Questions About the First World and "Generic" Fey

[jscott991]

I recently read the First World: Realm of the Fey book.

It's not quite my preferred treatment of the Fey, but it was certainly interesting.

It left me with a question. It references a lot of Fey cities and talks about the residents of the First World who live and work there. There are also a number of pictures of fairly humanoid (but fancifully dressed) figures throughout the book.

What type of Fey are these?

Who are the more humanoid Fey that you typically see in illustrations that make up Faerie courts? D&D used to have a few generic fey types, but I can't find that anything like that officially exists in Pathfinder / Golarion.

I'm really interested in Fey that aren't loner threats to parties (like nymphs, dryads, rusalka, nereids, etc.) or extremely small (like pixies, sprites, etc.). You see a lot of illustrations of Fey that are just oddly colored humanoids with longer, elf-like ears, but I'm not clear just what kind of Fey those are supposed to be.

What types of Fey could be used to fill out Fey cities and Royal Courts (like the very unseelie-like Court of Ether or the Fey that appear in Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell)? What types of Fey would be soldiers in Fey armies (like the kind that must battle in the neverending siege described in the First World book)?

Thanks for any help! My solution at this point is to maybe just apply the Fey creature template to elves.

[Adjoint]

I think that fey cities are inhabited primarily by gnomes. If I understand correctly the "On the Origin of Gnomes" section (p. 14-15 of the book), not all gnmoes were banished to the Material Plane, most of them remain in the First World, where they are the dominant race (especially in the cities). Mechanically, the gnomes of the First World maintened remained fey, they are not humanoids.

Of other fey that live in the cities, I think you can have some domovoi and gremlins. The Bestiaries, focusing on what fey you can find on the Material Plane, unfortunately don't give much options.

Other social and common fey include fauns, leprechauns and pixies (they are actually Small-sized), all of them may be present at fey courts.

[jscott991]

Most of the NPCs referenced in First World (mayors of cities, etc.) seem to be gnomes.

But they aren't quite what I'm looking for.

I think the closest to what I'm looking for might be something like the Candlestone Courtier in the Andoran book, but that isn't a CR12 or specially built to be an evil fey bargainer.

[Bloodrealm]

There is the Fey Creature template that can be applied to basically anything, so they might be Fey Creature versions of normal races.

[Adjoint]

You can also put in some elves or other humanoids that took the Feysworn prestige class, died and were reborn as the courtierst off the Eldest, or just decided to stay in the First World on their own. By the description of the class they are more common in the First World than on the Material Plane.

[Mark Hoover 330]

J-town,

I've not read the book, so I can't comment on what the Fey in the First World should be. If you want to pit your PCs against Fey en masse however, or build social groups with this Beastiary type, consider that many Fey are Skill or Spell role creatures more suited to being mastermind types, or lone threats.

That being said, you're not left out in the cold.

Mites are the obvious choice for low level. CR 1/4, vermin, and some other prankish powers, but one thing people overlook about these Fey: Scent. Consider - they rely on smell as much as sight and can use Prestidigitation to scent mark. Sounds like canines to me, and those are very social animals. Mites cluster in groups up to 20, but that doesn't mean you can't have multiple different groups working in concert like a consortium.

Also consider Pechs. Earth-based fey who, while neutral, can still present a clear and present danger to races like dwarves or humans. These creatures are CR 3 who gather in tribes up to 40 and in groups of 4 can unleash walls of stone! I'd say a Small creature with 19 Str, the ability to speak with rocks 3/day and with three of his buddies can wall off a section of caves are ideal dungeon builders.

Now for a bit of a curve ball, consider the humble Biloko. These creatures have Charm Person 3/day which makes them more puppet-master types, but they also have a social component with gangs up to 16. They're billed as warm forest dwellers, but with a bit of GM fiat they could easily adapt to any sylvan area. Putting a small gang of these guys in a rural, forest-based village you could set up a pretty dark scenario where the Biloko are trying to impress one another by having their charmed proxies do increasingly out-of-character stuff thanks to their Persuasion ability.

I've found that with Fey creatures, moreso than many in the Beastiaries, you really need to add some careful consideration to how they should get used in the game.

[jscott991]

This was a ton of helpful information. Thanks!

I think for some of the more colorful courtiers, I'll just use Elves or Humans with a Fey creature template applied.

But I love the idea of using Pechs and your Biloko idea was amazing too.

[djdust]

Gathlain are supposedly from amongst the first fey.

As for building a court or army, look no further than the entries for erlking and hamadryad, they surround themselves with centaurs, dryads, satyrs, and treants. Centaurs and treants not being fey creatures, that leaves dryads and satyrs as being the core fey denizens. In my mental picture of the fey realm, add in plenty of pixies, sprites, fauns, and the like. Spriggans are another offshoot of gnomes that can be interesting to play with, roving packs of feral fey warriors. Also, the Wild Hunt is a totally awesome fey army that can be called up to take down a major threat.

[The Sideromancer]

I think you have it backwards: the Wild Hunt are a major threat that we need to call up a totally awesome army to take down.

[djdust]

I mean, they are called up by the Fey to take down major threats to the Fey.