Reply to Remathilis re the Sprite and the Pixie: subraces of the Wee Fey?
Looking at the similarities of our respective adaptations, it occurs to me that we might consider them to be subraces. Everything that's the same in the traits we listed would be included with the main racial category; a few differences are needed to differentiate the two.
Here are some thoughts on this:
Let's put these into the general traits:
- Wee Warrior. You mentioned in an earlier entry that you'd " ... rather penalize tiny creatures in the damage department than the 'hit' department." Let's just use your description for this trait.
- [This trait has been removed as we (Remathilis and I) determined that it was too unbalancing for the race.] Nimble Flyers: [This takes into account the general idea that it's difficult to hit a small creature on the wing, but that same flying creature is more vulnerable to an area effect such as a strong gust of wind or the blast of a fireball. Whether or not the advantage-disadvantage mechanic is the best way to handle this is open to debate. I suggest we add this to the general traits.] The now revised trait description for the Wee Fey: "Because of their tiny size and airborne maneuverability, individual melee attacks made against wee fey by creatures of medium or larger size and individual ranged attacks by creatures of any size have disadvantage, but only when the wee fey is in flight. On the other hand, particularly when they're flying, any kind of area attack they get caught in gains advantage on the attack roll". This applies to the wee fey's relative mobility and frailty."
So the
Wee Fey Traits would be:
Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 2, and your Charisma increases by 1.
Age. Wee fey live as long as elves. In the Feywild, the race measures time in centuries, and wee fey are effectively immortal unless they are slain.
Size. Tiny (see Subracial traits below).
Alignment. Wee fey are creatures of goodness, though prone to mischief. They tend towards neutral goodness.
Fey Ancestry. You have advantage on saving throws against being charmed, and magic can’t put you to sleep.
Beast Speech. You can cast
speak with animals at will.
Reach. Due to their maneuverability in flight, wee fey melee attacks have the equivalent of a 5 foot reach because of their ability to dart in-and-out for a short distance. (This reach is derived from the Player's Handbook description of a sprite on page 310.) This reach trait does not apply when they are not flying.
Wee Warrior. Due to their size, wee fey must use specially sized weapons and armor. (See Shrink Item below). Wee fey weapons deal damage one die smaller than normal sized weapons (to a minimum of 1d4) and lose the reach property.
Shrink Item. All wee fey know a special ritual that can turn normal sized items (including magical types) to wee fey sized items they can use. This ritual takes 10 minutes to cast and lasts until the sprite reverses the ritual to return it to its natural size.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and Sylvan.
Subraces. Pixie and Sprite.
On the subraces:
Size. Wee fey are Tiny (as per the sprite described on page 310 of the Player's Handbook). Their subracial traits reflect some aspects of this.
Speed. I noted the different effect flying has on the Stealth skill for the subraces. While flying, sprites suffer disadvantage to Stealth, while pixies lose their proficiency to Stealth.
Fey Magic, renamed respectively as Sprite Magic and Pixie Magic. Druidcraft for sprites (see Proficiencies below), Prestidigitation for pixies (given their whimsical nature).
Proficiencies. Nature for sprites, Stealth for pixies:
- You're idea of giving Druidcraft to the sprite prompts a notion that we could also give the sprite a related proficiency in the Nature skill.
- The smaller pixie would gain proficiency in Stealth instead. This would require dropping the 4e fluff (a la Disney) of the glowing glitter trailing behind a pixie in flight. I don't know if you had ever read a Dragon Magazine article regarding an antagonistic relationship between pixies and ettercaps. The author of the article (whose name eludes my little gray cells at the moment) came up with an idea that ettercaps hunted pixies for that pixie dust, which was a crucial component in some of their ritual magic. That's an idea I would keep, at least in my House Rules. And it doesn't require that an aerial pixie litter the wind with dust, just that the wings have the dusty feature.
Sprite Subracial Traits:
Size. Sprites are only 2 feet tall and weigh 20 lbs. Your size is Tiny. Because of this, you can only lift, push or pull ½ as much as a small creature, and suffer disadvantage on Strength checks to break and force open objects.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 10 feet. You have a fly speed of 30 feet, but suffer disadvantage to Stealth checks when flying. You cannot fly higher than 10 feet off the ground.
Sprite Magic. You know the
druidcraft cantrip. Once you reach 3rd level, you can cast the
sleep spell once per day as a 2nd-level spell. Once you reach 5th level, you can also cast the
invisibility spell once per day. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Sprite Innate Proficiency. Nature skill.
Pixie Subracial Traits.
Size. Pixes are only 6 inches to 1 foot in height and weigh less than 10 lbs. Your size is Tiny. Because of this, you can only lift, push or pull ½ as much as a small creature, and suffer disadvantage on Strength checks to break and force open objects.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 10 feet. You have a fly speed of 30 feet, but you lose your proficiency in the Stealth skill when you fly. You cannot fly higher than 10 feet off the ground.
Pixie Magic. You know the
prestidigitation cantrip. Once you reach 3rd level, you can cast the
sleep spell once per day as a 2nd-level spell. Once you reach 5th level, you can also cast the
invisibility spell once per day. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Pixie Innate Proficiency. Stealth skill.
Re the fluff: we can fill that in after we've settled on the traits.
So, does this work for your idea of sprites? Let me know. One thing I wonder is if we should make tiny weapon damage dice two dice sizes smaller than medium, but maybe that can wait for future optional rule publication later, too.
