D&D 5E What would you like to see in a Feywild setting/adventure?

[Hexmage-EN]

Ideally I would want a Feywild book to be very similar to the recent Ravenloft book, with guidance for how to run a campaign in a highly magical world that operates on fairy tale logic.

Heroes of the Feywild had some amount of guidance for DMs despite mostly being a book of player options, such as saying that in the Feywild breaking a deal can have serious consequence, but both deals and curses often have built in conditions for navigating them safely. There were also lots of especially supernatural items such as bottled sunlight that provides illumination, stones that create false paths, a staff that can temporarily turn a hill into flat land, a potion that can turn small beasts into Large-sized mounts, etc.

I also want to see more details on the archfey as they relate to players both as Warlock pact patrons and as possible opponents. One thing I recently saw in the old Dragon Magazine article on the Prince of Frost was a selection of Creeds for his Warlocks to follow. They were basically roleplaying advice on what sorts of things the Prince of Frost would expect from his warlocks, with some of them being things you wouldn't expect.

Here's three in particular:

Vengeful Creed

Seek Vengeance: The PC has been granted power to punish his or her enemies. He or she is expected to pursue this quest without hesitation or remorse.

Show No Mercy: The character must be as cold and ruthless as those of the Winter Court. Any sign of weakness or compassion to enemies cannot be tolerated.

Punish the Deserving: Although the character’s personal quest for revenge is top priority, he or she must avenge other slights as well. In the case of the Pale Prince, this revenge should bring loss and sorrow to those who survive it.

Bitter Creed

Never Love: The character must show that a life without love is worth living. This is ideal for a game in which romance could bloom, but the fey might also set an ideal lover in the PC’s path to tip the scales of the game.

Be Cold: The PC’s heart must be as cold as ice. The interpretation is broad, but the character might be callous and cruel, especially to enemies. He or she must also remain somewhat aloof from companions and, perhaps, eschew true friendship.

Never Steal: In the eyes of the Pale Prince, Sharaea was stolen from him. The PC must show that not all mortals are thieves. However, theft can be defined in many ways. The Prince maintains that Kasar stole Sharaea’s heart from him. It might be simple enough to avoid stealing objects, but can the warlock avoid stealing ideas?

Tragic Creed

Search for Sharaea: Follow any lead concerning the rebirth of Sharaea, and report all findings to the patron.

Spread Sorrow: Every tear the character squeezes from foes is another building block for the court of the Winter Fey.

Follow Instructions: A character who serves the Winter Court directly might receive specific requests at any time. Perhaps a pompous mortal must be humiliated or an artifact needs to be obtained. This works as described in “A Love Lost” above.

These are awesome, and I'd love to see similar creeds for other archfey patrons.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

Can I vote for a re-edition of Heroes of the Feywild from 4e to 5e?

Seriously though, to me the Feywild is a setting where the words have power, so maybe mechanics for True Naming, or special Curses or Oaths that can be added to a character much like the Dark/Supernatural Gifts from Theros and Ravenloft.

I'd want new conditions to go one step further than ''charmed'' or ''frightened''; the Feywild is a place of raw emotions, so having conditions like Panicking, Heartbroken, Bewitched etc could be fun.

On the campaign side, having the far court and their horribly insane politic on the forefront could be cool. If not, in 4e there was a kingdom of lycanthropes in the Feywild (Brokenstone Vale?), which could be a nice place to visit.

I'd like to see a campaign ala Red Hand of Doom where you have to gather allies before the time runs out. Maybe something like the great host of the Formorians is marching on the settlement of the Court, you have to gather an army with strange allies and form impossible alliances with former foes of the fey court to meet the twisted giants before they reach Cendriane (?) and use that city that can travel into the prime at dawn/dusk to invade the Sword Coast (or Rashemen, which has the coolest relation with the fey theme).

 

[Hexmage-EN]

Also bring back elements of the 4E take on the fomorians. They were awesome and I don't know why the hell they cut back all the amazing lore concerning them in 5E to make them just underground hill giants again.

The fortress of Mag Tureah was full of unpredictable portals that could be used to dispatch armies throughout the multiverse if anyone could figure out how they work. Inbharann had paranoid, competing nobles obsessed with figuring out how to ensure they were declared the next king and was guarded by towers mounted with curse-inflicting eyes and grates that drained intruders' blood to empower the defenses.

The fomorians themselves had a ton of variety and weird powers. Ghost shamans could make sure not even death could free their slaves by binding their ghosts into servitude, totemists fought with magically-cursed chains of severed heads, witches controlled thralls and beasts cursed with hideousness while disguising themselves as eladrin, and portal lords were masters of teleporting both allies and enemies.

I also want to be able to add another clothed fomorian to my mini collection.

Preferably they'd also reintroduce the 4E style cyclops as a variant. It was neat having them as basically the master magical craftsmen of the Feywild's Underdark. 4E was the only time D&D has used the iteration of the cyclops as intelligent makers of magical items as opposed to making them all like Polyphemus from The Odyssey.

Cyclopes made Zeus's magic items for gods, for crying out loud!

In the vast cave the Cyclopes were forging iron—Brontes and Steropes and bare-limbed Pyracmon. They had a thunderbolt, which their hands had shaped, like the many that the Father hurls down from all over heaven upon earth, in part already polished, while part remained unfinished. Three shafts of twisted hail they had added to it, three of watery cloud, three of ruddy flame and the winged South Wind; now they were blending into the work terrifying flashes, noise, and fear, and wrath with pursuing flames. Elsewhere they were hurrying on for Mars a chariot and flying wheels, with which he stirs upmen and cities; and eagerly with golden scales of serpents were burnishing the awful aegis, armour of wrathful Pallas, the interwoven snakes, and on the breast of the goddess the Gorgon herself, with neck severed and eyes revolving.

They can keep the larger, dumber cyclopes, too, just so dwarves can react with disbelief when they discover a cyclops weapons smith crafting an oversized magical hammer with the powers of a dwarven thrower.

 

[Minigiant]

Alternate wacky alignment systems

Like Funny Evil.
Or Chaotic Cheese.

Fey Royalty with the personalities of sports stars, rock stars, and wrestling stars.

 

[Marandahir]

That 4e Map, but actually with gazetteer information about each location.

And yes, I know they repurposed the Isle of Dread to the Elemental Plane of Water. But as it is a stupid*** decision, I've elected to ignore it.

 

[Quickleaf]

In addition to the redcaps, Nachtur goblins, hags, fomorians, and eladrin that we know and love, I would enjoy seeing the Feywild delve into elements from fairy tales less known to many gamers. Tatterhood from Norway would be a start, but I'd enjoy the Feywild reflecting the whole diversity of human cultures in the worlds of D&D rather than sticking strictly to European parallels. Bring on the fey inspired by Gwâshbrâri the Glacier-Hearted Queen (India), The King and the Ju Ju Tree (Nigeria), and Manabozho the Mischief Maker (Anishinaabe).

I think remixing and creating connections between fairy tale elements from diverse cultures – including those good old D&D standbys – is a real design challenge, but also a worthy one. Not only for honoring diversity and such, but also for storytelling potential by finding the essential qualities of "fey spirits" that engage our interest & speak to aspects of our humanity regardless of where we come from. I'd even say bring a folklorist who is also a gamer into the project (Dael Kingsmill cough Dael Kingsmill) to help search out those common threads/patterns and translate them into game-able material.