed ears and are mostly hairless other than their head.
Sea Elves are those Elves that chose to explore the depths of oceans and seas rather than the realms above. In doing so, their bodies have adapted to be capable of breathing both air and water. Sea Elves have also evolved into excellent swimmers able to traverse equally as comfortable on land and in water.
Sea Elves are generally distrustful of other races and will typically hide away from them. Many races do not respect nature and the seas and are often seen as destroyers. While other Elves might view Sea Elves as being a bit “wild” and “unrefined”, they are not savages and are simply knowledgable of those things outside of the typical book learning you might observe from a High Elf for example.
If you want to play as a Sea Elf in D&D 5e, then our guide is here to help you with everything you need to know from description and background to their traits and abilities.
Is a Sea Elf the right race for me?
Dungeons and Dragons lets you take a flexible approach to building a character, but if you’re going to stick to typical culture and the best-optimised build for a Sea Elf you might consider the following:
Choose a Sea Elf if you like…
- Being a quick swimmer
- Being as comfortable underwater as you are on land
- Playing a strong scout
A Sea Elf might not be for you if…
- You don’t expect to spend much time in the water
- Dislike Elves
If you think a Sea Elf isn’t for you, not to worry, there are dozens of playable races for you to pick from, just check out our races guide to find out about all of them. For an alternative strong swimming race, you could consider a Triton or a Water Genasi.
Sea Elf racial traits
| Ability Scores | +2 to one ability score and +1 to another or +1 to 3 different ability scores |
| Creature Type | Humanoid |
| Size | Medium |
| Speed | 30ft (swimming and walking) |
| Languages | Common and 1 other language |
| Traits | Child of the Sea, Darkvision, Fey Ancestry, Friend of the Sea, Keen Senses, Trance |
| Proficiencies | Perception |
| Resistances | Charmed and sleep |
| Darkvision | Yes |
| Innate Spellcasting | None |
| Book found in | Monsters of the Multiverse, Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes |
Tactics
While darkvision and perception proficiency helps make your character a solid scout and advantage on saving throws against being charmed and cold resistance makes you a little more resilient, a Sea Elf’s real advantages come in their swimming capabilities. It is worth noting that cold resistance is one of the poorer resistances available as cold damage is less frequent than most damage types.
Being able to swim as fast as you walk and breathe underwater are excellent, if you expect to be getting in the water frequently. You can also speak to sea creatures giving you utility outside of combat, but again, this is reliant on being around lots of water.
However, for primarily land based campaigns, you’ll get very little from a Sea Elf’s traits. Sadly, most campaigns are land based. I’d suggest discussing campaign expectations with your DM before choosing a Sea Elf unless you’re mainly just here for thematic reasons.
One thing to consider is how you manage combat when in water. Some weapons will incur a disadvantage for underwater combat so you’ll want to use things like javelins, short swords and crossbows. You’ll also need to be wary of spellcasting too. For non-verbal spells, it’s like being on land, but if the spell requires a verbal component, you’ll start suffocating which is very dangerous! Fortunately, Sea Elves can breathe underwater meaning that Spellcasters suit Sea Elves quite well.
Which classes are good for a Sea Elf?
Below I’ve put together a score for how well each class works with a Sea Elf based on how well the racial traits work with each class:
Artificer⭐⭐
Barbarian ⭐⭐⭐
Bard ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Cleric ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Druid ⭐⭐
Fighter ⭐⭐⭐
Monk ⭐⭐⭐
Paladin ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Ranger ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rogue ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Sorcerer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Warlock ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Wizard ⭐⭐
*Star ratings scored out of 5
Best Sea Elf classes
Sorcerers and bards are the stand out options here. Both will benefit from having access to underwater spellcasting and can utilise their high charisma for friend of the sea. Bards often operate as scouts too so darkvision and perception proficiency are particularly useful here. Sorcerers are capable of replicating some of a Sea Elf’s abilities with spells, but with limited spells known, it would be a waste to use them on these options.
Rangers make your best martial option as they focus on scouting abilities and spellcasting more easily underwater is handy. Paladins are also a solid option, especially for their high charisma combined with friend of the sea.
I’d also say that clerics get a lot out of these traits for the underwater spellcasting. Their wisdom makes perception proficiency a good fit and trance can compensate for weapon proficiencies they might be missing that would suit them underwater.
Worst Sea Elf classes
Your worst options are really those that can replicate a Sea Elf’s traits with their own abilities. This is particularly the case for wizards with their large repertoire of spells, and druids with wild shape. To a lesser extent, artificers also fall into this category as well.
About Sea Elves
Appearance
Elves came from the Feywilds many centuries ago and have settled across the many settings of the D&D universe from the Forgotten Realms to Eberron and all of Wildspace in between. There are many types of Elves that populate these settings with many Elven groups splitting off and becoming their own subspecies. Many of these subspecies have become playable races in D&D 5e, these include:
Elves can be identified by their slender features, pointed ears and mostly hairless bodies. They’re typically a little shorter than humans but fit within the normal range for humans standing between just under 5ft to just over 6ft tall. Sea Elves appear similar but tend to have a blue or green tint to their skin.
With a long lifespan of about 700yrs, Sea Elves have a longer view on things and are less brash and quick to judgement as humans are. Often, they will choose to wait to see if a problem solves itself rather than rushing to action. This can create conflict with the shorter-lived races who do not have the time to spend years resolving their problems.
Sea Elves embody the Elven affinity with nature more than even most other Elven subspecies though they care much more for the seas than for the forest as the Wood Elves do. They will protect the seas at all costs, though are generally happy to allow others to pass through their waters as they travel, as long as they harbour no ill intent.
How to roleplay as a Sea Elf
While Sea Elves come in many different personalities, there are certain traits that most Sea Elves hold in common. Consider some of the approaches and ideas below as you roleplay your Sea Elf:
- Isolationist – Sea Elves rarely reveal themselves willingly to non-Elves. As an adventurer, you may want to consider what has drawn you away from your home. Exile or a mission perhaps? You may also want to consider how you deal with being among other people and civilisation.
- Affinity with nature – You love nature and are at home in it, especially the seas. You abhor those that seek to destroy it and while open to diplomacy, will defend your lands aggressively if provoked. You are likely educated in the ways of nature knowing different plants and animals and how to tend them. You may want to consider how you view those that may destroy or abuse nature.
- Grace and poise – You not only appear graceful, but act with grace too. Consider how you fight. You have likely been trained in combat by other Elves meaning your combat is likely less barbaric and more refined with fluid motions and attacks with precision. You probably aim for arteries and organs that will cause the most damage than the brute force approach of an Orc for example.
