Homebrew Fairy Species Details

"I have never imagined such beauty existed,”  Flimsy said softly. The day’s march had been weird as we traversed through the feywild, but the reward at the end was beyond their dreams.The companions stood on a high cliff over the fabled grove. 

- Flimsy Wizzelcrank 

Fairy are a magical race of otherworldly grace, living on a plane of chaotic wonder. They live in places of ethereal beauty, in the midst of ancient forests or in silvery spires glittering with faerie light, where soft music drifts through the air and gentle fragrances waft on the breeze. Fairy love nature and magic, art and artistry, music and poetry, and the good things of the world.

Slender and Graceful

With their unearthly grace and fine features, fairy appear hauntingly beautiful to members of many other races. They are small on average, ranging from well under 3 feet tall to just over 4 feet. They are more slender than elves, weighing only 60 to 80 pounds. Males and females are about the same height, and males are only marginally heavier than females.

Fairy coloration encompasses the ranges of nature’s colors and also includes skin in shades of copper, bronze, and almost bluish-white, hair of green or blue, and eyes like pools of liquid gold or silver. Fairy have no facial and little body hair. They favor clothing from nature in bright colors, and they enjoy simple yet lovely jewelry.

A Timeless Perspective

Fairys can live well over 200 years, giving them a broad perspective on events that might trouble the shorter-lived races more deeply. They are more often amused than excited, and more likely to be curious than greedy. They tend to remain aloof and unfazed by petty happenstance. When pursuing a goal, however, when learning a new skill or art, fairy can be focused and relentless. They are slow to make friends and enemies, and even slower to forget them. They reply to petty insults with disdain and to serious insults with vengeance.

Like the branches of a young tree, fairy are flexible in the face of danger. They trust in diplomacy and compromise to resolve differences before they escalate to violence. They have been known to retreat from intrusions into their woodland homes, confident that they can simply wait the invaders out. But when the need arises, fairy reveal a stern martial side, demonstrating skill with magic, sword, bow, and strategy.

Hidden Woodland Realms

Most fairy dwell in small forest villages hidden among the trees. They hunt game, gather food, and grow vegetables, and their skill and magic allow them to support themselves without the need for clearing and plowing land. They are talented artisans, crafting finely worked clothes and art objects. Their contact with outsiders is usually limited, though a few fairy make a good living by trading crafted items for metals (which they have no interest in mining).

Fairy encountered outside their own lands are commonly captured. Human nobles compete for the services of fairy often thinking of them as genies.

Exploration and Adventure

Fairy take up adventuring out of wanderlust. Since they are so long-lived, they can enjoy two centuries of exploration and discovery. They dislike the pace of human society, which is regimented from day to day but constantly changing over decades, so, if needed, they find careers that let them travel freely and set their own pace. Fairy also enjoy exercising their martial prowess or gaining greater magical power, and adventuring allows them to do so. Some might join with rebels fighting against oppression, and others might become champions of moral causes.

HAUGHTY BUT GRACIOUS

Although they can be haughty, fairies are generally gracious even to those who fall short of their high expectations—which is most non-fae. Still, they can find good in just about anyone.

Subrace

Ancient divides among the fairies resulted in three main subraces: field fairy, wood fairy, and darkwood fairies. Choose one of the three subraces presented below. In some worlds, these subraces are divided still further.

THE DARKWOOD FAIRY

Were it not for one renowned exception, the race of darkwood fairy would be universally reviled. To most, they are a race of evil-worshiping marauders dwelling in the subterranean depths of the dead forests and winter lands of FeyWilds, emerging only on the blackest nights to pillage and slaughter the unsuspecting. 

Darkwood Fairy grow up believing that other races are inferior, worthless except as slaves. They who develop a conscience or find it necessary to cooperate with members of other races find it hard to overcome that prejudice, especially when they are so often on the receiving end of hatred.

Fairy Traits

Your fairy character has a variety of natural abilities, the result of thousands of years of fey creation and magic.

Ability Score Increase

Your Dexterity score increases by 2.

Age

Although fairy reach physical maturity at age of six, the fairy understanding of adulthood goes beyond physical growth to encompass worldly experience. A fairy typically claims adulthood and an adult name around the age of 20 and can live to be 200+ years old.

Alignment

Fairy love freedom, variety, and self-expression, so they lean strongly toward the gentler aspects of chaos. They value and protect others’ freedom as well as their own, and they are more often good than not. The darkwood are an exception, chaos has made them vicious and dangerous. They are more often evil than not.

Size

Fairy range from under 2 to over 4 feet tall and have slender builds. Your size is Small.

Speed

Your base walking speed is 20 feet. But you can fly 30

Darkvision

Accustomed to twilit forests and the night sky, you have superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.

Keen Senses

You have proficiency in the Perception skill.

Fey Ancestry

You have advantage on saving throws against being charmed, and magic can’t put you to sleep.

Trance

Fairy don’t need to sleep. Instead, they meditate deeply, remaining semiconscious, for 4 hours a day. (The Common word for such meditation is “trance.”) While meditating, you can dream after a fashion; such dreams are actually mental exercises that have become reflexive through years of practice. After resting in this way, you gain the same benefit that a human does from 8 hours of sleep.

Languages

You can speak, read, and write Common and Elvish. Elvish is fluid, with subtle intonations and intricate grammar. Elven literature is rich and varied, and their songs and poems are famous among other races. Many bards learn their language so they can add Elvish ballads to their repertoires.