[RPG] Can an Elf grow a beard

dnd-5eelf

Can an Elf player character grow a beard?

I would love to plant a cursed Belt of Dwarvenkind in a campaign for an unsuspecting and unwitting Elf (or Half-Elf) PC to promote a memorable role-play experience for my player(s). The curse would entail that an Elf cannot unequip the attuned Belt of Dwarvenkind unless they die, at which point, the belt unfastens itself and may be removed.

Player agency issues aside, is this a possible scenario? If an Elf cannot grow, or be made to grow, a beard, I'll just log this under 'fun homebrew' and be done with it.

Best Answer

Elves cannot naturally grow a beard

Elves do not grow facial hair, according to the D&D 5th edition's Player's Handbook (p.21):

Elves have no facial and little body hair.

The item description says:

you have a 50 percent chance each day at dawn of growing a full beard if you're capable of growing one

Therefore, an elf cannot grow a beard even with this particular item.

Although half-elves are described as able to grow beards, I'm unaware of any D&D product of any edition featuring a full elf with a natural beard.

Earlier editions

You asked in the comments about how elf chins were handled in previous editions of the game. D&D 4th edition's Player's Handbook (p.41) is less clear than its 5th edition counterpart, but the 4th edition book Wizards Presents Races and Classes confirms that male elves don't have beards:

Elves retain several of their distinguishing characteristics from earlier editions, most notably the pointed ears and the slight tilt to the eyes. And male elves don't have facial hair.

Remarkably, D&D 3rd edition actually has an explicit rule covering this case: elves cannot grow beards, but in at least one case, dwarven magic which causes beard growth still affects them normally. According to Magic of Faerun, p.117, the spell silverbeard:

Your beard grows and turns to pure and magically hardened silver, increasing the armor bonus of your armor by +2. An outfit of regular clothing counts as armor that grants an AC bonus for the purpose of this spell. If you do not have a beard, you grow one for the duration of this spell (even if you are a creature that cannot normally grow a beard, such as an elf or a female human). You get a +2 circumstance bonus on Diplomacy checks against dwarves.

Since the Forgotten Realms setting generally remains consistent between game editions, it is reasonably likely that the elves' complete inability to grow a beard described (rather than some kind of strict racial tradition of shaving regularly) also applies to the elves other editions of D&D, at least for that world.

Editions prior to 3rd are unclear as to whether elves have beards. In AD&D 1st and 2nd edition's respective core rulebooks they are not described as having beards, but neither are they described as unable to grow beards in those editions of the game.

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