Elf (starting race)

You can play NetHack as an elf. Elves are always chaotic. They can be Priests, Rangers, or Wizards. Playing as a random elf is a good way to focus on a small number of roles.

Racial benefits and restrictions
Elves have intrinsic infravision and they receive sleep resistance at experience level 4. From an attribute perspective, elves excel mentally, with the highest intelligence and wisdom of all races. Their strength is capped at 18, the lowest of all races. They also have the lowest constitution of all races, capped at 16. The following table outlines their maximum (unaided) attribute levels.

Strategy
Elves' low strength and constitution can make them more difficult to play than other races; these restrictions limit both their carrying capacity and their damage bonus.

Long after an elf reaches his cap, other players will be eating giant corpses and otherwise raising their strength far above 18, toward 18/50 or 18/**. Meanwhile, the weight limit will force the elf to make difficult decisions regarding inventory management, and which items to keep in his bag of holding, or leave behind altogether in a stash.

Therefore it is beneficial to have gauntlets of power. They boost strength to 25, and might make a good wish, but they are not an option for those who like to wear gauntlets of dexterity, such as some elf Wizards.

History
In older versions of NetHack, the elf was actually a separate role. All other roles belonged to humans. The quest artifact of an elf was a crystal ball called the Palantir of Westernesse; it does not exist in the current version.

SLASH'EM
In SLASH'EM, elves are always lawful or neutral, and they have access to far more roles than in vanilla. If you want a chaotic version of the Elf, you play as a different race, the drow.

Encyclopedia entry
The Elves sat round the fire upon the grass or upon the sawn rings of old trunks. Some went to and fro bearing cups and pouring drinks; others brought food on heaped plates and dishes. "This is poor fare," they said to the hobbits; "for we are       lodging in the greenwood far from our halls.  If ever you are        our guests at home, we will treat you better." "It seems to me good enough for a birthday-party," said Frodo. Pippin afterwards recalled little of either food or drink, for his mind was filled with the light upon the elf-faces, and the sound of voices so various and so beautiful that he felt in a       waking dream. [...]       Sam could never describe in words, nor picture clearly to        himself, what he felt or thought that night, though it remained in his memory as one of the chief events of his life. The nearest he ever got was to say: "Well, sir, if I could grow       apples like that, I would call myself a gardener.  But it was        the singing that went to my heart, if you know what I mean." [ The Fellowship of the Ring, by J.R.R. Tolkien ]