Fae-o-matic. You find the folklore, I make the beasty!

[Mulletmanalive]

For anyone who's not noticed before or doesn't know me, I REALLY like Fae creatures and have been dedicating the sneaky-villainy part of my split War/Villainy campaign setting to them and other folklorish stuff.

If you have a legend from your locality or elsewhere you'd like to see in D&D stats, please, let me know! Links to lore are pretty much essential...

Latest: Nain Rouge
Wendigo, Mortal

Done:

1. Alp Tiny butterfly vampire dream eaters. German.
2. Am Fear Laith Mor (Mythic Aberdeen) Giant hairy beast: Scotland
3. Ankou Dark robed agent of death and paranoia: Breton [North France]
4. Ælfar the original Norse elves. Scandinavia
   
   1. AElfr Warrior, AElfr Archer
5. Ballybogs Peat dwelling pests; Irish and similar areas.
6. Barghest Black dog, seen as omen of death. British
7. Bean Sidhe - Banshee Irish, Keens over the deaths of nobles
8. Black Dog [Cu Sith [cooshee], Yeth]
9. Boabhan Sith Dancing, vampiric fairies from Scotland.
10. Buggebear [Bugbear] creepy bear-like bogey from Yorkshire, England
11. Bunyip Terrible many formed monster. Australia
12. Cuco Brazilian bogey creature, eater of sleepless children.
13. Chenoo Ice hearted giant from the far north. New England Indians.
14. Draugr/Grassman Possessing plants that create Fae undead...
15. Dybbuk Attic dwelling Yiddish horrors. Yiddish
16. Fear Darrig Scottish uber illusionsists
17. Gancanagh Bigh fairy hunk of man... Irish.
18. Goblins Introduction and Lore section: British
    
    1. Border Goblins Dunters, Redcaps and Robin Redcap himself.
    2. Common Goblins Basic brat creatures. No lore for advanced versions.
    3. Hobgoboins Basic up, awaiting advanced versions.
    4. Under Goblins Knockers, Bluecaps and Buccas. Not decided if there are any more specific sub-breeds yet.
19. Grasshopper Powerful enchanter/spirit creature from Penobscot myth. Native American
20. Gwyllion Ugly hags and old men who lead travellers astray: Welsh
21. Haints in the Hollers Tennessee Ghost-lights. American
22. Ibuntei Kaiju from Northern Japan
23. Kitsune, Huli-jing Animalistic fox yokai. Oriental.
24. Kitsune, Ninko Humanoid fox yokai. Japan.
25. Lady Midday Spirit of heatstroke from Ukraine/Poland.
26. Leannan Sidhe vampiric muse from Gaelic cultures.
27. Mermaids
    1. Rhine Maidens
    2. Sea Witch
28. Mishibizhiw Underwater Panther, mighty enemy of the Thunderbirds: Obijiwa and others
29. Nain Rouge Detroit dwarf harbinger of doom. American
30. Nuckelavee Spirit of Winter seas, storms and disease: Orkney
31. Patupaiarehe Albino Elves with some nasty habits and odd weaknesses: New Zealand
32. Questing Beast the hell? Seriously, the most disturbing lore i've ever found. British...
33. Shyft Horse -Kelpie etc Shapeshifting horse that entraps travellers and drowns them: Scotland and elsewhere
    
    1. Each Uisge (Greater Shyft Horse)
    2. Caeill MacDee, River Knight Each Uisge with Faerie Knight levels
34. Sluagh Dead spirits that possess people and cause strokes with their weapons. Scottish
35. Spriggan Tiny, ugly beings of immense strength. Cornish
36. The Tarasque French beast, born from earlier great monsters. French
37. Thunderbird Big old spirit and protector: Native American
38. Tikbilang horse-man thing that pixie leads it's targets. Philippinnes
39. Tokoloshe water spirit zombie thing. South African
40. Tsuchigumo Long limbed ninja spider people. Japan
41. Unicorn chimeric horned horse/deer. Europe and elsewhere. Specifically Arthurian.
42. Wendigo, Mortal Mutated cannibal of great speed and stealth: Native American

PC Races:

1. AElfar I suggest using the Null Levels method of entry...
2. Ghostlight Made for request, no particular lore.
3. Kitsune, Ninko Humanoid fox-yokai. Japan
4. Patupaiarehe Albino Elves with some nasty habits and odd weaknesses: New Zealand
5. Selkie-folk Descentants of those cursed to live beneath the sea. Seal-shapeshifters. Scotland/Ireland/Orkney
6. Tsuchigumo Long limbed ninja spider people. Japan

Classes:

1. Faerie King [Unfinished]
2. Faerie Knight
3. Faerie Queen

Feats:

1. Chaining Breath Metabreath. Attack bounces from one target to the next.
2. Changeling The ability to mimic the form of another to replace them. Generally taken to resemble a child.
3. Create Fetch A more advanced artificial replacement for a human.
4. Create Stock Create an artificial replacement human so that you can get away with stealing babies!
5. Faerie Fief You have a piece of property on the other side of the hedge that provides resources
6. Filch Steal stuff as an attack option.
7. Natural Flurry/Greater Natural Flurry Make natural attacks as different action types.
8. Pixie Lead Draw people towards a point of your chosing within 30ft.
9. Sticky Hands Style/Merciless Theft Theft based martial arts
10. Siren Draw targets towards you with your...well the tricks vary...
11. Stick in the Mud Gain bonus when grappling opponent while burrowing.
12. Tectonic Breath Metabreath. Fire based breath weapon becomes lava.

Templates:

• Bogey

Up Next (in this order):

1. Wampus Cat
2. Sphinx:
3. More Krampus lore.
4. Curupira

In the wings: finished but not posted

• Ogres
• Alfar

Coming Soon:

1. Blue Lady [Ghost?] #23
2. Bean Nighe [Washer Prophet]
3. Nakken/Nix/Nixie [freshwater merfolk things with shapeshifting powers and magical music]
4. Wampus Cat [catwoman thing]
5. Splintercat [lion type creature that blasts trees to ruined carcasses to get at bees]
6. Red Dwarf [demonesque dwarf harbinger thing]
   

If you like Fairies: Songs of the Sidhe by Mythmage is a similar project, with a more game oriented view and more modern lore used.

The Fae Subtype:
Because the original fey type isn't helpful in designing creatures, I've replaced it with the following subtype. You'll see me using the "Fey" type under the name of "Thing," I'll happily explain why but no here.

A creature with the Fae subtype gains the following qualities:
Liminal Tweening: Each Fae has a limited ability to enter the Hedge, a boundary realm between the real world and the halls of the Fae lords. Doing so requires them to enter a suitable liminal as determined by their HD and spending a Swift action. Returning requires a Swift action and causes them to emerge from the nearest available liminal.
{table]HD:|Liminal|Description:

1-2 |Dusk/Dawn|During these times, Fae are treated as having +5 HD for purposes of Tweening.

3-4 |Doorways/Physical Boundaries|The physical boundaries between rooms, earth and water and the limits of forests and clearings can serve as gateways.

5-7 |Space Beneath|: The fæ can slip into and out of the bits beneath and behind other things, which are neither floor, wall nor object

8-12 |Shadows|The fæ can shift whenever he is in neither direct light nor total darkness

13-17| Abstract Boundaries|By this point the Fæ has gotten immensely tricksy and can Shift through the boundaries between made up things like city limits, the differences between streets and county boundaries.

18+ |Moments|True and Noble Fæ can Shift between the narrowest of conceptions, moments of time itself and can thus Shift at all times, freely and can perceive with almost Omniscient clarity when inside the hedge.[/table]

Sidebar: Wait, the Hedge?

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The Hedge is a Fey realm that borders onto our own, nature and reality’s way of coping with the otherworldly strangeness of the fairy realms. Effectively, as the world became less wild and the Ages Unremembered gave way to the Age of Legends, the world began to need the fey less and less and so the edges of their estates, untended as they were, began to grow up, forming great tatty hedges in a manner that only the otherworldly can.

Mortal beings began to lose track of the places where the fey had made their homes and before anyone had truly realised it, the wild estates of the truly powerful spirits of nature had sealed themselves off behind a mythical hedge that had become at once everywhere and nowhere. Now, the lesser fey and some mortals use it for a hiding place. Movement within the Hedge is effectively doubled in distance, though they have to contend with the thick briar of the barrier itself [fey and druids are both unaffected by this, but anyone else will have issues].

Depending on the skill of the fey in question, entering the Hedge can be done at almost any time or possibly far more rarely. There are general limits to the seams in reality that any given fey can use to cross into the Hedge. When within these specific kinds of liminal [the boundary where either of two kinds of classification can be applied] fey may cross into the Hedge as a Swift action. Creatures inside the Hedge can see clipped glimpses of what is going on in the real world through the leaves of the briar and can be seen as slight movements out of the corner of the eye of those in the real world. Shifting back into the real world is also a Swift action.

Creatures in the Hedge cannot attack or use spell like abilities from within the Hedge and are very difficult to find and attack. Within the Hedge, a creature has Improved Cover, a 50% miss chance [like total concealment] and can only be spotted with a Spot check result of 20 + their Hide bonus. Creatures in the Hedge normally make no sound in the mortal world, nor can they hear events in the real world. Spells intended to thwart Invisibility can penetrate the Hedge, revealing the location of creatures but do not negate the Cover or miss chance effects. These are based on the difficulty of interacting through the boundary and the fact that most Fey aren’t skilled enough at negotiating the Hedge to use it to hide properly as they can’t predict when they’ll be visible from the human side...

The actual extent of the Hedge is up to the GM to decide; some worlds may be completely covered in it and may well suffer horribly from fey depredations or the Hedge may extend only through certain areas such as specific islands [a bit like Avalon or the Black Forest in legends]. If the latter is the case, it is easy to add to an existing campaign simply as a result of the player characters having yet to encounter a region into which the Hedge extends.

If you’d prefer that fey didn’t live in a demiplane with a boundary area, creatures with this property strafe part way into the shadow plane; other than the spells needed to follow them changing, nothing else will be different.

Summary:

• Cannot attack nor use Spell-like abilities against targets in the Real world.
• +8 AC, +4 on Reflex saves [Improved Evasion] and 50% miss chance against all incoming attacks.
• Requires a Spot check, DC 20 + Hide modifier to locate from Real world. Counts as having concealment against all others within the Hedge. Spells that penetrate Invisibility can reveal those within.
• Cannot be heard by those on the other side of the liminal.

Damage Reduction: All fae benefit from DR/Cold Iron. In MV, they instead have DR/Natural Materials, rendering them highly resistant to conventional weapons.
Spell-Like Abilities: All Fæ have spell like abilities. They gain a number of Druid, Illusion or Enchantment spells with total levels equal to their Hit Dice. Each Quirk spent grants an equal number of spell levels. These powers can be used more or less at will, though limits govern a given Fæ's sphere of influence.
Dissolve: Slain Fæ break down into a pile of leaves, a pool of water or some other natural feature when killed. Fæ are instantly replaced within the natural scheme, though the new entity has no knowledge of its predecessor's demise or even its existence. Fæ items hang around after their destruction but cannot be reproduced by men.

Fæ Glammer:

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Illusion comes up a lot in fairytales, so it is necessary to formalise what it can do. This goes completely in defiance of the D&D way of doing things, so strap in:

The basics:
The illusions made by the Fæ are not mere images of light and sound, nor are they purely mental things that are projected into the minds of a target [phantasms are usually applied via eye contact]; instead, they are living artworks of glammer and, for want of a better term, fairydust. These function as pure images, though they have both visual and audible components, along with faint smells; when interacted with directly, the target becomes subject to a powerful Phantasmal aspect, which fills in the tactile and thermal qualities within his mind. It is this that makes the fæ so difficult to deal with on their own terms.

While an glammer created by a fæ is no more able to support the weight of a man than any other delusion or display of twinkling lights, it is sufficiently convincing to be able to harm those who interact with the more dangerous aspects of the image; illusionary fire can still seem to burn you and an illusionary blade can leave an illusionary wound so real that it hurts and cripples a limb.

Aspects:
A glammer is defined by the number of "Aspects" that it contains. Each aspect is a distinct thing that cannot be separated, with a total volume of no more than 100 cubic feet [the maximum volume of a large creature]. Multiple aspects can be combined to create a larger whole to allow for movement. For instance, if you wished to create a room, you would have to create the environment with one aspect and if you wanted to make it possible to move and thumb through the books inside, they would have to be composed of a second aspect.

A fairy's abilities as an illusionist are measured in the number of aspects the can create: some can only create one or two, while the most powerful, such as the Fear Derrig, are able to create a large number and dictate reality over a small area.

Disbelief:
When dealing with a glammer, there are always tiny slips that will allow a character to notice that it is not real. While this does little to actually help cancel the illusion, it does allow some effects to be circumvented.

Detecting a flaw requires an Observation, Listen or Sense Motive check against the illusionist's Psyche. If a flaw is detected, the following become true:

Walls can be penetrated consciously; under normal circumstances, the mind will not allow you to run full pelt into a wall. With a glammer of one, you will also feel the impact of the wall and physically recoil, treating it as impassable or rationalising the jolt away as you vault over it.

Damage dealt to you by creatures and effects are reduced by your Will save modifier. Hence, illusionary swords will leave mere scratches while illusionary fire may only feel like a sunburn.

The illusion can be seen through, glancing through cracks and the like; by spending a Swift action looking at it, you can see what is on the other side of, or inside, a glammer.

Knowing that you are dealing with a glammer is powerful as it allows you the option of turning your coat or any other suitable dispelling effect that Lore might uncover. [Turning the coat cancels any phantasms affecting you and makes all glammers around you invisible; this only applies to the glammers of specific creatures, it's just a ready example].

In D&D, this is replicated with a standard Will save, DC 10 + ½ HD + Charisma modifier. The effects are the same.

The Specifics:

Creature: When created by glammer, a creature is effectively real to the targets and invisible and intangible to everyone else. As a creature gets larger, it gets easier and easier to disbelieve, meaning that the save is easier on larger creatures than it would have been on smaller ones. Tiny or smaller creature are incapable of dealing damage except when in a Swarm, in which case, use their equivalent size. Phantasmal creatures use the stats of the Fear Darrig for all actions, though their Space and Reach are determined by their size. A summary is included here:

{table]Size: |Damage: |Armour: |Notes: |Disbelieve DC:
Small |1d6 + Cha |2 | |+1
Medium |1d8 + Cha |3 | |+0
Large |2d6 + 1.5 x Cha |5 |Fearsome |-1
Huge |3d6 + 1.5 x Cha |8 |Area 5ft |-2
Gargantuan |4d6 + 2 x Cha |10 |Area 10ft |-4
Colossal |6d6 + 3 x Cha |15 |Area 15ft| -8[/table]

Fearsome: All creatures who see a fearsome creature fight must compare their Psyche with the creature's Intimidate bonus [bonus + 0 + 4 per size over Medium]. If the score is higher than their Psyche, they become Shaken. This is repeated whenever the creature attacks.
Area Attack: When a creature with this ability attacks, it may opt to treat the attack as a Barrage attack with the stated area of effect. As normal, the area attack has a Reflex save DC of 5 + Attack bonus for half damage. The area must be wholely within the creature's reach.

Objects: When created with Glammer, objects are function much as a real copy would. The limitations based on the aspects used in the construction of the item still apply, so a ranged weapon couldn't actually fire unless each of its projectiles were a discreet aspect.

Glammer objects appear to have weight when handled and deal Mental damage to anyone they fall on or are wielded against. In the case of objects that have worth when interacted with, they behave as normal, filled in by the expectations of the interacting character; for instance, if a character were to open a book, they would find their own knowledge of the subject rehashed to seem more enlightening than it actually is.

Scenery: Scenery can be created using glammer, much like anything else can be. These materials will seem solid to those who interact with them without figuring out that they are in an illusion. Walls are impenetrable unless someone is knocked through one without looking or something similar occurs.

A skilled illusionist, such as a Fear Derrig is more than capable of creating difficult terrain, damaging terrain [like fire] or even convincing you that you're climbing as set of stairs by altering your sensations to feel like you're putting one foot above another. While all this is happening, someone viewing you through a holed stone will find your caperings most amusing.

To clarify; scenery is effectively real to you unless you find flaws in it, at which point it becomes meaningless but still mostly opaque. You CAN be harmed by these illusions, even if you know them to be fake [trying to fool your nervous system is hard…].

Defences against Glammer:
Below are a few sample weaknesses: all glammer users, including witches, have at least one of these. In addition, there are two universal weaknesses to Glammer.

Universal weaknesses:
Self Bored Stones – Difficult to find, but useful, self bored stones are flat stones that through the action of tumbling in a swift stream, have ended up with a hole eroded through their middle. When looked through, these simple, non-magical items penetrate all glammer, showing the world as if the glammer did not exist. These stones also reveal any creature that may be in the hedge. The downside is that they mess with your depth perception, inflicting a -4 on Observation and attack rolls.

Mark of the Conqueror – Fæ are essentially godlike; many were gods or have the potential to be such but are simply too weak. All areas have what could be called an "invading religion," one that is not indigenous to the region but has come to be dominant, or at least was dominant when the fæ were pushed back. Clutched hard, which requires a hand free, these symbols grant a +4 bonus on Will saves against glammer effects, including fear effects and any mental damage suffered. When touched to a glammer, they can cause it to unravel [opposed attack roll vs illusionist's Will save].

Example Weaknesses:
Turning Clothes – A fairly common defence against not only glammer itself but a number of minor powers such as the Siren feat

Mental Damage:
Mental damage is an additional type of damage that is usually only found in supernal effects. The effect is based on leading the target to believe utterly that he has been wounded by attacking his self image [see the Matrix]. Mental damage has the following characteristics:

• Tracked separately like Subdual damage [a rising total].
• For every threshold the total exceeds, the character suffers as if his hp had dropped below an additional threshold [if he were at Yellow and his Mental damage exceeded his Red threshold, he would be Exhausted as if he were at Orange].
• If his Mental damage total exceeds his remaining hp or they fail a massive damage save against Mental damage, they automatically fall unconscious. They must make a Fort save against half their total Mental damage or suffer two thresholds of lethal damage from a heart attack.
• Armour applies normally to Mental damage attacks but Damage reduction, even DR x/-, does not.
• Mental damage is removed in exactly the same manner as Subdual damage, though they must be removed separately.

About Lore:

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The astute amongst you will notice that whenever I write a Lore block, there is a weakness amongst the text that isn't actually listed on the stat-block.

Is this a mistake? Am I being strange?

Well, the answer is that, while I'm sure this is very odd to folks, i'm going for a simple and round about scheme to reward those who invest in seemingly useless things like Gather Information, Bardic Knowledge and Knowledge skills.

Some players are inclined to read the stats of a monster and then use their metagame knowledge of the creature's weaknesses to sometimes 'cheat' the encounter and sometimes simply guide the situation a little. The Lore blocks stop this with a simple assumption: If the Lore is not discovered in play, it effectively isn't true.

Yes, that's right. Gwyllion aren't afraid of blades unless you've found out the lore that says that's true. Barghests aren't actually slowed down by Hearths unless you think to take shelter near one thanks to your knowledge of folklore.

In addition, there are additional entries in each Lore section that start from a DC equal to the HD of the creature. This is to represent the hearsay and guesswork that folks might have heard. Some of it right, some of it is wildly inaccurate.

There we go, and good luck trying to kill Robin Redcap before i finish the lore entry for Border Goblins!

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Any material presented inside Spoilers listed as "MV Versions", along with all pictures above, are Copyright under the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial License. All other text and game materials are free to use under the terms of the OGL and are designated Open Content.

[Altair_the_Vexed]

The Nuchlavis is an awesomely unpleasant monster. Always loved it, since I read Brian Froud's description.

However, for D&D, it's been done before...

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/mm/20030829a
http://www.pandius.com/nuckalv2.html
... and in Dragon 343.

That doesn't stop you making your own version though.

[Mulletmanalive]

They were also in Tome of Horrors 2. Trouble is, not one of those versions come close to the horror that the Bard's Tales stories described.

The Wizards one isn't too bad, though it would take some seroios tweaking.

[The Tygre]

Alright, first and foremost, what Fae resources do you currently have access to?

[Krimm_Blackleaf]

Does this count?

[The Vorpal Tribble]

There are a couple dozen or three in my creation page.

The Anamola and Indigo Beauty templates also turn you into fey

[Amiel]

I have the maleventhorn; despicably evil fey from barren ice-wastes.

[Owrtho]

Based on the first post it seems Mulletmanalive isn't so much looking for creatures people have made so much as descriptions of the fey in traditional folklore, which he plans to then stat out himself.

Owrtho

[Debihuman]

There are some free web sources: First, E-fairies may still be available. This is a fairly large pdf from Bastion Press which previews and supplements their book, Fairies. The site might still be dragonwing press but I haven't looked there in a long time. If you don't have it and can't find it, send me a PM with an email I can forward you a copy to.

Secondly, there are also the Fey Feature archives on the WotC's website. I can't seem to post the URL correctly. They also have a homebrew section for earlier editions where creatures were posted. I used to monitor that site and Bhu still frequents there. Unfortunately, WotC made it user unfriendly (and I'd say user surly but I'm biased) so I rarely go there any more.

Many Fey creatures were updated on EnWorld's Creature Feature site. You can check the homebrew section as well to find some fun things.

Some of the fey creatures are also available in the Tome of Horrors. The Tome of Horrors revised edition (updating it to 3.5) is only available as a pdf as it was deemed to expensive to reprint. It can be had relatively cheaply on sites such as RPGNow.com. Occasionally, the publisher releases it for free so you can check for special deals.

Other online sources are the free materials from Kobold Quarterly and other gaming sites, but it will be hit-or-miss as to whether they specifically have Fey creatures.

The last free site I'm going to mention is the D&D Wiki which has been posting all the Open Game Content from as many D20 books as possible. You can find a ton of stuff there but you'll have to do a lot of poking around.

As with anything else, you'll have to recheck the statblocks. Not all material is good about following the rules (and 3.0 material isn't always updated). It's fairly easy to update to 3.5, but time consuming. Monster feats weren't based on HD until 3.5.

Debby

[itastelikelove]

Wikipedia's also got some quick-and-dirty descriptions of various faeries and other supernatural creatures, but it's not organized into good complete lists, so it might not be all that helpful.

If you're looking for specific suggestions, though, you can never go wrong with stuff out of the British Isles.

My favorites are:

Kelpies/Each uisge (different varieties of water horse that take the appearance of attractive humans to lure their victims)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelpie
and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Each_uisge

Pookas/Pucas (general shapechangers, more interested in being a pain in the arse than killing folks. I've mostly encountered them (in stories, not in person) using the shapes of dogs or giant talking rabbits)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pooka

And various Black Dogs (many versions, varying in shape and size, and don't necessarily even have to be black. They are always associated with death, usually in the near future)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_dog_%28ghost%29
and http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=362

[Mulletmanalive]

Guys, thanks, but some folks are barking up the wrong tree. Owrtho and Itastelikelove had the right idea with Fae they find interesting; I'll be redoing the black dog [present in D&D as the Bargest] when i get around to it.

For those who feel it matters, I have The Little People. A d20 guide to Fairies by Avelanche Press, which is interesting but it sounds oddly like it was written by someone who got his imformation from Wikipedia. I also have Reader's Digest Guide to the Myths of Great Britain.

In the case of those who have volunteered their ideas, can you let me know whether they're things from actual folklore or if you just made them up [unless i have a specific role to fill in a story, i'm not a fan of using made up stuff and wasting real weirdness]? In those cases, I'll place a link to them and create MV versions of the critters in the posts here.

What i'm looking for are your local legend style fairies. For instance, we have a trio of bridges near me that have [supposedly] trolls living under them and Spring-heeled Jack, a vampire like creature that lived in the alleys of towns in Sussex was supposed to be from near where i used to live.

I know there are some nifty Native American spirits that would fit pretty well into this sort of heading, such as the Nightstalker/Yarn Men, though exactly which tribe's legend these monstrosities come from is lost to me.

[Debihuman]

How about critters like the Hidebehind, the Jackalope and the Snipe?

Debby

[Zeta Kai]

If it helps, I made a Changeling that actually uses fluff derived from myths & legends (as opposed to the WotC version, which is In Name Only).

[Debihuman]

You could stat out creatures from Andrew Lang's Fairy Books (like the Yellow Dwarf who lives in an orange tree and has a Spanish cat) or from Han Christian Anderson (like the Rose Elf who would be a Fine sized creature).

Do you want to see some already made homebrews or do you just want to make your own?

Debby

[Mulletmanalive]

I was hoping mostly for names, descriptions and ideas for powers on them so that i could build them to be as folkloric as possible rather than entirely combat oriented like the normal D&D ones.

I'm happy to see other people's interpretations, though I'd end up picking and choosing; the whole "literal incarnations of parts of nature" often comes off oddly, like with that deer-woman thing of VT's

That's a nice version of the Changeling there, Zeta.

[ryleah]

The more sinister stories about the tommyknockers portrays them as a race of tiny subterranean fae who lead miners down unexplored passageways and then collapse them on the hapless miners, killing everyone who'd followed, and when I was scuba diving in Florida I heard a story about them living in underwater caves stealing the arrows leading out of the caves, damning cave divers to slow miserable death by drowning. As an added bonus all you have to do to homebrew tommyknockers is add the fae template to a kobald.

[The Tygre]

Ahh, okay then. My local Fae. First and foremost;

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Once again, my third party publishing powers are called to the fore...

Alright, see if you can crack down on these:

Faeries by Bastion Press - This is -the- quintessential book to own on Fey if you really want to integrate faeries into your campaign. It's got it all; Fey lords like Titania and Oberon, details on the geography and effects of Faerie as a coterminous plane, new monsters, racial classes, magic, treasure, traditions; the works. Seriously, Wizards couldn't have done a better job themselves.

The Complete Guide to Fey by Goodman Games - This is if you want to go in a more abstract direction. Once again, there's a ton of classes and spells, but this is more interested in ideas with Fey. It goes on about how their existence relies on the fabric of reality, and how their basically the dreams of the world. A good book, definitely.

Encyclopedia Divine: Fey Magic by Mongoose Publishing - Forewarned; the art in this book is cheesecake. No, it goes beyond cheesecake; it's cheesecake with a dollop of cherry-cream cheese nestled gently in the small of a dryad's inner thighs. That said, this can more or less be considered a player's guide to Fey; it's mostly spells and prestige classes, as well as a bit of Fey theory at the front. The end details the importance of Fey pacts and Fey patrons, which can give a boost to power for a price.

Van Richten's Guide to Shadow Fey - Already recommended, but it bears worth repeating. While the Fey in Ravenloft aren't inherently malevolent, this is pretty much the closest you'll ever get to a book about the Unseelie. And really, they deserve it.

Those are all I've got for now.

Sorry. It's the librarian in me. Now, on to the heart of the thing. I'm ashamed to admit, I can't tell you much about Tennesseean and Appalachian fair folk. Theortetically, we should have plenty since we're all basically Scotch-Irish, but I'm betting almost any other fae resource can cover that for you. The only thing I can really tell you about are Haints in the Hollers.

See, we've got these backroads in the mountains, the Hollers. Little marshes and fens, some people even say there are mounds up there, but Hell if I'm checking. Anyway, there are supposed to be -things- up there. The aforementioned Haints in the Hollers. Nobody knows exactly what they are, it changes from story to story. Some say demons, some say ghosts, but all that needs be known is that they ain't right.

Haints, as my understanding goes, are basic ghost-lights. You know how it goes. Lights, noises, that sense of other; general Will O' Wisps. But sometimes they're are a bit more direct. They're where the ghost theory comes in. Sometimes they manifest in a humanoid or animal form. They don't -do- anything, per se, they just exist.

You'll hear old stories; someone's driving one of the back-roads, miles out from a house or a town or the city. Pitch black, going through the woods. Then, side of the road, there's just a person standing there. You barely even notice them or if they're a man or a woman or what, you just drive on by and never see them again. That's it. Middle of the wilderness, someone's just standing there, caught in the lights, staring at the road. Not really scary or mystical, but it still makes me nervous going through the back-country around my great-aunt's house. That and the phrase 'they only feed at night'.

I link them to Fae because they only seem indigenous to an area, a particular stretch of forest or road. I don't know. I'll see what else I can dig up. The Cherokee should be loaded with old stories like this.

EDIT: Here; I can't copy-pasta, so you'll have to dig through some yourself. I'll see what else I can find.

[Zeta Kai]

That's a nice version of the Changeling there, Zeta.

Thank you. I tried to be very faithful to the source material, while still giving DMs an interesting & fun monsters to use. That was my favorite VUAM contest, because the votes went so well for the concept.

If you like that, I also did a Totoro or two. I still have to make that Catbus, though...

[Debihuman]

I was hoping mostly for names, descriptions and ideas for powers on them so that i could build them to be as folkloric as possible rather than entirely combat oriented like the normal D&D ones.

I'm happy to see other people's interpretations, though I'd end up picking and choosing; the whole "literal incarnations of parts of nature" often comes off oddly, like with that deer-woman thing of VT's....

If you can find it (and please check your local library), Katherine Briggs, "Encyclopedia of Fairies: Hobgoblins, Brownies, Bogies, & Other Supernatural Creatures" is an amazing resource for what you want. You'll also want to scour children's books.

How about the tiny twins that are heralds of Mothra? You could stat them out.

Here is the Cloud fairy from the Wizard of Oz books that I made a long while back:


Cloud Fairy
Small Fey
Hit Dice: 2d6 (7 hp)
Initiative: +1
Speed: 20 feet (4 squares)
Armor Class: 10
BAB/Grapple: +1/-5
Attack: Dagger+2 melee (1d3-1)
Full Attack: Dagger +2 melee (1d3-1)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Spell-like abilities
Special Qualities: Vulnerable to Cold, Low-light vision
Saves: Fort +0, Ref +3, Will +3
Abilities: Str 8, Dex 12, Con 10, Int 14, Wis 13, Cha 15
Skills: Balance+12, Jump+10, Knowledge (Planes) +11, Move Silently +12, Perform (Dance) +12, Tumble +12, Use Magic Devise +7
Feats: Acrobatic
Environment: Any Warm Atmosphere or Land
Organization: Solitary or group 2-6
Challenge Rating: 1
Treasure: Standard
Alignment: Any Good
Advancement: As per class
Level Adjustment: +1

A little girl, radiant and beautiful, shapely as a fairy and exquisitely dressed, was dancing gracefully in the middle of the lonely road, whirling slowly this way and that, her dainty feet twinkling in sprightly fashion. She was clad in flowing, fluffy robes of soft material like woven cobwebs, only it was colored in soft tintings of violet, rose, topaz, olive, azure, and white, mingled together most harmoniously in stripes which melted one into the other with soft blendings. Her hair was like spun gold and flowed around her in a cloud, no strand being fastened or confined by either pin or ornament or ribbon. Her eyes were violet and full of tears….

Cloud fairies are the fey attendants of the Rainbow King who lives in a cloud castle. Occasionally, they will slide down a rainbow to spend time in the land below. In order to return to the cloud castle, a cloud fairy must find and catch another rainbow for her return trip.

When a cloud fairy arrives on terra firma, she will frequently be surprised to find the land below to be chilly. As they live high in the atmosphere, they are used to the rays of the sun. A cloud fairy will dance to keep herself warm if she lacks proper attire.

Cloud faeries eat very little and mostly live on mist-cakes and dew. They speak Sylvan and Common.

Air Elemental Bloodline (Ex): Clouds fairies get a +2 bonus on Balance checks due to their connection to the elemental plane of Air.

Pass without a Trace (Su): Cloud fairies leave no tracks or markings upon the ground as if by a pass without trace spell and they receive a +2 enhancement bonus to move silently checks.

Debby

[Mulletmanalive]

Tygre, thank you muchly for a new fae to stat. A form shifting will o'wisp/apperition? Nice and a chance to try out my Spirit stats [far too much Supernatural led to new ghost rules for MV]

Zeta, I'm trying to avoid the Japanese stuff, simply because i've been having difficulty placing Oni and such-like and they occupy this wierd place in my setting [lurking to turn into a possible deluded big bad in the future]. That and, well...magic testicles...

Debbi, thanks for the recommendation, i've found it in the local library catalogue and will probably go to renew my card and order it in the morning. Also, Mothra? Didn't that die at the hands of Rhodan?

[Strudel110]

Magic testicles!?!? please explain and I shall attempt to find some fae for you.

[Mulletmanalive]

Magic testicles!?!? please explain and I shall attempt to find some fae for you.

In Japanese folklore, as with Chinese, if something gets old enough, it becomes sentient and powerful. In the case of Tanuki, the Japanese, raccoon dog, this becomes a true breeding trait within small families, essentially raising them to the status of Fae [though i've encountered Akuma, usually translated as demon for the phenomenon].

The trick with Tanuki is that the root of their power is in their generative organs, meaning that males have external magic thanks to external testicles, while females have more useful powers such as healing and minor shape changing thanks to their internal ovaries.

The thing is, they can make entirely real illusions out of their testicles, so they shapeshift by pulling their scrotum over their heads, melting and turning into something else. Possibly the best known scene with this kind of thing is at the end of Pom Poko by Studio Ghibli, where the elder grows his nuts into a boat and the clan sails away on it...

Aren't you glad you asked?

[The Tygre]

Ooh! Got a couple more for you:

Memphis-Auburn Park If you park your car by the lake in Auburn Park, The Blue Lady is supposed to rise out of the lake and walk towards your car.

Sale Creek-Shipley Hollow in Sale Creek- For over a hundred years, a glowing white figure has haunted the small road stretching from the Mill Dam on Daughtery Ferry Road, right off of Highway 27, and continues through Shipley Hollow Road. This white figure has been said to have uninvited joined many hay and horseback rides.

Atoka - Bethel Assembly of God Church - The church has a large and fairly old cemetery (est. in the 1850s) on its grounds. These grounds are said to haouse a very unfriendly spirit. The spirit is said to have a dog like head, lion sized body with the coarse mane-like hair, and deep red eyes. I have been told of two incidents when it was sighted and chased people out of the cemetery. On one occasion, as the people cleared the fence to get away, it hit the fence so hard that it shook, but it did not pursue them after they had left.

The Blue Lady sounded too good to pass up. The last one sounds like some kind of variant of the Grim or another graveyard dog. I'm trying to stick to anything old/folk-loric that can't be attributed to/sounds too strange for ghosts or demons.

[Debihuman]

Zeta Kai, I've been waiting to see your version of the catbus.

Debby

[Strudel110]

Gwyllion -These are Scottish fairies. They are mostly seen as a hairy men or hideous female spirits who waylay and mislead travelers by night on the mountain roads. Mountain fairies like to sit on rocks on either side of a mountain path and silently watch passerby's.

Knockers (Buccas) - These are mine spirits who are friendly to miners. They knock where rich ore can be found.

The Lunantishee, or Lunantishess - These are a tribe of fairies who guard blackthorn bushes (one of the Fairy Trees). They will not allow that a blackthorn stick is cut on May 11th (originally May Day) or November 11 (originally All Hallows Eve). Should anyone manage to cut a stick, some misfortune will surely befall him or her.

Ballybogs-The Irish Ballybogs, known as bogles among the Cornish and Welsh and Boggans among those residing in Northern England, are also called Peat Faeries, Mudbogs, Boggies and Bog-a-boos. The reoccurrence of the word bog in their name harkens to their typical habitat: peat bogs and mudholes. They were most typically encountered in Ireland, where people uesd peat as a main source of fuel because Ireland lacks natural coal and oil deposits.
Their appearance of the very small creatures was decidedly odd. Mud-covered, almost completely round bodies, supporting heads without the benefit of a neck. Their arms and legs were long and spindly; apparently too much so to support their weight. Ballybogs possess no language, but rather communicate with grunts and slobbering.
While the Irish Ballybog was merely unpleasant, the English Bogle possesses a nasty temper. The Bogle focuses the majority of its ill will upon those who are lazy, incontinent, or guilty of crimes. Like many of the fae kind, both manifestations enjoy leading unwary travelers astray.

Redcap - These are believed to be the most evil of the old Border Goblins, living in old ruined towers and castles, particularly those with a history of wickedness. They say he re-dyes his cap in human blood.

... magic testacles...

[Zeta Kai]

Zeta Kai, I've been waiting to see your version of the catbus.

Debby

I'm sorry, the Hourglass of Zihaja project has take all my time this past year. But I always like to finish what I start, so I really should get that Catbus done. Look for it in the future.

[Mulletmanalive]

As promised. This came out a bit more openly militant than my original goal, but bear in mind, the Nuckelavee is basically a bad winter personified so it needs to be destructive.

Nuckelavee (Nucklavis)

The Nuckelavee (or Nuchlavis) is an enormously powerful Fæ entity that dwells in the violent and dark waters to the south of the Scottish isle of Orkney; in fact, it is the reason that those waters are so dark and violent. Or perhaps one should say that it is because those waters are violent and dark and it makes those waters worse.

The beast itself looks much like a flayed horse mounting a similarly skinless rider with no legs. The rider torso binds into the neck of the horse, making the horse head of the beast almost vestigial in its form, a terrible bony countenance bearing fangs and a constant plume of sickening smoke, a similar but milder fume than its breath weapon's basis. The primary head of the Nuckelavee is a gigantic, distorted human skull with slightly equine features and one glaring red eye. Sources don't seem to agree whether the beast is cyclopean, like a beholder, or simply has one missing eye. As the beast moves on its finned hooves, its exposed muscles twitch and pump while black, filthy blood is forced through dark veins; the effect is both mesmerising and utterly horrifying.

The beast itself is a powerful fæ, beings known as elves in the tongue of the Orkney peoples. It is a spirit that brings with it the storms of the wild North Sea and comes ashore during the calm times of the eye to wander the land and claim occasional victims. This, however, is when he's in a good mood. During the summer, a being of godly power known as the Mither o' the Sea keeps the Nuckelavee in check and at the bottom of the sea and keeps his storms to a minimum, meaning that he won't walk the land with any regularity except in the middle of winter, when her power wanes and she can no longer intervene.

The one thing in the world that can make this creature angrier is unfortunately a key part of life in the Orkneys; the burning of seaweed to make kelp [a kind of lime], which is necessary for many things, such as farming, washing and as an export commodity. When so angered, the Nuckelavee seeks courses around the deeds and minions of the Mither, surging onto the land and using his pestilent breath with fierce abandon. A particular victim of the Nuckelavee's attention are the horses of the island, who like the crops die from a terrible mildew that eats away at their innards. Unless angered further than any sane man would try, the Nuckelavee doesn't bother attacking towns or groups, simply picking on targets of opportunity.

D&D Version:

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Large Monstrous Humanoid (Fae)
Hit Dice: 15d8 + 90 (172)
Initiative: +2
Speed: 60ft (12 squares), Swim 60ft
Armor Class: 25 (-1 Size, +2 Dex, +14 Natural), touch 11, flat-footed 23
Base Attack/Grapple: +15
Attack: Claw +23 (3d6+9, Crit 18/x2)
Full Attack: 2 Claws +23 (3d6+9, Crit 18/x2) and 2 Hooves +21 (1d8+4) and Bite +21 (2d6+4)
Space/Reach: 10ft/10ft [20ft with Claws]
Special Attacks: Breath Weapon
Special Qualities: Dissolve, DR 15/Cold Iron, Low Light Vision, Terrifying, Toxic Cloud, Tween
Saves: Fort +11, Ref +11, Will +11
Abilities: Str 28, Dex 14, Con 22, Int 8, Wis 14, Cha 12
Skills: Balance +20, Intimidate +23, Listen +20, Spot +20, Swim +35
Feats: Ability Focus (Breath Weapon), Multiattack, Power Attack, Powerful Charge, Skill Focus (Intimidate)
Environment: Northern Islands
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating:
Treasure: None specifically, Occasionally collects tribute
Alignment: Neutral Evil
Advancement: 16-40 Large

Before you stands a horror. It seems undead save for the fact that it very obviously still has its heart pumping. It resembles a centaur, though it still has a horse's head growing from its heavy torso, incredibly long arms that drag its knuckles along the floor and a massive head that resembles a beholder without eye stalks and the single eye positioned like that of a human. It clatters forward like a horse, roaring with great force and black sticky smoke pouring from both of its mouths.

The Nuckelavee usually simply charges into a fight and destroys as many opponents as fast as it can. It usually blasts anyone with a frail form with its breath weapon and then goes in hitting.

Ability descriptions
Breath Weapon [Ex]: The Nuckelavee can spray a gout of the corruption that it carrys in its body onto those nearby. This takes the form a 45 ft cone of black mildew that infests the body and attacks the skin. This counts as inhaled poison that deals 1d10 Con/1d10 Con, with a Fortitude save DC 25 to negate [Con based].

Those exposed also contract a disease called Black Rot, which has a Fort DC of 19, an incubation period of one day and deals 1d6 Con damage with a further save or has one point turned into Drain.

Once used, the Nuckelavee must wait 1d4 rounds [minimum one round] before it can use it again.

Dissolve: When killed, the Nuckelavee's body breaks up into a heaped pile of seaweed and seawater, while releasing a vast cloud of the same mildew that makes up the beast's breath weapon and toxic cloud. Those exposed must save or contract Black Rot.

Terrifying [Ex]: The mere sight of the Nuckelavee is enough to liquify the innards of the strongest man. Once per round, it may make an Intimidate check against one target within 30ft as a Swift action.

Toxic Cloud [Ex]: The horse head of the Nuckelavee constantly fumes its mildewed corruption, surround its body with a cloud of black smoke. Those within 10ft of the beast must make a DC 19 Fortitude save or contract Black Rot. Additionally, those within the aura have Concealment, though the Nuckelavee itself may only this benefit on turns that it moves.

In the rounds while the Nuckelavee is recharging its Breath Weapon, the cloud disperses to that it can no longer grant Concealment, but it is still virulent, with a reduced DC of 13.

Tween [Ex]: The Nuckelavee is a Fey and can enter the Hedge by entering a Liminal and spending a Swift action. It may tween through any of:

• Dusk and Dawn
• Physical Boundaries [Forest edges, shores, cracks in cliffs]
• Space Beneath [Under doors, wardrobes and tree roots]
• Shadows
• Abstract Boundaries [Street changes, city limits, different farms]

MV Version:

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The Nuckelavee closes to a reasonable distance, charges, unleashes its breath attack to create a lingering cloud and then breaks from combat, often by tweening to ready for another attack. It never remains close to anything that can successfully harm it for long and will target Witches above all others because of what has been happening to other fæ recently.

The Nuckelavee is presently pursuing the human who successfully summoned it with sorcery so it may be found far from its normal domain.

Large Beast [Fæ, Aquatic] 15 CR 16
Init: + 6 , Senses: Listen + 2 , Spot +2 Scent, Low Light Vision (x4), Infravision 90ft
Languages: Gaelic, Sidhe

---

3
Defence: 25 Flatfooted: 9
Hardness: DR 30/Natural
HD: 15d10 + 90 + 22 Hp: 194
Massive Damage: 22
Thresholds: Green, [ 97 ] Yellow, [ 49 ] Orange, [ 19 ] Red
Resist: Immune: Poison, Disease
Fort: + 15 Reflex: + 6 Will: + 9 Psyche: 34

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3
Speed: 60ft Swim 60ft Space: 10ft Reach: 10ft, 20ft with claws
Ranged: +21 Breath Weapon (7d6 Poison Gas + Bleeding equal to dice, Fort DC 23 ends. Spreading Poison)

Melee: +23/+23 [+18/+18/+18/+18] Claws (3d6+9, Crit 18/x2)
+21 Bite (2d6+4, Crit x3)
+21/+21 Hooves (1d8+4)

BAB: +15 Grapple: +28
Special Actions:

• Foul Cloud 10ft [3d6 Poison Gas + Bleeding equal to dice, Fort DC 23 ends],
• Lingering Breath [The Nuckelavee may opt to use its Breath with a 1d4+3 recharge time to create a 10ft radius cloud around the target point. Those struck are affected normally and the cloud deals 3d6 damage again on the next round before dispersing],
• Greater Overrun [Move over multiple targets with Overrun, +32 check, -2 penalty per target after the first. Opponents cannot avoid and those knocked down are attacked with a hoof],
• Versatile Unarmed Strike [As a Swift action, the Nuckelavee may switch what kind of damage their claw attacks deal from Slashing, Piercing and Bludgeoning]

---

3
Abilities: Str: 28/+9 Dex: 6/-2 Con: 22/+6 Int: 10 Wis: 14/+2 Cha: 12/+1
SQ: Fearsome [Auto Intimidate, roll = 31], Sense Kelp, Tween
Feats: Lingering Breath^Metabreath, Multiattack, Power Attack [Improved Overrun, Greater Overrun, Centaur Trample], Powerful Charge, Rapidstrike, Skill Focus (Intimidate), Track^B, Versatile Unarmed Strike
Skills: Intimidate +31, Spot +17, Swim +32

---

3
Special Abilities:
Breath Weapon [Ex]: The breath of the Nuckelavee is riddled with a voracious mould similar to mildew that takes hold where it lands and consumes both skin and lung with equal force. The attack is a flamer weapon that deals 7d6 Poison gas damage to targets. Those damaged by the attack also suffer one point of Bleed damage per un-negated dice of damage suffered. Removing this condition requires a Shake It Off action with a DC 10 + dice Fortitude save to cough up enough mildew to stop the damage. Bleeding inflicted by this ability is cumulative.

This breath weapon may be used up to once every 1d4 rounds [to a minimum of next round with one round rolled]. The attack is subject to Spreading Foulness, below.

Foul Cloud [Ex]: The horse head of the Nuckelavee constantly spews the same mildew corruption that the breath weapon is composed of, to the net effect of the beast being constantly surrounded by a cloud of the same. The cloud extends 10ft from the Nuckelavee and deals 3d6 Poison Gas damage to all within the area. Those damaged suffer Bleeding equal to the number of unnegated dice suffered and must make a Fort save, DC 10 + dice, during a Shake It Off to negate it. This damage is subject to Spreading Foulness. The Nuckelavee can suppress this ability as a Swift action and commence it as a free action. Bleeding inflicted by this ability is cumulative.

Spreading Foulness [Ex]: When a creature suffering from the bleeding caused by the Nuckelavee's mildew dies, it is rapidly destroyed by the fungus and produces a cloud of infectious spoors. Anything that touches a corpse within 48 hours or has roots within 1 foot of the corpse is exposed to spoors unless they make a Reflex save, DC 15. Failure indicates that the creature has breathed in spores and suffers Bleeding 1 until it successfully Shakes It Off as described above. This Bleeding is Cumulative and creatures that die of Spreading Foulness are themselves subject to the rule.

Tweening [Ex]: The Nuckelavee is a powerful fæ creature and can tween through Abstract boundaries, Shadows, Physical Boundaries, the Space Beneath, Dusk and Dawn. It tends to emerge from the sea, though it is also known for disappearing into its own lingering clouds to disappear.

Weakness: The Nuckelavee, for reasons unknown, cannot cross moving freshwater. Note that a barrier may not hold him forever, given his physical abilities. Holy Water burns his flesh for 1d6 damage per phial.

Feat:
Greater Overrun [Trooper]:
You have mastered the art of crashing through crowds and stepping on heads.
Prerequisites: Power Attack, Improved Overrun, Str 13+
Description: When you Overrun, you may move over multiple targets in your motion. Each is targeted individually and suffers the effects of being Overrun individually. Each target after the first inflicts a -2 penalty on further checks made in this action.

Lore: Bardic Lore, Knowledge (Arcana)

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Any material presented inside Spoilers listed as "MV Versions", along with all pictures above, are Copyright under the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial License. All other text and game materials are free to use under the terms of the OGL and are designated Open Content.

[Amiel]

I'd like to see your interpretation of the; boggart, cu sith, bean nighe, leanan sídhe and sluagh.

[Set]

Four sample winter-themed fey, for Pathfinder.

The imposing figure before you spins like a dervish, blood-soaked armor silent on his person as his greatsword sweeps towards your head. His voice taunts, “Your swordsmanship lacks grace and style, but your verse, now that is truly vile.”

Rime Knight

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RIME KNIGHT (4th level Fighter) CR ???
XP ???
LE Medium fey (cold)
Init +7; Senses low-light vision; Perception +4
=====
Defense
=====
AC 23, touch 17, flat-footed 16 (+6 breastplate, +3 Dex, +4 battle acumen)
hp 26 (4d10+4)
Fort +5, Ref +4, Will +1 (+2 vs. fear)
Immune cold
Weaknesses vulnerability to fire
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Offense
=====
Speed 30 ft.
Melee mw greatsword +7 (2d6+3), composite longbow +7 (1d8+2)
Space 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.
Special Attacks debilitating strikes
=====
Statistics
=====
Str 14, Dex 17, Con 12, Int 12, Wis 10, Cha 11
15 pt-buy (+2 Str, +2 Dex, -2 Wis, +1 Str at 4th)
1 + 7 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 1 = 15
Base Atk +4; CMB +6; CMD +20
Feats Improved Initiative, Weapon Focus (greatsword)
Skills 12 Climb 0 (+2), Craft (icesteel armaments) 4 (+8), Intimidate 4 (+9), Perception 2 (+4), Ride 2 (+8); Racial Modifiers +2 Perception, +2 Intimidate
Languages Sylvan and either Goblin or Elven
SQ battle acumen, icesteel armaments, blood ritual, specialized training
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Ecology
=====
Environment cold plains or hills
Organization solitary or company (3-5, plus an equal number of elves, hobgoblin or goblin ‘squires,’ mounts, and tracking animals)
Treasure standard
=====
Special Abilities
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Battle Acumen (Ex) Rime Knights not only gain the full BAB for their Fighter levels, but also gain a +1 dodge bonus to their Armor Class and a +1 bonus to damage rolls made with weapons (melee or ranged) or unarmed attacks for each level of Fighter they have attained. Furthermore, they can choose as a swift action on their turn to increase or decrease any of these numbers by removing an equal number of points from other areas for the turn. A Rime Knight can only add or remove points equal to his levels in the Fighter class at one time, but can add or subtract from multiple categories, if he desires, allowing a 5th level Rime Knight Fighter to add +5 to his damage rolls for one turn by subtracting 2 points from his attack rolls and 3 points from his Armor Class until the start of his next turn. This ability cannot be used in concert with the feats Combat Expertise or Power Attack, and is assumed to replace them both, although the bonuses can stack with the bonuses provided via the Fighting Defensively or Charge actions (or a Barbarian’s Rage). A Rime Knight is treated as having both the Combat Expertise and Power Attack feats for the purposes of fulfilling prerequisites. Levels in non-Fighter classes, even full BAB classes such as Barbarian or Ranger, do not advance this ability. Unlike the benefits of the Power Attack feat, the damage bonus is never adjusted for an off-hand weapon or a weapon wielded in two hands, it always remains equal to the Rime Knights Fighter levels, and modifications to it are similarly not adjusted by the manner in which the weapon is used.
Icesteel Armament (Su) Rime Knights craft and wear armor made of magically strengthened frozen blood, as hard as steel, yet having only half the weight (and being treated as armor one category lighter). The armor, which only comes in three types, breastplate, half-plate and full-plate, all adorned with armor spikes, is treated as masterwork, but only when worn by the Rime Knight who crafted it. Anyone else donning such armor not only does not benefit from the masterwork benefit, but suffers an additional +1 to their Armor Check Penalty for armor of that type, unless they have the Cold subtype or at least 5 pts of Cold Resistance. Any primary weapon(s) that is normally made in whole or partially of metal is similarly crafted, and also has the masterwork quality. A Rime Knight can use the Craft (icesteel) skill to repair damage inflicted upon his own weapons and armor.
Debilitating Strikes (Ex) Rime Knights learn an array of debilitating blows, and upon striking a foe, can choose to subtract their full Battle Acumen damage bonus from the blow to instead strike a bleeding wound, or a crippling wound. A bleeding wound inflicts bleed damage at the beginning of each round equal to a weapon four size classes smaller than the one used to inflict the wound (minimum 1), so that a bleeding wound from a greatsword will inflict 1d3 bleed damage each round, while one from a longsword will inflict only 1d2 damage, per the chart on p. 145. A crippling wound inflicts 1 point of temporary Dexterity damage, regardless of weapon size, as numbing cold seeps into the targets bones. This numbing effect does not affect any creature with the Cold subtype. These blows can only be performed with the icesteel weapon(s) that the Rime Knight has personally crafted, and with which he has either Weapon Focus or Weapon Training.
Blood Ritual (Su) Rime Knights feed off of blood and death, seeking out battles to prove their worth among their peers, and to sustain their ageless forms. Whenever a Rime Knight personally kills a foe, he can at any time in the next 10 minutes use a full-round action to anoint his face, hands and armor with the blood of the fallen foe, gaining healing equal to 2 hit points / HD of the fallen foe, and a +2 morale bonus to attack rolls, saving throws and skill checks for the next hour.
Specialized Training (Ex) Rime Knights unique skills come at a cost, and the training required to master Battle Acumen and Debilitating Strikes forbids a Rime Knight from gaining his 1st, 2nd or 4th level bonus Fighter feats. While Rime Knights below 4th level are rarely encountered, a Rime Knight with only two or three levels of Fighter would lack the training necessary to be able to use Debilitating Strikes.

Rime Knights live to prove themselves on the merciless field of single combat, garnering status with their peers, as well as both physical and psychic sustenance from the acting of shedding the blood of those they defeat. They travel in small groups, usually accompanied by an eclectic mix of servant creatures, which usually include some humanoids to serve as grooms for their steeds, and as personal servants, with elves and hobgoblins being preferred, but goblins being the necessary substitute for those who have not yet proven themselves. Such groups always include several and several tracking beasts as well, usually wolves, but, with the more powerful bands, winter wolves or even yeth hounds serve that role.

Clad in fantastically ornate armor of brownish-red ice, spattered in layers upon layers of blood drawn from foes felled in single combat, and decorated with dozens of delicate-looking spikes and barbs, the Rime Knight bears a similarly grim looking weapon, usually a large cutting weapon, such as a glaive or greatsword, but with a few Knights choosing a less common signature weapon, such as a spiked chain or scorpion whip. Beneath the imposing armor, a Rime Knight has slim, almost elfin features, sharp and angular, and often concealing surprising strength. The only time a Rime Knights face comes alive is in the heat of battle, and the normally dour and unfriendly fey becomes a taunting dervish, mocking his opponent, or even complimenting one whose combat technique has impressed him.

While some assume that the Knights received their common name from the rime of blood-ice that decorates their cold white skin, cakes their hair, and comprises their favored armaments, those who have faced them remark that they speak only in rhyme, considering wordplay as much an art form, as much a ‘dance,’ as they regard combat. When not sparring, or preparing for their next hunt, Rime Knights gather around ritual fires, and practice taunting each other, critiquing not the other’s fighting skills, but his verse. As the loser must place his hand within the flames for a long moment, a Rime Knight is strongly motivated to polish his insults, just as he hones his blade.

A Rime Knight will always attempt to engage a single foe in combat, with the higher status Rime Knight selecting the most capable looking warrior type to engage, and others backing off and allowing the combat to follow its course, interfering only to counter the interference of others. Initial rounds of combat will generally resemble a dance, with the Rime Knight often fighting defensively, and taking advantage of his battle acumen to make himself difficult to strike, while he attempts to soften up his opponent with crippling or bleeding strikes, before switching to a more aggressive posture. Only in the case of a ‘disappointing’ foe that appears well beneath his abilities will a Rime Knight begin combat with a brutally aggressive display, and this is seen as a show of contempt, that the Rime Knight wishes this meaningless butchery over as soon as possible, so that he can move on to more challenging foes. Rime Knights have been known to woefully underestimate foes in this manner, and a cunning foe may be able to trick a Rime Knight into holding back and fighting defensively, trying to figure out the source of this perplexing foes seemingly inappropriate confidence, while reinforcements arrive.

The flurry of snow has been pursuing you like a living thing for what feels like hours, howling its mournful song. Hair and gown trailing in the wind, a woman of great beauty dances slowly towards you, her bare feet and exposed arms as white as the snow around her. The storm fades away to unimportance as she reaches for you with an imploring gesture.

Hearth Maiden

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HEARTH MAIDEN CR ???
XP ???
NE Medium fey (cold)
Init +3; Senses low-light vision; Perception +4
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Defense
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AC 16, touch 13, flat-footed 13 (+3 Dex, +3 natural armor)
hp 22 (4d6+8)
Fort +2, Ref +7, Will +4
DR 5 / cold iron
Immune cold
Weaknesses vulnerability to fire
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Offense
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Speed 30 ft., fly 30 ft. (average)
Melee melee touch +5 (1d6 nonlethal cold damage +1 dexterity damage)
Space 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.
Special Attacks chilling caress, snowblind
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Statistics
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Str 11, Dex 16, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 16
[15 pts (+2 Cha, +1 Dex at 4 HD), 1 + 7 + 2 + 0 + 0 + 5 = 15]
Base Atk +2; CMB +2; CMD 15
Feats Toughness, Attack Finesse
Skills 24 Acrobatics 2 (+8), Bluff 0 (+3), Climb 0 (+0), Craft (any) 0 (-), Diplomacy 0 (+3), Disguise 0 (+3), Escape Artist 0 (+3), Fly 4 (+10), Knowledge (geography) 2 (+5), Knowledge (local) 2 (+5), Knowledge (nature) 4 (+7), Perception 2 (+7), Perform (dance) 4 (+10), Sense Motive 0 (+0), Sleight of Hand 0 (+3), Stealth 4 (+12), Swim 0 (+0), Use Magic Device 0 (-); Racial Modifiers +2 Perception, +2 Stealth
Languages Sylvan and either Skald or Hallit
SQ chilling caress, snowblind, form of the storm, arctic adaptation
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Ecology
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Environment cold plains or hills
Organization always solitary
Treasure incidental
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Special Abilities
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Chilling Caress (Su) Hearth Maidens drain heat and life from those they touch, inflicting 1d6 of nonlethal Cold damage, plus 1 points of Dexterity damage.
Snowblind (Su) With skin seemingly carved of impossibly perfect ice, and hair flowing behind like a drift of snow, a Hearth Maiden’s form is bewitching, causing humanoids who gaze upon her to make a Will save at DC 15 or become entranced and unable to take any action other than a 5 ft. step towards the maiden, so long as she does not attack them. Damaging environmental forces will not break this state of entrancement, and the fey typically stands by her entranced subjects for hours, allowing the cold to wear them down and make them easy prey to her chilling caress. This effect is treated as a 2nd level spell, and the saving throw is Charisma-based. A potential victim can avert their eyes, to avoid this effect, but treats the fey as having Total Concealment.
Form of the Storm (Su) Hearth Maidens travel through the air in the form of a flurry of snow, occupying a 20 ft. radius cylinder, 10 ft. high. In this form, she becomes effectively incorporeal for combat purposes (although she cannot pass through solid objects unless they have an opening that would allow wind and snow to pass within), and all who end the turn in her square are affected as if by a sleet storm spell. The fey cannot fly in her solid form, only as a flurry of snow.
Arctic Adaptation (Su) Acclimated to their arctic surroundings, Hearth Maidens do not suffer any movement penalties when moving across ice or snow, dancing lightly across the deepest drifts, and being able to walk over thin ice as if weightless. They suffer no visual penalties from any level of precipitation, even in the case of magical weather conjured by sleet storm, fog cloud or similar magic.

Hearth Maidens are to the blizzards of Irrisen as dryads are to the mighty trees of the River Kingdoms, a fey personification of nature, in this case, one that is merciless and demanding. The ‘Pale Ladies,’ as they are sometimes called, travel by night and seek out warmth and life to steal. Ever-hungering for stolen warmth, local legends insist that they are undead, the sad and lonely spirits of maidens cast forth from their homes, perhaps for infidelity, or perhaps wrongly accused, driven into the harsh winter and left to die of exposure, only to return to bring others into that same icy fate. The fey themselves neither know nor care of these assumptions, but do display a tendency to hover outside of dwellings and press against the walls, leaving behind frost outlines as they draw upon the warmth from the fires within, which has only reinforced the notion that they seek to return to the homes that ‘cast them out.’

The ideal prey is a man alone, perhaps one who lingered at the hunt too long, or who lost his way in a storm, an easy mark for the maiden to fascinate with her silent beauty. With imploring gestures that promise pleasures unguessed, she will spin and pirouette lightly across the snow, always just out of arm’s reach, perhaps even leading a foolish man further away from salvation. As the bitter cold saps the strength from his limbs, over long hours, she will finally move in as he starts to falter, using her life-draining touch to bring him to unconsciousness, and then finally draining the last heat from his body, leaving behind a corpse, often found with a macabre expression of bliss on his frozen features. Those rescued from such a fate claim that the bitter chill of the storm is lessened somehow, so that those entranced by these fey do not feel their life slipping away.

An impatient maiden, or one who senses that others may come to try and take her ‘lover’ away, may approach her fascinated subject and begin gently removing articles of protective clothing from his body, to hasten his demise, or, in an extreme situation, directly attack the man, hoping to drain his warmth and life before his allies can come to his rescue.

Most Hearth Maidens leave the bodies where they lay, only occasionally taking trinkets to remind them of their conquests, and storing them in ‘nests’ high in the hills, in icy caves or within a great tree, where others cannot easily reach, and sometimes in places that can only be reached by those able to fly, or become effectively incorporeal, or both. Often these nests, and their collections, are abandoned and forgotten as the Hearth Maiden moves on, ever seeking new warmth. Rarer specimens have a designated territory, and drag their victims back to their lairs, keeping them as trophies, or even forming grotesque ‘statue gardens’ of frozen bodies.

The ‘winter dryads’ are driven entirely by a sense of longing for both warmth and companionship, that is never sated, and while they almost never speak, and seem almost child-like when they do, ranging from petulant to utterly oblivious that their ‘feeding’ is harmful or wrong in any way, they seem as intelligent as a man, if incapable of restraining their hungers, or of recognizing any value in the lives of others, save for the heat locked within their bodies.

Glowing figures flit through the winter air, spinning like snowflakes and accompanied by a tinkling atonal song as tiny pale-blue sprites flutter towards you on wings that resemble jagged crystals of ice. Their song becomes threatening, as you see them begin darting amongst your party, slashing at exposed flesh with their blade-sharp wings.

Ice Sprite Swarm

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ICE SPRITE SWARM CR ???
XP ???
CE Diminutive fey (cold, swarm)
Init +4; Senses low-light vision; Perception +8
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Defense
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AC 18, touch 18, flat-footed 14 (+4 Dex, +4 size)
hp 10 (3d6)
Fort +1, Ref +9, Will +3
DR 5 / cold iron
Immune cold
Weaknesses vulnerability to fire
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Offense
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Speed 5 ft., fly 30 ft. (good)
Melee swarm (1d6)
Space 10 ft.; Reach 0 ft.
Special Attacks distraction (DC 11), wounding
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 1st)
At will - dancing lights, ghost sound (Will DC 12)
1/day - silent image (Will DC 13), ray of frost
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Statistics
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Str 2, Dex 19, Con 11, Int 6, Wis 10, Cha 15
[standard array (racial -8 Str, +8 Dex, -4 Int, +4 Cha), 0 + 1 + 1 + 0 + 0 + 1]
Base Atk +0; CMB -; CMD -
Feats Acrobatic, Lightning Reflexes
Skills 12 Acrobatics 1 (+10), Bluff 0 (+3), Climb 0 (+0), Craft (any) 0 (-), Diplomacy 0 (+3), Disguise 0 (+3), Escape Artist 0 (+3), Fly 3 (+14), Knowledge (geography) 0 (-), Knowledge (local) 0 (-), Knowledge (nature) 0 (-), Perception 3 (+8), Perform (any) 0 (-), Sense Motive 0 (+0), Sleight of Hand 0 (+3), Stealth 2 (+1 as a swarm, +21 individually), Swim 0 (+0), Use Magic Device 0 (-); Racial Modifiers +2 Fly, +2 Perception
Languages Sylvan
SQ spell-like abilities, fatal fascination
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Ecology
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Environment cold plains or hills
Organization always swarm
Treasure incidental
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Special Abilities
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Wounding (Ex) Any living creature damaged by an ice sprite swarm continues to bleed, losing 1 hit point per round thereafter. Multiple wounds do not result in cumulative bleeding loss. The bleeding can be stopped by a DC 10 Heal check, or by the application of a cure spell or some other healing magic.
Fatal Fascination (Ex) Ice sprites are enthralled by the sight of open flame, and can be distracted from their cruel games by the sight of a flame of at least torch size. The swarm must make a Will save (DC 15) to keep their attention focused on their prey, instead breaking off to dance around the new source of fire.

Ice sprites are a plague upon the land, travelling in tinkling swarms, singing their strange songs (which, when translated from sylvan, recount their enthusiasm for cutting into warm flesh and watching strong men die) and descending upon any lone travelers they find, slicing them with razor-sharp wings that resemble snowflakes, all jagged edges of seemingly delicate ice and drawing some form of sustenance from the heat and blood escaping the bodies of those they slay in this manner.

Enthralled by the sight of open flame, ice sprites taunt one another (and occasionally push one another) towards the flame as they dance around it, and when one gets too close, their icy wings melt away, causing them to drop to the ground (or, occasionally, directly into the fire, to the great amusement of their cruel comrades), where they are taunted mercilessly and mocked for their ill fortune, to be later abandoned by the swarm as it moves on.

Ice sprites have no gear or items, not even wearing tiny clothing on their smooth and seemingly sexless bodies, with skin and hair in shades of white and pale blue, dancing free of such things (and lacking the craft to make anything in any event). Their wings are always beautiful things, but cannot survive the touch of flame, and, while as hard and sharp as steel when the fey is alive, become brittle and delicate soon after the creature’s death, making them difficult to preserve, as even the warm touch of a man’s hand is enough to break the delicate structures, or partially melt them. Residents of the northlands who have an interest in such artwork capture the fey alive in nets, and then impale them on cold iron nails adorning the walls of their display rooms, rooms which are kept sealed against damaging gusts of wind, and which never know the presence of warmth, being kept cold and lit only by shuttered lanterns for brief times, or by heatless magical light sources, to preserve the grisly display.

The hunched figure resembles a twisted gnome, with oversized arms, bandy legs, squinting eyes of mismatched size and a prodigious hunch on its back. Despite its labored movement, it moves quickly over the top of the snow, and points a long icicle at you as it mutters a sing-song rhyme in a guttural voice as its bulging left eye flares with arcane power.

Frost Grump

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FROST GRUMP CR ???
XP ???
N Small fey
Init +2; Senses low-light vision; Perception +6
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Defense
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AC 15, touch 13, flat-footed 13 (+2 Dex, +1 size, +1 natural armor, +2 furs and hide equivalent to leather armor)
hp 19 (3d6+9)
Fort +3, Ref +5, Will +3
DR 5 / cold iron; Resist Cold 5
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Offense
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Speed 20 ft.
Melee +1 icicle spear (1d4 + 1d6 cold damage)
Ranged +3 thrown icicle spear (1d4 + 1d6 cold damage, 20 ft. range increment)
Space 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.
Special Attacks spell-like abilities, icicle spear
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 3rd)
At will – dancing lights, ghost sound (Will DC 13), prestidigitation, speak with animals (arctic only)
3/day – entangle (ice and snow only, Ref DC 14), grease (Ref DC 14), obscuring mist
1/day – glitterdust, sleet storm, spike growth (icy terrain only)
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Statistics
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Str 11, Dex 14, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 16
[(racial -2 Str, +2 Con, +2 Cha), 3 + 5 + 2 + 0 + 0 + 5 = 15]
Base Atk +1; CMB +0; CMD 13
Feats Endurance, Toughness
Skills 18 Acrobatics 0 (+2), Bluff 0 (+3), Climb 0 (+0), Craft (any) 0 (-), Diplomacy 0 (+3), Disguise 0 (+3), Escape Artist 0 (+2), Fly 0 (+2), Knowledge (geography) 3 (+6), Knowledge (local) 3 (+6), Knowledge (nature) 3 (+6), Perception 3 (+6), Perform (any) 0 (-), Sense Motive 0 (+0), Sleight of Hand 0 (+3), Stealth 3 (+12), Survival 3 (+5), Swim 0 (+0), Use Magic Device 0 (-); Racial Modifiers +2 Survival
Languages Sylvan
SQ spell-like abilities, internal furnace, chilling curse
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Ecology
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Environment cold plains or hills
Organization always alone
Treasure standard
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Special Abilities
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Icicle Spear (Su) Frost Grumps carry large icicles that are as strong as steel within their grasp, and which they use as walking sticks while travelling, and as spears when threatened. These spears inflict 1d4 piercing damage +1d6 cold damage, and the cold damage is returned to the Grump as healing, as heat is stolen from the target and transferred to the fey. If this icicle is thrown, sundered or stolen, it melts away at the end of the round, and the fey can create a new one as a move-equivalent action.
Internal Furnace (Su) Frost Grumps are always hot to the touch, and their breath plumes behind them as they trundle through the snow. A Frost Grump has Cold Resistance 5, and has a +5 racial bonus to Fortitude checks or saves vs. the effects of environmental cold. Furthermore, by huddling up against another, they can share this bonus, lending the warmth of their bodies to another, being able to provide protective warmth to one creature of size medium, two of size small, etc. or being able to provide the warmth equivalent to a small campfire to those within an enclosed area.
Chilling Curse (Su) Frost Grumps charge a hefty price for their services as personal campfire when they find a traveler lost in the storm, and those who agree to their terms must pay them a service in exchange for salvation from the bitter chill. These terms are entirely up to the Grump in question, but must follow the restrictions as if the Grump had cast Lesser Geas. Instead of attribute penalties, someone who breaks their agreement with the Grump suffers the effects of cold weather (below 40 degrees F), no matter the actual temperature around them (although, if the surrounding weather is colder, they will suffer the worst result). After 24 hours of breaking their agreement, the effect increases to that of severe cold (below 0 degrees F), and, if they continue to defy the terms of the agreement, the effects become those of extreme cold (below -20 degrees F) after another 24 hours. Those who die as a result of the Chilling Curse are found frozen solid, and the Grump receives a rush of pleasing warmth, as the last of their body heat is trapped within his body, to fuel his internal furnace. Remove Curse (against DC 16), Break Enchantment (against CL 6, the Grumps normal casting level is doubled for the purposes of this curse), the will of the Grump who placed the Curse, or his death, can all end the Chilling Curse. This curse can only be placed upon someone who agrees to the conditions, and therefore waives the initial saving throw (and any spell resistance).

Clad in furs and hide, decorated with countless trinkets of carved bone, antler and wood, the Frost Grumps appear as deformed and twisted gnomes, with short legs and broad shoulders, usually adorned with a noticeable hunch, causing them to walk bent over. Their skin is lumpy, their hair straggly and intertwined with feathers, beads and other knick-knacks, and one of their milk-white eyes is always noticeably larger than the other.

In the northlands, there are two common rumors regarding the Frost Grumps. The first is that they are born Ice Sprites, and are formed when one of that fickle race flies too close to a flame and loses its wings. Taunted and abandoned by its cruel peers, it burrows into the snow, wracked with fear, pain and hatred for its own people, until, months later, bloated, twisted and deformed from its diet of spite and shame, it crawls forth as a Frost Grump. The second tale is that the Frost Grumps were once Gnomes, captured by the Ice Queen herself, and tormented for her amusement, twisted by foul fey magics until they become capering servants for her amusement. If there is any truth to either tale, the Frost Grumps certainly aren’t telling, and they wander the arctic wastes, seeking out living beings lost in the snow, to bargain their services.

Those who have been rescued by these unpleasant little curmudgeons are sometimes given nonsensical tasks, told to uproot themselves from their homes and travel to distant towns, to take up entirely different lives. Some go on to be forced from obscurity into lives of adventure. Others find themselves being used in strange schemes, to steal and acquire items that the Frost Grump seeks for his own obscure purposes (likely to court or compete with another of his kind). And some are simply used, with the Grump tasking them to raise animals for his own use, or fashion clothing for him, or prepare meals and set them out for his enjoyment. Some Grumps wander from community to community, with a few souls in each town owing them such favors, so that they never want for a warm meal and a safe shelter when they scurry into town.

Frost Grumps tend to regard those in their thrall as resources, and have been known to come to their assistance, in dire times, so as to not lose the services of this debtor, although one could hardly consider them generous by nature. Less pleasant local legends suggest that male Frost Grumps have worked out alternate arrangements with comely females of other races, but this is pure fantasy, as the Frost Grumps find any features not as stunted and misshapen as their own to be hideous and unsettling.

Frost Grumps, due to their networks of ‘thralls,’ often know a surprising amount about local communities, and, due to their wandering ways, are equally knowledgeable about the local wildlife and territories, making them excellent guides, if their prices can be agreed to, and their antisocial demeanors tolerated. Some rare Grumps have taken to domesticating wild animals, hunting, or even working hides and bone into tools, although few, if any, go so far as to engage in productive work, considering such activities to be ‘hobbies.’

[Calmar]

Guys, thanks, but some folks are barking up the wrong tree. Owrtho and Itastelikelove had the right idea with Fae they find interesting; I'll be redoing the black dog [present in D&D as the Bargest] when i get around to it.

Besides the barghest there's the yeth hound, who lore-wise seems to be simply another name for the same creature. Link, link.

In my game I changed the yeth hound's DR from 10/silver to 10/cold iron and use them as hounds of unseelie nobles.

(thanks to the stupid pic in the Monster Manual I thought the yeth hound was simply supposed to be some outer-planar dog-thing with a retarded face for all the years...)