Faeries teleport?

[Rechan]

I love 4e. I love the Feywild. And I love the emphasis on the Fey.

But one thing that has had me scratching my head is that universally, fey related powers = teleportation. The Fey Pact warlock has tons of teleportation powers. The Feyborn template has a teleportation related power. And tons of fey in the MM have Fey step or equivalent teleportation powers.

What is it that makes fae = teleport? How does it feel thematic? I don't recall anything in the lore about just being in one spot, and not in the next. And, I can't really come up with a good visual of the teleportation (especially depending on the species). Dryads I get - the tree stride is thematic. But otherwise?

 

[Wolfwood2]

What is it that makes fae = teleport? How does it feel thematic? I don't recall anything in the lore about just being in one spot, and not in the next. And, I can't really come up with a good visual of the teleportation (especially depending on the species). Dryads I get - the tree stride is thematic. But otherwise?

I sort of get it. I think it's based on the idea that fey can pop up anywhere, vanish when you take your eyes off them, leave tracks that mysteriously vanish in the woods, and that sort of thing. In folklore terms we don't think of that as "teleportation" so much as fey being amazingly stealthy and good at not leaving tracks. Most people don't imagine them physically popping out of existance with a little inward rush of air.

Still, in terms of game effects, teleportation isn't a bad way to model the now-you-see-him, now-you-don't aspect of fey.

 

[Drkfathr1]

Yeah, I kind of have trouble with it too, it doesn't seem to have a root in any other mythological source...at least any that I'm familiar with.

I think invisibility would have been a better idea.

I can live with it though, its just a new theme for D&D.

 

[Rechan]

Still, in terms of game effects, teleportation isn't a bad way to model the now-you-see-him, now-you-don't aspect of fey.

See, I would've expected that to be on par with Invisibility.

Because even if they aren't there when you look... they still pop up on the battlemat. It doesn't play out that way when you've got the minis on the battlefield.

I would have expected things like mind effecting powers/illusionary effects to be universal, rather than movement.

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

I sort of get it. I think it's based on the idea that fey can pop up anywhere, vanish when you take your eyes off them, leave tracks that mysteriously vanish in the woods, and that sort of thing. In folklore terms we don't think of that as "teleportation" so much as fey being amazingly stealthy and good at not leaving tracks. Most people don't imagine them physically popping out of existance with a little inward rush of air.

Still, in terms of game effects, teleportation isn't a bad way to model the now-you-see-him, now-you-don't aspect of fey.

This is kind of what I thought when I read the OP - fey are tricky, elusive and hard to pin down.

I suppose you could always reflavour this in terms of them making leaps or some other form of movement - just note that it provokes no Opportunity Attacks under any circumstances.

 

[Sir Brennen]

I assumed it was modeling the ease with which they slip in and out of our world and into the Fey realm. Just like Eladrin, they physically cover the distance when they "teleport", just not necessarily on the same plane. At least for fey-step powers.

True, instantaneous teleportation I still associate with arcane, wizardly powers or powerful, extraplanar creatures like demons.

 

[Rechan]

I assumed it was modeling the ease with which they slip in and out of our world and into the Fey realm.

If that's the explanation, then they wuoldn't be able to use it while in the Feywild, because that's the place they "step into" when they teleport.

This is particularly jarring when I look at the Feypact warlock. It just doesn't behave mysteriously or anything on the battlemat. It's just "My curse guy died - now I move 3."

 

[Plane Sailing]

I agree with Rechan - it seems to me that something like charms or invisibility would seem more 'traditionally' Fey things (whether considering folklore or previous editions of D&D)

Cheers

 

[La Bete]

I mainly got the "stepping sideways" vibe (from Werewolf) from it.

Not that the effects are very similar though..

 

[Klaus]

I see that as fey being particularly adept at walking between the veil separating the world from Faerie, and the time difference so common in folklore regarding fey. The fey walk the same distance they'd otherwise "teleport", but since they do it partly on Faerie, it seems to be instantaneous to everyone else.