Just wanted to pick some folks' brains about good (as in fun, not as in alignment) faeries to use as an antagonist for two 10th-level PCs.
Basic adventure idea is as follows (and feel free to tweak/point out other things if they occur to you):
PCs are alerted to the disappearance of the wife of their patron. After hopefully being sidetracked by an initial red herring or two, they'll trace the woman's disappearance to the painting done of her by the new, hot artist in town.
They'll track him down at the inn where he's staying, only to find several fey there hunting him down. (I'm tempted to do a version of the Billy Goats Gruff, a la "The Dresden Files," though I'm willing to take other ideas either from RPG sources or actual fairy tales, if anyone has them.)
Post-fight, they'll discover his secret -- he caught a faerie and used it to blackmail the local Faerie Queen into giving him a set of paints. Little did he know that when his work perfectly captured the subject (i.e. he rolls a 20 on his skill), it functions basically like a Magic Jar spell.
That forces them to head out and negotiate with the Faerie Queen to get the girl back.
Any suggestions for what to use as the Faerie Queen (I can't remember anything of the sort in any Monster Manuals) would be appreciated. I'm hoping they don't try to pick a fight with her, since she should obviously be very powerful, but some other fey encounters they could have on the way to the Faerie Court would be much appreciated. Thanks!
I'm fond of Nymphs. Spells and abilites, throw on a few class levels (especially druid) and they can really rock out. Urban Druid might be an interesting choices honestly -- the thousand faces ability at 6th level on a Nymph?
Pixies are all sorts of fun too... if given levels in something that does damage based on something other than size they can put a hurting on most things.
A pixie witch (or arcane sorcerer or wizard) with a faerie dragon familiar could be much fun.
Speaking of faerie dragons take one add a dash of dragon sorcerer and break the rules and allow entry into dragon disciple for a surpise melee brute with magical abilities to boot.
Genies and Ghaele make wonderful faeries with only a slight change to the fluff (and types) while adding the basic elemental subtype to most creatures can make "spirits" of most flavors. Gnomes are from the first world too so you could have an outsider Gnome that isn't a mortal. This would cause confusion as spells such as hold person simply don't work on it.
Shadow Demons make great unseelie fae as well.
There's a lot of fey stuff on the Net.
Here's a Genie with the Fey Template
Genie, Fey Djinni Cr6
Genie + Fey Template
Djinni CR 6
XP 1,600
CG Large outsider (air, extraplanar)
Init +8; Senses darkvision 60 f.; Perception +12
Defense
AC 20, touch 14, flat-footed 14 (+5 Dex, +1 dodge, +5 natural, –1 size)
hp 45 (7d10+7)
fort +3, Ref +10, Will +7 Immune acid
Offense
Speed 20 f., fly 60 f. (perfect)
Melee 2 slams +10 (1d8+3) or mwk scimitar +12/+7 (1d8+4/18–20)
Space 10 f.; Reach 10 f.
Special Attacks air mastery, whirlwind (1/10 minutes, 10–50 f. tall, 1d8+4 damage, DC 17)
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 9th)
At will—detect magic, dancing lights, invisibility (self only), plane shift (willing targets to elemental planes, Astral Plane, or Material Plane only), ghost sound, create food and water, create wine (as create water, but wine instead), gaseous form (for up to 1 hour), major creation (created vegetable matter is permanent), persistent image (DC 17), wind walk
Statistics
(Orig - Str 18, Dex 19, Con 14, Int 14, Wis 15, Cha 15)
Str 16, Dex 21, Con 12, Int 16, Wis 15, Cha 17
Base Atk +6; CMB +11; CMD 27
Feats Combat Casting, Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Improved InitiativeB, Wind Stance, Weapon Finesse Scimitar
(Orig Skills Appraise +12, Craft (any one) +12, Fly +20, Knowledge (planes) +12, Perception +12, Sense Motive +12, Spellcraft +12, Stealth +10)
Skills Appraise 10, Craft (any one) 9, Fly 16, Knowledge (planes) 10, Know (Arcana) 6, Know (Religion) 6, Perception 10, Sense Motive 13, Spellcraft 10, Stealth 16, Diplomacy 14,
Languages Aquan, Auran, Common, Ignan, Terran; telepathy 100 f.
Ecology
Environment any (Plane of Air)
Organization solitary, pair, company (3–6), or band (7–10)
Treasure standard (masterwork scimitar, other gear)
Special Abilities
Air Mastery (Ex) Airborne creatures take a –1 penalty on attack and damage rolls against a djinni
Spell Resistance (Ex): To determine if a spell or spell-like ability works the spellcaster makes a level check (1d20+caster Level). If the result equals or exceeds 19, the spell works normally, the Fey Djinn still gets a saving throw.
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Quicklings! ...not sure if they've been updated to 3.5 or Pathfinder...
...still, they were very small and insanely fast.
Ah -- it seems someones updated them for.. looks lile v3.0
Movement Rate of 240ft, Spring Attack and Sleep-inducing daggers!
Loved them. They annoyed the hell out our players for a long while..
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.....Quicklings! ...not sure if they've been updated to 3.5 or Pathfinder...
...still, they were very small and insanely fast.
Ah -- it seems someones updated them for.. looks lile v3.0
Movement Rate of 240ft, Spring Attack and Sleep-inducing daggers!
Loved them. They annoyed the hell out our players for a long while..
One thing I've done for my current campaign is to take a monster the party's not encountered and then rebuild it as a fey. You could, for example, do this with an ogre. Keep the HD, but recalc BAB, saves, et cetera, based on fey traits. Add DR #/cold iron. Modify the fluff. Maybe add a spell-like ability or two. Adjust CR as needed.
Mark L. Chance | Spes Magna Games
I can also recommend some of Mark's own work at the d20pfsrd.
He stated out the 'Madadh' which is one of my favourite fey.
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/extras/community-creations/spesmagna
In terms of PDF to buy, I think you'd really like Alluria's 'Fey Folio' by Mathew Cicci. I think Mathew did a great job of mixing reinterpretations with a classic Fey feel.
He posts on these boards so there's more than a rose's chance at midwinter that he'll pop by or you can look up his posts.
S
I don't know if it fits the flavor of your campaign, but Oni are essentially oriental fey. You could use an Ogre-mage or apply the Oni template at the bottom of the page to any other monster you might want to use.
http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/monsters/oni.html#oni-ogre-mage
A twist you might throw in. Perhaps the Faerie Queen can not undo the magic that has trapped the women in the paiting.
"What is done, is done."
Only another willing person can take her place, by having their portrait painted over hers. Who would do this? The husband?
Also from many of the old legends and tales the Fae were far from nice. Even the "Good" Fae were prettyed twisted, dark and scary by our terms. They would do horrible nasty things to people seemingly without care. They just didnt seem to see the world on the same terms as mortals. Some viewed mortals as playthings.
Perhaps the group could be sent into the painting to "find" the trapped women. Only to have the Fae altering the painting while they are inside. Painting in horrible traps, events and creatures.
+1! Cool ideas
MM3 has some neat fey in it, such as the glaistig, redcap, and splintertwig.
Nymph with class levels sounds best. Maybe sorcerer or oracle, to get the biggest bang for your buck with Charisma.
Thanks for the great ideas, folks. LOVE the enter-the-painting concept and will definitely have to figure out how to work it.
I like the idea of a "genie" fey for some of the bigger bads (i.e. the queen) and using a restatted ogre (maybe up through troll) for my "Billy Goats Gruff."
This campaign won't be near Kara-Tur so no oni, per se, though I can still look at/steal stats from them.
Have you looked at Realm of the Fellnight Queen? It actually has a Fey Queen in it. You could modify to suit your tastes I would think. Good luck!
Fey do not get much exposure in D&D books, and what the monster manuals have to offer always seem too generic and interchangeable with non-fey monsters...
I prefer to use 3PP books like Fearies from bastion press or The Complete Guide to Fey from goodman games. You should take a look.
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Thanks for the great ideas, folks. LOVE the enter-the-painting concept and will definitely have to figure out how to work it.
I believe there's an APG spell that does just that. Creates a pocket dimension out of a painting or some such.
Perhaps you could split the party (or allow an NPC, such as the husband to splinter off) where one group enters the painting as a rescue party, while the other distracts/entertains/opposes the queen's efforts.
For example 1 character enters the painting, another attempts to convince/distract the queen not to act, another still attempts to acquire more paints, while another attempts to paint beneficial terrain/allies for the one(s) that entered the painting.
Minotaurs might make good, re-fluffed, Billy Goats Gruff.
And Goatfolk from MM3!!!!!
Another thing I forgot: The Ivory Goats from the Figurines of Wonderous Power.
They make excellent trump cards, since they're relatively powerful, but only usable once in a while.
Another thing I forgot: The Ivory Goats from the Figurines of Wonderous Power.
They make excellent trump cards, since they're relatively powerful, but only usable once in a while.
