How do I get my players to go to the feywild?

[Monstrrr]

So, I am a DM, and my party is on the main quest to save the world. The next destination they need to go to is across the continent from where they are now.

I've been trying to tempt them into going to the feywild, but they are afraid of the potential time dialation putting them way behind schedule instead of helping. They have a backstory thing to finish up there, and also a side quest. They want to go to the feywild, but they want to do it after they save the world. Problem is, the end fight with the big bad will be the end of the campaign, and one of the PCs will die during that fight (as requested by the player). So they can't go after they fight the big bad.

They're about to fight a beholder, so i was thinking about one of the items in the beholder's collection being something that would help them control that dialation, but only once. What do you think? Too cheesy? Too "hey hey hey go here"?

[kazaryu]

So, I am a DM, and my party is on the main quest to save the world. The next destination they need to go to is across the continent from where they are now.

I've been trying to tempt them into going to the feywild, but they are afraid of the potential time dialation putting them way behind schedule instead of helping. They have a backstory thing to finish up there, and also a side quest. They want to go to the feywild, but they want to do it after they save the world. Problem is, the end fight with the big bad will be the end of the campaign, and one of the PCs will die during that fight (as requested by the player). So they can't go after they fight the big bad.

They're about to fight a beholder, so i was thinking about one of the items in the beholder's collection being something that would help them control that dialation, but only once. What do you think? Too cheesy? Too "hey hey hey go here"?

i mean, without knowing everything, there's always the 'put a mcguffin they need for the final fight in the fey wild. then they start looking for ways to traverse the feywild without losing time. obviously i don't know exactly where you are with regard to the end of the campaign, but it could work for some.

but yeah, just dropping an item on them that solves the problem could be good. sort of a wink from you saying 'hey..do the feywild first'.

[Zhorn]

So the most obvious and least creative solution is
"If you want your players to go there, and the players want to go there, but the risk of time dilation is the only thing stopping them, then you just don't do that"
If they players were only going to spend less than a day in the feywild, then the entire risk can just be ignored.
Similarly, having some way to ensure they could get out of the feywild before a full day has elapsed is also a by-the-book method of avoiding the time warp

The table on the DMG p50 has results 1-13 (65% chance) of the time change not being significant tot he adventure, being either a 1-to-1 or less on the time spent in the feywild to how much time passes in the outside world.

As a more creative option than just skipping the time warp trigger, having some form of divination set up to predict what the warp would be if they entered the feywild on a given day.

A divination orb they tells them what d20 result would be?

Alternatively, expand the clockwork amulet (XGtE p136) to work on that d20 roll also, locking in a result of 10.

I don't know your style of DMing, but I can fully understand your players hesitancy on this. We've all heard stories about DMs who's sole reason to bait players into situations if for those 'ha gotcha' moments, and so when they have the agency to avoid the risk, it just makes sense to not take the bait.

[DeadMech]

The simplest solution is to just not have time dilation in the feywild if that's a roadblock. It's not like you actually want the party to step back out of it to find 200 years have passed? right? So just... don't.

And if that's something the party is aware of and concerned about just mention that, this only happens if X.

X being some fae shenanigan that is entirely avoidable. Like "that only happens if you consume something from the feywild"

[Unoriginal]

So, I am a DM, and my party is on the main quest to save the world. The next destination they need to go to is across the continent from where they are now.

I've been trying to tempt them into going to the feywild, but they are afraid of the potential time dialation putting them way behind schedule instead of helping. They have a backstory thing to finish up there, and also a side quest. They want to go to the feywild, but they want to do it after they save the world. Problem is, the end fight with the big bad will be the end of the campaign, and one of the PCs will die during that fight (as requested by the player). So they can't go after they fight the big bad.

They're about to fight a beholder, so i was thinking about one of the items in the beholder's collection being something that would help them control that dialation, but only once. What do you think? Too cheesy? Too "hey hey hey go here"?

I have some ideas, but first, I think an information is missing here for us to advise you appropriately:

Why do you want them to go into the Feywild/what will happen there?

[Monstrrr]

The simplest solution is to just not have time dilation in the feywild if that's a roadblock. It's not like you actually want the party to step back out of it to find 200 years have passed? right? So just... don't.

And if that's something the party is aware of and concerned about just mention that, this only happens if X.

X being some fae shenanigan that is entirely avoidable. Like "that only happens if you consume something from the feywild"

They've done a bunch of reattach in game and consistently found the time dilation to be a possibility. I thought they might like it because they could travel across the continent in a blink, but instead it scared them to the point of wanting to put it off until they're done with the main quest.

I could add a fey creature that takes an interest to them as they start traveling, who suggests to them that they know a way to get to their destination faster, and that creature could have some secret way, or maybe connects them to a more powerful fey creature that can control it.

One of the players has a backstory element they recently found out about that is very rooted in the feywild and the time dialation was important for that.

[Monstrrr]

I have some ideas, but first, I think an information is missing here for us to advise you appropriately:

Why do you want them to go into the Feywild/what will happen there?



One of the players has a backstory element they recently found out about that is very rooted in the feywild and the time dialation was important for that. She wants to go there to get vengeance on a fey that killed her wife.

If they don't go to the feywild before the big final battle, they won't be going. It'll be the end of the campaign, and one of the PCs will be dead. So i want her to be able to complete her backstory stuff.

[GeoffWatson]

You could have "reverse" time dilation. No matter how long they spend in the feywild, only a short time has passed in the real world.
Maybe it's seasonal, maybe it's up to whoever is in charge of the Feywild at the time, whatever you want.

[Dualight]

Another possibility is to 'force' the issue. Have a bad guy throw/trick them into going to the Feywild, closing the portal behind them.
Voila, party is in the Feywild, so backstory stuff can be made to happen. Then,when the party manages to escape the Feywild after the backstory stuff, they find out that, due to the location of the exit and favourable time-dilation, they are actually ahead of schedule. End result, the party will have had a big scare, sub-plots get tied off, and the party gains a small advantage they wouldn't have had if it hadn't happened.
Of course, this is freely offered advice from a stranger, so feel free to disregard all of this if you do not think it is useful.

[Keravath]

Just to follow up on Zhorn's suggestion. This might be a situation in which the use of the Augury spell could work exceptionally well. As DM, you can impose whatever time dilation you like. If the party asks for how entering the Feywild will affect their main quest - you can honestly give a positive result because you know you won't be imposing an extreme time dilation that could derail the main questline.

[Psyren]

Seems to me all you need are two macguffins - one being the reason they're going in the first place, the other being a thing that keeps the time dilation from being a factor, which could be a great quest in its own right. Like, you ask them to find some kind of gift for an archfey or recover something long lost/stolen from it, and if they bring {thing} in with them and present it to him/her, boom, any time they spent in the Feywild is waived or at least immaterial for story purposes.

Note also that the time change thing is entirely optional. You're not required to roll on that table at all, you can simply choose the result. (I mean, Rule Zero means you could have done that anyway, but just letting you know that choosing the result you want is actually the default rule, and rolling is a variant.)

Also, how do they know about the time dilation thing? Is that something their characters know, or are one or more of the players metagaming from having read the DMG?

[Unoriginal]

Could have a portal be opened, and say that so long as this portal is opened time is the same in the Material Plane than it is in the Feywild.

[Amechra]

You could just say, as the DM, that the time distortion will be in their favor if they go. I'm talking a 100% chance that it'll let them sidetrack into the Feywild, do their business there, and then get to the final boss in time.

It also might help if you tell your group that you're planning on wrapping things up as soon as the party beats up the big bad, so "we'll do it later" isn't really an option.

[Dr.Samurai]

Echoing Psyren's question; what exactly do the players understand/know about the time dilation?

If they don't know IC, then they can go and do the quest and perhaps a rival Archfey of your PCs target can void the impact of the time dilation (assuming you even include it).

If they do know, then, as others have mentioned, some sort of McGuffin is needed. Maybe a being of rage and vengeance can cut a deal with the PC that lost her wife to protect them from the time dilation if she vows to slake her bloodlust.

[Monstrrr]

Note also that the time change thing is entirely optional. You're not required to roll on that table at all, you can simply choose the result. (I mean, Rule Zero means you could have done that anyway, but just letting you know that choosing the result you want is actually the default rule, and rolling is a variant.)

Also, how do they know about the time dilation thing? Is that something their characters know, or are one or more of the players metagaming from having read the DMG?

I know the time change is a variant option, but i liked it so i wanted to use it. :)

They know about the time dialation because one of them has already lived through it once, and also they've done research on the feywild in-game.

I'm probably going to have to go with a McGuffin, i was just afraid it would feel rail-roady. But i really want them to be able to finish their stuff in the feywild! Lol

[Monstrrr]

Echoing Psyren's question; what exactly do the players understand/know about the time dilation?

If they don't know IC, then they can go and do the quest and perhaps a rival Archfey of your PCs target can void the impact of the time dilation (assuming you even include it).

If they do know, then, as others have mentioned, some sort of McGuffin is needed. Maybe a being of rage and vengeance can cut a deal with the PC that lost her wife to protect them from the time dilation if she vows to slake her bloodlust.

They did a bunch of research in game and learned about how you can go to the feywild and regardless of how long you spend there, you can come out again 5 minutes later, or years later. One of the players actually accidentally traveled to the feywild in her backstory and long story short came out hundreds of years later. A god put her back in her proper place in time after that.

I was planning on having an archfey help them with the time dialation, but the problem is getting the party to go to the feywild in the first place.

[Dr.Samurai]

Is there anything the party needs to fight/defeat the Big Bad? Maybe, if it is aware they are coming for it, it sends the mcguffin to the Feywild, knowing that if they go there to retrieve it, they will return too late to stop the big bad.

So the players have to find something to deal with the time dilation so they can retrieve the mcguffin and fight the bad guy before they end the world. And while they're there, they can do the side quest.

It's still a mcguffin, but it's a little more organic. Would that work?

[Kurt Kurageous]

My response is based on Irish mythology/folklore from which the feywild and shadowfell are derived.

The party encounters a fairy circle. They interact with it. It transports them there, with our without encouragement from some "wee folk" faster than you can say "Bob's your uncle."

Read a collection of Irish short stories and legends and you will have it down cold.

[Monstrrr]

Is there anything the party needs to fight/defeat the Big Bad? Maybe, if it is aware they are coming for it, it sends the mcguffin to the Feywild, knowing that if they go there to retrieve it, they will return too late to stop the big bad.

So the players have to find something to deal with the time dilation so they can retrieve the mcguffin and fight the bad guy before they end the world. And while they're there, they can do the side quest.

It's still a mcguffin, but it's a little more organic. Would that work?

They are after some crystals of power that will allow them to get to the final fight with the big bad. I guess one of those could have gotten into the feywild. Still seems a bit... forceful.

Maybe.... a fey starts messing with then in the material plane, then offers that their patron (archfey) may be able to help with the time dialation?

I tried to establish that they could potentially make a deal with an archfey like that, by including the same sort of thing in the player's backstory that lost her wife. She basically did the same thing at that time. But i guess they didn't pick up on it, lol.

[CapnWildefyr]

You could just say, as the DM, that the time distortion will be in their favor if they go. I'm talking a 100% chance that it'll let them sidetrack into the Feywild, do their business there, and then get to the final boss in time.

It also might help if you tell your group that you're planning on wrapping things up as soon as the party beats up the big bad, so "we'll do it later" isn't really an option.

That should do it. I mean, big flashing "adventure is this way sign."

You can also justify it with a high-level "go back in time" spell that can only be cast from the feywild when opening a portal from there to wherever you need them to go. Better yet, the party finds half the spell, and the fey they want to whack has the other half (but probably doesn't know it). Or maybe it's as simple as needing the goodwill of one fey -- such as the leader of the fey who are helped/saved when eliminating the murderer-fey. "Well why didn't you say so, i can send you back on the day you left."


My response is based on Irish mythology/folklore from which the feywild and shadowfell are derived.

The party encounters a fairy circle. They interact with it. It transports them there, with our without encouragement from some "wee folk" faster than you can say "Bob's your uncle."

Read a collection of Irish short stories and legends and you will have it down cold.

Pretty much, go counter-clockwise around a sid mound. (or was it clockwise? haven't read The Tain etc in decades).

[Monstrrr]

My response is based on Irish mythology/folklore from which the feywild and shadowfell are derived.

The party encounters a fairy circle. They interact with it. It transports them there, with our without encouragement from some "wee folk" faster than you can say "Bob's your uncle."

Read a collection of Irish short stories and legends and you will have it down cold.

They've encountered a fairy circle, and they've also accidentally walked most of an Old Way into the feywild. Both times they avoided entering.

Sure, i could have "haha!" Trapped them and not given them a choice, but I don't like to go that often.

[Psyren]

I know the time change is a variant option, but i liked it so i wanted to use it. :)

Sounds like the players have good reason to be concerned then :smallconfused:

I'm not saying you shouldn't, but not everyone wants their characters to suddenly lose months/years/decades of time and real-world connections. So if you want those more extreme results to be on the table, you'll want to have a conversation with them out of game about it. And if you don't want those results, you should make that very clear to them either in-game or out-of-game through a macguffin or mouthpiece of some kind that they have nothing to worry about.

[Monstrrr]

Sounds like the players have good reason to be concerned then :smallconfused:

I'm not saying you shouldn't, but not everyone wants their characters to suddenly lose months/years/decades of time and real-world connections. So if you want those more extreme results to be on the table, you'll want to have a conversation with them out of game about it. And if you don't want those results, you should make that very clear to them either in-game or out-of-game through a macguffin or mouthpiece of some kind that they have nothing to worry about.

I'm not planning on actually having them loose months or years. I was always going to have it help them, but to tell them that removes that risk/reward.

I also needed the time dialation for one of the PC's backstories, but that's a long story.

[Psyren]

I'm not planning on actually having them loose months or years. I was always going to have it help them, but to tell them that removes that risk/reward.

I also needed the time dialation for one of the PC's backstories, but that's a long story.

I can understand wanting to maintain a sense of danger, but you also want them to feel like they have agency too. Merely saying "it's a total gamble, hee hee, roll the (metaphorical in this case) dice!" is just going to have them do exactly what you see them doing now - i.e. exhausting every possible other option they can think of under the sun before finally and reluctantly dragging their feet into the Feywild to keep the plot moving. Ironically, this can feel even more railroady than what you were fearing before, as they realize they have no real choice but to risk going or fail.

This is why I think the "get help from an Archfey" option works so well. It puts the agency back on them (they feel like they have a bit of a safety net, but the extent of that depends on their own actions/success in its service), and better yet, it gives you an easy source of plot hooks in the future just for doing what you were planning to do anyway (i.e. not have the dilation ultimately be that big a deal.) Now instead of merely being relieved that they got lucky, they will feel gratitude towards whichever entity "waived/lessened it" for them. And if at some point in the future that entity sends a sprite or dryad calling in the favor they owe it, you have an easy way to get the party to take on a task or go somewhere they might not otherwise.

[Monstrrr]

I can understand wanting to maintain a sense of danger, but you also want them to feel like they have agency too. Merely saying "it's a total gamble, hee hee, roll the (metaphorical in this case) dice!" is just going to have them do exactly what you see them doing now - i.e. exhausting every possible other option they can think of under the sun before finally and reluctantly dragging their feet into the Feywild to keep the plot moving. Ironically, this can feel even more railroady than what you were fearing before, as they realize they have no real choice but to risk going or fail.

This is why I think the "get help from an Archfey" option works so well. It puts the agency back on them (they feel like they have a bit of a safety net, but the extent of that depends on their own actions/success in its service), and better yet, it gives you an easy source of plot hooks in the future just for doing what you were planning to do anyway (i.e. not have the dilation ultimately be that big a deal.) Now instead of merely being relieved that they got lucky, they will feel gratitude towards whichever entity "waived/lessened it" for them. And if at some point in the future that entity sends a sprite or dryad calling in the favor they owe it, you have an easy way to get the party to take on a task or go somewhere they might not otherwise.

I do want them to have agency, which is why i never forced them to complete their steps into the feywild. But i also see what you mean about how the roll of the dice is scaring them away from it.

I think I'll have to go with the Archfey working with them. Maybe that fey also has a beef with the Prince of Frost, and that's why they're willing to help. Or they could go to Fionnghuala, who helped one of the PCs escape the feywild in the past. Making that contract might be hard... but i think I'll go with some fey creature ****ing with them in the material plane, maybe overhearing something, then mentioning they have a patron that could help. Seems more organic than an item, at least.

[Amechra]

They did a bunch of research in game and learned about how you can go to the feywild and regardless of how long you spend there, you can come out again 5 minutes later, or years later. One of the players actually accidentally traveled to the feywild in her backstory and long story short came out hundreds of years later. A god put her back in her proper place in time after that.

I was planning on having an archfey help them with the time dialation, but the problem is getting the party to go to the feywild in the first place.

I mean, you technically don't even have to throw in an archfey. You can literally just tell your players "hey, if you guys want to do BACKSTORY QUEST STUFF in the Feywild, I'll pretend I rolled a 1 on the table just this once" — it's not like the characters in the story will know that you fudged the numbers.

[Monstrrr]

I mean, you technically don't even have to throw in an archfey. You can literally just tell your players "hey, if you guys want to do BACKSTORY QUEST STUFF in the Feywild, I'll pretend I rolled a 1 on the table just this once" — it's not like the characters in the story will know that you fudged the numbers.

I know, but just telling them that I'm not actually gonna roll and the risk isn't there... i don't know. Seems... metagamey and feels wrong, i guess. I don't know how to describe my hesitation in just telling them there's no risk.

[PhantomSoul]

I know, but just telling them that I'm not actually gonna roll and the risk isn't there... i don't know. Seems... metagamey and feels wrong, i guess. I don't know how to describe my hesitation in just telling them there's no risk.

Yeah, I'd rather a relevant part of the Feywild not be put aside -- but if they know that some creatures are able to change the time dilation and/or fix a mixup, one of their objectives while there (or beforehand) could be to manage the time dilation risk. Then you're not lifting the veil and telling them you're removing a risk that's canon, but you still get the benefits (and they feel they've earned it).

[Magicspook]

1. Just ditch the time dilation. It's a stupid gimmick anyway.

2. The feywild comes to them.
-The party stumbles across a clearing with a ruined tower that is actually a fey crossing. As they step inside, a mist rolls up outside. When the mist subsides, they are in the feywild!
-the party crosses a marsh as suddenly, a whirlpool forms beneath their feet. They are sucked into the feywild!
-when the party enters a cave, if turns out to be a dead end. Weirdly enough, when they leave the cave, they are somewhere else entirely!

[Monstrrr]

1. Just ditch the time dilation. It's a stupid gimmick anyway.

2. The feywild comes to them.
-The party stumbles across a clearing with a ruined tower that is actually a fey crossing. As they step inside, a mist rolls up outside. When the mist subsides, they are in the feywild!
-the party crosses a marsh as suddenly, a whirlpool forms beneath their feet. They are sucked into the feywild!
-when the party enters a cave, if turns out to be a dead end. Weirdly enough, when they leave the cave, they are somewhere else entirely!

I disagree, i think it's a fun gimmick that can add moments of tension and require certain decision making or problem solving. Also, i needed the gimmick for something in a player's backstory. So it's already been used in the world and the players know about it.

I was trying to give them agency, still, and at least let them have the illusion of choice. Which is why i hadn't forced them into the feywild when they accidentally walked most of an Old Way into the feywild, or when they came across a fairy ring.

But, you've given me an idea. It removes that illusion of choice i was trying to keep, but that's probably OK.

I could have a feet creature start pulling pranks on them as they travel. Maybe it started following them after they pass another fairy ring. Anyway, a couple days of harmless pranks. The party has an item that lets them cast Mordenkainen's Magnificent Mansion once a day, so they sleep in it every night. The item differs from the spell in that it leaves behind a ghostly structure (the look of which is decided by the person using them item, and it also leaves the item itself wherever they set it up. I'm thinking the prankster fey takes this item to the feywild with them, so that when the party wakes up and leaves the next morning, they find out they're in the feywild after all.

[Psyren]

I disagree, i think it's a fun gimmick that can add moments of tension and require certain decision making or problem solving. Also, i needed the gimmick for something in a player's backstory. So it's already been used in the world and the players know about it.

I was trying to give them agency, still, and at least let them have the illusion of choice. Which is why i hadn't forced them into the feywild when they accidentally walked most of an Old Way into the feywild, or when they came across a fairy ring.

But, you've given me an idea. It removes that illusion of choice i was trying to keep, but that's probably OK.

I could have a feet creature start pulling pranks on them as they travel. Maybe it started following them after they pass another fairy ring. Anyway, a couple days of harmless pranks. The party has an item that lets them cast Mordenkainen's Magnificent Mansion once a day, so they sleep in it every night. The item differs from the spell in that it leaves behind a ghostly structure (the look of which is decided by the person using them item, and it also leaves the item itself wherever they set it up. I'm thinking the prankster fey takes this item to the feywild with them, so that when the party wakes up and leaves the next morning, they find out they're in the feywild after all.

Uh... I thought you were worried about railroading?? :smalleek::smallbiggrin:

[Monstrrr]

Uh... I thought you were worried about railroading?? :smalleek::smallbiggrin:

I am. I'm just out of ideas.

[Unoriginal]

I am. I'm just out of ideas.

You could have an event, like an equinox party, where a whole bunch of various feys are invited in the Material Plane when the PCs are here, and have the feys offer to give the PCs a group-doesn't-get-bad-consequences-from-time-dilatation card for one trip in the Feywild if they succeed at the challenges the party comes with.

If the PCs/players don't want to engage, let them, but make clear this is their best/only shot to have the time to do Feywild stuff before the end of the campaign.

[nickl_2000]

Maybe it's an unpopular opinion, but I think a little bit of railroading is perfectly fine

[Unoriginal]

Maybe it's an unpopular opinion, but I think a little bit of railroading is perfectly fine

It's ok to have things happening the players/PCs don't have power over (unless it's stuff they should have power over), but it's not ok to go "assuming direct control" or Quantum Ogre the PCs to where you want them to be.

[Psyren]

I think in this case, railroading them into something they're specifically concerned about and actively trying to avoid will result in a negative experience. Whereas giving them something they can do to affect the outcome, even if it's an outcome that they may not actually have to worry about, will feel empowering.

[Monstrrr]

I think in this case, railroading them into something they're specifically concerned about and actively trying to avoid will result in a negative experience. Whereas giving them something they can do to affect the outcome, even if it's an outcome that they may not actually have to worry about, will feel empowering.

Yeah, those were my concerns.

Maybe in the town they're in right now, someone tells a story of their trip to the feywild, and how they struck a deal with an archfey. Talks to the party about how they simply must visit, and let them know that there's ways to control that time dialation with the help of an archfey.

Or... I have an established Eladrin city that phases over to the material plane occasionally. It's even roughly in the area they are in. Maybe they come across it... make camp one night, next morning there's an Eladrin city next to them.

[Unoriginal]

Yeah, those were my concerns.

Maybe in the town they're in right now, someone tells a story of their trip to the feywild, and how they struck a deal with an archfey. Talks to the party about how they simply must visit, and let them know that there's ways to control that time dialation with the help of an archfey.

Or... I have an established Eladrin city that phases over to the material plane occasionally. It's even roughly in the area they are in. Maybe they come across it... make camp one night, next morning there's an Eladrin city next to them.

You could have an ambassador or merchant from said city in the town the PCs are right now.

[Psyren]

Yeah, those were my concerns.

Maybe in the town they're in right now, someone tells a story of their trip to the feywild, and how they struck a deal with an archfey. Talks to the party about how they simply must visit, and let them know that there's ways to control that time dialation with the help of an archfey.

Or... I have an established Eladrin city that phases over to the material plane occasionally. It's even roughly in the area they are in. Maybe they come across it... make camp one night, next morning there's an Eladrin city next to them.

Both of these can work. For the city, you can drop hints that its proximity to/frequent crossovers with the material mean the time dilation effects are usually less severe there.

[Monstrrr]

Here's an idea. The Eladrin city phases over while they're nearby. They'll go check it out, i know they will. While there, a high up Eladrin official needs help... solving something? Arresting someone? I don't know. They help the Eladrin, and they ask if there's anything they can do to help. It would be only natural for them to talk about their desire to go to the feywild, i think, and their hesitation in doing so. The Eladrin at that point might ask for a bit more from them in exchange of making a deal with an archfey to help them leave the feywild and enter back into the material plane at the time in which they want.

Thoughts?

Also, what should that Eladrin need help with?

[Psyren]

Thoughts?

Seems fine to me


Also, what should that Eladrin need help with?

How about retrieving something that was stolen from it? If the city crosses over with the material regularly, it's bound to have outsiders, and that can mean thieves. The mission can be to hunt down either the thieves themselves, or if the Eladrin already did that, the item (which is now on the black market and/or in an unknown noble's possession.)

[Steven K]

Have you ever heard of Passlings? Like, creatures that can pass freely from one plane to another. In this case, from the feywild to the material plane. Just introduce a passling NPC, have them trying to sell their services to some other NPC, and have said second NPC doubt them in the hearing of the party, but the first NPC actually fronts up with a clear demonstration that it can do what it says it can do, which is to move people or goods through the Feywild quickly and reliably.

Option two, a figure arrives carrying a message for the party. Some well-connected individual or group has become aware of the party's existence through divination magic. It behooves them, for reasons relating to prophecy or purposes they may not wish to divulge to the party, to offer them safe passage through some of the plane of faerie, by means of an artificial or natural faerie path they have access to.

[MrStabby]

I know the time change is a variant option, but i liked it so i wanted to use it. :)

They know about the time dialation because one of them has already lived through it once, and also they've done research on the feywild in-game.

I'm probably going to have to go with a McGuffin, i was just afraid it would feel rail-roady. But i really want them to be able to finish their stuff in the feywild! Lol

Honestly, I wouldn't worry too much about railroading. It isn't the worst thing and it really depends on the severity.

Just triggering a trap that moves them over or having them wander into a gate is fine as a one-off, especially if its something the players are kind of keen to do anyway. A tiny bit of railroading where you dont even chose which questa are done, just fixing the order a little is probably ok. Just make sure you give meaningful choices there.

Hell, just make up some mumbo jumbo about a portal to the feywild only be stable enough to go through whilst the time dilation effects are small and your PCs shouldn't even worry too much whilst they are there. The fact of them being able to get there by this route meaning that their worries are unfounded might make them happier.

Even better if you can drop this on them as a consequence of their research or one of their other actions so it is as a result of their agency rather than purely in violation of it.

[Khrysaes]

One of the players has a backstory element they recently found out about that is very rooted in the feywild and the time dialation was important for that. She wants to go there to get vengeance on a fey that killed her wife.

If they don't go to the feywild before the big final battle, they won't be going. It'll be the end of the campaign, and one of the PCs will be dead. So i want her to be able to complete her backstory stuff.

Why does the big bad have to be the end of the campaign? Play a session after it and then go to the feywild.

Yes, they saved the “material” world. But that is mot the feywild.

[Monstrrr]

Why does the big bad have to be the end of the campaign? Play a session after it and then go to the feywild.

Yes, they saved the “material” world. But that is mot the feywild.

The big bad is the end of the campaign because one of the player characters is going to die to take out the big bad in the last fight. I have no interest in running more sessions when one of the players is dead, and he has no interest in making a new character just for a few bonus sessions in the feywild.