Pathfinder Companion: Elves of Golarion (OGL)

Elves have been a part of the world for as long as anyone can remember. Caretakers of the natural world, warriors against the tide of savagery, and scholars of the deepest secrets of magic, elves are among Golarion’s most mystical and mysterious races. This book presents the definitive word on how elves live, fight, worship, and relate with other races. The information contained herein presents a wealth of information about the elven race, with new rules, details on making elven characters, and an extensive exploration of their society, history, and goals as a people. Even if you aren’t playing an elf, this booklet contains new spells, magic items, and character options perfect for any character.

Inside this Pathfinder Companion, you’ll find:

Details on the elven people of Golarion—where they live, their arts and magic, their pantheon of deities, and more!

An exploration of the beautiful—yet sometimes deadly—elven nation of Kyonin, the heart and soul of the Fair Ones on Golarion, including details on Queen Telandia herself

More Character Traits specifically designed to enhance and expand a new elf character’s history and background

Alchemical archery and new magic arrows, sacred pacts with elven gods, a plethora of magical meals, and the brightness seeker prestige class

Pathfinder Companion is an invaluable resource for players and Game Masters. Each 32-page bimonthly installment explores a major theme in the Pathfinder Chronicles campaign setting, with expanded regional gazetteers, new player character options, and organizational overviews to help players flesh out their character backgrounds and to provide players and Game Masters with new sources for campaign intrigue.

Average product rating:

Useful Supporting Details

This supplement is full of useful detail about Elves in the Golarion setting. It's important to my own campaign, for example, because of the player characters is an Elf and lives in Varisia. With this book, I am able to tell him about where his character comes from in Varisia.

Well Okay I liked that it had more information on the elves that the original campaign setting and the personality and culture sections were well written.
If you like elves you might like the book,
my only complaint is that I did not really care for the brightness seeker prc.

overall I give the book a 4 stars our of 5.

The fabled fabulous elves (part one)

I have read a fair amount of pathfinder stuff and I have been impressed by the effort and quality of products. Then I read the book on elves and it was amazing.
Straight from the beginning, the condescension starts. Elves do not think less of the short-lived races since they’re lifetimes come and go in the blink of an eye and they won’t live long enough to truly master any discipline. Its nothing personal, just bad luck on the part of the other races. Really? What about certain key figures like the wizard king and lich king Nex and Geb. The runelords or Lord Belkzen who united the orcs. Cavalry of Lastwall which managed to route 2000 orcs with 17 cavalry members? None of those were elves, yet all of them were very prominent historical figures in their own way. (I’d like to see 17 elves route 2000 orcs)Stranget thing is, don’t hear any mention of famous elven figures anywhere. Yes, very odd indeed for a race which has “mastered” their disciplines.
Under brief history, it mentions that humans rapidly multiplied and vile things clawed at the edges of their lands. The elves fought but despite being worth 10 humans for each elf, they clearly could not win. They left before the starstone struck for their beloved original plane of existence. Watching in frustration as their homes were looted by vandals. Duh! If you abandon your home, it doesn’t take a genius to realise you’re turning over whatever is left to whoever passes through. You are so wise and yet didn’t see this coming?
Furthermore, they just upped and left the forests? Yet they are able to return with no direct repercussions. The god of nature Erastil welcomes them back with open arms for abandoning his beloved gardens and creatures. The fey get along famously with them having being abandoned. Decades pass and they trust the elves again. Really? There are no drawbacks? I’d hate to think the wrath of a god is a few showers in the early morning and afternoon with the next day’s forecast as mildly cloudy. The fey get back to trusting them again so easily? Gaps in logic and consistency here.
The non-elves wonder why elves are not all master swordsmen or powerful wizards. There it states they measure success differently, wealth and reputation are but distractions to the more important things like honour and seeking enlightenment. Well, that’s all good and dandy but is it not common sense to ensure your wizards can hold their own in combat, your soldiers can stand toe to toe with invaders coming to take your lands? If not, you won’t live to attain enlightenment and honour.
Elves who interact with “transient” races are already on the outliers of society. Just by that reason alone they are outliers of their society. A learned and wise race which closes itself off from the other races is blinded by its own “wisdom”. Isolationism breeds stagnation, not development not the furthering of disciplines. They can maintain their standards but sooner or later they will be surpassed as everyone who is learning from everyone else.
The part on where an elf will still be around when the last monument crumbles.
Highly doubtful there. Dwarves forge item and buildings which last a long time. The Thassilonians had monuments, some of which still stand in golarion and that was 10,000 years ago. An elf doesn’t live to be even 1000 years old. Complete contradiction and b*#@!!~$ there.
It states that the most powerful wizards can sense the presence of magical auras without even looking. The only class which can do that is the warlock which can cast detect magic at will. Elves are not magical, they are not nishrus. They frown upon the channelling of innate mystical power like the sorcerer and warlock. Since wizards will know thousands of spells by the time the sorcerer knows dozens. Complete stigmatization of two spell casting disciplines which have their place. You may have variety but they can cast more times per day than you. Variety is pointless if one cannot implement it. Keep in mind this is the decision of a highly intellectual and superiorly wise race.
Under the description of rangers and wizards, rangers are the frontiersmen
and all that. Wizards however are highly respected since arcane magic is the pinnacle of study and concentration. That’s fine but you sure you want favour mystical librarians so highly over your own soldiers. Not realising that being a ranger has its place in their society and not below wizards screams ignorance and blind arrogance.
Elven elders which tend to be wizards and give advice which is highly respected. They speak cryptically and their younger members aren’t sure they’ve gotten the message. Lets think about this. 20,000 orcs storm Kyonin. The younger wizards ask the elders for advice. They say something like:”if it is destined to happen as failure is the mother of success.” Then teleport away goodness knows where. This could be interpreted a number of different ways. What if one of them decided to let the orcs advance a bit more. Let the rangers fight them out. A lot will die but perhaps a weakness in the orcish lines could be found. They’re just rangers after all, not wizards right?
Then the book speaks of honour as being highly emphasized. Its apparently all about friendship and keeping one’s word. However, when elves get into feuds they don’t desire a one on one duel. This is frowned upon. They instead prefer to take apart the other persons life piece by piece and thoroughly destroy them. So let me get this straight. A show of mutual elven respect and honour through duelling is laughed at as opposed to trickery and slow excruciating pain. Does this not scream sadism on a severe scale? A dodgy rogue would do something like this while a knight would scoff in disgust. What part of that is honourable?
The elves are supposedly consummate craftsmen. They import raw minerals but look on with disdain when it comes to smelting. That’s all good to get past the mining. However, without smelting there is no crafting. I suppose one could get around this with spells but spells are not permanent. Adding the cost of permanency on an item regardless of whether it is magical would be ridiculous. Not even their own people would buy from them since permanency spells cost thousands of gold pieces.
From there it moves on to relations. Elves hate orcs and vice-versa. A half-orc holds dim hopes of being close to an elf. If he conducts himself with dignity and honour, he may win grudging respect. Elves do not differentiate them from their full-blooded kin. After a half-orc saves an elf a dozen times from the brink of death, braves the blistering elements of the desert and the blistering cold of the frozen tundra, the best he can hope for is grudging respect? Sorry to say that sounds like pure ungrateful selfishness and arrogance there. “Regardless of what you do I will never truly treat you as an equal” is what it is saying. Furthermore, deliberately not making the differentiation and just lumping them in with their hated foes sounds like simply lazy convenience. To not realise that there are exceptions in every race is an error born through lack of knowing and information. Hardly wise or learned.
There it goes to religion and it just gets better. It says elves pay homage to any god but most shun evil or corrupt deities. Calistria is the most widely worshipped of elven gods. What? Do the elves know what Calistria stands for? She may not be evil herself but she could swing towards it easily. No solid allegiance on any set beliefs or commitment. Beauty and cold vengeance are all that matter. Vengeance and justice are not always on the same page and the fact that she is widely worshipped contradicts this.