Whimsical Fey?

[J. A.]

What fey creatures would be best suited for a more whimsical encounter?

I’ve been hitting my PCs with some darker fey here lately, including the lamp blighter, which managed to really disturb my players, not to mention take a total of three eyes from the party.

So, I’d like a lighter fey encounter to balance that out. I’m open to all official Paizo content, but with a strong preference for fey that are less cruel and more amusing, exasperating, or just plain odd.

[Melkiador]

Level range?

[Artofregicide]

There's plenty of fun, weird fey. What level are they? I mean, you can have social encounters with over CR creatures or add class levels to under CR creatures (one of my favorite things to do with any creature), but it would be useful to know their approximate abilities. I guess class composition would help too.

Many of my favourite encounters come from The Daily Bestiary by Patch Mortimer:

"Adventuring in the fey realms, a party realizes they are being maneuvered around a giant chessboard. They can continue to play the game as pawns…or change the stakes. Traversing the caverns under the game board means fighting a clan of bugganes. Claiming the bugganes’ treasure will also be difficult, as the greedy mole-giants use their earth-distorting talents to hide their gold behind solid rock"

You could easily swap the bugganes out for something else like Peches or even create a whole motley crew of fey creatures based on chess pieces.

But to answer your question (well, Peches count for this I guess):

-Huldra (add class levels!)
-Nixie (add class levels!)
-Swarms of smaller fey (grigs, sprites, stories, etc...)
-Swan Maiden (they're almost lawful!)
-Kikimora
-Tooth Fairies (actually pretty dark, but they're my favorite monster)

But my top suggestion:

-Pooka (as written, as a familiar, or with class levels. They're over the top whimsical and annoying. I love them!)

[J. A.]

I appreciate the suggestions so far. The party has just reached fourth level, so I was thinking lower-CR creatures.

The smaller fey are closer to what I was thinking--with the exception of tooth fairies, which are too unpleasant for what I had in mind. Swan maidens are a good call, since the region is perfect for swanmays, and I always enjoyed the Swanmay PrC from 3.5.

Also, what are "stories"? I'm not familiar with those.

[Mark Hoover 330]

Mites or gremlins can be fun, whimsical encounters if you run them that way. Mites in particular with a few class levels could just be jugglers/entertainers (Sleight of Hand gets a Racial bonus; Prestidigitation at will) or pranksters.

One sillier encounter I built a whole adventure around was a Korred. They literally tickle their opponents with their animated hair and their laughter is so powerful it stuns folks. My adventure was low level where a bunch of superstitious dwarves mistook a drunk korred's stoneshape abilities as signs of their deity's pleasure so every year they sacrificed copious amounts of fine ale every year to the creature.

As part of the ritual none of the dwarves were allowed to observe the ale once it was delivered to the deity at the bottom of a quarry. Once the dwarves all left the shy korred would show up, get hammered and then stagger around their Stonehenge like shrine and add some kind of new sculpture or embellishment. The next day the clergy would interpret the meaning of their new "blessing" and renew their faith for another year.

Well, the adventure begins where the PCs, on hand for the festival, find the next day that the shrine has been defaced. What actually happened was a bunch of mites swapped out a keg of soured beetle's milk for the fine ale the korred was expecting. When the fey showed up and started drinking his yearly booze, the korred was so mad at being tricked he stoneshaped rude insults into the Stonehenge and then kidnapped the mayor of the town (the only person he ever saw since it's the mayor's honor to deliver the holy beer to the bottom of the quarry).

So the PCs investigate, find out the mayor's missing and the alehouse was robbed, have the possibility of tracking down the stolen beer keg, and then have to rescue the mayor who the korred has shorn bald so he can make a special hair shirt out of the man's clippings. Said shirt isn't supposed to murder the mayor, just make him permanently uncomfortable.

[Quixote]

Why not just reskin something? An attic whisperer would make a good "playful but worrisome" fae creature, or an imp or two. The stats for an ogre or hill giant, sprinkled with a few spell-spell-like abilities, could make for something cool.
You could always make your own. In my last game there was a large smoky cat-monster with a vaguely human face and a bunch of mouth-tipped tails that whispered nonsense. There was a sphinx/gorgon who wanted nothing more than a nice, intelligent conversation, but slowly turned the PC's to stone. A wizened old ouphe who offered them guidance and three magic pies...

[Melkiador]

If you want to be humorous, you could create a swarm of mockingfey. They could take the appearance of members of the party, so it's like you're getting covered up by a flying miniature version of your party. That shouldn't actually be challenging for your party though. You could throw on the advanced template to make it a little more challenging, but the fight will be more about fun than being challenged.

[VoodistMonk]

A wandering group of seven Gremlin hooligans. This group is a hodgepodge gremlin-kind, outcasts and pariahs even within their own disheveled societies. Little more than a group of drunk, misguided teenagers taking their angst out on the world around them. They spend their time harassing and robbing traveling merchants, stealing or breaking items of everyday use, releasing livestock, and lighting things on fire.

The leader of the gang is a tiny Erinat obsessed with conflict and discord. She loves nothing more than starting fights... the more inane and pointless the struggle, the better.

Her bodyguard, enforcer, and right hand is a small, deranged Nuglub that enjoys combat with a manic glee.

The rest of the gang consists of a tiny, hideous Jinkin, who is sneaky and sadistic. A small, smiling Monaciello wearing a red robe, flipping a gold coin. A tiny, insectoid Vexgit that is fierce and angry. And a pair of tiny, mean, dog-faced Pugwampi twins that take disproportionate amounts of enjoyment from the accidents and missteps of others.

The gang is careful to stagger their positions to provide overlapping coverage from their various auras. Their attention to strategic positioning extends to provide flanking opponents when possible.

The Erinat will often use Alter Self to take on the appearance of a small, human child in order to lure unsuspecting travelers away from the beaten path and into traps and ambushes.

[Artofregicide]

J. A. wrote:

I appreciate the suggestions so far. The party has just reached fourth level, so I was thinking lower-CR creatures.

The smaller fey are closer to what I was thinking--with the exception of tooth fairies, which are too unpleasant for what I had in mind. Swan maidens are a good call, since the region is perfect for swanmays, and I always enjoyed the Swanmay PrC from 3.5.

Also, what are "stories"? I'm not familiar with those.

Curse you auto correct!

I believe I meant atomies.

Also, if they're 4th level I cannot suggest Pooka enough!

[Mark Hoover 330]

Whoah VM... whimsical, not tactical :)

How about an Atomie, riding a fluffy white sheepdog, who is defending a bridge. He's clever, articulate, and hell-bent on not letting anyone pass that isn't worthy. He'd much rather engage in a battle of wits and the atomie is noble to a fault, offering a duel of his rapier against one of the biggest PCs in single combat but secretly having levels in either swashbuckler or fighter (lore warden) as well. His name is Sir Didimus and if he's defeated it would be his honor to join the adventurers and fight for the right as one!

A pair of beautiful maidens carry amphoras of wine and offer a drinking contest. They are comely, seductive to any gender or race, and their request seems fairly benign. These fey women however are secretly Baccae, but their only intent really is to just drink and have a good time. If their beast form is triggered, look to the anime of your choice for a description. If for some reason combat actually ensues, the handmaidens of the grape use their rage like the Tasmanian Devil cartoon.

A clever, talking fox (perhaps a kitsune, perhaps just a fox with the fey-touched template) is having a real problem with a nearby farmhouse and begs the PCs for help. Warding the place is a pair of brownies who don't like the cut of the fox's jib. Regardless, if alignments are checked, the knavish rogue fox (who simply calls himself Mr Fox and sounds a lot like George Clooney) is actually NG and is just trying to get into the root cellar to feed his family for the winter

A satyr. That's it. Just a Satyr. Hilarity will ensue :)

Or another favorite of mine... the Dew Sprites!

Now this is just pure camp and silliness. Fans of puns, dad jokes and such may enjoy these folks. The Dew Sprites are the Clan of the Dew and all of their names end in the surname Dew.

Their greatest warrior is Mountain, but they're lead by a very attractive, curvy female sprite named Honey. There is a young novice fighter named Scrappy, cousin to a craven but clever bard named Scooby - both resemble dogs and have noticeable speech impediments.

The Dew Sprites are the keepers of a secret elixir which helps one bounce and leap great distances. A vile man named Duke Igthorn desires the juice and will stop at nothing to get it, even stooping to conscripting lowly goblins to steal the secret from the sprites. The PCs can help the Clan of the Dew rid themselves of the Duke once and for all, earning them a kiss from Honey and the eternal gratitude of all 99 of the Dew Sprites!

[Scavion]

Leprechauns are pretty fun relatively benevolent fey. They make illusions and can cast major creation.