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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Libertad" data-source="post: 9624285" data-attributes="member: 6750502"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/sS2yluZ.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="width: 478px" />Also known as the Fair Folk, sidhe are fey who create courtly realms in the plane of faerie which operate by storybook logic. Through the power of utter confidence in their beliefs, they can make the archetypes and cliches of fiction and folklore into ironclad rules that affect all who dwell within their domains. It is through such rules and their enforcement that a dark reputation arose among mortal society, forming the origin of cautionary tales told to children.A sidhe's physical appearance can vary widely depending upon their subspecies, but they share humanoid traits and those more "humanlike" than animalistic are often described as "elves, but more so" with fine, slender features. Cait sidhe and cu sidhe have features more in line with their animalistic forms while humanoid, with hair and fur color the same in both forms.Sidhe are long-lived even more so than elves, and most are content to spend lifetimes in their own realms pursuing various passions. Those sidhe who seek to explore the mortal realm and other planes are nicknamed "sidhe heroes" with a bit of playful derision among their brethren. It is these sidhe who form most adventurers among their kind. Sidhe society is an intricate, bureaucratic network of laws, taboos, and social obligations heavily derived from literary tropes. While sidhe growing up in such a realm have adapted to it, they can find life outside to be rather liberating, just as outsiders can find the sidhe rules overly complex.Sidhe can be of any alignment, but good alignments are rarer than neutral and evil. In fact, sidhe are aware of alignment as a cosmic concept, but they find it to be arbitrary and hypocritical, asserting them to be shaped by the subjective biases of the gods. For example, sidhe will point out that many humanoids who raise and slaughter animals for food and industry will not register as evil in this system, but to do the same to other sapient beings would shift their alignment so. The sidhe claim that their own realms and storybook logic are superior and "free of bias." Many sidhe, as a result, are irreligious, although those who do take up faith often worship archfey and famous figures among their kind who achieved heroic status in their culture. Some even worship Fate, viewing it a cosmic force that exists as its own metanarrative shaping reality.Sidhe heroes operating outside the faerie domains adopt their own goals and codes of conduct as a guiding influence known as paradigms. There are five paradigms, each modeled after prominent examples of sidhe heroes from past eras. The ones with backgrounds in D&D are Builders (seek to create something that will endure and earn a place in history), Knaves (sidhe who were forcibly banished from their society, usually due to defying a literary archetype), and Knight Errants (sidhe modeled after romanticized ideals of some group or society). In the case of Knight Errants, they can even be modeled after dishonorable and villainous groups who, due to propaganda, gained a virtuous status in the collective consciousness that they don't deserve. The backgroundless paradigms are Authors (those who feel that Fate's narrative is flawed and seek to take control of their destiny themselves) and Watchers (those who realize how important mortal stories are in shaping sidhe society and thus go out to learn and live among them to make future predictions about their people).Thoughts: The sidhe are a really cool take on the "reclusive world of fey," and their storybook logic has plenty of convincing motivations for them to leave their society and become adventurers. I also find it clever that the sidhe have an in-universe criticism of the alignment system, acknowledging that's how things work but still disagreeing with the status quo.<img src="https://i.imgur.com/KwFXYvD.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="width: 254px" />The base sidhe ancestry gets an ability boost to either Intelligence or Charisma, plus one other ability of choice. They are Medium size, have average walking speed, possess either low-light vision or darkvision depending on system, and are fey instead of humanoid. In D&D they also have Fey Ancestry like elves do, and possess a once per long rest ability called Not Today where they can reroll a failed saving throw, provided that said effect won't "result in an appropriate end to their story" at the DM's discretion. In Pathfinder, said ability is available as a 1st level ancestry feat.The sidhe has six subspecies, representing those who have a common line of ancestry based off of commonly-occurring literary archetypes. The aes sidhe represent scholars and crafters who learn a bonus arcane/occult/wizard cantrip, and in D&D are also proficient with artisan's tools and can craft magic items with half the time and materials. The baobhan sidhe are performers who feed on the blood of others, growing claws as unarmed attack and in D&D are proficient in Performance and have expertise in the skill when using it to dance. The cait sidhe are tricksters capable of shapeshifting into felines, which take the form a mundane cat and in D&D also begin with a once per long rest ability to jinx a nearby target to force their next attack/save/skill to be made with disadvantage if they fail a Wisdom save. Cu sidhe are messengers who can take on the form of a mundane dog and in D&D can let out a series of barks that can be heard up to 3 miles away over the course of a minute. Daoine sidhe represent feuding nobles in all their forms, being trained in Society and get Courtly Grace as a bonus feat in Pathfinder. The D&D version gets a similar special ability to the latter feat in being able to substitute History for Charisma checks when attempting to influence and impersonate the nobility, as well as advantage on saving throws vs the frightened condition. Finally, leanan sidhe are muses who provide talent to artistic types at the cost of draining their life force, where they can grant a willing creature a bonus on Performance and Crafting/tool checks depending on system, but then suffer a penalty on saving throws vs the leanan sidhe's abilities. The leanan sidhe in D&D are proficient in Persuasion and have expertise in the skill when influencing artists and performers.Regarding the sidhe who can take animal form, the D&D version lists the cat and hyena stat blocks to represent their abilities while shapeshifted. In Pathfinder, they don't substitute wholesale stats for an alternate form and instead have a list of restricted and altered functions when taking on said form. They do get unarmed attacks with their natural weapons when in animal forms, however. Additionally, the special subspecies abilities that come automatically with the D&D versions are available as 1st level ancestry feats in Pathfinder.Thoughts: The Pathfinder equivalent for the sidhe and its subspecies feel quite lacking in comparison to their D&D counterparts. For example, it's weird to see that D&D's aes sidhe are good crafters, but the Pathfinder version doesn't even get training in Crafting. As for the subspecies' overall appeal, the cait sidhe's jinx in D&D is the most broadly useful, while the aes sidhe's magic item crafting is going to be situational given that such rules aren't really fleshed out in the corebooks. A daoine sidhe's advantage vs the frightened condition is pretty good, but the History substitution in regards to nobles is of variable usability depending on the adventure.<img src="https://i.imgur.com/p8Sr7Fi.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="width: 249px" />Sidhe have 21 feats in D&D and 41 in Pathfinder. As mentioned before, the special abilities the sidhe and its subspecies get automatically in D&D can be chosen as 1st level ancestry feats in Pathfinder. But beyond those, the 1st-level feats we have include Ancestral Longevity (can gain proficiency/training in one skill/tool of choice until the next long rest/daily preparation, is available to anyone at least 100 years old and not just sidhe), Enforce Decorum (can impose a week-long debuff curse on someone who violates a willing agreement or term the sidhe and target agree to), and Sidhe Magic (gain 1-2 bonus bard/sorcerer/wizard or occult cantrips depending on system, in D&D can choose from one of three 1st-level spells that gain fairy trappings and enhancements, like the Alarm spell being a ring of mushrooms that can curse targets who break the circle). The Pathfinder-exclusive feats are Familiar's Fealty ( grants a familiar to the sidhe in line with some narrative archetype) and Midnight Sight (grants darkvision).The 4th/5th level feats lean heavily into the metanarrative of Fate. They include Check the Narrative (grant a +1 bonus/advantage on an Intelligence-based skill check for "determine the role" of a new person or creature encountered once per short rest/day)* and Fated Strike (once per long rest/day can declare their attack to have some Fateful importance and roll with advantage/roll twice and take better result). The system-exclusive feats are for Pathfinder, and 3 of them are actually the D&D-specific spells gained from Sidhe Magic taken at 1st level. The fourth Pathfinder-exclusive feat is Storied Leadership, granting their allies increased bonuses while Following the Expert during Exploration Mode provided that the sidhe is the leader.*This isn't a typo, the refresh rate of this ability and some others differs widely depending upon the system in question.The 8th/9th level feats are a mixture of social influence and narrative magic. They include Expert Longevity (become expert in a skill/gain expertise in a skill or tool as per Ancestral Longevity) and Story Sense (can perform a divination effect on a single creature to reveal a single word that is relevant to the sidhe's own story in the next day or hour, depending upon the creature's status as a "background character" or "major character" in the adventure). The Pathfinder-exclusive feats include Marshal Rule (grants the benefits of the Marshal dedication feat, even if they're at the maximum amount of dedication feats for their level), Sidhe Power (requires Sidhe Magic and grants even more occult spells), and Narrative Pacing (can cast either Haste or Slow once per day, can choose each day what spell they'll cast).The 12th/13th level feats focus on more direct manipulation of Fate's narrative. They include Enforce Commitment (magically enforce a character who declared that they will do something to actually do it or suffer a -1 penalty on rolls against the sidhe/suffer the Geas spell effect in D&D), Faerie Ring Transport (cast Tree Stride once per short rest/day but only via rings of mushrooms), Read the Narrative (via written research and charts, can learn a cryptic clue or piece of advice for a goal or activity they intend to perform within 1 week), and Twist Fate (curse a foe once per long rest/day to meet a dangerous accident 1d4 rounds later, dealing damage of an appropriate type). The Pathfinder-exclusive feats include Sidhe Sovereignty (requires Sidhe Power, grants even more occult spells), Stylemaven (can use Sidhe Style at will with no frequent limitation), and Turn the Tables (once per minute, whenever the sidhe would make a saving throw against the same triggering effect, can roll twice and take the better result).The 16th/17th level feats allow the sidhe to call upon the grandest of magic in order to gain mastery over their personal story. They include Conjure Abode (cast Magnificient Mansion once per long rest/day and the mansion and servants are the same each time the spell is cast), Deduce Story (can automatically learn details about the past by spending at least a minute pondering about how the circumstances fit together to tell a greater story), and Plot Armor (once per long rest/day can miraculously avoid death or being knocked unconscious by some absurdly-timed miracle). Regarding Plot Armor, this ability cannot work during climactic 'campaign-ending encounters' and similar incidents that would spell an appropriate end to the sidhe's story, per DM discretion. The Pathfinder-exclusive feat is Collective Pacing, which lets the sidhe cast Haste/Slow as 7th-level spells and thus can target multiple creatures.It might seem that the sidhe doesn't have a lot of feats, but the reality is that a lot of their feats are gained at widely different levels. They include Sidhe Styling (1st level in D&D, 5th in Pathfinder, can magically alter their clothes' aesthetic style once per short rest), Fairy Messenger (5th level in D&D, 9th in Pathfinder, can summon a fairy to deliver a message once per hour/short rest that functions much like Animal Messenger), Sidhe Hideaway (4th level in D&D, 9th in Pathfinder, can create a hidden portal to a minor sidhe realm, functions as an extradimensional storage space), Comprehend Mental Narrative (4th in D&D, 9th in Pathfinder, cast Detect Thoughts/Mind Reading depending on system and without spell components in D&D), Fey Skin (8th in D&D and 13th in Pathfinder, just like the gremlin and nymph feat), and Never Today (8th in D&D and 13th in Pathfinder allows them to use Not Today once per short rest/hour).Thoughts: I'm quite the fan of most of these feats, and even the lower-level options have some rather nifty broadly-useful effects like Ancestral/Expert Longevity, Check the Narrative, and Storied Leadership. Fated Strike is rather weak in D&D given that gaining advantage on an attack roll can be done in a variety of ways, and I don't know how much I'm a fan of locking some of the subspecies effects behind 1st level ancestry feats. Additionally, several of the feats that rely upon dramatically-influential people and events are highly subject to DM Fiat. Although given that a PC is spending a precious feat slot on them, a good DM should make them broad in use.<img src="https://i.imgur.com/bNRvfvq.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="width: 333px" />The faerie scion is our Versatile Species for this chapter, representing mortals with a touch of sidhe influence. They might be the classic changelings, swapped with a mortal child, or they could have a literal sidhe ancestor in their family tree. They often appear almost identical to their mortal parent, save for a slight oddity marking them as unusual in line with their influential sidhe. In D&D, playing as a faerie scion is represented as a feat that any non-sidhe species can take, granting +1 Intelligence or Charisma, the Darkvision and Fey Ancestry abilities, and are treated as a sidhe for the purposes of meeting species-specific prerequisites. In Pathfinder, they are a Rare heritage who gain the faerie scion and sidhe traits on top of the base ones of their ancestry, and either low-light vision or an appropriate ancestry feat if they already have that sense type. Faerie scions in both systems gain access to sidhe-exclusive feats, and there's one feat for each sidhe subspecies that grant some of that subspecies' inherent abilities plus Not Today for the D&D scion. Sidhe Stride is a Pathfinder-exclusive feat that boosts the Faerie Scion's walking speed by 5 feet, but has no effect if their starting speed is already 30 feet from their base ancestry. Personally speaking, I'd word things so that the feat cannot be taken rather than being taken and thus useless in this case.Thoughts: Like the doppelborn and nymphtouched, the faerie scion represents another species with a trace of monstrous heritage. Also like them, the scion is highly appropriate given that the fairy archetypes this chapter's drawing on are those known to dally with mortalkind.Thoughts So Far: Of the ancestries in Classic Creatures, the sidhe is one of my favorites. It is a broad monstrous archetype that can fit a lot of creatures, has compelling reasons for them becoming adventurers, and their feats have a lot of open-ended potential. The low points are the rather situational and lackluster subspecies, particularly for Pathfinder.Join us next time as we review the most iconic beginner-level JRPG monster: the slime!</blockquote>

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