Homebrew Faerie Species Details

Overview

Miniature beings of the Fey, Faeries are typically content to stay in the feywilds and other fey-touched pockets throughout the realms, only leaving temporarily at the requests of fey lords, or to find entertainment at the expense of the taller, shorter-lived races.

Faeries are typically characterized with short-attention spans and an immorality towards the suffering of others. They have a fondness for pranks and upsetting others–especially those of higher-nobility with a degree of stuffiness to their character–purely for entertainment, to watch as they and those around them scramble and panic over the most mundane things. Because Faeries rarely develop as deep of bonds as other races do, they treat such displays as moments of great drama and comedy.

That said, when raised amicably alongside another race, or in the service of a lord, Faeries that are treated as fellow citizens and members of the nation can bring music and elaborate displays of magical beauty to a community; they are gifted in song and dance, and often join in on celebrations or performances in their own ways, adding dancing lights or improvised dances to songs, or backing up the singers and musicians with their own talents (which has, on many occasions, lead to frantic shooing and competition). Faeries will even join in on performances in places they are considered pests, and while they delight in the panic their appearance can cause, they take equal pleasure in the smiles and wonder they can inspire.

But, some Faeries find themselves travelling far and wide alongside a group of adventurers. A Faerie's ties to the feywilds and the gardens they bloomed from often keeps them centralized, but those that grow bored or shiftless may hear of the adventures of local heroes from taverns and bards, and seek to perform such great and perilous deeds as well. Others may be tasked by a fey lord to protect somebody of interest in their quest, or spy on an adventuring group. Still more find themselves in as much of a panic as the people they once laughed at, their flower fields gone and their colony dispersed, and try to find some replacement among a passing group.

Whatever the reason for a Faerie to join an adventuring party, their sense of humor and flightiness simply does not dissipate. While danger, promises, and threats can narrow their focus, they will never truly be satisfied without a good laugh along the way.

A Faerie's Flower

It is common tale among Faeries that they were given life by a mighty fey, who, bored with their long lives and the dullards they were surrounded by, sought to bring both beauty and entertainment to their court. They whispered ideas of mischief and humor into flower seeds that they spread throughout their garden, and when the flowers matured and bloomed, small, winged folk burst from the open buds with cacophonous giggles and a insatiable need for entertainment.

Whimsical, cute, colorful, and magical, the lord's creations were a treat for the senses, but not so much for their victims.

The Faeries flooded the fey lord's court with pranks and rumors, causing the monotonous courtiers to break out into fights, wailing, and laughter, bringing the fey lord great amusement. The lord would send their little creations out into the feywilds, and across entire realms with the intention of spreading their delightful mischief, and hopefully knocking the uptight and prideful down a peg.

Faeries are born from flowers created by powerful fey beings, and due to their cycle of reincarnation, can technically be several thousands of years old. Faeries are typically born in colonies in secluded areas, well and away from the retribution of those who fall victim to their attention. As a flower grows older, so does a Faerie, until the flower's inevitable wilting and death, resulting in the Faerie dying like a withered vine. However, as long as their flower's seeds can be fertilized and bloom, the Faerie will be reborn, typically with minor variations to their appearances and personalities.

They do not retain all of their memories from life to life, only the most important ones, including their friends, homes, talents, and abilities, so a reborn Faerie may act in small, but noticeably different ways to their prior lives. They normally keep their names and rank among other Faeries, but some may insist on being referred to by a different name every life cycle.

A Faerie usually keeps a seed from their flower on them, so that when they feel old age creeping up to them, they can plant and tend to the seed to be reborn. If a Faerie's flower is killed prematurely before dying naturally of old age, a Faerie can survive as long as there is still a single living seed; however, if that seed dies before sprouting, the Faerie dies permanently with it. If a Faerie dies before the natural death of their flower, they will remain dead until their flower dies and a new one blooms, returning them to life with its blossoming.

Permanent death is a great fear in Faerie communities, and one of the few things that can incite great panic in them. They consider 'the great nothing beyond' to be a frightening anathema, and will desperately seek places to replant their flowers at the risk of a dying with no rebirth to look forward to. Faeries will often cooperate to preserve the lives of their fellow species, even those they might consider enemies, as a loss of a Faerie is considered a loss of a lineage of whimsy and entertainment.

Due to this abnormal birth and rebirth cycle, Faeries tend to have extremely narrow views of life. They keep themselves occupied with day-to-day entertainment, or tending their colony garden, and find the other races' focus on minutia and grand schemes to be meaningless. Not every Faerie is like this, of course, and some find great pleasure in wealth, power, generosity, or cruelty; however, these are rare exceptions. Some Faeries find meaning in serving their fey lords, acting as messengers, spies, saboteurs, and sometimes guards, but their prankster nature can make them either amusing or exhausting, depending on the lord's mood.

When making a Faerie, consider the sort of flower they come from, how its environment has shaped both its growth and the Faerie it has birthed; a Faerie born from a flower soaked in the blood of a mighty magical being may become a great Sorcerer, or a reincarnated Faerie may find themselves as Warlocks in servitude to a patron in exchange for saving their flower. Some may have been cultivated by great Wizards, and over the years of their rebirths, learned enough of the arcane to wield it themselves, or grew in a forgotten part of a city, where they found amusement by joining a local rogues' guild. Were they born amongst other Faeries, their colony and friends? Did they awaken alone, a simple, forgotten seed having grown far away from your Faerie's home? Are they a new Faerie, recently born at the whim of a fey lord with an untempered personality, or are they old enough to faintly remember the first creation of their colony?

A Faerie's flower is their literal life, but it might not grow in a place a Faerie calls home.

Creator's Note: this race comes with two race-specific homebrewed feats: Faerie Dust and Faerie Glamour!

Faerie Traits

Your unique shape and inborn magic grant you a variety of boons, but also debilitations.

Ability Score Increase

Your Charisma Score increases by 2, and your Dexterity Score increases by 1.

Size

Faeries are known as the ‘wee folk’ with good reason; most Faeries are six inches to twelve inches tall. Your size is Tiny.

Speed

Your base walking speed is 10 ft., and you have a fly speed of 30 ft.

Darkvision

You can see in dim light as if it were bright light within 60 ft. of you, and in darkness as if it was dim light. You have the ability to see colors in total darkness, but in negative colors.

Languages

You can speak, read, and write Common and Sylvan. You can also communicate on a simple level with natural and fey beasts through small words and gestures, and understand their basic intentions.

Faerie's Flower

You are born from a unique flower, whose bloom is punctuated by you bursting forth on open wings. A Faerie is considered to have reached maturity the moment they leave their flower's bud, and have a lifespan of approximately 3 to 4 years.

When your flower dies of old age, you too will die along with it, but you can sense your flower's death a week before age claims it. As long as a single seed from your flower is able to bloom, you will be reborn with it, potentially with changes to your natural appearance and personality quirks, but you retain your memory of the major events of your past lives, as well as your abilities and experiences, and the people you know. In favorable conditions, a Faerie Flower seed will sprout into a fully mature flower in 1d2 weeks; in unfavorable conditions, 2d4 weeks.

If your flower dies prematurely due to outside forces or disease, you still have at least one week to find a place to plant a seed before you wither and die; if all the seeds of your deceased flower fail to sprout, you die permanently, and only a True Resurrection or Wish spell used to revive the remains of your flower can bring you back. You sense the severance of your flower's life force the moment it happens, so you cannot be surprised with a sudden perma-death.

If you die before your flower does, you will remain dead until your flower dies, and a new seed sprouts. However, you can be brought back to life as with any other race through the use of spells like Revivify.

Wee Folk

A Faerie’s tiny size lends them well to their ideal roles as mischievous tricksters. You can share a 5 ft. space with other creatures, including hostile ones, and you can only make melee attacks against creatures you share a space with. You have half-cover from attacks made by other creatures while sharing a space with a creature.

You can take the hide action while sharing a space with a willing or unwary creature.

Wee Magic

You have an inherent knack for trickery, giving you more power to play pranks and spread mischief. You know the Dancing Lights and Minor Illusion cantrips. You also know Faerie Fire and can cast it as a 1st level spell; if you do using this trait, you cannot cast it against until you finish a long rest.

At 5th level, your attunement to to deceptive magic allows you to see through it with ease; you have advantage on saving throws and knowledge checks made to resist or identify illusions.

Wee Might

Being a tiny creature, when attempting to push, pull, or pick up an object, you can manipulate a number of pounds equal to your strength score. During a short rest, you may use your fey magic to shrink a number of items equal to your level down to a more manageable size for you. Your carrying capacity counts as normal for your Strength score for every item shrunk down in this way. If an item shrunk down using this trait is more than 5 ft. away from you, it will revert to its normal size after a number of minutes equal to your Charisma modifier have passed.

In addition, you have disadvantage on all Athletics checks, and unless you are grounded, a gust of wind of moderate or greater speed (10 mph or greater) will push you 10 ft in the direction of the blowing wind.