4e: Fey'ri

[BardicDuelist]

Fey’ri or Demonfey
+2 Intelligence, +2 Charisma
Size: Medium
Speed: 6 squares
Vision: Low-Light
Languages: Common, Elven
Skill Bonuses: +2 Arcana, +2 Bluff
Fire Resistance: You have resistance to fire 5+1/2 your level.
Trance: Rather than sleep, fey'ri enter a meditative state known as trance. You need to spend 4 hours in this state to gain the same benefits other races gain from taking a 6-hour extended rest. While in a trance, you are fully aware of your surroundings and notice approaching enemies and other events as normal.
Eldarin Heritage: You are considered an eldarin for the purposes of feat and paragon path requirements. You still much meet all other requirements.
Change Shape: You can use change shape as an at-will power (as doppelganger/succubus).

Fey'ri are the result of an ancient pact made by the Sun Elves of ancient Myth Drannor. They have been made all but extinct following the eldarin crusade to retake the ancient city. Still, some of them did escape this fate and wander disguised through through their latent infernal power. Some gravitate toward tieflings, other seek to perpetuate their race again by seducing eldarin. Rare is the demonfey who simply seeks to live his life in peace.

EDIT: I changed Dual Heritage to Eldarin Heritage too keep the flavor of the ability but scale back the power.

Design Notes:
To adapt the fey'ri in 4e, the first thing I had to remember was that, without a level adjustment, they had to be severely powered down. I also sought to differentiate them from tieflings, as too much similarity would be pointless. Still, I started with a tiefling as a base race and added some crunch to support the eldarin fluff, such as Dual Heritage and Trance. Finally, I gave them the Change Shape power to reflect a succubus heritage.

I removed the winged aspect, but am considering creating a paragon path with a power that allows them to form wings and fly for a short duration.

Please, tell me what you think.

[Ahikar]

Where're its weaknesses? What accounts for all the special abilities?

It's stronger than a tiefling, which has a -2 penalty in Charisma, and a tiefling was LA +1.

[Fiendish_Dire_Moose]

It's 4e. There is no penalty or LA.

[BardicDuelist]

Where're its weaknesses? What accounts for all the special abilities?

It's stronger than a tiefling, which has a -2 penalty in Charisma, and a tiefling was LA +1.

It's 4e, where no races have attribute penalties. The designers also did away with the LA system, as it is cumbersome and rather pointless.

If anything, I'm a bit afraid that it's too similar to a doppleganger, and since it doesn't have a bonus to any defenses like the doppleganger (although it does have the fire resistance, which, IMO is weaker, so I balanced it out by allowing for more feats and trance). I still wonder if it's weak or redundant.

[Mando Knight]

It's stronger than a tiefling, which has a -2 penalty in Charisma, and a tiefling was LA +1.

...Not in 4E, it doesn't.

Still, having access to Eladrin and Tiefling feats, on top of Trancing, Fire Resistance, and Change Shape (Doppelgangers have far fewer bonuses in exchange for it...) makes this race somewhat stronger than the PHB and MM races...

[BardicDuelist]

...Not in 4E, it doesn't.

Still, having access to Eladrin and Tiefling feats, on top of Trancing, Fire Resistance, and Change Shape (Doppelgangers have far fewer bonuses in exchange for it...) makes this race somewhat stronger than the PHB and MM races...

What if I dropped the Fire Resistance?

The Trancing, while I recognize it's strength, doesn't seem to be unbalancing to me. Change shape seems weaker than the eldarin power, as well as the Tiefling power and bloodlust.

[Rigon]

these are simply my opinions/suggestions. as my english is bad it might sound rude but they are meant by no means as offense. so...

it seems simply too strong.

the fire resistance is too strong. i say it should be constitution modifier + 1 per tier (so it can remain and it becomes a minor bonus).

i would increase trance time from 4 to 6 hours (not purely elven blood) it doesn't really affect gameplay (as the rest of the party would need 6 hours of rest anyway).

i'm saying that the dual heritage is too strong because you cannot know what kind of extra racial feats will be released in the future and as such it might end up creating some viciously broken combinations (i believe such combinations were the reason for WotC to rethink multiclassing).
so i suggest either creating a list of feats where you say to modify the racial requirement to "<Original Racial Requirement> or Fey'ri" or make them choose at character creation from eladrin/tieflings "racial affinity".

change shape as at will? too strong. the eladrin power is an encounter power and is mostly battle oriented. i would remove it altogether.
rather give him a minor action encounter power which would be ranged attack against a single target doing elemental damage (like dragonborn breath power)... while i'm at it... "Fey'ri Gaze" does sound cool. or instead of damage a special condition could be delivered upon a successful ranged attack (in this case i suggest int/cha vs will).

i hope that this did not sound offending.

[Shadow_Elf]

I don't think it looks too unreasonable :smallwink:

The fire resistance is identical to the tiefling fire resist
The trancing is the same as the eladrin trance
The change shape is the same as the doppelganger change shape

However, dual heritage is a bit overpowered to add to the mix. If they were half human. Currently, there is one sub-par Eladrin feat and one sub-par Tiefling feat they could qualify for, as they neither have Fey Step nor the Tiefling power.

Plus, trance and change shape are mostly fluff and/or RP bonuses, and not a very mechanical advantage.
If anything, I'd give them CON and INT, since they are half demon, and CHA isn't very fitting (I know tieflings get CHA, but I disagree with that too :smallbiggrin:)

[BardicDuelist]

I don't think it looks too unreasonable :smallwink:

The fire resistance is identical to the tiefling fire resist
The trancing is the same as the eladrin trance
The change shape is the same as the doppelganger change shape

However, dual heritage is a bit overpowered to add to the mix. If they were half human. Currently, there is one sub-par Eladrin feat and one sub-par Tiefling feat they could qualify for, as they neither have Fey Step nor the Tiefling power.

Plus, trance and change shape are mostly fluff and/or RP bonuses, and not a very mechanical advantage.
If anything, I'd give them CON and INT, since they are half demon, and CHA isn't very fitting (I know tieflings get CHA, but I disagree with that too :smallbiggrin:)

Well, the reason is that the original Fey'ri had a CON penalty and were favored class "sorcerer." Based on this, I figured making them strong warlocks would make sense, but I wanted to keep the INT bonus, as it differentiated them from both tieflings and half-elves.

[Gralamin]

Drop Change shape or Dual-Heritage. Either your born from Eladrin and Tiefling, in which case Dual-Heritage is justified but Change shape is not, or your not, in which case change shape is justified but dual-heritage is not.

Also, keep in my Eladrin are so strong because both of their ability bonuses are for the same defense.

[BardicDuelist]

Drop Change shape or Dual-Heritage. Either your born from Eladrin and Tiefling, in which case Dual-Heritage is justified but Change shape is not, or your not, in which case change shape is justified but dual-heritage is not.

Also, keep in my Eladrin are so strong because both of their ability bonuses are for the same defense.

Ah, thank you, I had forgotten that last bit. Also, I changed dual-heritage.

[BardicDuelist]

these are simply my opinions/suggestions. as my english is bad it might sound rude but they are meant by no means as offense. so...

it seems simply too strong.

the fire resistance is too strong. i say it should be constitution modifier + 1 per tier (so it can remain and it becomes a minor bonus).

The fire resistance is the same as tiefling.


i would increase trance time from 4 to 6 hours (not purely elven blood) it doesn't really affect gameplay (as the rest of the party would need 6 hours of rest anyway).

i'm saying that the dual heritage is too strong because you cannot know what kind of extra racial feats will be released in the future and as such it might end up creating some viciously broken combinations (i believe such combinations were the reason for WotC to rethink multiclassing).
so i suggest either creating a list of feats where you say to modify the racial requirement to "<Original Racial Requirement> or Fey'ri" or make them choose at character creation from eladrin/tieflings "racial affinity".


I changed it to "Eldarin Heritage," which is considerably less powerful, but I think keeps the same flavor.


change shape as at will? too strong. the eladrin power is an encounter power and is mostly battle oriented. i would remove it altogether.
rather give him a minor action encounter power which would be ranged attack against a single target doing elemental damage (like dragonborn breath power)... while i'm at it... "Fey'ri Gaze" does sound cool. or instead of damage a special condition could be delivered upon a successful ranged attack (in this case i suggest int/cha vs will).

i hope that this did not sound offending.

Fey'ri had alter self at will in 3.5, and it was one of the more interesting features of the race. I wanted to keep that flavor, especially with the fact that they are supposed to be extinct now. Also, dopplegangers, in their entries to be used as players in the back of the 4e MM, have Change Shape at will. I figure that the fact that it is a power that has little application in combat (as your equipment, etc. remains the same and you gain absolutely no mechanical benefit except the bonus on bluff checks to disguise yourself, naturally) helps to balance it a bit.

[Moff Chumley]

To all of you who write off change shape at will: it's more powerful than you think.