I'm currently running a campaign (homebrew) where the elven society has pretty much taken over the country and rules the other races with an iron fist, going so far as to wipe out the gnomes when they got uppity. One of the big points in this setting is the notion of elves being superior to other races so they see half anything (half-elf, half-orc, etc) as abominations that need to be purged for the greater good of the elven society since they have been ruling for a few hundred years. Understandably most of the players have picked basic human, dwarf, etc but I have two brave souls who want to play half-elves.
The one isn't an issue since she wants to appear human (Racial trait 'Rounded Ears' and the feat 'Pass as Human') but the other player wants to go in the other extreme and that is when we ran into an issue... we can't find any traits to pass as a full blooded elf. Now for those saying they should already look like an elf here is the physical description of half-elves:
Half-elves stand taller than humans but shorter than elves. They inherit the lean build and comely features of their elven lineage, but their skin color is normally dictated by their human side. While half-elves retain the pointed ears of elves, theirs are more rounded and less pronounced. Their eyes tend to be human-like in shape, but feature an exotic range of colors from amber or violet to emerald green and deep blue. This pattern changes for half-elves of drow descent, however. Such elves are almost unfailingly marked with the white or silver hair of the drow parent, and more often than not have dusky gray skin that takes on a purplish or bluish tinge in the right light, while their eye color usually favors that of the human parent.
So already they stand out from what a standard elf should look like. Now I can alter the 'Pass for Human' as 'Pass for Elf' easily enough but the 'Round Ears' racial trait is the kicker, the trait gives the half-elf a +4 to Disguise as a human and the human's 'Skilled' racial trait (they lose adaptability, keen senses, and low-light vision). The problem is the half-elf already has the vast majority of the elven racial traits (Elven Immunities, Keen Senses and Low-Light Vision) they only thing they don't have is the Elven Magic and Weapon Familiarity which neither carry the same weight as 'Skilled' (thinking of removing Multitalented and Adaptability for said trait). Any suggestions or ideas?
Pass for human already gives you a +10 on the disguise roll and eliminates the penalty for trying to pass yourself off as another race. If you are altering it to pass of elf it should give the same bonus. As long as the character has disguise as a class skill and invests at least a point into it he should be able to pass for an elf without any problem. If he is playing a class that does not have disguise as a class kill and dumps CHA than that may be a problem.
Assuming he is playing a class with disguise as a class skill and has not dumped CHA he should be able to get a +19 bonus on his disguise roll. Taking 10 means he has a 29 disguise roll. Breaking down the numbers works out to +1 for a skill point, +3 for it being a class skill, +10 for pass for elf, and +5 for only minor detail. Since pass for human eliminates the penalty for disguising yourself as a different race and he is not really trying to do look like anything except an elf he should qualifies for the +5 for minor detail only.
Just have him take pass for human and not worry about the Round Ear racial trait.
Maybe a new custom racial trait, Elf Eyes?