Homebrew Dark Fey Species Details

It is well known among planar scholars that the Feywild and Shadowfell envelop the Material Plane. Less commonly known is that there is a ring around the Material Plane where their borders meet and intermingle, creating the realm of the Shadow Fey. Creatures born in this realm or those who spend a very long time there become dark fey.

In spirit, dark fey are an amalgamation of the energies of the Feywild and the Shadowfell. Anatomically, they resemble half-elves with large feathered wings and sizable horns which typically grow tall with some light curling. Dark fey are quite varied in appearance, their skin tones range the full spectrum of denizens of the material plane, and their wings can be solidly dark or light, brightly multicolored, or any combination of those possibilities.

Creating Your Character

Ability Score Increases

When determining your character’s ability scores, increase one score by 2 and increase a different score by 1, or increase three different scores by 1. Follow this rule regardless of the method you use to determine the scores, such as rolling or point buy. The “Quick Build” section for your character’s class offers suggestions on which scores to increase. You can follow those suggestions or ignore them, but you can’t raise any of your scores above 20.

Languages

Your character can speak, read, and write Common and one other language that you and your DM agree is appropriate for the character. The Player's Handbook offers a list of languages to choose from. The DM is free to modify that list for a campaign.

Creature Type

Every creature in D&D, including each player character, has a special tag in the rules that identifies the type of creature they are. Most player characters are of the Humanoid type. A race in this chapter tells you what your character’s creature type is.

Here’s a list of the game’s creature types in alphabetical order: Aberration, Beast, Celestial, Construct, Dragon, Elemental, Fey, Fiend, Giant, Humanoid, Monstrosity, Ooze, Plant, Undead. These types don’t have rules themselves, but some rules in the game affect creatures of certain types in different ways. For example, the cure wounds spell doesn’t work on a Construct or an Undead.

Life Span

Dark fey mature at the same rate humans do and reach adulthood around the age of 20. They live much longer than humans, however, often exceeding 200 years.

Height and Weight

Dark fey typically range from 5-6 feet in height, excluding their towering horns. They weigh a bit more than humans of a similar height and build due to their large wings, although the wings are significantly less weighty than the humanoid portion of their bodies resulting from hollow bones and lightweight feathers.

Dark Fey Traits

As a dark fey, you have the following racial traits.

Creature Type

You are a Fey.

Size

You are Medium.

Speed

Your walking speed is 30 feet.

Flight

Because of your wings, you have a flying speed equal to your walking speed. You can’t use this flying speed if you’re wearing medium or heavy armor.

Darkvision

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.