Ideas for mid-level (CR 10-13) adventures in the Feywild

[Zorgoth]

My adventuring party of three relatively strong level 10 characters is currently in the Feywild on a quest to find the distant fey ancestor of one of the party members. I've established that they are a two week journey from him.

My problem is that the fey monsters in the MM are all for much lower level players. So far, they've had two encounters: one with a coven of night hags that have tricked them into thinking they are lost young elves who need protection from the party (they still don't know, so no long rests for them!), and one with a Verdant Prince, which I homebrewed based on an older edition monster.

I don't really have any other ideas for what will happen to them or what they will find in the Feywild. I would love to hear any suggestions for level-appropriate encounters (homebrewing monsters from older editions remains good), as well as "atmospheric" encounters they can have on their journey that don't have to involve combat or that could involve easy combats. The party can defeat CR 13 encounters, although for as long as they are deprived of long rests, they will be somewhat weaker than usual (but two of the three are mostly short-rest characters, so not that much weaker, unless they get deprived for so long that they gain multiple levels of exhaustion).

[solidork]

You can always take humanoid stat blocks and swap in an equivalent fey race. A gladiator that has a PC Satyr's racial abilities actually sounds pretty scary to me.

[Skrum]

Idk if you're familiar with skill challenges, by the table I play use them quite a bit, and one in particular I like to use is "skirmishes." Basically, it's a way to have a battle and expend a little resources without going through the time and trouble of a full encounter.

So in this case, maybe the players in the course of travel get attacked by a large swarm of giant wasps. You would narrate the scene, describing these wasps buzzing and descending upon the players. I'd give the swarm a combat roll, something like +6 sounds appropriate, and roll it. That result is the number to beat. Then each character would make a skill check of their choice, and each player narrates how they use the particular skill they've chosen. At their option, they can spend a resource, any resource, to give themselves advantage on the roll.

If a character succeeds on the roll (gets higher than the wasps), they take no damage. For each point they fail by, they take 1d3 or 1d4. The idea isn't that the players can actually loose, but they might soak some damage. Regardless of the overall results, the players "win" and chase the wasps away, but they take more or less damage.

I like to use this especially during exploration phases; a way to narrate and resolve little conflicts that would come up.
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As far as monsters for a more traditional encounter, I really recommend beholders and beholder-kin (there's a lot of them kicking around, both official and homebrewed). They are strange creatures and can be reflavored in a lot of fun ways. For example, I once had a boss who's "weapon" was a deck of cards, and he'd draw cards at random and create magical effects. Stat-wise, he was a beholder, but in game he was a Gambit/devilish card dealer.

For fey in general, I like to use creatures with powers and spells. So other creatures to look at

mind flayers
the NPC warlock statblocks in Volo's - any of the NPC spellcasters, really. Most of em are pretty strong
aboleth (swap as necessary to make it a terrestrial creature)
glabrezu (these are a particular favorite of mine; being able to attack in melee and cast spells every turn is really cool)
rhakshasa

All of these creatures have weird powers that you can easily reflavor to a fey theme. They're a party of level 10's, so obviously don't just use 1, but 2-3 of any of these (or a mix) + 6-8 CR 3ish minions, and that's a tough fight.

[JLandan]

You might look into The Runewild Campaign Setting. Written by William Fischer. Published by Sneak Attack Press. Runs $19.99 at DrivethruRPG.com.

It has 150 encounters in a Fey sandbox style setting. There is a fair-sized bestiary and a collection of unique witches, as well as many fey atmosphere tables to color your game. I highly recommend it.

Most of it is lower-level CR, but some are 10+. You could easily boost the lower-level encounters to suit your party.

[Zorgoth]

Thanks everyone! I picked up the Runewild PDF and it's easily worth the twenty dollars. I'm probably going to use 8-10 encounters (combat and non-combat) from there. And I think I can definitely make use of some of those other monster stat blocks to make some custom fey boss creatures. Nice idea with the Glabrezu!

[JLandan]

In addition to the Runewild campaign setting there are also four seasonal low level adventures in the same setting. One is Spring that features a creature similar to a groundhog, but big and fey (Springtime in Kidwelly). One is Summer that features a midsummer wedding gone wrong (Marriage at Midsommer). One is Fall with a Halloween theme (Bonedigger). One is Winter with a Quasi-Christmas theme (The Long Dark Night). Though they're low level (1st level PCs), they are incredibly well written and they can easily be scaled to fit higher level.