Faerie Creature

Originally Posted by Galliard of the Book of Fey forums.

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As a rule, fey versions of creatures are usually highly attractive or remarkable members of their species. fey elks, for example, will be large and powerfully built, with enormous, opalescent antlers and sapphire eyes. fey birds will have incredibly vibrant, almost crystalline plumage, and sing complex songs with rich melodies and harmonies. Even fey insects tend to look more like animated jewellery than lowly vermin. Often, a faerie creature will have unusual colours or features for its species, such as a bright red or pale green deer, or an unusually large (or small) bird. Once dead, most fey creatures rapidly revert to the more mundane, pedestrian appearance of mortal members of their species.

Faerie creatures live quite a long time. Generally, double the creature’s normal life-span, or add an additional +20 years, whichever would be greater. Faerie creatures that live in Faerie itself slow these extended life-spans down by a factor of 10.

Faerie creatures are more intelligent than their mundane cousins. Most notably, faerie animals and vermin can possess an ability to reason that is truly astounding. In certain regions of Faerie, animals have achieved full sentience, and have started communities and societies. Such communities are often multi-species, and frequently include a fair number of pooka. At least one colony of bees in Eternal Spring, and one colony of ants in Eternal Autumn have achieved sentience, and both send emissaries to the Seelie Court. The oldest trees of the forests are quite intelligent, and frequently will speak with other living creatures if that creature has a great deal of patience. Like many extremely long-lived beings, elder faerie trees are in no hurry to move a conversation along.

Faerie creature is a template that can be added to any animal, magical beast, plant or vermin (referred to hereafter as the ·base creature·). animals and vermin become magical beasts, while plants remain plants. Even in the Plane of Faerie, itself, faerie plants tend to be rare, easily outnumbered by the other types of faerie creatures. Use all the base creature’s statistics and special abilities except as noted here. Faerie creatures gain the feyblood subtype. For all effects related to race, a faerie creature is considered both a magical beast (or plant, as applicable) and a fey.

Abilities: CHR +4, other abilities are the same as base creature, but Intelligence is always at least 3, and frequently higher (DM’s discretion).

AC: gain a +1 to natural armour per 4 Hit Dice (this bonus does not apply against cold-iron weapons)

Anti-Magic Susceptibility: The creature loses the template while in an anti-magic zone, only regaining the template when it leaves the zone.

Wild Magic Susceptibility: The creature’s alignment changes to Chaotic while in a wild magic zone, and it acts as if under the effects of a confusion spell. This confusion effect ends immediately if the creature leaves the wild magic zone.

Senses (Ex): The creature gains Low-Light Vision, allowing them to see twice as far as a human in conditions of poor illumination. They retain the ability to distinguish colour and detail under these conditions. Base creatures that already have Low-Light Vision gain no additional visual abilities. Faerie plants gain tremor sense to a range equal to 10′ per Hit Die, as well as the ability to see (including Low-Light Vision) and hear. Few faerie plants can move beyond the Spot where they are rooted.

Damage Reduction (Ex): see table

Spell Resistance (Ex): Equal to the creature’s HD + 8 vs. arcane magic, and HD + 4 vs divine magic.

Cold-Iron Allergy: If a changeling is hit with a weapon of cold-iron, he must succeed at a WILL save [DC 5 + damage dealt] or be shaken for 1 rd. + 1/5 full hp of damage. He is treated as sickened if bound with cold-iron chains or shackles, in a cold-iron cage, wearing cold-iron armour, or wielding a cold-iron weapon. Even if he somehow overcomes this limitation through magic, cold-iron armour always imparts a risk of spell failure for any spell cast, arcane or divine, while it is worn. This is a trait of the metal, and cannot be circumvented by feat, enchantment or class abilities. This chance is equal to double the armour’s normal arcane spell failure. Changelings can automatically detect appreciable amounts of cold-iron (i.e.: an amount able to affect them) due to a foul odour it gives off that only fey seem able to sense; treat changelings as having the Scent special ability, but only in regards to cold-iron.

Language: All faerie creatures understand and speak fey (Sylvan). If they have an Intelligence of 6 or higher, they may also understand Common (DM’s discretion). The ability to speak is a Supernatural ability if the base creature is physically incapable of reproducing human speech. Each animal may speak to its own mundane animal type as if under the effects of a continuous speak with animals spell, and faerie plants can speak with plants at will.

Saving Throw Bonus: Faerie creatures are very hard to fool with illusions. They may attempt a saving throw to disbelieve an illusion it sees even if it has not interacted with the effect, in the same manner as an elf may attempt to find secret doors merely by passing one.

Skills: Gain (4 + Intelligence modifier; minimum of 1) skill points per HD. Add the following to class skills: Bluff, Hide, Listen, Move Silently, Sense Motive, Spot and Survival, in addition to any class skills the base creature may already possess. Those creatures with class levels use their class skills in place of these skills.

HD	DR	Other
1-2	—	+2 to all Will saving throws
2-6	2/cold-iron or magic	+2 Charisma
7-10	5/cold-iron or magic	+2 to Will saving throws (stacks)
11-14	10/cold-iron or magic	fascinate
15-18	10/cold-iron	+2 Dexterity
19+	15/cold-iron	+2 Charisma

Fascinate (Su): The faerie creature has the power to cause other, non-fey creatures to become fascinated with it. Normally, the power works continuously and unconsciously as a free action, and is an enchantment (compulsion), mind-affecting ability. Each creature within 30· that is able to see the faerie and able to pay attention to it can fall subject to this effect. The faerie must not be disguising its nature as a fey creature (with spells such as Disguise Self, alter self, invisibility, or even mundane disguises). The distraction of a nearby combat or other dangers prevents the ability from working.

Susceptible victims are allowed a WILL saving throw, with a DC equal to 10 + ½ the faerie creature’s HD + Charisma modifier. If the saving throw succeeds, that subject is immune to that particular fey’s fascinate power for the next 24 hours. If its saving throw fails, the affected creature stays still and quiet, staring at the faerie, taking no other action for as long as the fey is visible and behaves in a peaceful manner (1 hour maximum) and for an additional 1d3 rounds after the fey has left its line-of-sight.

While fascinated, a target takes a -4 penalty on skill checks made as reactions, such as Listen and Spot checks. Any potential threat, such as an ally of the fey approaching the fascinated creature, allows the target to make a new WILL saving throw. Any obvious threat, such as someone drawing a weapon, casting a spell, or aiming a ranged weapon at the target, automatically breaks the effect. This ability will not work on targets that have more hit dice than the faerie, nor any other fey with more than ½ the hit dice of the faerie creature.