Do elves sleep in PF?


Rules Questions


After a discussion from another thread turned to elves I discovered a difference from 3.5. In 3.5 elves didn't sleep. They went into a 4 hour trance.

3.5 Core wrote:

Elves do not sleep, as members of the other common races do.

Instead, an elf meditates in a deep trance for 4 hours a day. An elf
resting in this fashion gains the same benefit that a human does
from 8 hours of sleep. While meditating, an elf dreams, though
these dreams are actually mental exercises that have become
reflexive through years of practice. The Common word for an elf’s
meditation is “trance,” as in “four hours of trance.”

This never made it into the description of Elves in PF. Not sure if its intended because they still have the immunity to sleep spell effects. But as written they have to sleep 8 hours now... or is it stated somewhere else that I am missing?


Elves don't anymore, going by the CRB. Too bad, cause it was all just fluff, but I guess it caused so much "discussion" that they decided to ret-con it.

Liberty's Edge

Elves not sleeping was a D&D-specific thing. In Golarion, elves need the same amount of sleep as other races. LINK.


Elves not being affected by sleep effects is something they kept in so that it wouldn't change the mechanics too much. Since Elves aren't fey-descended as in many other D&D worlds, but literally aliens from another planet, they don't have any reason not to need sleep.

Liberty's Edge

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RedDogMT wrote:
Elves not sleeping was a D&D-specific thing. In Golarion, elves need the same amount of sleep as other races. LINK.

Tolkien started it.

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