Long Post ahead. These are my ideas on how to include fae creatures in your game. I do take many liberties with the settings and monsters as written in the books but not to the point of breaking the fantasy genre entirely. I typically run lore-heavy but somewhat light hearted worlds.
Fae aren't "cutesy disney fairies" nor are they eldritch abominations that want to eat your children and spoil your crops. They experience emotions deeply and with extreme "fire" so to speak. To them extreme whimsy is diamond logic. What mortals would deem cruel acts of fae creatures often has a very good reason for happening, and fae typically explain their actions if they detect distress - either to let in the mortals on their little joke or to give some convoluted reason as to what they did as "what's best for you".
So let's give an example: Never take food or drink from a Fae. Material plane mortals who eat and drink of the faewild will inevitably become Fae themselves. A planeswalker eating rainbow berries from a Fae tree may take months for this to happen, but PREPARED FOOD OR DRINK from a Fae will trigger the planeshift IMMEDIATELY. If King Oberon is offering you wine, he's basically inviting you to become a Fae with all that entails. You will not be returning to the material plane easily. It will take a wish/miracle spell or several years of planar realignment to become a mortal again.
Never make a contract with the Fae, the terms change at the Fae creature's whims. However the Fae creature will not select tasks meant to kill or torture, often merely to frustrate, annoy, or force the mortal to think the way they do. The end result of many fae contracts will force the mortal to become...a Fae. Fae pact warlocks could be considered "in-training".
So let's say Queen Titania has "stolen" a village's children. Titania will laugh at the adventurers and say "I foresaw a plague that would take them, so I made them immortal so they could dance in my garden forever!"
Let's say a fae creature has turned the entire population of a village into woodland animals with white pelts. The creature probably has their souls and bodies intact. This was merely a lesson against overhunting/overfishing. "How do you like being hunted, skinned, and turned into designer clothes for nobles?"
Tasks given by the fae should be whimsical or silly, but not overly cruel. A Fae might task the party with planting very beautiful flowers all over a religious commune. However he won't tell the party that the flowers, when in bloom, create an illusion that renders everyone in their area with the appearance of nudity. Assisting a Fae almost always means participation in a prank with some long-term "Greater Good" implication.
Planar Fae are usually Chaotic Good. They take good actions, but with whimsical, confusing, and often overboard results.
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Long Post ahead. These are my ideas on how to include fae creatures in your game. I do take many liberties with the settings and monsters as written in the books but not to the point of breaking the fantasy genre entirely. I typically run lore-heavy but somewhat light hearted worlds.
Fae aren't "cutesy disney fairies" nor are they eldritch abominations that want to eat your children and spoil your crops. They experience emotions deeply and with extreme "fire" so to speak. To them extreme whimsy is diamond logic. What mortals would deem cruel acts of fae creatures often has a very good reason for happening, and fae typically explain their actions if they detect distress - either to let in the mortals on their little joke or to give some convoluted reason as to what they did as "what's best for you".
So let's give an example: Never take food or drink from a Fae. Material plane mortals who eat and drink of the faewild will inevitably become Fae themselves. A planeswalker eating rainbow berries from a Fae tree may take months for this to happen, but PREPARED FOOD OR DRINK from a Fae will trigger the planeshift IMMEDIATELY. If King Oberon is offering you wine, he's basically inviting you to become a Fae with all that entails. You will not be returning to the material plane easily. It will take a wish/miracle spell or several years of planar realignment to become a mortal again.
Never make a contract with the Fae, the terms change at the Fae creature's whims. However the Fae creature will not select tasks meant to kill or torture, often merely to frustrate, annoy, or force the mortal to think the way they do. The end result of many fae contracts will force the mortal to become...a Fae. Fae pact warlocks could be considered "in-training".
So let's say Queen Titania has "stolen" a village's children. Titania will laugh at the adventurers and say "I foresaw a plague that would take them, so I made them immortal so they could dance in my garden forever!"
Let's say a fae creature has turned the entire population of a village into woodland animals with white pelts. The creature probably has their souls and bodies intact. This was merely a lesson against overhunting/overfishing. "How do you like being hunted, skinned, and turned into designer clothes for nobles?"
Tasks given by the fae should be whimsical or silly, but not overly cruel. A Fae might task the party with planting very beautiful flowers all over a religious commune. However he won't tell the party that the flowers, when in bloom, create an illusion that renders everyone in their area with the appearance of nudity. Assisting a Fae almost always means participation in a prank with some long-term "Greater Good" implication.
Planar Fae are usually Chaotic Good. They take good actions, but with whimsical, confusing, and often overboard results.