Review of Heroes of the Feywild

[Wednesday Boy]

It's a good book but I was incredibly disappointed to see that they included nothing significant about the different fey courts. It got a sidebar, and that was it. Not even feats that I can extrapolate some ideas from

Specific court feats sounds like a really interesting idea. It sounds to me like you've got a great Dragon article to pitch!

 

[Drammattex]

Excellent review! Thanks muchly for posting it.

For myself, I think it's the best book of the 4E era. Here's my review: Heroes of the Feywild: A marvelous book for D&D 4E

Cheers!

Thanks, OnlineDM and MerricB for your reviews. I'm very happy that you like the book.

Merric, I hope it brings you at least a fraction of the enjoyment your wonderful maxminis page gave me, back in the day.

Hi Klaus.

 

[MerricB]

Just had fun with the background generator...

JayCee was brought up in one of the small hamlets that dot the wilderness of the Feywild, he had an ordinary childhood, tending to crops and animals. He learnt to deal with – or, rather, appease – the wilder fey creatures to keep them from disturbing his family. Then, during one of his forays into the wilderness, something happened to change his life forever. (Skill: Nature.)

He found a hamlet where normal humans and fey creature traded. There, he became a merchant, trading with merchants of the Feywild and the natural world, learning much in the process. (Skill: Bluff. Ability: Charisma 16)

Hearing tales of a magic treasure that drew him to adventure, he travelled to what was once the greatest city in the Feywild; devastated during the wars fought between the drow and the eladrin. There, he found a magical remnant of Cenidriane’s heyday and gleaned insight from it. (Skill: History; Ability: Intelligence 14).

He became lost in the ruins, and had to deal with the deadly creatures that dwelt there. (Skill: Stealth. Ability: Dexterity 11)

He beat back the dark creatures and escaped onto the Feywild trails; finding a caravan and travelling with it to Senaliesse. There he was assigned a minor diplomatic task by the Court of Stars to a distant land. (Skill: Diplomacy. )

Sent as a recommended envoy, he attended one of the grand colleges of Astrazalian. (Skill: Arcana.) Not a great scholar, he joined the Star and Dolphin Coster. (Skill: Insight. Ability: Wisdom 14.) His ineptitude led to him being marooned in a distant location... and it is there his D&D adventures began.

Jaycee
Male Human Skald 1
Str 10, Con 10, Dex 11, Int 14, Wis 14, Cha 18
Skills: Bluff +9, Diplomacy +9, History +7, Nature +7, Stealth +5
HP 22, surges 7, AC 16 (chain+light shield), Fort 10, Ref 14, Will 15
Longsword: +7 vs AC, 1d8+4
Skald’s Aura, Song of Rest +4, Skill Versatility, Words of Friendship
Bolstering Speech, Song of Serendipity, Lesser Flash of Distraction, Cautionary Tale, Disruptive Words.

Cheers!

 

[Klaus]

Just had fun with the background generator...

JayCee was brought up in one of the small hamlets that dot the wilderness of the Feywild, he had an ordinary childhood, tending to crops and animals. He learnt to deal with – or, rather, appease – the wilder fey creatures to keep them from disturbing his family. Then, during one of his forays into the wilderness, something happened to change his life forever. (Skill: Nature.)

He found a hamlet where normal humans and fey creature traded. There, he became a merchant, trading with merchants of the Feywild and the natural world, learning much in the process. (Skill: Bluff. Ability: Charisma 16)

Hearing tales of a magic treasure that drew him to adventure, he travelled to what was once the greatest city in the Feywild; devastated during the wars fought between the drow and the eladrin. There, he found a magical remnant of Cenidriane’s heyday and gleaned insight from it. (Skill: History; Ability: Intelligence 14).

He became lost in the ruins, and had to deal with the deadly creatures that dwelt there. (Skill: Stealth. Ability: Dexterity 11)

He beat back the dark creatures and escaped onto the Feywild trails; finding a caravan and travelling with it to Senaliesse. There he was assigned a minor diplomatic task by the Court of Stars to a distant land. (Skill: Diplomacy. )

Sent as a recommended envoy, he attended one of the grand colleges of Astrazalian. (Skill: Arcana.) Not a great scholar, he joined the Star and Dolphin Coster. (Skill: Insight. Ability: Wisdom 14.) His ineptitude led to him being marooned in a distant location... and it is there his D&D adventures began.

Jaycee
Male Human Skald 1
Str 10, Con 10, Dex 11, Int 14, Wis 14, Cha 18
Skills: Bluff +9, Diplomacy +9, History +7, Nature +7, Stealth +5
HP 22, surges 7, AC 16 (chain+light shield), Fort 10, Ref 14, Will 15
Longsword: +7 vs AC, 1d8+4
Skald’s Aura, Song of Rest +4, Skill Versatility, Words of Friendship
Bolstering Speech, Song of Serendipity, Lesser Flash of Distraction, Cautionary Tale, Disruptive Words.

Cheers!

Great story, Merric! It seems that every time Jaycee tried to pursue a more academic career, his weird luck pushed him towards a more rollercoaster-y path. This trait could become a character hook during a campaign, where every time Jaycee tries to take the safer approach, something goes horribly/hilariouly wrong and forces him to think on his feet. Very Indiana Jones-y, I think!

 

[Wednesday Boy]

[MENTION=607]Klaus[/MENTION] & [MENTION=55363]Drammattex[/MENTION], excellent job on the pixie--I love them both mechanically and story-wise. Their possessive nature, particularly of people, gives them a great connection to the party through PCs that they adopt. And the concept of the little pixie pipsqueek going to bat for some burly knight is wonderful.

I also like the lore that pixies come into existance when a human child is born and the two have a connection throughout their lives. I think an interesting duo would be a pixie PC linking to his now adult human counterpart to protect him. I think there could be some interesting roleplaying between the two because they shared personalities until the human grew up.

Anyways, kudos all around!

 

[Drammattex]

[MENTION=607]Klaus[/MENTION] & [MENTION=55363]Drammattex[/MENTION], excellent job on the pixie--I love them both mechanically and story-wise. Their possessive nature, particularly of people, gives them a great connection to the party through PCs that they adopt. And the concept of the little pixie pipsqueek going to bat for some burly knight is wonderful.

I also like the lore that pixies come into existance when a human child is born and the two have a connection throughout their lives. I think an interesting duo would be a pixie PC linking to his now adult human counterpart to protect him. I think there could be some interesting roleplaying between the two because they shared personalities until the human grew up.

Anyways, kudos all around!

Thanks, WB!

It's interesting, thinking back on the reasons a lot of these story points are in the book...
They're possessive for at least 2 reasons I can recall:

1) I tried to pull in as many references as I could, and this one's certainly from JM Barrie.
2) I've had a number of bad experiences with Small and Tiny characters being jerks to other party members because they're small, cute, stealthy, and can get away with it. Kender jerks. Halfling jerks. So I tried to "program" something into the pixie's nature that encouraged pixie players to not be rogue vagabonds that spoil everyone's fun. Since there was already a strong literary model for pixies being possessive of their people (JM Barrie) I figured it would work.

There are a few references to "wild pixies" in the entry. Those are there to say "You don't have to be cute. You can be a mean and vicious little bastard that would sooner eviscerate a human than talk to one if you want to. Dark fairies."

The human/pixie connection is also JM Barrie, I'm pretty sure. I think it would be neat if the campaign villain was a dark mirror of a pixie PC--someone that had lost their way, and the pixie PC is sort of the bright potential that they were as a child, or could have been. It was a stray thought I kept having while writing that section. Somebody please use it.

And Merric's right regarding the Witch's ability. Whenever you take an extended rest you can swap out a utility or daily for _any_ comparable wizard utility or daily. The witch taps directly into the mana vein, in a sense. The witch's familiar instructs the witch on the making of the spell he/she wishes, depending on the situation. Though there aren't mechanics for it, I envisioned the familiar teaching the witch, and the witch using the prep time to go out and gather herbs, spell components, eye of newt, toe of frog, etc.

 

[the Jester]

Thanks for going to the effort to do those reviews, you guys! (Can someone cover OnlineDM for me? I have to spread it around a little etc etc).

 

[Klaus]

[MENTION=607]Klaus[/MENTION] & [MENTION=55363]Drammattex[/MENTION], excellent job on the pixie--I love them both mechanically and story-wise. Their possessive nature, particularly of people, gives them a great connection to the party through PCs that they adopt. And the concept of the little pixie pipsqueek going to bat for some burly knight is wonderful.

I also like the lore that pixies come into existance when a human child is born and the two have a connection throughout their lives. I think an interesting duo would be a pixie PC linking to his now adult human counterpart to protect him. I think there could be some interesting roleplaying between the two because they shared personalities until the human grew up.

Anyways, kudos all around!

The pixie is awesome and it's all [MENTION=55363]Drammattex[/MENTION] . My work resides in the Build Your Story chapter, the eladrin, gnome and wilden (YES!) feats and what eventually became the Fey Beast Tamer theme.

 

[D'karr]

The pixie is awesome and it's all [MENTION=55363]Drammattex[/MENTION] . My work resides in the Build Your Story chapter, the eladrin, gnome and wilden (YES!) feats and what eventually became the Fey Beast Tamer theme.

I loved the Fey Beast Tamer. It was a great idea, it was one of my builds during the playtest.

 

[OnlineDM]

I loved the Fey Beast Tamer. It was a great idea, it was one of my builds during the playtest.

I agree that the Fey Beast Tamer is really good. I was surprised in reading it how similar it was to the "pet" that the beastmaster ranger gets. Now any class can have it on top of their normal class features - pretty strong!

Maybe I should make a shifter beastmaster ranger or sentinel druid with the Fey Beast Tamer theme, letting the fur fly all over the battlefield...