Product Hint for 2007?

[Banshee16]

Might be cool...

I don't know about you guys, but I find that Fey have a remarkably short lifespan in my games. They usually get clobbered within a few rounds... before they get a chance to say "hey, guys, I can go invisible at will!" they're killed by the 2nd level archer's use of Rapid Shot.

Really, they get killed pretty damn fast. I think there's a reason they're not often used in published adventures, except as plot devices. Personally, I wouldn't buy a monster book based around them... but then, I have no desire to buy the current books out there, either.

Just my twocents.

It doesn't have to be this way.....that paragraph goes so far as talking about True Fey being darker and more majestic etc. I believe....more frightening. Fey don't have to be little sprites sprinkling faerie dust all over the place.

Many old stories have them being more frightening, or at least, alien, creatures. Consider something like the book Faerie Tale by Raymond Feist. Or Shadowmarch by Tad Williams. Definitely not easy to kill creatures. They play complete mind games with mortals, drive them mad, kidnap them into faerie hills for centuries, abuse them in unnatural ways, etc. etc.

Feys may not be combat monsters, but there can sure be ones that are very dangerous to PCs.

Banshee

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Many old stories have them being more frightening, or at least, alien, creatures. Consider something like the book Faerie Tale by Raymond Feist. Or Shadowmarch by Tad Williams.

Or, aiming higher (), Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, one of the best fantasy novels (or as Gaiman calls it, an "English novel of the fantastic") in recent memory.

The fey in that book are neither twee nor are they particularly fragile.

 

[Banshee16]

Or, aiming higher (), Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, one of the best fantasy novels (or as Gaiman calls it, an "English novel of the fantastic") in recent memory.

The fey in that book are neither twee nor are they particularly fragile.

Good catch! I forgot about them.....poor, poor Jonathan..

Banshee

 

[mythusmage]

Elf's Player: I shoot the fae with my bow.

DM: The cobra you hold in your left hand has bitten you in your right hand. You're becoming paralyzed and finding it hard to breathe.

EP: I don't have a cobra in my left hand!

DM: Of course not. You dropped it when it bit you.

 

[Banshee16]

Elf's Player: I shoot the fae with my bow.

DM: The cobra you hold in your left hand has bitten you in your right hand. You're becoming paralyzed and finding it hard to breathe.

EP: I don't have a cobra in my left hand!

DM: Of course not. You dropped it when it bit you.

Perfect example

They don't have to be pushovers....and with such a magical race, I'd think fighting them would be infuriating.....getting swarmed by angry bees, realizing your sword just turned into a bouquet of flowers when you're about to chop into that dryad, etc. Run forward to tackle the faerie, and it vanishes, appearing behind you.

In Raymond Feist's novel, they even seem to radiate a confusion spell around them, caused by pheremones.

In much of the dark fantasy concerning Faeries, they seem to have the drop on humans.

I think that the fact that for many of them, their stats are so weak are partly due to a lack of imagination on designing them well. Some are interesting, like the Redcap and the Spriggan, but still I think they could use some work.

Van Richten's Guide to the Shadow Fey is another example of how they can be made more dangerous, and less friendly.

There are probably many varieties of Faerie that haven't been created yet. The White Ladies, a greater variety of Unseelie, alternate takes on several types that have been created already, etc.

Banshee