Servants of the Fey Queen of Nightmares

[Remathilis]

Very soon, my PCs will be requested by the Queen of the Faeries to aid her against an old adversary: The Queen of Nightmares has devised a way to control all mortal dreams (both good and bad) and plans to use it to rule the world of the fey (where dreams come from), the world of shadow (where nightmares come from) and the world between (where mortals dwell when they do not sleep).

Now, what sort of creatures should the Queen of Nightmare's employ as her servants, lackeys, and minions?

A few no brainers stick out; night hags, nightmares, shadows, etc all strike me as obvious, as do evil fey (though beyond redcaps, anyone know of any in D&D?) I'm looking for other monsters that would fit thematically with a "dark fairy tale/stuff of nightmares" theme.

If it helps, the PCs will be around 8th-9th level, Pathfinder/3.5.

Let the storm of brains begin!

 

[I'm A Banana]

Heh. I'm delving into similar monster territory.

Some ideas I've had:
-- Moths (Butterflies are the dream counterpart)
-- Far Realm stuff/aberrations (nightmare creatures and madness -- the closer you are to the Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath, the better. )
-- Wolves, bats, rats, and "creatures of the night"
-- Lycanthropes; vampires; shape-shifters
-- Creatures with a "fear" ability (dragons are a no-duh...try black dragons for the creepy crawlie darkness vibe)
-- The more bizarre and frightening demons (the ones that look completely inhuman)
-- Incorporeal undead (wraiths, shadows, ghosts)

That's my starting point, anyway.

 

[Remathilis]

Good stuff.

Does anyone know if there is a "book of evil fey" in all of d20dom?

 

[Theo R Cwithin]

- Twisted fey (eg, as normal fey, but just made evil and scary)
[edit: I just saw your posted qn about evil fey. You could just make evil versions of normal fey, maybe reskin/re-imagine powers in a more sinister fashion. Maybe change movement modes, eg Jump skill to Climb, flight to burrow, and the like. Light effects get replaced by dark, calm by confusion, and so on.]
- Undead fey
- Shapeshifters: humanoids and "unstable" aberrations (eg, doppelgangers, chaos beasts)
- Illusion users (eg, demons, hags or svirfneblin disguised as young children)
- Tempters (eg, succubi, especially glabrezu, or the succubi if their natural form is hideous)
- Poltergeists & ghosts, the insaner the better.
- Will'o'wisp

Green Ronin's "Advanced Bestiary" for 3.5e has some templates that might inspire some ideas, including: "Dream creature", "Nightmare creature" and "Unseelie creature".

 

[Pain Noodle]

You could have the players write down the characters' deepest fears and then throw those at them. Images of dead loved one, destitution, loss of power; magical or otherwise.

 

[Reynard]

It may not be of much use, but I found Realm of the Fellnight Queen from Paizo to be a good module and fit my own evil-fey campaign element. It's a decent module, easily modified and possesses the thematic elements I think you are looking for. The best part is you can "re-level" it by trading out the stock opponents for higher or lower CR opponents and adjusting a few DCs.

In my campaign, I have it as sort of a "reserve" adventure. Since I am running Pathfinder using the slow advancement track, I adjusted it to the party's current level (9th) and eliminated the introductory part (I have some established situations in the campaign that would allow the module to start en media res and still make sense) so if things get slow I can spring it on them at any time.

 

[Thanael]

Check out this thread on the FoS site for some great dark fairy ideas: Cafe de Nuit :: View topic - The Fair Folk

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Good stuff.

Does anyone know if there is a "book of evil fey" in all of d20dom?

Van Richten's Guide to the Shadow Fey.

There is at least one more, and I will post it when/if I can remember it.

The Auld Grump, meelltting! I'm meelltting! Gods! I hate summer!

 

[Ghostwind]

It's been a long time since I have read it, but I believe Bastion Press' Faeries book has some evil twisty goodness in it.

Studio 2 Publishing, Inc.

 

[Thanael]

Another great thread about Faeries but not necessarily dark faeries: http://www.enworld.org/forum/d-d-legacy-house-rules/86637-faerie-encounters.html

Wotc had an article series on Fey:Fey Feature Archive

As for more sourcebooks, there's the old 2E Monster Mythology which details The Queen of Air and Darkness, Titania and Oberon among others.

Dicefreaks' Songs of the Sidhe netbook w.i.p should also be mentioned imho.