Male elves do not have a single good face option. Half-elves have more “elvish” looking male face options than do elves.
I also think the ranking is somewhat class dependent. Half drow beats drow for sorcerer or wizard due to having light armor and shield proficiencies as well as most of the other drow abilities.
Light armor and shield are overrated. The game has a bunch of "gain +1 AC when not wielding armor or a shield" items in the game, many of them actual wizard/sorc gear. My Gale is sitting at 22AC, can go up to 23 AC with the ring that lets Shadowheart cast Warding Bond on him, and on top he gains universal resistances except psychic with it. Mage armor requires not using armor or shields.
And if you really want to go up in armor, you'll equip the Helldusk armor from Raphael which is a heavy armor that gives proficiency and will make him sit at like 25-26 AC anyways. Not that you need an AC that high even in tactician.
Meanwhile pure drow gives you much more dialogue options than half-drow, which is pretty tangible.
