Gray elf is a playable race in ADOM.
Manual Info
Gray Elves are the most noble of all elven races. Their beauty is ethereal, they move with unsurpassed grace and are among the greatest mana-wielders in the game. Gray Elves look similar in appearance to High Elves, although most of them sport silver or golden hair and purple or light blue eyes. They are of even more slender build than their lesser cousins. But besides their great beauty, they are arrogant and haughty beings, generally disliked by most other races that have contact with them (which is next to no one on a regular basis... mostly you will meet Gray Elves in a chance encounter — if you notice them at all!). Gray Elves tend to regard all the non-elven races as lesser beings, more closely related to animals than to "True Beings", as they like to call themselves. They are also even more frail than their lesser cousins, which they balance with a greatly enhanced agility and magical powers of which other races only dream.
Gameplay Effects
Skills
Gray elves train in Dodge, Listening, Literacy and Stealth; thus, they offer identical skillsets to high elves. Racially granted literacy means any PC that doesn't meet the required learning score of 10 — including Barbarians and Beastfighters — will still be able to read and write (probably not very well, though). Dodge and Stealth are somewhat useful to all PCs.
Attributes
Gray elves tend towards excellent Mana scores and very high Learning scores, making them generally very good at learning and casting spells. Gray elves also have stellar Appearance scores and, like other elves, very high Dexterity and Perception. On the downside gray elves usually have very low Toughness scores, and low Charisma scores (although this stat is a lot less important).
Starting Equipment
Gray elves are typically very well equipped. Most melee-orientated classes start out with elven chain mail, which helps to compensate their low endurance.
Lifespan
Gray elves have extremely long lifespans, surpassing even those of dark elves and high elves. They are usually very safe from the effects of unnatural ageing.
Power Point and Hit Point Regeneration Rate
Gray elves regenerate power points very quickly, but regenerate hit points slowly compared to most other races.
Relations with Other Races
Gray elves are hated by their evil cousins and disliked by trolls and orcs, whilst gray elven shopkeeper display similar prejudices towards those races. Gray elves' only friends in Ancardia are fellow gray elves, and high elves.
Alignment
Gray elves start off Neutral, though Class and Star sign can affect this.
Suggested Classes
Due to their high Mana and Learning scores, gray elves are a popular choice for magic-orientated PCs. They make very powerful Wizards, although gray elven Wizards are not the easiest PCs to keep alive in the early game due to their low HP and Toughness. They are also good Archers, due to their high Dexterity and good starting equipment. Paladin is also a respectable class choice for gray elven PCs, as the class offers good boosts to their physical stats and a typically decent casting potential that gray elves can greatly improve.