Working on a homebrew race that originates from the Feywild. They are like faeries, but more of a dragonfly-elf thing. Any tips for how to give them innate magic, like short flying duration or the ability to produce light?

What do you mean? What specifically are you asking?

If you mean is there a way to program a racial trait that only applies a flying speed for a short duration once activated, and then when the duration is over remove the flying speed again, then the answer is unfortunately “no, that’s not possible.”

If you mean something else, for example how to word such a racial trait, then yes I could help you.

If on the other, other hand, you mean something else entirely please clarify your request.

PS-If you want, fairies are already sortakinda “dragonfly elves” in a way. Their description explicitly says the look like elves, and you can decide their wings look like anything you want them too, they also explicitly mention dragonfly wings as an example if I recall. Just thought I’d mention it.

Quote from CofeWaror4 >>

Working on a homebrew race that originates from the Feywild. They are like faeries, but more of a dragonfly-elf thing. Any tips for how to give them innate magic, like short flying duration or the ability to produce light?

 For short flying duration have a look at how Totem Barbarian (Eagle) does flying at high levels - giving them something like that with limited uses of proficiency bonus per day would make a neat pixie-dust like feature. Producing light you could just give them access to the Light cantrip as a racial ability.

I'm trying to figure out how racial traits work in context. Dragonborn can breathe fire, but how is the action written so it works with something like flight or creating light?

PS-If you want, fairies are already sortakinda “dragonfly elves” in a way. Their description explicitly says the look like elves, and you can decide their wings look like anything you want them too, they also explicitly mention dragonfly wings as an example if I recall. Just thought I’d mention it.

 They are different from faeries in the sense of size and appearance for sure. They are about the size of a halfling and have dragon scales on their backs, faces, and arms. Their wings look like that of a dragonfly's, and their antenna is similar to an angler fish's in the sense that they have light orbs on the end. Otherwise, they look like elves with the solid color eyes and high magic ability. I hope this clarifies what they are.

Quote from CofeWaror4 >>

 

PS-If you want, fairies are already sortakinda “dragonfly elves” in a way. Their description explicitly says the look like elves, and you can decide their wings look like anything you want them too, they also explicitly mention dragonfly wings as an example if I recall. Just thought I’d mention it.

 They are different from faeries in the sense of size and appearance for sure. They are about the size of a halfling and have dragon scales on their backs, faces, and arms. Their wings look like that of a dragonfly's, and their antenna is similar to an angler fish's in the sense that they have light orbs on the end. Otherwise, they look like elves with the solid color eyes and high magic ability. I hope this clarifies what they are.

 
That stuff is all almost entirely cosmetic. You can totally make a fairy PC look exactly like you describe if you want to. Here’s the description for the fairy PC playable race:

The Feywild is home to many fantastic peoples, including fairies. Fairies are a wee folk, but not nearly as much so as their pixie and sprite friends. The first fairies spoke Elvish, Goblin, or Sylvan, and encounters with human visitors prompted many of them to learn Common as well.

Infused with the magic of the Feywild, most fairies look like Small elves with insectile wings, but each fairy has a special physical characteristic that sets the fairy apart. For your fairy, roll on the Fey Characteristics table or choose an option from it. You’re also free to come up with your own characteristic if none of the suggestions below fit your character.

Fey Characteristics

d8	Characteristic
1	Your wings are like those of a bird.
2	You have shimmering, multicolored skin.
3	You have exceptionally large ears.
4	A glittering mist constantly surrounds you.
5	You have a small spectral horn on your forehead, like a little unicorn horn.
6	Your legs are insectile.
7	You smell like fresh brownies.
8	A noticeable, harmless chill surrounds you.

 
So a fairy with scales and dragonfly wings and all is absolutely on the menu. Also, they can be the exact same size as halflings too since they are both Small races. The only thing you would need to swap are the spells they get, so drop druidcraft and replace it with light, and change the other two spells for whatever fits your concept better and you’re good to go. It’ll be way, waayyy easier than building the race you have in mind from scratch. If that sounds like an idea you’re interested in then purchase the Fairy race from this website for $2, use it as a template to create your own race, change the spells and the description to what you want, and voilà, your scaled, dragonfly, angler fish people are ready to play.

Even simpler, make your race as a Variant of the Fairy race and just make a trait to replace their Fairy Magic trait and you’ll be done.

Thank you. That clears up a lot.

Edit- What are fairies considered so I can start working? I've checked races and monsters and it was in neither.

The fairy  is a race you can purchase here: (https://www.dndbeyond.com/marketplace/adventures/the-wild-beyond-the-witchlight). Just scroll down until you see the option to buy that race individually.

Thanks bro