Homebrew Wee Folk Species Details
The Wee Folk are tiny, magical peoples of the planes of Faerie. They stand barely a foot tall, and resemble diminutive elves. They live in ancient forests, flowering glades, scenic hillsides, or along burbling brooks, and make their homes in the wilds, where they won't be disturbed by members of the other races. They are curious about the big people, but wary of them, and so tend to stay out of sight.
Magical Faerie Folk
The wee folk are possessed of the same unearthly grace and fine features as their larger fey kin, such as the elves and dryads. As such, they are often considered beautiful by humans and members of many other races. These tiny fey vary greatly in appearance, but are generally between 9 and 12 inches in height and weigh less than a pound. Males and females are about the same height, and males are only marginally heavier than females.
Ageless Communities
Wee folk live in small communities in houses that they build in and around trees, under hillocks, or near remote streams and lakes within easy reach of food sources such as nuts, berries, fish and small game. Larger races often mistake the homes of these faerie creatures as bird nests, earthen mounds, beaver dams and the like, and thus see nothing remarkable when stumbling across them. But woe to the creature that harms one of these structures, accidentally or otherwise.
Those who anger the little folk may be confronted immediately with anything from a stern talking-to to a swarm of foot-tall warriors seeking justice. Alternatively, they may find their family to be cursed by invisible tricksters for generations, and never know the cause of the grievance. Given the agelessness of these faerie people, these grudges can last for a very long time indeed.
Curious Adventurers
Most wee folk are too cautious to adventure outside of their tiny communities, but some let their more curious natures get the best of them. These tiny faerie explorers usually start out by befriending one or more adventurers. They will turn to these individuals for information, advice, and protection in the strange, and very large, world that they have come to revel in.
Due to their diminutive size, the equipment these folk carry must be specially crafted for them. Whatever equipment they begin the game with is already the appropriate size, but new items, weapons and armor may have to be crafted for them or magically resized.
The Fairy Misnomer
Wee Folk Names
Names are extremely important to the wee folk and each individual will strive to have a unique name. However, it is the pronunciation of the name, and not its spelling, which is unique. Thus you could have siblings who both spell their names "Caramel", but one may pronounce that name "Care-a-Mel" and the other might pronounce it "Car-a-Mel", and each name would be considered to be completely different.
While the wee folk maintain the traditions of their faerie ancestors, they will often adopt root names from words used by other civilizations. Thus some names for the people found in our world might be:
Male Names: Aeden, Aphid, Bear, Bim, Blathnat, Blaze, Drake, Firo, Flint, Ginko, Indi, Jarrah, Lake, Lapis, Light, Moonbeam, Moptop, Newt, Ocean, Onyx, Pandora, Persimmon, Pine, Rocky, Scorpia, Smokey, Sneezy, Sunbeam, Timothy, Turnip
Female Names: Amaryllis, Amode, Chickadee, Citron, Coyote, Dahlia, Daylily, Delia, Eli, Eupherbia, Gerania, Hollyann, Jane, Julie, Kelly, Lenora, Liri, Minerva, Mudpie, Olive, Pecan, Plume, Plumeria, Prise, Rill, Salle, Strawberri, Sugar, Summer, Tess
Family Names: Appleroot, Bitternewt, Blackfall, Blueblossom, Briarglade, Broomheart, Cocoafrost, Crystalclove, Elmflower, Fireflight, Flutterdove, Foxdance, Gemsprout, Giggletwirl, Hollyfield, Isleclove, Jesterthistle, Jinglevale, Littlepebbles, Mistydew, Neverbird, Nightleaf, Rainyfield, Shinygourd, Sparklewings, Sweetmuse, Swifttwist, Tigerswirls, Treeberry, Vanillaglow
Wee Folk Traits
Your Wee Folk character has the following racial traits.Ability Score Increase
Your Dexterity Score increases by 2.
Languages
Your character can speak, read, and write Common and Sylvan.
Fey Ancestry
Your racial type is fey, not humanoid. You have advantage on saving throws against being charmed and magic can’t put you to sleep.
Alignment
Wee Folk can be of any alignment but have a natural lean towards good and the playful tricksters tend toward chaotic.
Age
The wee folk reach physical maturity at about the same age as humans, but then cease aging, living out the remainder of their lives in youthful exuberance. There are no aged or ancient-looking members of this race, though it is not certain that they are truly immortal.
Size
Wee Folk are hardly over a foot tall and weigh next to nothing. Your size is Tiny.
With your tiny stature, you gain the following size-based bonuses and penalties:
- You cannot grapple a creature of medium size or larger.
- Your hit point maximum is lowered by an amount equal to your level.
- You have advantage on any Dexterity (Acrobatics) check you make to escape from being grappled by medium size or larger opponent.
- You have disadvantage on strength saving throws.
- Tiny melee weapons and your unarmed strike reach is decreased by 5 feet. This will mean that you must (in most cases) be in the same field as the enemy in order to hit them.
Speed
Your walking speed is 10 feet.
Fairy Flight
You have wings and a flying speed of 30 feet. You can hover.
If you are more than 10 feet off the ground when you end your turn you will fall until you are within the 10 feet of the ground.
You cannot fly using your wings if you are wearing medium or heavy armor. Also, when you take damage while flying, make a Constitution saving throw with a DC equal to 10 or half the damage is taken, whichever is higher. If you fail this saving throw, you fall to the ground but take no damage no matter the height.
Spacing and Movement
Although they cannot deal as much damage with weapons, tiny creatures enjoy some benefits due to their size. As a Tiny race, you can:
- Squeeze through a space as narrow as 1 inch wide.
- Make better use of cover – in general, where another PC would gain half cover or three-quarters cover, you gain three-quarters cover and total cover respectively. You can also gain half cover from objects that would otherwise be considered incidental, such as rocks or tree saplings
- Occupy the same space as another Tiny or larger creature.
Enduring Wings
If your wings are cut or damaged, your inherent magic causes them to regrow by the end of a long rest. If the wings are magically or physically torn off, take 1 long rest and 1 short rest to fully repair them. You will lose the ability to fly with those wings and take -3 modifier to your Dexterity until they grow back.
Fairy Magic
You know the druidcraft and faerie fire spells. You can cast these without expending a spell slot, and you must finish a short or long rest before you can cast it this way again. You can also cast these spells using any spell slots you have. Your spellcasting ability for these spells is your choice of Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma.
You can also attune to an item that is sized for a Medium or Small creature and reduce it to a size that you can use. It remains that size as long as it is attuned to you. If the item is a weapon, use damage dice 1 step lower than weapons sized for Medium characters (i.e. D8 becomes D6 and D6 becomes a D4). If you release the item from its attunement, it will return to its original size as soon as it cannot directly cause harm to yourself or others.
Invisibility
You can turn magically invisible until your concentration ends (as if concentrating on a spell). Anything you are wearing or carrying is invisible as long as it is on your person. You can use this trait again after a short or long rest.
Darkvision
You're accustomed to living in forests and in undergrowths with dim or darker lighting. 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.
Nimble Build
As long as you are not wearing any armor your AC is equal to 12 + your Dexterity modifier. You can use your natural armor to determine your AC if the armor you wear would leave you with a lower AC. A shield’s benefits apply as normal while you use your natural armor.
Itty Bitty Hands
Your unarmed strikes cannot hurt anyone. This does not apply if you have a feature or trait from your class or a feature that changes the damage dice. (such as the Tavern Brawler feat, or the monk's Martial arts feature.)
Tiny creatures with tiny weapons do one die smaller than the normal version of that weapon, to a minimum of 1d4. So, a greatsword would deal 2d4 slashing damage, a longsword 1d6, and a scimitar 1d4. Additionally, Tiny Ranged Weapons have 1/2 the range of their Medium sized counterparts.
Acquiring Weapons and Armor
You can only wield weapons and armor specially designed for Tiny folk or is magically resized. The weight of Tiny Weapons and Armor is half of their Medium sized counterparts. Your weapons require around half of the materials to make but is just as expensive as Medium weapons. This also applies to shields and armor.
Pixie
Fun-loving, bold, and curious, pixies are known for their merry (and usually harmless) pranks, their famed Pixie Dust, and their reluctance to be seen. Should you be lucky enough to see pixies, they at first glance appear to be tiny elves with beautiful, luminous butterfly wings.
Pixies come in just about any color, though their skin color is typically muted to a more natural hue than their hair. Green, gray, brown, red, and even pink pixies are not terribly uncommon. Pixies are smaller than some of the other Fairy Folk, rarely reaching more than 1 foot tall, and they trail a glittering, sparkling dust behind them as they fly, at least when they are visible. When they do show themselves, pixies array themselves like princes and princesses of the fey, wearing flowing gowns and doublets of silk that sparkle like moonlight on a pond. They take great pride in their regalia and beam with joy when they are complimented on their ensembles.
Pixies tend to play relatively harmless pranks on those they encounter in order to gauge their reactions. Using their magical prowess, they might create illusions, untie shoes, loosen the straps of armor, or otherwise inconvenience those they encounter in ways that amuse the pixies. Those who react with violence or anger can scare or even anger the pixies, leading them to either flee or increase the hostility of their pranks, depending on the pixies' moods. Those who react with joviality or mirth may calm the fear of the pixies. Pixies emboldened in this way may reveal themselves or even offer assistance to these good-natured folk.
Pixies generally do not carry weapons or engage in violence, leaving the fighting to their more martially-inclined cousins, the sprites. They abhor weapons and would sooner flee than get into a physical altercation with any enemy.
Ability Score Increase
Your Charisma score increases by 1.
Butterfly Wings
Your wings resemble those of butterflies and can range in many different shades or colors. Many of the designs would be described as both elegant and subtle. A fine loose powder trails behind you in colors to match your wings. Many patterns carry multiple colors while some only carry a single color in varying shades; your wings may also come in many designs that are both elegant and subtle.
Pixie Dust
You carry a small amount of fuzz around your neck and on your arms. This is known as pixie dust. You can innately cast the following spells, using your Charisma as your spellcasting ability, and requiring only your pixie dust as a component:
- 1x/day each: confusion, detect evil and good, detect thoughts, dispel magic, entangle, fly, plant growth, polymorph, sleep
Melee Combat
Pixies really do hate violence. However, sometimes the fight comes to you whether you want it or not. You can cast whatever spells you want in combat. But, when you do find the will and occasion to do wield a melee weapon, your tiny size works against you. Pixies have special rules for weapons:
- You cannot wield Heavy weapons at all.
- You have disadvantage on attack rolls with Two-handed weapons.
- All other one-handed weapons must be wielded as if Two-handed (without the above mentioned disadvantage).
- Versatile weapons deal their basic damage rather than their versatile damage.
- Your weapons do not gain the benefit of having the Light or Finesse properties.
- Like all tiny creatures, pixie weapons do one die smaller than the normal version of that weapon, to a minimum of 1d4. So, a greatsword would deal 2d4 slashing damage, a longsword 1d6, and a scimitar 1d4.
Sprite
Sprites are aggressive and hardy warriors, who build little villages in the boughs of trees and willing treants, in verdant glades brightened by moss, wild flowers, and toadstools, tucked away in secret groves and shaded glens where wild nature thrives.
Sprites can sense whether a creature is good or evil by the sound and feeling of its beating heart. Weighing the balance of a creature’s past actions, a sprite can tell whether its heart beats rapidly in love or flags in sorrow, or whether it is darkened by hate or greed. The sprite’s power to perceive the heart always shows the truth, because the heart can’t lie. Because they are judges of the heart and favor good creatures, sprites oppose the will of evil fey and pledge to thwart evil archfey at every turn. If they encounter adventurers on a quest to rid their forest of an evil fey creature or goblinoid menace, they will pledge their support and even come to their aid when the adventurers least expect it.
Some sprites dress in resplendent armor that befits their station. Others choose a more relaxed attire and dress simply in acorns, leaves, bark, and the pelts of tiny woodland beasts.
Ability Score Increase
Your Constitution score increases by 1.
Dragonfly Wings
Sprite wings resemble dragonfly wings as they are see-through, have a sheen that shows tends to show in a single color, and the patterns your wings carry are often entrancing.
Heart Sight
The sprite touches a creature and magically knows its current emotional state. If the target fails a DC 10 Charisma saving throw, you also know the creature's alignment. Celestials, fiends, and undead automatically fail the saving throw.
Wee Warrior
You have a reach of five feet, rather than the reach of 0 that is typical for a Tiny creature. When wielding a weapon of your size, you follow the same rules that Small races do. You do not have the same disadvantages that the Pixies have about wielding weapons, but you still will do less damage with a size-appropriate weapon than a medium sized weapon of the same type. Damage is one die smaller than the medium version of that weapon, to a minimum of 1d4. So, a greatsword would deal 2d4 slashing damage, a longsword 1d6, and a scimitar 1d4.
Martial Training
You are proficient with two martial weapons of your choice and with light armor.
Guerrilla Warfare
You are accomplished at ambush tactics and have expertise in the Stealth skill. Combined with their other traits, flight, darkvision, and invisibility, sprites can be very formidable in battles of their choosing.
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