Half-elves have a mixture of human and elven heritage. even a single human or elven ancestor can influence the family tree for generations.

Half-elves are a diverse lot, but they can often be found standing up for other outcasts and outsiders. They are especially common among adventurers.

Half-elves have the following traits, per the PHB:

• Partial immunity to sleep-inducing effects (+2 racial bonus to saves)
• Low-light vision
• +1 racial bonus to Diplomacy & Gather Information checks
• Elven Blood: for all effects related to race, a half-elf is considered an elf (magic items, poisons, etc.)
• Favored Class: any. When determining whether a multiclass half-elf takes an experience point penalty for multiclassing, her highest-level class does not count.

They also receive the following traits:

• Language: Elven is always a class skill for half-elves, and they start with two free ranks in Language: Elven. Literacy: Elven is also a class skill, and they can recognize the script even if they cannot read it.

Half-elves carry some stigma in elven society. Their shorter lifespans and limited fluency with elven tradition lead many half-elves to live on the periphery of elven society, at best. Their elven parents share much of this stigma, and carry it long after their child has passed away. For this reason, most half-elves are raised in human societies, even if that leads their elven parent far away from home. Among humans, half-elves are often treated as full-blooded elves: exotic, mysterious, and exiting… or alien, fey, and inscrutable.

Bridging two very different worlds, half-elves are natural diplomats. They partake of some of the timeless memory of their elven heritage, and the riotous resourcefulness of their human heritage, and strike a balance between the two.

Though they are quite common across the Wilderlands, there are no half-elven communities as such. They see the sadness of their human-elven ancestry, and few are brave enough to raise families of their own.

Half-elves tend toward the naming conventions of their elven or human parentage, but often blend the two.

Children of half-elves and elves bear a stronger resemblance to elves, and the children of humans and half-elves bear a stronger resemblance to their human parentage, but from a rules perspective they continue to function as half-elves for generations.

The children of elves and humans are half-elves. The children of half-elves and humans are half-elf or human (though there may be some elven traits in the humans). The children of half-elves and elves are half-elves (though this is vanishingly rare).