Homebrew Feywild Pixie Species Details

Tiny, vibrant, and full of life, pixies are the very embodiment of Feywild whimsy and magic. As the subject of countless myths, legends, and songs, pixies are often misunderstood by the less-magical races of the world, or even feared with superstitious zeal.

In truth, pixies who leave the grove to become adventurers are often more grounded in reality than most fae, and are stalwart and hard-working folk.

 

Dewdrops and Dust

Pixies are tiny creatures, shorter than a housecat but taller than a dragonfly. Most sport vibrant skin and hair with pollen or dust trailing behind them. Some shine as brightly as gemstones, while others could be mistaken for luminous insects in the night sky.

Pixies have delicate builds, long pointy ears, and wings. Beyond that, pixie physiology is as varied as the natural world - or perhaps even the Feywild beyond.

From Grove to Glory

Pixies can fly naturally with the agility of a hummingbird - darting from place to place and hovering for hours on end. While their movements seem playful, a pixie on the attack is more like a bee than a butterfly, using their great dexterity to strike at weak points in larger foes and leveraging their tiny size as a defensive measure.

While airborne, pixies shed soft illumination like a candle, often in the color of their hair or wings. From a distance, they might appear to be will-o-wisps or spirits. Pixies cannot sleep in the air, however, and flying for a full day is exhausting work. Pixies generally make their homes in flower beds or tree trunks - warm, clean places with all the comforts of home: blankets woven of spider silk and pillows stuffed with down.

The True Enemy Is Negativity

While pixies are often regarded as capricious or even cruel by other races, the truth is that a pixie greets every activity with enthusiasm and vigor. One pixie might make it his life's work to perfect the angle and placement of some lakeside cat-tails, while another might regard pranking foolish tallfolk as her solemn charge. This obviously leads to some misunderstandings. Pixies are passionate folk and are often frustrated that other races don't seem to understand that.

Pixies are very fashionable creatures, though their tastes and moods can change like the weather. Pixie fashionistas are considered some of the best in the world, however, and on rare occasions a particularly beloved member of the tallfolk might receive an unspeakably beautiful garment or accessory as a surprise gift. Nothing is permanent to a pixie, though, and the bleeding edge should always be pushed - both in fashion and in life. What was in the morning was considered a fashionable success might be out of style by sundown.

Chaotic by nature, pixies often revel in the unexpected - surprises, pranks, and juxtapositions are among a pixie's favorite things. One pixie might stoically arm themselves for war, complete with tiny armor, delighting in the silliness. Another might replace all of a rival group's traveling rations with candy - a potentially deadly prank best reserved for a group in need of a harsh lesson.

A pixie who feels true sorrow is a terrible sight. Their light fades to a dim flicker, and their colors become muted - like the onset of winter without the promise of spring. Few creatures feel things as deeply as a pixie does. Fortunately, their lust for life helps them recover from loss and trauma very quickly (some might say too quickly).

Homelands

Historically, the Feywild is the pixies' home. In ages past, mortal druids opened deep pathways into the Feywild, and drew its essence into the Prime Material Plane. Pixies were among the first arrivals. As such, pixie homes on the Prime Material Plane are often a mirror of Druidic life in miniature - carefully-tended mushrooms or shrubs become their walls and houses, and lush gardens of clover and wildflowers become their meadows. Some more solemn and ancient pixie groves feature menhirs of stone or hardwood and contain old magic. Some pixies simply elect to live alongside other fae, or druids, making their homes with them.

In the wild, pixies live in units of upwards of a hundred - enormous families with long lineages and extravagant courts, and inscrutable laws and regulations understood only by other pixies.

A PIXIE'S GUIDE TO TALLFOLK IDENTIFICATION

The Ordinary Ones - If it's got round ears and is taller than a rose bush, it's probably a human. These ones are as varied as the seasons - some of them are smart, and some of them need a good needling, but nearly all of them are unpredictable, short-sighted entrepreneurs with great passion.

The Pretty Ones - The pointy-eared ones, as you might already know, are elves. These are the ones who first opened the doors for us, and the ones with whom our ancient pacts run deep. Some of the younger ones have forgotten about the old ways, but we have some hilarious ways to remind them!

The Ones With Beards - The short, grouchy ones are called dwarves, and they generally live in mountains far from the sun and wind. There is a life all its own down there, alongside the rock gnomes and mushroom forests, so to underestimate a dwarf's understanding of our world is trouble. They do not frequently have great senses of humor.

Gnomes and Halflings - We generally like them enough to learn their names - they are fashionable, inventive people who generally live in harmony with their surroundings. Gnomes tend to be more explosive and halflings tend to be more family-oriented, but they are both like us. Considering them friends is usually the right move.

The Pixie Commonwealth

When living among their own kind in the Prime Material Plane, pixie social order takes the form of small, self-contained societies which generally they share one trait - everybody has a specialty and contributes to the community. What constitutes a "contribution" to a pixie community is quite diverse from settlement to settlement: perfecting the patterns of frost on blades of grass might be seen as just as valuable as building or gardening.

In most cases, pixies on the Prime Material Plane retain some contact with their Feywild cousins via old gateways - these might not be large enough or stable enough for transportation, but a message spell might work, or a bee enchanted as an animal messenger, for example.

It is worth mentioning that some areas pixies populate are naturally closer to the Feywild - in these places things like flora, insects, and music can sometimes move between the two realms via constantly-shifting whorls and eddies in spacetime. This provides pixie settlements unique resources - honey made from pollen partially-sourced from the Feywild, for example - that can bring great fortune to their inhabitants.

The High Courts

Pixie society in the Feywild revolves around two seasonal "courts" - assemblies of nobles and well-to-do artisans making decisions and socializing under the watchful eye of a local regent, who in turn answers to the High King and Queen. The Summer Court, ruled by High King Oberon and High Queen Titania since time immemorial, prefers their court gatherings to be vibrant parties, full of music, mirth, and joy. This court is the central home of the "seelie" fae, or those whose chaos brings mirth or learning.

In direct opposition stands the Winter Court, ruled by a shrouded figure known only as the Queen of Air and Darkness. The Winter Court houses the fae known as "unseelie" - or those whose chaos causes harm and fear. Little is known to outsiders about the Winter Court, and even those pixies tricky enough to attend the Winter Court and return to polite society often do not understand its icy complexities. It is a lively but wicked affair, with cruel social games and dark, forgotten stories being told to those mad enough to listen.

Those pixies aligned with Spring or Autumn may make either court their home, but woe betide a pixie who carelessly attends both and offends their rulers.

Pixie Names

Pixies are creative creatures, and their native language of Sylvan is full of beautiful, flowing, primal sounds that seldom translate well to the Common tongue. Pixie names tend to reflect this, though as often as not a pixie will adopt a nickname from an aspect of the natural world they particularly appreciate. Pixies who favor androgyny or eschew the gender binary often choose these nicknames for themselves rather than keeping their birth name, as a form of defiant self-expression.

Male Pixie Names: Bazz, Effen, Imbo, Jask, Llen, Phule, Shif, Vos, Yelsy

Female Pixie Names: Azzie, Cryssa, Eshi, Henny, Lumi, Ophie, Rell, Utha, Zirri

Androgynous Pixie Names: Acorn, Bramble, Cat-tail, Ghost-Lily, Lake, Moondrop, Periwinkle, Star, Whiteflower

PIXIE BACKGROUNDS

A few backgrounds appropriate for pixies include the Sage and the Folk Hero - pixies tend to revere their elders and those who create interesting stories. Another option is Far Traveler from the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide, tailored to your campaign with a Feywild origin.

Pixie villages and towns tend to mirror other types of settlements, consisting of artisans, soldiers, nobles, and farmers alike, so most backgrounds can be applied with only slight tweaks.

Feywild Pixie Traits

The pixies of the Feywild are a curious sort, closely intertwined with nature and magic in equal parts.

Ability Score Modification

Your Dexterity score increases by 2, and your Charisma score increases by 1. Your Strength score is reduced by 4, to a minimum of 2.

Age

Pixies do not track age the same way that other humanoid races do. They are born of the primal stuff of the Feywild through inscrutable means, and so a pixie of one summer might be wiser and visually older than a pixie of a hundred summers. A pixie will never die of old age, though there exists lore that speaks of pixies dying through boredom or oppressive banality.

Alignment

Pixies are almost universally chaotic - even those who embrace roles like guards and lawmakers within their societies can't often stifle the creative energy burning within them. Pixies associated with the Summer Court are often good-aligned, while pixies associated with the Winter Court tend towards neutrality or even evil - though cruelty without creativity is just dreadful even for evil pixies. (Players are advised to discuss evil character concepts with their DMs before beginning play, keeping in mind that in many games, a chaotic evil character can be extremely disruptive to the other players' fun.)

 

Languages

You can speak, read, and write both Common and Sylvan.

 

Speed

Your base walking speed is 10 feet. You have a flying speed of 30 feet.

 

Luminous Flight

You glow with a soft light, similar in intensity to candlelight, while flying - five feet of bright light and another five feet of dim light beyond that.

If you are wearing medium or heavy armor, you suffer disadvantage on all attack rolls while flying.

Flutter

Your tiny stature and erratic flight patterns make you a very difficult target. You may use your reaction to impose disadvantage on an attack roll against you. You must complete a short or long rest before using this ability again.

Invisibility

As a Pixie, you may use your action to become invisible, along with all of the gear and equipment you are carrying at the time. While using Luminous Flight, this invisibility hides your glow completely and you no longer cast light.

Attacking or casting a spell will render you visible again and end this effect. You must complete a long rest before using this ability again.

Tiny Fae

Pixies stand taller than a dragonfly but shorter than a housecat. Your size is Tiny, and you may end your turn in the same space as another creature.

You may ride on a willing creature of size Small or larger, provided you end your turn in that creature's space. You retain your own initiative, similar to rules for using a mount. If the creature is pushed, dragged, or knocked prone, these effects also apply to you.

How To Be Tiny - A Pixie Primer

Any weapons or gear you use must have the "Tiny" quality, reducing their damage by half against creatures larger than Tiny. Nobody said being Tiny was easy!

All of your starting gear gains the "Tiny" trait. For ease of calculation, these items weigh one tenth as much as normal items.

A Tiny creature can carry only a quarter of what a Medium creature can carry. Be sure to confer with your Dungeon Master on what encumbrance and push/drag limit rules they use in their game - it's easy for tallfolk to take this for granted!

Your DM might allow you to use a normal-sized magic item such as a wand or a potion (provided you can carry it), but this consumes charges or uses of the item normally - even a tiny sip of a healing potion will render it "used," for example.