What Is Wrong With Sylvan Creatures?

[s/LaSH]

Besides getting a whole new realm of illithid horror... I use fey on occasion. They're nature embodied. When things that are un-natural start menacing the world order, you bet they get involved with the heroes out to stop it.

For more... well, that's yet to come in my webcomic. Which I'm not drawing because I'm working on drawings for money. Dangit.

 

[mythusmage]

Of course the Fey have morals, they just don't have our morals. Our difficulty comes from the fact that we, as George Bernard Shaw once put it, "Insist that our rules and regulations are the laws of nature."

I've been thinking about this subject for awhile (thanks to a playtest over at the Pyramid ezine at Steve Jackson's Place), and I've come to the conclusion that Col. Pladoh's other "alignment" system works better for them. In this system (from Dangerous Journeys: Mythus) you have five ethoi: Sunlight, Moonlight, Balance, Shadowy Darkness, and Gloomy Darkness. The Ethos of Sunlight is mostly good. But as the Sun helps the crops grow, so it can wither those same crops unless the farmer takes measures to protect them from the Sun's heat. (Try walking under the desert Sun without a hat. I have. The Sun's rays do indeed have a physical presence that pierces the skull.)

At the same time, while the Ethos of Gloomy Darkness is mostly evil, there are times when you need the dark to heal. When you need things dark, quiet, and still to recover from an injury or calamity. When only the sable veil can ease the heart and soul, and thus allow the pain to slip away.

(You don't want me to get started on the Ethos of Moonlight, I might get poetic on you.)

As to capering mindflayers. In my experience a mindflayer usually capers while chanting the following, "I get the frontal lobes! I get the frontal lobes! I get the frontal lobes!..."

 

[Merlion]

Would u mind elaborating a little bit?

 

[BOZ]

i think part of the weirdness of fey morality has a lot to do with why druid alignment restrictions were lifted. while it's true that most fey fit as neutral more than good, i think that overall they are more inclined to be helpful than truly harmful. the ones that are equally likely to cause harm (or one sort or another) or help are neutral, and the ones that always cause harm are evil.

hmm, we need more evil fey. any ideas or suggestions?

 

[Merlion]

My take on the whole fey morality thing: well firstly I dont really believe that its possible for a sentient being to be "neutral" as far as good and evil, right and wrong. Undecided, erring, unsure yes but not "neutral" as defined by DnD.
That said...I feel that nature while not sentient is in its purest form "good" on the level of being how it is ment to be.
That being said mythicaly some fey type creatures do skirt the edges of this. they are very complex, alien beings who do good things and bad things. However I see no problem with many fey being good or evil. the good ones embody pure nature(and some times other positive thing) the evil ones are perversions of nature(or other positives).
As to the real topic question: I think many do see fey as "cutesy" and whatnot. and many DnD fey are. I would really like to see more fey and more fey that are more "serious", and powerful. like the old English Fairies and the Daonie Sidhe....hmmm...perhaps I shall write them up one day..

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

How about a 70's soul singing Mind Flayer?

"Brains! Huh! What are they good for? Absolutely everything!"

"I feel good! Da da da da da da da! I think I'll consume ya! Da da da da da da da! I feeeeeel good! Da da da da da da da! I think I'll consume ya! So good! So good! I've got brains!"

Excuse me, I think I need to lie down.

 

[mythusmage]

On Good vs. Evil: What of those who do good to work evil?

On Nature: The lion who kills and eats the cubs of his predeccessor is as natural as the timid mouse. And you really don't want to dig too deeply into the affairs of mice.

On Fey: The Fey are as the Fey are. They follow their own counsel and keep their own rede. As soon apply the laws of Man to the ways of the wolf.

Remember these words of wisdom, "Give a man a fish and he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish and you can sell him fishing gear."

 

[Merlion]

On Good vs. Evil: What of those who do good to work evil?

On Nature: The lion who kills and eats the cubs of his predeccessor is as natural as the timid mouse. And you really don't want to dig too deeply into the affairs of mice.

On Fey: The Fey are as the Fey are. They follow their own counsel and keep their own rede. As soon apply the laws of Man to the ways of the wolf.

Remember these words of wisdom, "Give a man a fish and he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish and you can sell him fishing gear."

Good vs Evil: ~shrugs~ good is good. evil is evil.

Nature: exactly.

The Fey: well Good and Evil are the only "laws" that make any difference to me(in real life, fiction, and everything else). and evrything sentient is equaly subject to them...although they may interact with them differently

Where did you say that variant alignment system you mentioned came from? sounded interesting

 

[mmadsen]

What Is Wrong With Sylvan Creatures?

They're a bunch of fairies! Ahem, sorry.

Sylvan creatures make for intriguing encounters, both as friends, plot devices, as well as serving as creatures that are not evil, and yet may have agendas that are in opposition on occasion to the player character's goals.

That may explain why they're rare in the typical D&D campaign: they're not enemies per se. Most D&D monsters are monsters; you kill 'em and take their stuff. If you don't kill them, they kill you.

The fey are tricksters. You're not supposed to kill brownies.

 

[Umbran]

You'll never see a mind flayer caper, that's for sure.

Three words - Otto's Irresistible Dance.
And everyone thinks that illithids go after spellcasters first, because spellcasters are the most dangerous. No, it's because spellcasters have the potential of bringing forth the Mind Flayer Boogie!

Imagine, if you will (or even if you won't) a mind flayer in a lime green leisure suit, doin' the old John Travolta. Wouldn't you kill anyone who might bring this image into reality?

It is my considered opinion that the thing that makes mind flayers evil is the fact that they are born without a Groove Thing (or perhaps the illithids' Groove Things were confiscated by some deity, Olidammara, perhaps...).