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| #1intentlyNov 05, 2014 9:00:21 | After looking through the MM and PHB I'm pretty confused about fey. Elves are fey, and so are fomorians? Or no, fomorians are giants? Why are hags fey? They seem totally different than other kinds of fey.
I don't understand what the connection is between creatures that are classified as fey. What do fey have in common? And how do fey connect to the Feywild? Are they all from there?
So, I guess I've got a lot of questions... is there a resource that explains what fey are in D&D? |
| #2cowleymenNov 05, 2014 11:31:17 | Short: what ever you need them to be
Long: It really depends on both edition and Campaign setting. 4e was the first edition to have an actual plane of the Feywild. But in short, any realworld stories of wee-folk ect. Lots of dnd Fey come from Celtic stories. Elves are a race of Fey that came to live in the Material plane. Hags, are to the best of my knowledge, are Fey twisted and formed by evil desires. Not all Fey are nice. There are plenty that are mean nasty sons of bitches.
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| (Reply to #2)intently | The only fey in the MM are:
So what is an "archfey"? In the Warlock section of the PHB there is a list of archfey, but no description.
Except for the "hags", are these things elves? Or pixies? Or minor deities of some sort? How do they grant power to a warlock? Are they immortal? Elves don't appear to be immortal. |
| #4cowleymenNov 05, 2014 12:49:08 | I believe most of those archfey are from the forgotten realms setting. ArchFey are powerful entites that rule parts of the Feywilds. Most rival weak gods, and a few go toe to toe with gods. Their power can change hands, hence warlocks. Many are tied to the seasons as well. Most are various different sprites ect. An elf could become an Archfey, but so could any other creature/person.
Hags are a species of fey. YOu can find discriptions of them in many early editions. Hags are always female, and find sutibale mates for themselves to sire their children. There a few types of hags, biggest difference being their magical abilities and where they liar. Hags are a bit like sorcerers, in that they use their own powers. AN older a hag gets, the stronger they get. Truely ancient hags are a horror upon those they turn their powers on. |
| #5ForgiveNov 05, 2014 12:59:39 | Page 6 of the MM talks a bit about Fey. They are magical creatures tied to the forces of nature. In some worlds, they are closely tied to Feywild. Some are found in other Planes....that's the jist.
By the description, they have ties to the Place of Faerie, but aren't all from there. They all like "natural" settings, but that doesn't mean they are ONLY found in those settings...
Do you have more specific questions about them?
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| #6OoftaMegNov 05, 2014 13:01:20 | The fey are a loose collection of mystical beings that do not originate from the world but that are separate from fiends (demons, devils) deities and creatures from the far realms (aberrations) or undead.
There may be more clarification in the DMG but in D&D the fey are loosely based on gaelic mythology. There are several variations of fey, you could spend a couple of years reading books about sidhe along with he seelie and unseelie court. Some fey are "cute" like pixies but most are extremely dangerous. They all share an affinity to wild places and nature.
In my world the world has two "mirror" dimensions, the feywild and the shadowfell (I use Norse mythology so that translates into Alfheim and Nifleheim). The feywild is bursting with life and energy while the shadowfell is dead and cold.
Elves are distantly related to the sidhe in the same way that my housecat is related to the lion at the zoo. Fey may look similar to elves but are effectively immortals with near god-like power.
So if you want more ... you can spend a few dollars you can go to drivethrurpg.com and search for a source book on fey. Or just google fey, sidhe, seelie and unseelie court and figure out how you want to implement the ideas into your campaign. |
| #7intentlyNov 05, 2014 13:43:36 | Ok thanks, I appreciate the information. I feel like I grok undead, demons, devils, deities, etc., but the fey just don't seem cohesive to me.
Even though there are various deities of nature and those deities have planes of their own, the fey are separate from these deities and have a different origin plane, the Feywild.
Are fey considered extraplanar beings, like demons and devils? Can they be banished?
What's their niche in the D&D world? Are they meant to be the neutral-ish equivalent of angels, demons, and devils? |
| #8cowleymenNov 05, 2014 14:08:33 | IF you want to have a seperate Fey plane, then i would have them being a type of outsider that can be banished. If they dont have their own plane of existance, they cant be banished from the Material world.
They are Nature. They typically dont like demons and devils, they destroy nature, which is the feys home. Most angels and celestials are also just to lawful. Typical fey are almost childlike in that they follow their whims and desires. Fey are known for being Mercurical in nature. Bi-polar to the extreme. Some, like elves and centuars, break this mold though. Some worship nature gods, others follow only the Archfey. Most fey are Chaotic Neutral or Chaotic Good. Very few (like hags) are evil beings with desire to harm for harms sake.
May i ask what setting your game takes place in? or are you asking for future refrenance? |
| (Reply to #8)intently |
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| #10IllithidbixNov 05, 2014 17:06:10 |
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| #11DrycanthNov 05, 2014 18:36:54 | its a setting dependant destinction. in various settings there are significant differances.
You could also use it to help define your own setting. |
| #12ReiusNov 06, 2014 2:16:06 | I think there are a couple of 4e Dragon articles about archfey. I remember one about the Prince of Frost.
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| #13intentlyNov 06, 2014 7:07:10 | So, thinking in terms of power/influence/engagement... would archfey be similar to archdevils? Not quite minor gods, but powerful immortal beings?
The PHB shows the Feywild as the "opposite" of the Shadowfell. If the Shadowfell is mostly a plane of undead, then does that make fey creatures somewhat the opposide of undead? |
| (Reply to #13)OoftaMeg |
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| #15intentlyNov 06, 2014 8:41:03 |
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| (Reply to #15)OoftaMeg |
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| #17intentlyNov 06, 2014 10:06:10 | No, but I've heard of a game called Dresden Files. Are they related? |
| #18cowleymenNov 06, 2014 12:42:27 | Yes, there is also a tv show called Dresden Files, check it out, its on Hulu. |
| #19SterlingRatNov 06, 2014 13:41:31 | This is my own personal interpretation - please do not assume it to be gospel D&D truth. I just use it when I make up some new creature and give the players something they haven't heard of/seen before.
There are several types of "Magical Creatures". Celestials: Servants of Good Gods, native to the upper planes, created by Good Aligned Gods Fiends: Servants of Evil Gods, native to the lower planes, created by Evil Aligned Gods Elementals: Native to the elemental planes, created when magic interacts with a non-magical inanimate substance Fey: The last category of truly magical creatures - it's a catch-all for extra-planar, magical beings that don't fall into other categories.
And as for the Dresden Files - note that, in the Dresden Files mythos, if you imagine it too hard or picture it in your head too much, your D&D game might just exist in the NeverNever. Do not accidentally attract that Mab's attentions. It never turns out well.
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| (Reply to #17)OoftaMeg |
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| #21bengrayawhileNov 07, 2014 5:15:09 |
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| #22intentlyNov 07, 2014 7:55:38 | So what are some potential motivations for powerful fey? |
| #23cowleymenNov 07, 2014 9:29:49 | More power. Look up Lay Lines. They are sources of natural power. Its a concept used in a lot of fantasy settings. A lot of ArchFey use to owe their power to controlling land and terrirtory that lie on top of them.
Some local Noble could be starting some new industry and its hurting the nearby woodland and streams. Fey get involved, and help the beast of the land start fighting back. Now your adventures have to choose between the advance of technology or potentially getting in a very bloody fight with spirites, pixies, and maybe a nymph or two. Fey make much better enemies for a story driven conflict.
Many love puzzles and riddles. Re-hash the sphinx with a bored Fey Lord/Lady, that are putting curses on those that fail its riddles. The problem being that their victims dont know they are being tested at all. So when party comes to town, it just seems like people are falling under curses for no reason. |
| #24intentlyNov 07, 2014 11:57:22 | Cool, thanks! |
| #25ChaosmancerNov 09, 2014 8:31:05 | A lot of great stuff has already been said, but I'll throw my hat in the ring.
At the highest levels of power I tend to break the world in three camps: divine, Fey, Infernal (covering demons and devils), generally this also breaks broadly along alignment. All three are equal in power (I'm ambivalent about the power of gods in DnD). So for me, Archfey are as powerful as Demon Lords in a neutral setting, each is more powerful on it's home turf.
The Divine serve higher purposes, protecting, preserving, creating, general angel stuff and what have you.
The Infernal are self-serving, but they have grand goals, each individual wants to rule over everything, seeks more power ect.
The Fey just want to have fun, the kicker is they don't follow our morality, they are amoral beings, so their fun varies and is how we get dark and light fey.
Dark fey find it fun to curse lovers so that they can never touch each other again, Lght fey find it fun to cause an old man to dance as if he were 20 again. The fey re quite structured politically, and by that I mean that in the normal course of things the Prince of Frost leaves the territory of the Titania mostly alone. They aren't expansionist in their goals, it'd be nice sure, and if the opportunity presents itself they will follow through, but th thought doesn't typically consume them.
The biggest thing though about these groupings, from an understanding point o view, is how they would interact with the party.
An angel will put up with a lot of rudeness and abuse before snapping at the party, they will give warnings and threats, but they generally won't try and kill you (assuming good-aligned party). The Demon will try and kill you, it may say anything to pursue that goal, but it wants to feast upon your flesh, and possibly the flesh of your family. Devils will try and corrupt oyu, they'll be polite if it serves them, they'll defintely be smug, but killing you is a waste, except if you've become a pain, then they might beat you down, enslave and torture you until they feel you're completely broken, then kill you. The Fey vary, but they will always follow the rules of hopitality. You insult a fey queen, a dark fey will probably kill you on the spot, maybe torture you if they feel it would be amusing. A light fey would probably curse you, maybe turn you into a deer to be hunted by hounds, or kill you if the insult was grave enough. However, you follow the rules and they will be more subtle. Subtlety is the art of the Fey. Maybe instead of killing you they will charm you so that in the morn you wake beside a bear, with very little memory of the night.
Actually, I think the reason the Fey are so closely tied to nature is this exact dichotomy. They are ultimately refined, but savage and deadly. A lady of the fey could sing you into eternal sleep or hunt you through a foggy forest. They are like fire, follow the proper procedure and you'll be fine, do something stupid and you'll get hurt, do something really stupid and you have a catastophe roaring through the streets and devouring everything in it's path.
I love the fey so much, and actually I never considered this before, but I think some of the fey should reside in the shadowell, hags mostly, maybe fomorians. The death and dreariness fits them somehow.
The one thing that bugs me, Goblins are fey in the old myths, and they were scary scary things. 5th has good goblins, I like them though I have tried improvng upon them.
Rules of the Fey:
They never speak untruth They are stealthy and cunning they are polite and follow the rules of hospitality as iron
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