Fey

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Fey, also spelled as Fae, is a generic term used to refer to any creature associated with the fairy races, such as sprites, pixies, nymphs, etcetera. The term is pretty much as old as the concept of the Land of Faerie itself, but in /tg/ circles was popularized by Dungeons & Dragons, which designated it as one of the basic creature types in 3rd edition.

In Mythology

The image actual medieval Europeans held of the Fae (or "The Fair Folk" as they also called them so as to not earn their ire, hence the word fairy) was nothing like the glittery friendly gits that Disney raised you on. The various fae were generally Chaotic Neutral at best and Chaotic Evil at worst, doing stuff like abducting your newborn child at night and replacing them with their own or burning your crops to the ground for the lulz. As otherworldly inscrutable beings who did with mortals as they pleased, benign ones were uncommon and benevolent ones rare. That being said, much like devils or to some extent djinn, the Fair Folk in the stories tend to follow strict rules, placing great value on oaths and agreements, but tend to follow things to the letter and not the spirit. There are many tales were mortals make bargains with one of the Fair Folk, only to get screwed over because they worded their request badly. Usually, the stories make it very clear that under no circumstances should you offend them because the Fey's version of mercy tends to involve a lot of pain and suffering. Of surprising note is the fact that folks would often report "Fey abduction" encounters that had all the same characteristics as modern "Alien abduction" accounts; just replace the Greys and Reptiods with elves and goblins, and the spooky spaceship with some spooky cave or forest. Also like abducting aliens, most medieval people didn't actually believe in them. In fact, St Agustine was once asked how they fit into the Genesis Creation story (which would actually be a really good question, come to think of it), and he responded by saying that they can worry about that once their existence had been definitively proven.

The list of fey monsters is vast indeed, and includes:

• Fairy
• Pixie
• Sprite
• Nymph
• Dryad
• Hamadryad
• Leprechaun
• Pooka
• Redcap
• Elf
• Dwarf
• Gnome
• Changeling
• Asrai

In D&D

Virtually every fey creature that appeared in mythology has appeared in Dungeons & Dragons at some point or another, sometimes as Medieval Europeans imagined them, sometimes as Disney imagined them, sometimes somewhere in between. Fey occupy a weird nebulous point between being magical humanoids and being full-fledged extraplanar beings, like the angels, fiends and elementals. The Plane of Faerie as the otherworldly home realm of the fey has been thrown around a few times in the Great Wheel, but it wasn't until 4e introduced the World Axis cosmology that this became an integral part of the basic multiverse, known as the Feywild. This went down well enough that WotC thought it was worth risking grognard backlash by incoporating the Feywild into a modified Great Wheel in 5e.

The rulers of the fey are called, imaginatively enough, the Archfey.

Fey creatures often have names preceded by "fairy/faerie", such as the Faerie Dragon.

Shadow Fey

Introduced in the D&D setting of Ravenloft, Shadow Fey are a class of fey creatures who escaped servitude to a monstrous demon-god called Gwydion in the Plane of Shadow by fleeing into the Demiplane of Dread. They are basically a more "Gothic themed" variation of the classic fey creatures of D&D at the time, and are characterized predominantly by their lethal aversion to sunlight and their active embrace of the classic Seelie/Unseelie mythology split, as they stem from a time when fey creatures tended to just sort of "there" in D&D.

For more details, see the Shadow Fey page.

Playable Fey

Even excluding the obvious Elves, many of the various Fey races have been made playable in D&D at one point or another, particularly in the days of Basic and Advanced D&D. However, in one of the more confusing uses of the name, issue #257 of Dragon Magazine presented the Fey as a kind of alternate Elf race for use in its "Dark Ages" mini-setting; a Low Historical Fantasy version of Dark Ages Britain running off of the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons ruleset.

"Fey elves", visually characterized by their blonde to red-blonde hair and piercing green eyes, function almost exactly like standard AD&D elves, except for a few minor changes:

Ability Score Minimum/Maximum: Strength 3/18, Dexterity 6/18, Constitution 7/18, Intelligence 8/18, Wisdom 3/18, Charisma 9/18

Class & Level Limits: Fighter 12, Ranger 12, Thief 13, Bard 13, Wizard (Mage, Abjurer, Diviner, Enchanter) Unlimited

Multiclassing Options: Fighter/Thief, Fighter/Mage, Fighter/Mage/Thief, Ranger/Thief, Ranger/Mage

List of D&D Fey Races

Found at this link here, which also provides links to each fey with the (Wizards of the Coast web site) designator.

• https://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?215694-All-the-Different-Types-of-Fey

Very long list in here.

• Actaeon (Mystara Monstrous Compendium Appendix)
• Adaro (Dragon #29)
• Agta (Imagine #25)
• Ashira (Monstrous Compendium Al-Qadim Appendix (MC13))
• Asrai (Planes of Chaos)
• Atomie (Monstrous Manual)
• Averx (Dragon #172)
• Bajang (Oriental Adventures)
• Banshrae (Monster Manual V)
• Baobhan Sith (Ravenloft Monstrous Compendium Appendix III: Creatures of Darkness)
• Batibat (Imagine #25)
• Bile Wrapped in Beauty (Wizards of the Coast web site)
• Bisan (Oriental Adventures)
• Bog Imp (Heroes of Horror)
• Bogeyman (Dragon #101)
• Boggart (Wizards of the Coast web site)
• Boggart (Alternate) (Dragon #54)
• Boggart (Alternate II) (Dragon #239)
• Booka (Monstrous Compendium Greyhawk Appendix)
• Boowray (Ravenloft Monstrous Compendium Appendix III: Creatures of Darkness)
• Bramble (Monstrous Compendium Annual Volume Three)
• Brownie (Wizards of the Coast web site)
• Brownie, House (Dragon #331)
• Buckawn (Monstrous Compendium Greyhawk Appendix)
• Caliento (Wizards of the Coast web site)
• Cat, Cheshire (Wizards of the Coast web site)
• Cat, Crystalline (Dragon #304)
• Chac (Maztica Campaign Set)
• Chaneque (Dragon #317)
• Changeling, Faerie (Blood Spawn)
• Chevall (Mystara Monstrous Compendium Appendix)
• Chrysalis Spinner (Wizards of the Coast web site)
• Cinciut (Red Caps) (Polyhedron #147)
• Clurichaun (Dragon #239)
• Coltpixy (Mystara Monstrous Compendium Appendix)
• Crossroads Guardian (Magic of Faerûn)
• Deepling (Dragon #281)
• Dobie (Monstrous Compendium Annual Volume Two)
• Dogai (Dragon #29)
• Domovoi (Frostburn)
• Drake, Mystaran, Colddrake (Mystara Monstrous Compendium Appendix)
• Drake, Mystaran, Elemental (Mystara Monstrous Compendium Appendix)
• Drake, Mystaran, Mandrake (Mystara Monstrous Compendium Appendix)
• Drake, Mystaran, Wooddrake (Mystara Monstrous Compendium Appendix)
• Dreamfane (Wizards of the Coast web site)
• Dryad (Monster Manual v.3.5)
• Dryad, Black Woods (D&D Miniatures: Desert of Desolation)
• Dryad, Hamadryad (Monstrous Compendium Annual Volume Three)
• Ekrat (Dragon #94)
• Elf, Arak (Shadow Rift)
• Fachan (Celts Campaign Sourcebook (HR3))
• Faedorne (Creature Catalog (DMR2))
• Faerie (Dungeons & Dragons Rules Cyclopedia)
• Faerie Fiddler (Monstrous Compendium Annual Volume Three)
• Faerie Phiz (Dragon #191)
• Faerie, Seelie (Blood Spawn)
• Faerie, Unseelie, Living Evil (Blood Spawn)
• Fairy (Supplement IV: Gods, Demigods, Heroes)
• Faun (Deities and Demigods)
• Faux Faerie (Monstrous Compendium Fiend Folio Appendix (MC14))
• Fenette (Shaman)
• Feystag (Monstrous Compendium Annual Volume One)
• Feytouched (Fiend Folio)
• Flitterling (Creature Catalog (DMR2))
• Force of Nature (Dragon #304)
• Forestfolk (Wizards of the Coast web site)
• Forlarren (1ed Fiend Folio)
• Fossergrim (Fiend Folio)
• Frost (Monstrous Compendium Forgotten Realms Appendix (MC11))
• Frostwind Virago (Monster Manual V)
• Gahonga (Legends & Lore)
• Gan-Da-Yah (Dragon #61)
• Garden Imp (Mystara Monstrous Compendium Appendix)
• Glaistig (Monster Manual III)
• Glitterhaunt (Wizards of the Coast web site)
• Gloura (Underdark)
• Gorse (Monstrous Compendium Annual Volume Three)
• Gray Jester (Heroes of Horror)
• Green Crusader (Wizards of the Coast web site)
• Gremlin (Dragon #79)
• Grig (Monster Manual v.3.5)
• Halfling, Shadow World (Blood Spawn)
• Hoarfroster (Wizards of the Coast web site)
• Hoary Hunter (Epic Level Handbook)
• Huldrefolk (Bestiary of Krynn, Revised)
• Hybsil (Monsters of Faerûn)
• Jack Frost (Ravenloft Monstrous Compendium Appendix III: Creatures of Darkness)
• Jaebrin (Monster Manual V)
• Jermlaine (Monster Manual II)
• Joystealer (Monster Manual IV)
• Kelpie (Fiend Folio)
• Killmoulis (Monstrous Manual)
• Kormus (Knowledge Arcana: Issue 5)
• Korred (Monstrous Manual)
• Kruel (Dragon #187)
• Leanan Sidhe (Wizards of the Coast web site)
• Leprechaun, Wicked (Dragon #239)
• Leshay (Epic Level Handbook)
• Leshii (Dragon #290)
• Leshy (Dragon #119)
• Leshy (Alternate) (Dragon #239)
• Lunar Ravager (Monster Manual IV)
• Lutum (Monster of the Void)
• Malgoren (Wizards of the Coast web site)
• Mara (Monstrous Compendium Forgotten Realms Appendix (MC11))
• Moan Bird (Sons of Azca (HWR1))
• Murderjack (Wizards of the Coast web site)
• Mythu'nn Folk (Savage Coast Monstrous Compendium Appendix)
• Nat, Einsaung (Oriental Adventures)
• Nat, Hkum Yeng (Oriental Adventures)
• Nat, Lu (Oriental Adventures)
• Nature Spirit (Oriental Adventures)
• Nereid (Stormwrack)
• Nightshade (Monstrous Compendium Annual Volume One)
• Nixie (Monster Manual v.3.5)
• Nuchlavis (Wizards of the Coast web site)
• Nymph (Monster Manual v.3.5)
• Nymph, Grain (Monstrous Compendium Annual Volume Four)
• Nymph, Lost (Magic of Incarnum)
• Nymph, Unseelie (Wizards of the Coast web site)
• Nymph (Water) (Supplement II: Blackmoor)
• Ocean Strider (Monster Manual II)
• Oh-Do-Was (Dragon #61)
• Oread (Fiend Folio)
• Pahari (Monstrous Compendium Al-Qadim Appendix (MC13))
• Parparit ( תירפרפ ) (Lunar Women (HCM1))
• Pech (Dungeon #151)
• Petal (Monster Manual III)
• Phouka (Celts Campaign Sourcebook (HR3))
• Pixie (Monster Manual v.3.5)
• Plainsjan (Realmspace (SJR2))
• Pooka (Tall Tales of the Wee Folk (PC1))
• Quickling (Monstrous Compendium Annual Volume Two)
• Ragewalker (Monster Manual III)
• Raknakle (Dragon #274)
• Randara (Mystara Monstrous Compendium Appendix)
• Redcap (Monster Manual III)
• Redcap (Alternate) (Dragon #158)
• Rimefire Eidolon (Frostburn)
• Rime Sprite (Wizards of the Coast web site)
• Ruin Chanter (Monster Manual V)
• Rusalka (Frostburn)
• Sakina (Monstrous Compendium Al-Qadim Appendix (MC13))
• Satyr (Monster Manual v.3.5)
• Seelie Court Fey (Dragon Compendium, Volume 1)
• Shadar-Kai (Fiend Folio)
• Shadovig (Dragon #299)
• Shaedling (Monster Manual V)
• Shargugh (Mystara Monstrous Compendium Appendix)
• Shatjan (Horde Barbarian Campaign Setting)
• Shike (Dungeon #73)
• Shimmerling, Swarm (Monster Manual III)
• Siabrie (Wizards of the Coast web site)
• Sidhe (Tall Tales of the Wee Folk (PC1))
• Silkie (Dragon #41)
• Silver Warrior (Creature Catalog (DMR2))
• Sirine (Monster Manual II)
• Sleeping Blossom Sprite (Wizards of the Coast web site)
• Snake, Gloomwing (Monstrous Compendium Forgotten Realms Appendix (MC11))
• Spark (Dragon #304)
• Spirit Animal (Frostburn)
• Spirit of the Land (Monster Manual II)
• Splanxty (Eye of the Serpent (UK5))
• Splinterwaif (Monster Manual III)
• Spriggan (Fiend Folio)
• Springheel (Dragon #355)
• Sprite (Monstrous Manual)
• Sprite, Seelie Faerie (Monstrous Compendium Annual Volume Two)
• Sprite, Unseelie Faerie (Monstrous Compendium Annual Volume Two)
• Squeaker (Monstrous Compendium Annual Volume One)
• Stone Maiden (Monstrous Compendium Al-Qadim Appendix (MC13))
• Storm Rider (Wizards of the Coast web site)
• Stwinger (Monstrous Compendium Fiend Folio Appendix (MC14))
• Tatalla (Monstrous Compendium Annual Volume One)
• Telthor (Unapproachable East)
• Tepictoton (Sons of Azca (HWR1))
• Thorn (Monster Manual III)
• Thunder Children (Monstrous Compendium Fiend Folio Appendix (MC14))
• Tikbalang (Imagine #25)
• Uldra (Frostburn)
• Unseelie Fey (Dragon Compendium, Volume 1)
• Urisk (Lubin) (Dragon #94)
• Usunag (Wizards of the Coast web site)
• Verdant Prince (Monster Manual IV)
• Vila (Dragon #290)
• Vodyanoi (Frostburn)
• Wendigo (Fiend Folio)
• Wild Hunt, Master of the Hunt (Monster Manual V)
• Wild Hunter (Expedition to the Demonweb Pits)
• Wild Watcher (Dungeon #132)
• Winterling (Dragon #324)
• Wood Imp (Mystara Monstrous Compendium Appendix)
• Wychglow (Creature Catalog (DMR2))
• Wychlamp (Creature Catalog (DMR2))
• Yuki-On-Na (Frostburn)
• Zeitgeist (Cityscape)