Exploring the Fey Plane
The First World: Realm of the Fey, 2016 Paizo
This post’s aim is to provide a deeper look at traveling across the faerie plane and what one might experience during their journeys. Much of the information provided here is based on my own world’s lore and imagination of what could be found in a plane devoted to wild, unrestrained nature and the prankster spirits of fey. If you are interested in a post about specific locations and people of the Feywild, read - The Planes: Feywild which is based on resources and books by Wizards of the Coast.
Player’s Option - Heroes of the Feywild, 2011 WotC
Exploration
Traveling through this plane creates unique problems that most adventurers won’t be used to if they have never left the material plane. The plane is morphic in its very nature, ebbing and flowing like waves across the ocean. Landmarks seemingly move of their own volition, mountains sprout like daisies, rivers dance through the forest, and the land shrinks and expands like a balloon. The chaotic nature of the plane is hard to control, with only those with monumental will able to briefly control this disorder.
When moving through this plane, it’s not a matter of if you’ll become lost, but when and for how long. Even creatures native to this plane never know how long a journey might take them, setting off on their journeys with the expectation that it might be days, years, or never that they’ll return to their home. With distances that expand and collapse, it can make any journey through this rugged wilderness almost impossible, as any ground you made the previous day can be immediately undone the next. Many claim the plane itself is a prankster, and the more impatient one becomes, the longer the journey takes.
Getting Lost
It’s no secret that you are going to get lost when traveling through this plane, and part of traveling here is getting lost. Not even a native can accurately tell where they are while traveling through the wilds, but luckily, they do have a general sense of what’s around them. To put it another way, while they can’t say that they are three miles away from the village of Caslemil, they at least know that they are near the town. If this is their destination, they can focus on the influence of Caslemil and, eventually, arrive in the village.
The First World: Realm of the Fey, 2016 Paizo
The bigger the settlement is, the easier it is for a native to focus on its influence. This influence shapes and controls the wild nature of this plane, keeping its shape inside this writhing storm of nature. The influence of a settlement, landmark, castle, or location is based on the knowledge of it. So long as the native people remember that a place exists, it continues to exist and its influence bleeds into the plane, cementing its shape. As fewer and fewer people remember a location, its influence on the plane begins to slip until it finally dissolves into the plane as the last person to remember it forgets or dies. There might have been ancient cities that have been lost to the ravages of the wilderness, forgotten by all, and to never be found until someone stumbles upon its lost knowledge.
Thanks to this influence, fey guides can, with some confidence, help outsiders travel this plane, focusing on the influence of a location during their travels. While that doesn’t mean they will get there in any specific time period, it does mean that they are at least heading in the right direction. For outsiders, they are incapable of focusing on this influence; even elves and gnomes born outside the plane lack the ability to detect this strange energy - thus many fey folk on the material plane will have children on the fey plane so that they feel connected to this plane if they traveled here.
The First World: Realm of the Fey, 2016 Paizo
Distance
While this plane is morphic, a traveler can still use the idea of distance within the plane, though it uses less nuanced words to describe it. If a fairy tells a traveler that something is Far Away, then travelers should be warned that their journey might take years instead of days. On the other hand, if a redcap reveals that its master is Adjacent to where they are, it might only be a day before the traveler arrives… though that journey might still take them months if they refuse to employ a guide. Visitors to this plane will never hear that a landmark is three miles away and everyone in the plane knows that if they wish to take a picnic at an Adjacent landmark, they should pack for a journey that may very well take them several days to complete.
Many of the wanderers and travelers of this plane understand that if they want to go to a place that is Far Away, it’ll be much faster if they simply travel to places that are merely Close or Near. While they may make a lot of stops along their path, it’s better than being lost forever in the wilderness as they try to find a Far Away and Almost Forgotten Landmark.
The First World: Realm of the Fey, 2016 Paizo
Though, sometimes trails and rivers gain their own influence, becoming stabilized paths between two places that are safe to follow. These paths are well known, and have to be, to keep back the primal forces of change. If you follow them, never leave it during your journey or you’ll soon be lost in the forest, unable to find your way back. There are many monsters that try to lure creatures from the path or river, sometimes just to laugh at them getting lost or to devour them. There are only a few walking paths that have any amount of influence as to be utilized, though there are many rivers that wind their way down to the sea.
Travel Time
If you wish to randomly determine how long it takes to travel from one location to another in the plane of faeries, you can use the chart below. First, your table must decide where they are wishing to travel to. The GM then rolls a d20, and then adds in the appropriate modifiers found below. The party does not know how long it will take for them to arrive at their destination. If they travel for hours, days, weeks, months, or years without arriving at their destination, they can decide to journey to a new location and you repeat the d20 check to determine how long it will take, it might take longer or shorter to arrive at their destination.
Modifiers
Native Fey Guide +5
Barbarian, Druid, or Ranger in party +1
Abandoned Settlement or Almost Forgotten Landmark (Very few know it) -5
Tiny Settlement or Obscure Landmark (Known by some) -3
Medium Settlement or Somewhat Known Landmark (Known by quite a few) +0
Large Settlement or Known Landmark (Most have probably heard of it) +3
Massive Settlement or Well Known Landmark (Everyone has heard of it) +5
Distance Far Away -5; Distant -3; Near +0; Close +3; Adjacent +5Time to Arrive
1 | You will never arrive at your destination.
2 | It takes 3d6 years to arrive at your destination.
3 | It takes 2d6 years to arrive at your destination.
4 | It takes 1d6 years to arrive at your destination.
5-6 | It takes 3d6 months to arrive at your destination.
7-8 | It takes 2d6 months to arrive at your destination.
9-10 | It takes 1d6 months to arrive at your destination.
11-12 | It takes 3d6 weeks to arrive at your destination.
13-14 | It takes 2d6 weeks to arrive at your destination.
15-16 | It takes 1d6 weeks to arrive at your destination.
17-18 | It takes 3d6 days to arrive at your destination.
19-20 | It takes 2d6 days to arrive at your destination.
21+ | It takes 1d6 days to arrive at your destination.
The First World: Realm of the Fey, 2016 Paizo
Life in the Plane
For those who live here, be it natives or those who simply decide to settle within the striking beauty of this plane, life can seem strange to those unaccustomed to it. Every settlement within the plane behaves differently with no exact duplicates found anywhere else. There might be a city where time passes far slower; its inhabitants experience only 10 years, while the rest of the inhabitants in the plane experience 100 years. When they leave their city, they age like normal with the rest of the plane, but when they return to their home, their age slows back down, matching those around them. There would be no other place in this plane where time functions just like that, but there might be another city where they have the opposite problem. Their time works too fast, and so when the plane experiences 10 years, they’ve experienced 100 years. These two cities might even be connected in some way, a temporal portal that seemingly siphons energy from one to the next. But no one finds such an occurrence to be odd or out of place here. It just is.
Heroes of the Feywild, 2011 WotC
Archfey
Throughout the plane are the powerful archfey who are recognized as masters of their domains. They are one of the few who can actually impose their will on this plane, bending its morphic nature to their use and travel across it without risking a year-long journey. Their domains might span just a few hundred feet, to miles and miles of forest based on their power and disposition. Several archfey might even work together to create a Court, like the Court of the Moon, the Court of Coral, and the Green Fey. These courts might even be united together, like those courts who belong to the Court of Stars which helps coordinate a defensive against the encroaching giant and goblin armies that seek to corrupt the plane’s primal nature with fire and industry.
Archfey rarely sit on their thrones all day, if they even have them. Many simply wander through their forests, their rivers, or swamps; experiencing the plane and its many curiosities. They might get distracted for days by the beauty of a single flower, or spend their time hosting huge parties at night where wine flows like a river.
Despite the impression that many get, archfey aren’t simple fools who seek to only drink or smell flowers, they are as dangerous as the plane. They are just as chaotic and changeable as the plane, their emotions quickly morphing and changing throughout a conversation or song; sudden anger leading to joyful tears to heartfelt delight. For those born in the plane, it’s easy to follow these sudden changes, but many outsiders are caught unaware of these eclectic mood swings. What they might think is a friendly smile, actually hides a devious plot to ensnare the mortal, making them a servant for a lifetime.
Domains of Delight, 2021 WotC
Fey
To call a creature a fey, is to say that they are from the plane of faeries. It would be like calling those from the plane of shadows as gloomy or those from inner planes as elementals. There are more than just sprites, pixies, elves, eladrin, and others in this plane, and in fact, if it exists in the material plane, it probably exists here too… just different. A bear born in the fey plane would still be called a fey because it was born here, not because it is an elf or a pixie. Though, any creature born here is rarely mistaken for those found on the material plane as they could have very odd qualities to them, like a tiger that bursts into song when it’s happy or a frog that can awaken a tree when it feels lonely and wants a friend.
Looks can often be deceiving in the forests and settlements of this land, with many thinking that something small can’t be that dangerous. Some travelers claim that the smaller and cuter something is, the more dangerous and cruel it is, but that isn’t wholly true. Fey creatures are just as diverse as any other group on another plane; they just have a deeper connection to the primal world.
Planar Adventures, 2018 Paizo
Odd Occurrences
The plane is host to all sorts of oddities and strange effects, especially to outsiders. They might be wandering through a forest before they start to realize either they are shrinking or the forest is growing rapidly. As they continue moving forward, the trees appear like mountains around them and bugs are large beasts that are a threat to the explorer’s very life. They travel through a mushroom forest where toadstools are the size of trees, and they still have no idea if it’s them that are smaller or the natural world has simply outgrown them.
The First World: Realm of the Fey, 2016 Paizo
These oddities appear all across the plane, and its never questioned by the inhabitants. Sure, it might be weird, but its just how things are done here. No sense in worrying about why or how it happened, when you could be experiencing it. A few examples of strange occurrences in the faerie plane are provided below. If your party reaches a new city or location, you can either pick one or roll a d20 to randomly determine what oddity the place has. Typically, a location shouldn’t have more than one oddity about it; otherwise oddities lose their special quality and can make a place too confusing.
1 | Homes are crafted inside of trees by singing to the plants.
2 | For every day that passes here, 10 days pass for the rest of the plane.
3 | For every 10 days that pass here, 1 day passes for the rest of the plane.
4 | Instead of trees, there are massive toadstools.
5 | It is either always night time here, or always day time.
6 | Gravity is reversed here and buildings are built on the underside of tree branches. If you fall between the tree branches, you’ll fall up into the sky. You’ll probably be OK.
7 | This place has buildings, furniture, and trees all built at the proper size, except everyone is shrunk to a tenth their normal size.
8 | Inanimate material, like rocks or bushes, have full sentience and regularly converse with anyone that passes them by.
9 | Anyone who enters this area immediately takes on the anthropomorphic appearance of an animal that closely matches their personality.
10 | This location only has a single season and its residents don’t understand why anyone needs more than that.
11 | This place doesn’t use coins as currency, but lifeforce and years.
12 | This place is built into a massive coral reef and the water is breathable to all.
13 | Ruled by a strange archfey with an odd grasp on reality, there are no end to odd laws within this place. In fact, to enter this place, you must walk clockwise three times around the walls before entering. If it’s raining or a Wednesday, you must walk counterclockwise two times. If it’s raining on a Wednesday, you have to walk clockwise and then counterclockwise around the walls before you can enter. Sunday has no silly laws, so you only have to walk clockwise around the walls once before you can enter, unless its raining, in which case you might have to walk counterclockwise but no one is sure so they might not allow entrance on that specific day but you should still go for a walk just in case.
14 | The same day repeats every day, but the locals don’t mind as it lets them know what to expect for the day.
15 | Everything that is grown here is ten times it’s normal size.
16 | Untreated water turns to wine here, while grapes are fermented to produce water.
17 | Everyone has nightmares here, no one talks about it for fear of making it worse.
18 | Everywhere you look, trees, rocks, and shrubs all jump out of the way so you always have an unobstructed view of the horizon.
19 | There is a portal in the center of the town that can’t be traveled into, it spits out random creatures every few days. Some of them are downright murderous.
20 | The entire place has taken a vow of silence. No speaking will be tolerated here.
Spellcasting
The wild nature of this plane can have a strange impact upon spells; sometimes it only changes their look, while other times it might make them explode in sudden force or simply conjure a flower crown for everyone to wear. Magic can act odd when it is exposed to the primal power of this plane, with only the archfey being able to fully control their magic.
Clerics and the Divine
For those who have never left their home on the material world, it can feel like a sudden shock when they enter this plane. Their connection to their god is still there, but it feels distant and strained. The presence of gods are unwanted by many who reside here, and so clerics feel distant from the divinity. While they can still cast all their spells as usual, there are places within the faerie plane that is completely hidden to the gods, making it dangerous territory for them. Only those who worship gods devoted to elves, eladrin, nature, or primal power don’t sense a disconnect to their god.
Heroes of the Feywild, 2011 WotC
Fey Magic
Almost every creature born to the plane has magic tied to the nature around them, allowing them to speak with plants or animals, craft plants into desirable shapes, or impose their will on an area and begin shaping it into a specific place. It takes a powerful will to force the plane to listen to them, with only the archfey able to affect an area greater than a few dozen feet. One should be careful walking through another creature’s place, an area that they influenced to hold a firm shape in the morphic plane, as they gain all sorts of strange powers. They are the ultimate creators of this spot, even if it is a few feet across, and can bend the laws of nature and the plane here.
Primal Magic
Those who practice magic that focuses on nature and elemental forces feel a connection to this world. While they are still subject to their spells being twisted by the wild nature of this plane, they have greater influence over what strange effects happen to their magic. If you use the Surging Magic below, they can roll twice and take whichever result they would prefer.
Planar Adventures, 2018 Paizo
Surging Magic
Magic can be affected in a variety of ways on this plane, from changing colors to appearing like plants to sprouting flowers where the magic was unleashed. When you cast a leveled spell in this plane, the GM can choose to have the caster roll a d20. If they roll the level of their spell or lower on the d20, than a surge of magic overcomes their spell, changing it in a variety of ways. For example, if you cast a fireball at 3rd level, you would roll a d20. If your result is 3 or lower, than a surge of magic augments your spell. If you would like this effect to happen more often, you could instead have the caster roll a d10.
The GM can either use the Wild Magic Surge table found in the Player’s Handbook for 5th edition or use the chart provided below. The results of the surge should be announced only after the spell is cast and the actual effects of the surge are up to the GM’s discretion.
1 | The spell explodes in a dazzling array of light and all creatures within the area of effect, or within 5 feet of the spell, is blinded until the start of their next turn.
2 | A wellspring of healing erupts from the epicenter of the spell, healing all creatures within the effects of the spell five times the level of the spell cast.
3 | All creatures within 30 feet of the spell or the spellcaster who are wearing or wielding metal are immediately targeted by a heat metal spell. The DC is the same as the spellcaster’s spell save DC.
4 | The spell’s area of effect is increased by half. If the spell has no area of effect, it instead gains a 10-foot radius of effect.
5 | If the spell deals damage, it changes to poison. If the spell doesn’t deal damage, the spellcaster becomes poisoned by a random poison for 1 minute.
6 | If the spell deals damage, its damage is doubled.
7 | If the spell deals damage, its damage is halved.
8 | The spellcaster and target of the spell gain the benefits of a haste spell for 1d4 rounds.
9 | The spellcaster and target of the spell become slowed by the slow spell for 1d4 rounds.
10 | Mushrooms and fungi sprout from the spellcaster for 1 minute. Each round, roll a d10 and the spellcaster either gains that many hit points if the number is even, or loses that many hit points if the number is odd.
11 | Plants all seem to be too friendly to the target of the spell for 1d4 days.
12 | The season suddenly changes. This has no effect on time.
13 | If there is a tree within 120 feet of the spellcaster, it immediately becomes a treant under the control of the GM. It has no loyalty to any creature and might battle for anyone if properly convinced.
14 | A random fey (sprite, pixie, redcap, etc) immediately appears and pledges its eternal service to the spellcaster. They fade away after 10 days unless the party completes a quest for the fey.
15 | If there are plants within 60 feet of the spellcaster, they grow angry at the spellcaster and become sentient. They become a shambling mound that immediately attacks the spellcaster.
16 | The spellcaster gains a random druid cantrip that they can cast at-will for 1 day.
17 | All food within 120 feet of the spell immediately grows sentient with an Intelligence of 8 (-1) and can speak sylvan.
18 | An earthquake spell is centered on the target of this spell.
19 | Flowers explode like confetti out of the target of this spell and they become allergic to pollen.
20 | Roll on this chart twice. If you get a 20 again, continue adding in effects until you no longer get a 20.
Heroes of the Feywild, 2011 WotC
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