Ok, so l know Fairies and Changelings get some cool abilities, but Why do the Elves and Half Elves get "advantage on saving throws against being charmed, and magic can’t put you to sleep." because of their Fey Ancestry, but actual Fey don't? Am l missing something? Is it because they can't be effected by spells that require a Humanoid Target, like Charm Person? Because that still leaves them vulnerable to Sleep, Dominate Creature, and other such spells that don't specify a Humanoid target.
The answer to most questions of this type is simply that it was a choice to maintain balance. Fairies get racial flight, and useful magic, that's a potent combination. If they got those abilities on top of some default array of Fey traits, it could become silly. Gotta make some sacrifices to get variety, even if it might otherwise make more sense.
Previous editions used "Level Adjustments" to compensate for more and less powerful races, but those were regularly abused and misunderstood.
Because by the time those races were printed (or reprinted into forgotten realms in the case of changeling) WotC had already decided to abandon lore and consistency (not that there was much to begin with) and only focused on not making anything better than stuff they already made/started to phase out...
It might be related to most charm spells affecting specifically Humanoids, which makes the Fey immune to them, rather than just resistant. You could argue that magic like "Dominate Monster" was specifically crafted for them, which is why they're not resistant to it. And the Elves Immunity to sleep magic has been moved into their Trance feature, disconnecting it from the Fey Ancestry.
The real reason? Because giving lots of player races the same ability makes the ability less interesting. Variety is more fun.
The in-world reason? Well, the sleep thing has been attached to Elves' not actually sleeping, which is specific to elves. Anyway, the Fey are hardly known for consistency. The number of things that are true for all Fey is probably zero. Elves get sleeplessness and charmlessness from their fey nature, and Changelings get shapechanging from their fey nature.
Remember there are Rules as Written (RAW), Rules as Intended (RAI), and Rules as Fun (RAF). There's some great RAW, RAI, and RAF here... please check in with your DM to determine how they want to adjudicate the RAW/RAI/RAF for your game.
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Ok, so l know Fairies and Changelings get some cool abilities, but Why do the Elves and Half Elves get "advantage on saving throws against being charmed, and magic can’t put you to sleep." because of their Fey Ancestry, but actual Fey don't? Am l missing something? Is it because they can't be effected by spells that require a Humanoid Target, like Charm Person? Because that still leaves them vulnerable to Sleep, Dominate Creature, and other such spells that don't specify a Humanoid target.
The answer to most questions of this type is simply that it was a choice to maintain balance. Fairies get racial flight, and useful magic, that's a potent combination. If they got those abilities on top of some default array of Fey traits, it could become silly. Gotta make some sacrifices to get variety, even if it might otherwise make more sense.
Previous editions used "Level Adjustments" to compensate for more and less powerful races, but those were regularly abused and misunderstood.
Because by the time those races were printed (or reprinted into forgotten realms in the case of changeling) WotC had already decided to abandon lore and consistency (not that there was much to begin with) and only focused on not making anything better than stuff they already made/started to phase out...
It might be related to most charm spells affecting specifically Humanoids, which makes the Fey immune to them, rather than just resistant. You could argue that magic like "Dominate Monster" was specifically crafted for them, which is why they're not resistant to it. And the Elves Immunity to sleep magic has been moved into their Trance feature, disconnecting it from the Fey Ancestry.
The real reason? Because giving lots of player races the same ability makes the ability less interesting. Variety is more fun.
The in-world reason? Well, the sleep thing has been attached to Elves' not actually sleeping, which is specific to elves. Anyway, the Fey are hardly known for consistency. The number of things that are true for all Fey is probably zero. Elves get sleeplessness and charmlessness from their fey nature, and Changelings get shapechanging from their fey nature.
Race balance.
Remember there are Rules as Written (RAW), Rules as Intended (RAI), and Rules as Fun (RAF). There's some great RAW, RAI, and RAF here... please check in with your DM to determine how they want to adjudicate the RAW/RAI/RAF for your game.