Arthur Rackham, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The Feyfolk Roleplay Toolkit

Part 2 of Roleplaying the Better Fey

Table of contents

Part 1 Roleplaying the Feyfolk Redux

Part 2 The Feyfolk Roleplay Toolkit(You are here)

Part 3 More Fey For You

Part 3 Folklore of Faerie

I have provided guidelines and principles for roleplaying the fey, but that is nowhere near enough to satisfy my need for diligence on the matter. Hence, I created 17 pages of random tables to create interesting feyfolk. You will find tables for fey opinions, barter goods of the fey, and fey dwelling places, as well as plenty of other content to create memorable feyfolk.

12 1d12 Tables of Fey Opinions

The Fey are opinionated and stubborn as mules about their opinions. Here are some d12 tables to roll to generate opinions. Roll on as many or as few of the following tables as you wish. Remember, the fey can have conflicting opinions on things, so rolling on the same table multiple times is permitted

1 What Makes Me Happy: Pastoral Pleasures

d12Opinion
1Roses are my favorite flower
2Tulips are my favorite flower
3Sunny days are the best 
4I love the sound of rain falling against the roof of my house
5Cherry Blossoms
6Croaking of frogs and the chirp of crickets is better than any bard’s song
7Birdsong is better than any bard’s song
8I love the smell of the world after a strong rainstorm
9Sunsets are the best part of any day
10Sunrises are the best part of any day
11I find Mushrooms and fungi cool
12I love riding on the backs of birds in flight

2 What Makes me Happy: Mischievous pursuits

d12Opinion
1I love to gossip about everybody, mortal and fey alike
2I like to steal things from mortals and lead them through the woods to a well-hidden bog
3I like swapping people’s voices for a day
4It is the greatest joy to pull pranks on people, be they friend or foe, mortal or fey
5It is the greatest thrill in the world to steal from powerful and important fey and mortals
6My friends love to come up with stupid dares for each other. I am pretty good at thinking up daring stunts to challenge my friends, too.
7I love wild parties.
8It is always a funny trick to trick knights into fighting each other, and it’s way too easy to do
9I like to drink and get drunk
10I like to scam mortals with fake potions and magic items
11I like to steal things from my neighbors and put them in odd places
12I like to watch as mortal folk deal with the illusions I place all over the place

3 What Makes Me Happy: My most favorite thing in the world

d12Opinion
1I traded some moontea for this shiny glass orb. Best bargain I ever made
2My personal gold hoard
3Leather-bound picture book of fairytales, I got it as a present from a human child I was once friends with
4A posie of various flowers I picked a long time ago
5This broken mirror that reflects light in such a cool way
6My teaset that always makes the best dandelion tea
7This funny-shaped rock I found
8A horn from a unicorn that I stole from an adventurer
9A princess’s tears from the death of her beloved in a bottle
10The teeth of my enemy I pulled while they slept
11A collection of emotions in bottles, I got them through dealing with mortals
12This well-made outfit I spent weeks working on

4 What Makes Me Happy: Friends and Foes

d12Opinion
1I got this one mortal friend; they are a prince/princess/knight/wizard, etc, and they are a joy to be around
2I have a mortal enemy that I love messing with
3I am friends with every small animal near my home and will not accept any evidence to the contrary 
4I have a friend who is of a species my kind do not normally associate with
5Everybody appreciates my gifts
6There is a particular bard I am a fan of; his music is the best, and I will not be persuaded otherwise
7My best friend is this little girl/boy who lives near my home. We play together every day
8I am a servant to another who is greater than I; I adore my master as the greatest at everything
9I am a servant to another who is greater than I am. I don’t like them, but I take every opportunity to mess with them
10I have a rival in my community, it is a friendly rivalry, and we enjoy outdoing each other.
11Everyone thinks that I am ________( fill in the blank with an adjective)
12I like being alone and enjoying the solitude of lonely places

5 What Makes Me Happy: OOOH Pretty

d12Opinion
1Broken things
2Psychedelic patterns and loud music
3Breathtaking vistas
4Princesses and other pretty maidens
5Bugs, any type
6I find sadness beautiful
7Princes and handsome men
8Flowers
9Anything shiny
10My reflection
11Swamplands
12Big Trees

6 What Makes Me Sad: Offensive Behaviours

d12Opinion
1There is a specific word I cannot stand
2People who eat with their mouths [open/closed]—pick one
3Smiling
4Frowning
5People who do not wipe their shoes before entering _______” → specify “a place dear to me
6Jokes about __________
7Not laughing at my jokes
8Singing, either specific songs or just singing in general
9Not accepting a gift
10Cooking fish/meat/vegetables in my presence
11Harming nature
12Not harming nature

7 What Makes Me Sad: Sins against _________

d12Opinion
1The color red is a sin against aesthetics 
2Roses are by far too pretentious for their own good
3All shoes should have pointed toes; anything else is a sin against fashion
4Shoes are a sin against nature
5Knock-knock jokes are a sin against good humor
6Cooking food ruins its honesty; it’s a sin against good taste
7Flowers should be red or yellow; anything else is a sin against beauty
8Adding milk to tea is a sin against tea’s purity
9Getting dirt on your shinies is a sin against shiny things
10Caging an animal is a crime against nature
11Ending a party early is a crime against joy
12Black with white stripes is a crime against fashion

8 What Makes Me Sad: What I find Gross

d12Opinion
1Metal, not just iron, but copper, bronze, tin, all of it
2Bugs
3Worms
4Slime
5Human structures
6Dung
7Swamps
8Grease. Just… grease. 
9mushrooms
10Happiness
11Laughter
12Happy endings

9 What Makes Me Sad: I cannot stand this guy

d12Opinion
1My own kind disgusts me; I refuse to explain why
2I cannot bear to be in the company of my own reflection
3Anyone who belongs to one specific faerie court is an untrustworthy rogue/uncouth barbarian/tedious snob
4There is this particular star that I think might be plotting against me
5There is one mountain that looks like a skull that I will not go anywhere near
6One particular type of faerie creature is completely insufferable to be around.
7Goblins are rouges, every last one of them. Never let them out of your sight around your possessions
8Hobgoblins are as bad as humans; they are constantly knocking down trees for their buildings
9There’s one kind of creature I can’t abide — pick one
10I find summer to be vindictively hot
11I cannot stand sadness
12I am afraid of birds; they must be plotting something

10 What do I think of Mortals

d12Opinion
1Dwarves are such stick-in-the-mud
2Human children are fun playmates
3Mortals are so easy to trick  that it’s practically cheating
4I have not figured out how to make priests shut up about their gods and goddesses
5I do not trust wizards; they are always up to no good.
6ANyone who hails from the town/country/world of  _________ is unbearable for so many different reasons
7Human princes and princesses should be pretty; anyone who is ugly cannot be a monarch
8Elves are way too pretentious for their own good; they are just bad copies of the sidhe
9They have some funny ideas about beauty and the universe that I would love to help them fix
10They are destructive, cutting down trees for ugly buildings and farms
11Their craftsmen make the best stuff, I should know, I steal it constantly
12Adventures are such fun people, I love tagging along to see what mayhem they create 

11 How am I feeling today

d12Opinion
1Like giggling at everything
2Like prancing through the meadow
3Like punching somebody
4Like I absolutely cannot deal with these adventurers today—for reasons
5I want to crawl back into bed and sleep for a day or two
6Like messing with these mortals for a lark
7Like, I do not have enough possessions. Maybe the mortals will lend me something shiny
8Like I am over the moon and sun
9I am as sad as can be.
10Like throwing a huge party all night
11I am bored out of my mind.
12I am not sure (Combine or alternate between the two for the rest of the scene)

12 Strange things, I believe, about the world

d12Opinion
1Pansies are terrible teases
2Rabbits must be good at math; they multiply quickly after all
3I cannot touch the ground for any reason whatsoever (might actually be true)
4Speaking in rhyme is divine—free verse is for mortals
5You should never step on a person’s shadow; their shadow self hates it when you do that 
6The Titania, the summer queen, takes a tenth of all laughter as a tithe
7Better not be too good at any one thing, or else Mab might consider you a subject for a hunt
8All roads lead back to where they start
9The wind, trees, and rocks speak to me and give me advice on what to do (might actually be true)
10Everything anyone says is a riddle; it’s just a matter of finding the answer
11Rain is just the sky washing its face before bed
12Music keeps the world from unraveling; stop the music, and it all ends( might be true)

Fairy Contracts, Trading, Oaths, and Dealings

Arthur Rackham, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Barter of goods and favors dominates the economy of Faerie —or what passes for an economy in the metauniverse of growth. You can use the following tables to quickly set up a potential deal between adventurers and a fey or spice up an existing one.

What is the fey offering 

d12Offer
1The Fey will guide me to some place
2The Fey will owe me a favor to be repaid at a time of my choosing
3The fey will introduce me to a high fey lord or lady
4The fey will answer a question or provide me with a piece of lore
5The fey bestowed a magical charm or blessing upon me
6An alliance between me and a fey realm
7A common magical item or a fairy trade item
8An uncommon magical item or a fairy trade item
9A rare magical item
10Refuge from an enemy
11A whole lot of money
12Instruction in magical or mundane arts

Faerie Trade goods

d20Item
1A secret they received as payment from another mortal
2A powerful emotion—good or bad—bottled and glowing faintly
3Faerie fruits; taste delicious, always magical
4A dream caught in amber
5An enchanting song in a bottle
6A preserved kiss from a maiden
7Bottled dragon fire
8A bottled memory they received as payment from another mortal
9Faerie herbs, most certainly magical
10Faerie fungus. Probably magical, but equally likely to cause a wild trip
11A bit of unicorn fur
12A pre-trained familiar for any class
13Moondew tea. Can cure lycanthropy among many other effects
14A well-cooked meal that will probably be the best thing you’ve ever had
15A cool breeze in a bottle
16A draft of Bad/good luck, one dose.
17Glass baubles
18A bottle of very strong saytr wine
19Magic seeds that will grow into a giant plant
20A magic flute made from wood that enchants animals

Wait, what was the price again?

If the adventurers have nothing the fey wants based on their opinions in their bags, then the fey can take one of the following as a payment.

d12Price
1You will provide companionship to the Fey whenever and wherever the Fey wants
2For the fey to be your firstborn (or next) child’s godparent (Fey love being godparents to important kids)
3You will undertake a challenging quest on behalf of the fey in the future
4A favor to be repaid in the future
5Your name—your true name, that is
6Your most precious memory
7The ability to speak a specific word (the Fey chooses which)
8Half the life of a loved one (they decide which half).
9You will serve as the fey’s spokesperson to the mortal world; they want to negotiate with some powerful entity or another
10Vassalage to one particular high fey
11Your shadow
12The fey did not tell you, it could be anything

Binding curses

All fey contracts and promises are sealed with a binding curse. Here are a few examples for you to use.

d12Curse
1You will be forced to bray like a donkey when you speak. More powerful fey might  curse the subject to be a donkey
2You lose all sense of direction, and you will get lost even inside your own home
3You lose your grace—your Dexterity score is halved; every action beyond walking requires a save
4Nobody can remember your face, not even yourself.
5From henceforth, children will be deathly terrified of you and scream in your presence
6Nobody will take you seriously; they brush off all your achievements as if they were fits of fancy, and nobody remembers anything you accomplished
7Everything you eat or drink tastes horrible
8You will be trapped in faerie as a jester to a high fey noble for the rest of time
9You must agree to every and any request made of you
10You will turn to stone in a ridiculous pose, and everybody will think you’re a statue
11You will fall asleep for 1000 years
12No wild animal will abide your presence and will flee or attack you as their nature dictates.

Contract encentricities

Add spice to a deal scene by adding one of the following strange behaviours or mannerisms

d12Oddity
1The fey invokes the names of eight high fey as witnesses to the deal
2The fey spits on their hand before shaking on the deal
3The fey insists on taking a token, a lock of hair, a tooth, etc., from the player to seal the deal
4The deal is written in archaic, overly legal language—even the Fey looks confused
5The fey speaks in riddles for the whole of the negotiation.
6The fey asks all the animals in the vicinity to act as witnesses to the deal or promise 
7The Fey writes the contract on the first flat surface available (including a PC’s arm).”
8The Fey insists both parties drink until blackout before discussing terms
9The fey drags the players to a local high fey to serve as a witness for the deal. The high fey does not approve of the players
10The fey insists on taking the opposite of an item in the players’ possession as their price
11The deal is conducted in verse, to music. Wait, was there always a band here?
12Roll twice, combine both results

Home and Hospitality

Arthur Rackham, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The fey folk tend to have strange homes. If a fey creature invites the players in for a spell, here are a few tables to quickly create fey dwellings and their hospitality

Home

d12Home
1A burrow in the ground
2The most perfectly quaint cottage you’ve ever seen
3A hollowed-out pumpkin
4A brightly colored wagon that’s much larger on the inside.
5A large helmet
6A ruined tower
7A treehouse. It could be the thing a child would build or a literal house in a tree.
8A hollowed-out tree
9A ruined castle
10A ship that may or may not still float
11A hut made of a surprising material
12A cavern, usually filled with crystals, or damp and gloomy

Furnishings

d12Furnishings
1Mismatched human furnishings
2Rough-hewn furnishings
3No furnishings beyond the absolute basics
4Furniture made from assorted household goods from a creature much bigger than its owner, such as matchbox beds, thread spool tables, etc.
5Furniture made from leaves, branches, and other plant material
6Furniture made from stone. It might be plain or carved stone
7Dollhouse furniture—either standard size or gigantic
8Well-made wooden furniture with lots of scrollwork
9Rotting cheap furniture
10Baroque furniture, like one would see in an old mansion
11Furniture made from monster bones
12One of the previous options, except that everything is alive and animated by magic

Refreshments

d12Refreshments
1Assorted fairy fruit in strange colors
2Soup made from singing vegetables
3Strong wine made from something other than grapes, and might not be fruit at all
4A dense, stollen-like bread of dried fairy fruit and nuts
5Roast Meatfruit, it tastes just like ___________(be creative with what type of meat it tastes like)
6Sweets and cakes dusted with dreams
7Tea, you have never heard of the type
8The best ale you ever tasted
9Hard liquor that makes you hallucinate with every sip
10Fried Mushrooms, most certainly magical ones
11Fairy fruit pie. Combine the effects of 1 and 6
12You cannot describe it for some reason

Odd Customs

d12Customs
1The fey walks widdershins around the table three times before serving.
2The fey insists on feeding you for some reason they never explained
3The fey invites all the animals nearby to join you, and I do mean all of them 
4Suddenly, your host starts talking backwards for the duration of your stay
5The fey proposes a toast that does not make sense to you, insisting that all fey do such toasts
6They start the meal/teatime/ snack with a long poem to either Titania or Mab
7No plates, silverware, or cups are provided, and your host insists on eating with your hands
8Your host insists you sit in a particular order based on an unexplained criterion (age? color of your socks?)
9The fey insists they start the meal/teatime/snack with a song, and the refreshments join in
10They force you to wait until a specific local elder arrives to serve refreshments
11There is to be no conversation while you stay within the fey’s abode
12Roll twice, combine results

Odds And Ends

Arthur Rackham, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Lastly, we have a collection of tables of various other things that might be useful when roleplaying the fey, things to give your fey a little bit more zip and make them stand out from all the other faeries you may meet on your travels.

Fey Diversions and Games of bored fey

d12Diversions
1Drinking competition with alcohol that causes hallucinations with every sip
2Singing competitions
3Racing on giant dragonflies
4Gossiping about everyone and everything
5Flyting (rap insult competitions)
6Pulling pranks on other fey
7Pulling pranks on mortals
8Joke competition
9Fairy Chess: a complicated game that uses mortal noblemen and women as game pieces
10Mettling in mortal affairs
11Fey court politics
12Hunting each other/mortals/a strange quest/something entirely different 

Fey Pranks

d12Prank
1Polymorphing the clothes or body parts of a person
2Using illusions to disguise pitfalls or washed-away bridges
3Messing with people’s sense of direction
4Stealing important things from my mark, implying someone else is the thief
5Giving travelers impossible directions to a location 
6Luring monsters towards unsuspecting marks
7Enchanting my mark into doing funny things
8Kicking and pinching people while invisible
9Luring knights away from the path with false damsels in distress
10Replacing people’s rations with psychedelic mushrooms
11Filling areas with illusions, watching as people try to navigate it
12Trying to charge a toll on unsuspecting marks to use a bridge or road

Quirks

d12Quirk
1Their hair is an odd color, even for a fey
2They have no shadow
3Their lips are slightly out of sync with what they say
4They do not stand straight up, no matter how hard they try
5One of their eyes is a different color
6Strange tattoos that do not look like any sort of tattoo you’ve ever seen
7One of their hands is a claw
8Their shadow does its own thing
9Its teeth are razor sharp
10They have more horns than normal
11Is their hair moving of its own accord?
12Their skin has an unusual texture or color

Mannerisms

d12Mannerisms
1They speak exclusively in rhyming couplets
2They speak in riddles
3They speak exclusively in questions?
4They cannot stop moving even while talking
5They dance constantly
6They are prone to making strange oaths to nobody in particular
7Carries a banner around with them constantly
8They are never seen without a lit lantern
9They flirt relentlessly with every man/woman they meet
10Absent-mindedly and unwittingly uses minor illusion, druidcraft or prestidigitation constantly
11Cannot look anybody in the eye
12They do everything in their power to avoid being seen

Fey Fashion

d12The fey is wearing
1Clothing made from rags
2Soiled finery
3Clothing made from flowers and flower petals
4Ill-fitting clothes that do not fit, likely stolen
5Homemade clothing made from random patches of fabric
6Fine clothing
7They are wearing the bare minimum
8Extravagantly fine clothing
9Clothes made from Bark and wood
10Armor
11Archaic doublets and hoses
12Simple homemade clothing, likely made from a surprising material

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