Three introductory pieces of info:
1)In my campaign, the defining characteristic of the fey is not neutrality, but chaos. I think this accords with folklore much more closely.
2)The fair folk of Gaelic legend aren't the flower-sipping fairies of Victorian fairy tale; they were often small in stature, but not sprites.
3) The "fair" folk included several types that have been broken out into Tolkein-templates: goblins, elves, ogres, and perhaps even giants were all lumped together by folklore into a single type of being. I'm trying to create the "average joe" of the fey realms whose "genetic" material spawned all the others.
My objective is to create the generic Sidhe for adventuring in fey realms. The monster description has to allow for considerable variation, and a connection to elves, goblins, etc. As played in my campaign, the fey are technically outsiders, because the fey realms are beyond the material plane.
Here's my description:
Shayfellows are the common sort of fairy, ancestors of both goblins and elves through mixed breeding. They are unpredictable, vindictive, and proud. They usually stand about five feet in height, though there is considerable variation from as small as three feet to as tall as seven feet. They do not have wings, and are usually either quite ugly or quite beautiful. Any damage inflicted by one Shayfellow upon another will regenerate; they are effectively immortal with respect to each other. For this reason, many scholars also believe that the Shayfolk are distantly responsible for trolls as well.
Here are the questions I'd like help with:
1) I want to include advancement that would permit certain specific feats or abilities (regeneration, spells, musical talents, etc) so in this way the monster seems like a race plus a racial class progression. However, I could also apply it as a template or just prepare a monster description with choices of feats. Any advice?
2) Does anyone see a pitfall in the way I'm approaching this?
1)In my campaign, the defining characteristic of the fey is not neutrality, but chaos. I think this accords with folklore much more closely.
2)The fair folk of Gaelic legend aren't the flower-sipping fairies of Victorian fairy tale; they were often small in stature, but not sprites.
3) The "fair" folk included several types that have been broken out into Tolkein-templates: goblins, elves, ogres, and perhaps even giants were all lumped together by folklore into a single type of being. I'm trying to create the "average joe" of the fey realms whose "genetic" material spawned all the others.
My objective is to create the generic Sidhe for adventuring in fey realms. The monster description has to allow for considerable variation, and a connection to elves, goblins, etc. As played in my campaign, the fey are technically outsiders, because the fey realms are beyond the material plane.
Here's my description:
Shayfellows are the common sort of fairy, ancestors of both goblins and elves through mixed breeding. They are unpredictable, vindictive, and proud. They usually stand about five feet in height, though there is considerable variation from as small as three feet to as tall as seven feet. They do not have wings, and are usually either quite ugly or quite beautiful. Any damage inflicted by one Shayfellow upon another will regenerate; they are effectively immortal with respect to each other. For this reason, many scholars also believe that the Shayfolk are distantly responsible for trolls as well.
Here are the questions I'd like help with:
1) I want to include advancement that would permit certain specific feats or abilities (regeneration, spells, musical talents, etc) so in this way the monster seems like a race plus a racial class progression. However, I could also apply it as a template or just prepare a monster description with choices of feats. Any advice?
2) Does anyone see a pitfall in the way I'm approaching this?
