Need A Spooky Fey Encounter

[Palanan]

I need suggestions for an encounter involving fey, emphasizing otherworldly bargains and an overall eerie vibe.

The party is fourth level and my players are excellent at RP, so I’d like ideas for an encounter which involves social interactions between mortals and fey. Something that fits in that grey space between woodsy fairy tale and something more ominous and disturbing, without being too blatantly macabre.

The party is currently in a remote northern wilderness, with the last days of autumn already turning to early winter. Something darkly whimsical would be perfect here, if anyone can give me ideas along those lines.

[Thurbane]

Grey Jester (HoH) is a good creepy/spooky Fey...there is an encounter with one in the book (p.13), but it's EL 7, so would need tweaking.

You could tone down the EL by replacing the Green Hag with a Human Adept or similar...

[PoeticallyPsyco]

Bile Wrapped in Beauty (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/fey/20040411a) could work. They've got solid social skills for approaching under false pretenses, and there are some great roleplay opportunities for the players as they figure out and then react to the fact that they're all seeing a different 'person' thanks to its reflective disguise SLA. If it manages to infiltrate the party, have it try to isolate one of them; whether it manages that or just realizes the jig is up, the reveal of its true form and motives should make for a suitably macabre twist.

[Falontani]

Leanan Sidhe - http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/mm/20020315a
Weak Fey Creature that is much more likely to try to use the party than to kill them... at first.

Verdant Prince - MM IV
This is my go to Fey creature when I want the players to talk rather than fight as it is set up as a fey that strikes deals (you know like fey are supposed to be)

Thorn - MM II
This CR 4 creature isn't the most powerful, but it is definitely humanoid shaped, has high enough mental stats to work with, and isn't just another creature to kill. I mean so are most good fey creatures, but you know this one at least might be a bit more relatable!

Shadar-Kai - Fiend Folio
This dark fey creature lives only to experience raw emotion, as only the deepest emotions can actually get it to feel anymore. Whether it be bloodlust, sorrow, or hope. It is a species of extremes, and may do anything just to get high off of life.

There is the Seelie Fey Template and Unseelie Fey Template; both from Dragon Compendium which links any fey creature to the Faerie Courts. An Unseelie Fey Gray Jester could be very interesting.

Along the same lines is the Fey Courtier prestige class; although finding it legitimately may require the Wayback Machine now

Along completely different lines are the Wendigo Template (FF) and the Mistling Template (Forge of War) which are both very dark/evil inspired fey that are more likely to attempt to rip and shred than talk, but a powerful Mistling Ogre Mage Wendigo would have enough sanity left to speak to, and would be so above frightening that you would want to talk it out and help the wendigo move on rather than even attempt to get ready for combat.

Feytouched and Half-Fey are both from FF, and notably, Half-Fey can be applied as an acquired template from having close proximity to fey, so it could be a reward in and of itself!

From Complete Mage is the Fey Heritage feat line, if you wished for just a fey inspired character; along the same lines is the Rimefire Witch (FB), and the Wildrunner (RotW)

Out from left field I can suggest several creatures that could be Fey creatures in a different setting, a bunch of [Spirit] creatures from Oriental Adventures!
Like: Centipede Spirits, Oni, Spirit Folk, Wang-Liang to name a few. This book also has a large amount of Fey Creatures that may suit your need without modifications.

Finally we need to go to the topic of Fey in different settings; in Eberron (my go to setting) there is a plane of existence called Thelanis the Faerie Court, which has several prestige classes specifically catering towards this connection, as well as the fact that most non specific planar prestige classes can work with the fey vibe when in Eberron.

[Palanan]

Okay, thanks to everyone for the wide selection of useful fey.

Since I’m pressed for time, I could also use ideas on specific scenarios. Fey bargains, trickery, gifts or trades that aren’t what they seem. Any suggestions along those lines?

[Draconi Redfir]

a Thin man (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/fey/thin-man/) is basically slenderman. have one stalk the party in a dense fog or a dark forrest maybe?

if you do, just be careful you read the concealment and Vanish rules closely. i didn't, and my players hated that encounter. he's hiding, not invisible.

[Palanan]

Just to follow up, I'm thinking of something a little less combat-oriented and more involving some sort of bargain or temptation. A fey creature offers the party something in exchange for something, but the bargain is rigged in some way which might be obvious to the fey, and thus "fair" by its lights, but not at all obvious to the party.

Any ideas along those lines?

[Goaty14]

Fey are immortal, so asking for a mere "100 years" of doing X may seem like a bargain from the fey's standpoint, but a sad way to die from the PCs view.

[Fizban]

Problem with the "fey bargain" trope is that bargaining tropes have no mechanical backing (at least until they went and wrote Faustian Pacts in the FC2). If the fey is something the PCs could actually beat, then they can just fight their way out, and the fey has little reason to provoke them that way unless it wants a fight to the death. If the fey is powerful enough to slap the party around (and say, leave them with an annoying Geas), all that really happens is they chose whether to deal with the consequences of losing the bargain, or those of losing the fight. In short, the trope only works with the power of DM fiat, and thus has little to do with any actual stats for the monster (so you could use almost anything). Unless you want to put in a whole "fey court" where reneging on a deal means it just goes up the line until a sufficiently powerful foe manages to kill you because you don't break the accords. And you can't design the conflict without knowing how much power the fey actually has in the relationship.


They meet say, an evil Pixie, which offers them the deal. They do/pay/gamble etc something. It's rigged in that whatever they do, they will later on their path encounter someone the fey wants dead. Who think the PCs are working for the fey, either because they're carrying something they "won," or talking about the treasure hint that actually belongs to X, etc. So the PCs are attacked and kill the thing and the fey gets what they want (dead enemy and/or enemy's item) and laughs at the PCs for having done the dirty work. It's not pretty, but there's only so much you can do in isolation.