Astral Elf Guide 5e
Published on November 21, 2022
Stoic and implacable, astral elves can channel the celestial energies of Wildspace after living near-immortal lives in the Astral Plane.

Marta Nael - Wizards of the Coast - Moon-Blessed Cleric
What is this guide?
This guide is meant to give you an idea of whether or not the astral elf will be right for your 5e character build.
The color code below has been implemented to help you identify, at a glance, how good that option will be for your astral elf. This color coding isn’t a hard and fast rule; there are plenty of sub-optimized options out there that will be viable to your party and will be fun to play.
- Black is a trait shared by many races and or will not impact the effectiveness of your character build
- Red isn’t going to contribute to the effectiveness of your character build at all
- Orange Situationally good, but a below-average option otherwise
- Green is a good option
- Blue is a great option, you should strongly consider this option for your character
- Sky Blue is an amazing option. If you do not take this option your character would not be optimized
Tasha's Cauldron of Everything Update
Tasha's Cauldron of Everything has added the "Customizing Your Origin" option that may affect the ability score increases, languages, and proficiencies in this guide. To read more about this, visit our D&D Race Guide.
What are Astral Elves in 5e?
Source: Spelljammer: Adventures in Space
Astral elves are elves that migrated to the Astral Plane from the Material Plane. In the Plane of Thought, there isn’t a need for food or air, and creatures don’t age, so astral elves live near-immortal lives until they venture back into the Material Plane. Because of their long lives, astral elves are aloof and emotionless, rarely seeing an issue that can’t be dealt with simply by waiting it out.
They have similar traits to the other elvish brethen, but their time in the Astral Plane has brought the astral elves closer to their gods, imbuing them with celestial magic that they can channel into offensive attacks or defensive maneuvers.
Astral Elf 5e Traits
Ability Score Increase: Being able to choose between +2 ASI, +1 ASI, or +1, +1, +1 ASI means that you can pick exactly what your build will need.
Creature Type: Humanoid is the default creature type for playable races.
Size: Medium is the default creature type for playable races.
Speed: 30 feet is a standard walking speed for playable races.
Darkvision: Darkvision is always great, but its advantage can be ruined if your party members do not also have it.
Fey Ancestry: Advantage against being charmed will come in handy quite often as the charmed effect is relatively common.
Keen Senses: Free proficiency in Perception is always welcome.
Astral Fire: Sacred flame will likely be the most common choice when compared the other options of light and dancing lights. This cantrip does a decent 1d8 radiant damage but targets DEX saving throws, which means its an effective alternative against beefy creatures that have a high AC but low DEX. You also get to choose between CHA, INT, or WIS as your spellcasting modifier here, making it effective for any spellcasting class.
Starlight Step: Free misty step multiple times per day. Even though this doesn’t have a rider effect like the eladrin’s Fey Step, it’s still an ability that every build has a use for. You can use this to escape grapples, move further in a turn without having to Dash, and navigate the battlefield without invoking opportunity attacks.
Astral Trance: Magic can’t put you to sleep, you only need to sleep for 4 hours, and you gain a free skill, weapon, or tool proficiency when you end your trance. Most of the time, you’ll be using this ability to pick up a skill proficiency in either Stealth or a social skill, but you can customize each day depending on what you think you’ll be facing. In terms of weapon proficiencies, one may think that this could open up unique build opportunities, but most builds have access to their most optimized weapons already. The biggest impact this could provide would be giving rogues a heavy crossbow which, when used with Sharpshooter, can make a deadly combination.
Sources Used in This Guide
- BR: Basic Rules
- : Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants
- SotDQ: Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen
- ERLW: Eberron: Rising from the Last War
- EEPC: Elemental Evil Player’s Companion
- EGtW: Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount
- FToD: Fizban's Treasury of Dragon
- GGtR: Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica
- MotM: Monsters of the Multiverse
- MToF: Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes
- MOoT: Mythic Odyessys of Theros
- PHB: Player's Handbook
- SAiS: Spelljammer: Adventures in Space
- SCoC: Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos
- SCAG: Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide
- TCoE: Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything
- TTP: The Tortle Package
- WBtW: The Wild Beyond The Witchlight
- VRGtR: Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft
- VGtM: Volo's Guide to Monsters
- XGtE: Xanathar’s Guide to Everything