Prydain Project - Fair Folk - 3 class version

This is the slightly "dis-enstrangened" 3 class version of the Fair Folk I developed - I took the weird version I came up with while I was struggling last week, and blended it with the more stolid versions I had been sketching.  In this version, I think I come closer to Lloyd Alexander's vision of Doli and King Eiddileg with the Coblyn class - and these are the type of Fair Folk we encounter most in the books.  I have retained the "charms and talents" concept in the Ellyll class, which reflects the strange "hyper-real" elf encounters of the third kind that often appear in Welsh and Cornish folklore.  Finally, the Pwca are perhaps the least adjusted from my "weird" version, and this is where I have started to inject the basics of Prydain's cosmology in the form of the Three Elements - in fact, in the weird version (which I never posted since it was too sketchy and also too off the wall for what I'm doing here...though I've saved the notes for a future project) the three classes were Elementally tied, and each had their own transformational powers.  These have been melded and mellowed into the Pwca in this version.

The Fair Folk - Yr Pobl o Yr Tylwyth Teg

The Fair Folk are a mystical people intimately linked with Prydain and the forces that run through it.  Legend has it that in the distant past, the Fair Folk lived at peace with the land – which was then filled with all manner of fae wonders.  With the coming of Human settlers, the Fair Folk were driven into hiding.  Today, the Fair Folk – or the Tylwyth Teg as they are known – are wary of Humans, and prefer not to involve themselves in the mere mundane workings of Prydain, so most people have never seen then – or if they have, they have perhaps not known it, as the Fair Folk will sometimes move among Humans in disguise.   The Tylwyth Teg usually dwell in places far from Human habitation, in secret enclaves of various kinds that are linked together in a web of secret ways and paths that allow them to travel without risking being seen by Humans. 

Most of the fae creatures of the Tylwyth Teg are few and extremely shy, but three tribes are more numerous and will occasionally enter the world of Humans seeking adventure, searching for lost treasures, or to help achieve some heroic goal:

Although they normally keep themselves apart from the purely mundane cares of Prydain, from time to time a Coblyn, Ellyll or Pwca will choose to join a Human cause – most often with a specific goal in mind, such as thwarting Chaos, recovering a magic item (especially one that was originally a gift from the Fair Folk in friendlier days), or to work against creatures of the Tylwyth Ddu (The Dark Kindred – the Chaos equivalent of the Tylwyth Teg, which includes any Chaotic aligned fae creature)

Colbyn(au)

Level	XP	Mine	Appraise	Identify	Climb
1	0	1/6	1/6	1/6	81%
2	2200	1-2/6	1-2/6	1/6	82%
3	4400	1-3/6	1-3/6	1/6	83%
4	8800	1-4/6	1-4/6	1-2/6	84%
5	17000	1-5/6	1-5/6	1-2/6	85%
6	35000	1-6/6	1-6/6	1-2/6	86%
7	70000	1-6/6	1-6/6	1-3/6	87%
8	140000	1-6/6	1-6/6	1-3/6	88%
9	270000	1-6/6	1-6/6	1-3/6	89%

Prime requisite: Con

Hit points: 1d6 per level

Save as: Dwarf

Maximum 9^th level

At 3^rd level, Coblynau may turn invisible (per M-U spell Invisibility) once per day.

At 6^th level, Coblynau may summon a troop of 5 level 1 Coblynau

At 9^th level, Coblynau may summon a troop of 18 level 1 Coblynau + 2 level 3 Coblynau leaders

Sometimes referred to colloquially as Knockers, the Coblynau are perhaps the Fair Folk most commonly seen in the Human realms.  They are similar in appearance to Humans but short in stature, standing from 3 to 4 feet in height , but make up for their small size in sheer doughtiness.  They are best known by miners, as they typically make their homes under ground in caves and grottos of unusual beauty and spend their days toiling in their own mines, extracting precious metals and gems which they craft into exquisite jewelry.   Beyond their work with metal and gems, the Coblynau are well known for their love of fine work and skill with their hands, and excel at all crafts.  They are also well known for their skill at mountaineering and may occasionally be found in small, well-hidden villages in the most inaccessible of rocky places or in cliffs.

Coblynau have small clannish enclaves all over Prydain, hidden away from the prying eyes of Humans who they claim drove them underground when they came long ago (according to the Coblynau, Prydain belonged to the Fair Folk before the coming of Human settlers).  Coblynau communities will ordinarily have little interaction with the outside world, and in fact: Humans will only rarely encounter the Coblynau directly, but when an individual on good terms with local clans (for example, by leaving out tidbits of food or drink in places they have been known to frequent – and especially if done out of simple neighbourliness rather than for an explicit attempt to gain favour) the Coblynau will occasionally reciprocate by providing assistance of some kind – e.g. miners might get hints as to the most productive places to dig, small tasks left unfinished in the evening might be completed (typically to a higher standard than the Humans would achieve alone).   Coblynau may also venture forth from their hidden enclaves to render aid to lost travellers, stranded climbers, trapped miners, etc.

Armor:  Coblynau may use any kind of armor and shield, but due to their small size any armor or shield must be made specially to fit. (double price when purchasing in Human lands)

Weapons: Coblynau may use any small weapon, but may not use any 2-handed weapon other than a short-bow or crossbow.  Human-sized large 1-handed weapons such as longswords may be used 2-handed (i.e. no shield)

Hiding: Like all the Fair Folk, the Coblynau are adept at hiding, and seem to vanish into woods, brush, rocky terrain and caves.  So long as they remain still and silent, hiding Coblynau will be found only on a roll of 1 or 2 on 1d6.

Mine: Coblynau are skillful miners and very sensitive to caves and constructions.  Sloping corridors, new constructions, dangerous constructions (due to damage or age) will be noticed on a result as noted in the table.  Further, deliberately concealed construction features such as sliding walls, pit traps, concealed doors, etc may be noticed if a conscious attempt is made to find them.  Coblynau also have twice the usual ability to find secret doors. When conditions are particularly difficult (eg deliberate concealment, poor weather, stressful circumstances, etc) a penalty of 1-3 points may apply to this roll.

Appraise: Coblynau are very skilled craftspeople, and can recognise quality when they see it.  On a result as noted, the character is able to accurately assess the value of normal gems, jewelry, or other mundane crafted items.

Identify: In addition to being able to assess the value of mundane items, Coblynau have a fine enough sense of quality that, in combination with their fundamentally magical nature, can be used to sniff out the nature of certain kinds of enchantments.  Given a day to examine it, a Coblyn character is often able to learn 1 power of any armor, weapon, or miscellaneous magic item.

Climb: Related to their skill with mining and construction, and also their habit of living in lonely mountainous areas, the Coblynau are quite good at climbing.

Invisibility: At 3^rd level, Coblynau may turn invisible once per day per the Magic-User spell of the same name.

Call Clan: At 6^th level, a Coblyn character may send out a call to his or her clan for aid.  A troop of 5 Colbynau of 1^st level will arrive in 1d6 days (travelling by secret Fair Folk ways through Prydain) and render whatever mundane aid is needed for 1 day.  This aid may be: building something, excavation, repair, rescue, or defence.  Coblynau thus summoned will not normally fight, but are armed and armored (chain mail, short sword) and will fight to defend themselves and the Coblyn who summoned them from direct threats from Chaotic creatures, however their goal will always be simply to extract their clan-mate from danger and escape rather than to defeat the attackers.  At 9^th level, a Coblyn characters ability to call clan-mates for aid increases: the call will bring a troop of 20, which includes 18 1^st level Coblynau and 2 leader types of 3^rd level.

Ellyll(on)

Level	XP	Identify	Read Language	Talents
1	0	1/6	20%	Fairy Fire
2	2500	1/6	25%	Ventriloquism
3	5000	1-2/6	30%	Obscure
4	10000	1-2/6	35%	Charm Person
5	20000	1-3/6	40%	Phantasmal Force
6	40000	1-3/6	45%	Hold Person
7	80000	1-4/6	50%	Sleep
8	150000	1-4/6	55%	Hallucinatory Terrain
9	300000	1-5/6	60%	Quest

Hit points: 1d6 per levelPrime requisite: Cha

Save as: Dwarf

Maximum 9^th level

At 3^rd level, Ellyllon may brew potions as Magic-Users do

At 6^th level, Ellyllon may enchant weapons and armor as Magic-Users do

At 9^th level, Ellyllon may craft miscellaneous magic items and rings as Magic-Users do

The Ellyll have such smooth faces and delicate features that with their small stature – about 4’ to 5’ in height – and slim bodies they are often mistaken for Human children, and in fact some of the more mischievous of the Ellyll have been known to pass themselves off as children for their own amusement.

The Ellyll often live in the most beautiful of the grottos prepared by their Coblynau cousins, where they spend their days playing games, singing, and dancing.  Of all the Fair Folk, the Ellyllon are the most light hearted – though they can be terrible when slighted.  Most often, Humans will encounter them at dusk or dawn, or under the Moon at night – for these are the times when they emerge from the grottos to gather herbs and flowers for their magical studies, or just to play under the sky.  The places where they most often gather for their revels are commonly regarded as mystical by their Human neighbours, who will normally avoid them if possible – for the Ellyll are well known not only for their pranks but for their humiliating efforts at revenge.

Armor:  Ellyll may not use any armor, but may use shields.

Weapons: Ellyll may use any weapons.

Hiding: Like all the Fair Folk, the Ellylon are adept at hiding, and seem to vanish into woods, brush, rocky terrain and caves.  So long as they remain still and silent, hiding Ellyllon will be found only on a roll of 1 or 2 on 1d6.

Identify: Ellyllon have a natural sense of magic, and given enough time (1 day) to examine any item they may be able to identify one of its powers.

Read Languages: Although the people of Prydain currently use only one language, there are other tongues in the world and many forgotten alphabets.  A combination of their magical nature, their curiosity, and their simple sense of these things permits Ellyllon to often be able to puzzle out the meaning of even completely unknown texts.  This ability does not allow the Ellyllon to read scrolls or spellbooks.

Talents: Ellyll are naturally magical in nature, and the closeness of their ties to the Elements grants them special talents. At first level an Ellyll character may add “Fairy Fire” (as the Druid spell) to his or her list of talents known. Each time a level is gained, the character may choose ONE additional talent from those listed as available at the new level and those below. Talents may be used only once per day. A talent may be selected more than once, and this permits it to be used an additional time each day. Talents with names matching Cleric, Druid or Magic-User spells have the same effect as those spells – refer to the spell description for details.

Craft magic items: Ellyll characters gain the ability to craft magic items in exactly the same way that Magic-Users can at 3^rd (potions), 6^th (weapons and armor) and 9^th (miscellaneous magic items and rings) levels.  To do so, the character must spend time in study and gathering the necessary ingredients, just as a Magic-User would.  Cost and time requirements are as given for magic-users in the rules.

Pwca

Level	XP	Hide	Move silently	Hear Noise
1	0	90%	20%	1-2
2	2500	91%	25%	1-2
3	5000	92%	30%	1-3
4	10000	93%	35%	1-3
5	20000	94%	40%	1-4
6	40000	95%	45%	1-4
7	80000	96%	50%	1-5
8	150000	97%	55%	1-5
9	300000	98%	60%	1-5

Prime requisite: Wis
Adjustments: -2 Str, +2 Dex

Hit points: 1d4 per level

Save as: Dwarf

Maximum 9^th level

Animal form gained at 1^st, 3^rd, 6^th and 9^th levels

While both the Coblynau and Ellyllon are wary of humans, neither can match the Pwca for shyness.

The Pwca are in many ways both the strangest of the more numerous Fair Folk tribes - from the perspective of Humans - and the easiest to understand. Both these facts are due to their deep connection to the Three Elements: Sky, Sea and Stone.

In their "ordinary" form, the Pwca appear at first glance to be diminutive Humans of 1' to 2' height. However, closer inspection (if it is permitted) will reveal strange animal-like features: tufts of hair or feathers, short tails, glittering scales. This is related to the main manifestation of their magical nature: the ability to transform between their ordinary form and that of an animal connected with their native Element (Sea, Sky or Stone).  Pwca characters must choose a native Element at character creation.

Pwca clans are always welcome in the grotto realms of their Coblyn and Ellyll cousins, but Pwca are more comfortable out in the natural world where they can more easily indulge their three passions: hunger for contact with their native Element, play, and curiosity.

In the mundane world of Prydain, Pwca will often gather in places of natural beauty related to their native Element:

Sea Pwca will gather on coastlines with dramatic surf, in the reeds along languid rivers, around the edges of waterfalls.

Sky Pwca will gather on high ridges, in treetops,  along cliffs, on mountaintops.

Stone Pwca will be found in forest dells, in vine-tangled valleys, in ravines and wildflower fields.

While they tend to avoid human settlements entirely, when such places are near farms or villages the Pwca who dwell there will sometimes be overcome with curiosity and creep close to watch the Humans at work and play. They will only rarely reveal themselves to adults, being made nervous by creatures so large, but will occasionally speak to children - if only because of the potential for play.

Like the Ellyll, the Pwca crave fun and moreso than their larger cousins will go out of their way to find it. Usually, play involves games among the Pwca and their animal friends, but occasionally other Fair Folk are included, and more rarely still Humans may be invited - usually children.

Although they crave play, and are generally timid and retiring, Pwca are very occasionally tempted to adventure - often to satisfy curiosity, sometimes to achieve great ends, though even then the Pwca's main goal is likely to be the advancement of great stories.

Armor: Pwca may not wear armor of any kind, though they can use specially made shields. (double price)

Weapons: Pwca may only use specially made weapons. (double price) Pwca weapons do half the usual damage due to their extremely small size.

Hide: Pwca are extremely adept at hiding, and in natural environments will be at least 91% able to evade detection. In other situations, they can successfully hide in shadows on a roll of 1 or 2 on 1d6.

Dodging: Due to their small size, Pwca are very adept at dodging and evading the attacks of larger creatures.  Pwca gain +2 AC bonus when fighting man-sized creatures, and +4 against creatures of larger than man-size.

Animal Form: At first level, Pwca characters must choose their native element.  Having done so, they may choose one animal form associated with that element. Animal forms must be small to medium in size.  Once per day, the character may transform into that animal, and may remain in that form until the next sunrise, gaining all the ordinary abilities of that animal (except venom or poison) for the duration. 

Ordinary abilities scores, hit points and alignment are retained.  

Any possessions or equipment disappear for the duration of the animal form and return unchanged when the Pwca returns to ordinary form.  

The Pwca may also return to ordinary form at any time. 

Transformation in either direction takes one full round, during which no other action is possible.  

At 3rd, 6th and 9th levels, the Pwca may choose either an additional animal form (also restricted by the selected native Element) or to use an existing animal form +1/day.

Animal forms may be selected freely from among suitable small and medium animals, but each Pwca character must select only from animal types associated with his or her chosen Element.  Examples are given below:

Sea (aquatic animals)	Sky (flying animals)	Stone (land animals)
Otter	Eagle	Mouse
Frog	Heron	Ferret
Salmon	Raven	Rabbit
Beaver	Dragonfly	Badger
Crab	Bat	Cat
Eel	Hummingbird	Hedgehog
Turtle	Thrush	Lizard/snake

In each case, while the transformation is complete and the Pwca will be indistinguishable from a real animal in most respects, close inspection will reveal that the Pwca's animal form is somewhat larger than smaller animals, or somewhat smaller than larger animals.

Prydain Project - Class - Fair Folk - Single Class Variant

Deciding how to handle the Fair Folk was difficult - on the one hand, we have characters like Doli and others who play direct roles in Lloyd Alexander's tales.  On the other hand, we have the Welsh mythology from which he drew some of his depictions of the Fair Folk themselves.  I wanted to strike a balance between these slightly different depictions - in particular, while I love Alexander's Prydain series, I always found the slightly slapstick version of the Fair Folk as manifested by Doli, Gwystyl and King Eiddileg at odds not only with Welsh myth and folk tales, but with the way the Fair Folk are spoken of by Dallben and others.

What I came up with was the following class, which would replace Elves, Dwarves and Halflings in a Prydain campaign.  

This is actually the 5th iteration, which I'm posting partly because I'm tired of second-guessing myself.  I've tried just re-skinning the existing demi-human classes; I've tried recreating those three classes entirely, starting again from the perspective of Welsh folklore regarding fae creatures (and I confess, that version was very interesting - but perhaps a bit too strange for ordinary use); I've tried going back to the the ordinary demi-human classes and just adding flavour tweaks (which was painful to look at when I was done, it was so boring); I've tried a kit combining my second and third ideas to make the Human classes into Fair Folk.  


In the end, this is the version I'm sticking with until I get a chance to test things in actual play and get some feedback:

Fair Folk (Ellyll or Tylwyth)

Level	Title	XP	Talents
1	Imp	0	Craft, Light, Ventriloquism, Speak with Animals
2	Knocker	2500	Obscure, Sleep, Fairy Fire
3	Hob	5000	Find Traps, Read Languages, Invisibility, Diminution
4	Coblyn	10000	Locate Object, Water Breathing, Phantasmal Force
5	Tylwyth	20000	Hold Person, Fly, Brew Potion, Animal Shape
6	Puck	40000	Growth of Animals, Remove Curse, Striking
7	Fay	80000	Hallucinatory Terrain, Plant Door, Forge Weapons and Armor
8	Ellyll	150000	Pass Plant, Speak with Plants, Create Food
9	Ellyll Lord	300000	Find the Path, Quest, Craft Item

Hit Dice: 1d6/level

Max 9^th level

Save as: Dwarf

Special: 1 talent/level, each talent can be used 1/day

The Fair Folk, also known as the Ellyll, are a mystical people intimately linked with the Land of Prydain and the forces that run through it. Although they are well known to the people of Prydain, they are typically shy and wary of humans and so most people have never seen them – or if they have, they have perhaps not known it as the Fair Folk will sometimes move among ordinary people in disguise. The Fair Folk will only rarely venture out into the human realsm from their network of small enclaves, circles or grottos (known as the Tylwyth Teg) though from time to time one of the Ellyll will choose to associate with humans in one manner or another. Typically, this will be in the form of a mutually beneficial relationship – the Ellyll using his or her powers to help the human in his or her work, the human reciprocating with gifts such as small treasures, finely made clothes or jewelry, or delicacies (for some reason, the Ellyll are unable to bake bread or cakes, and they keep no livestock so they are unable to make cheese – thus gifts of bread, cake, milk/cream or cheese are particularly valued). However, from time to time the Ellyll will enter the world of humans seeking adventure, searching for lost treasures, or to help achieve some heroic goal.

Description:

Fair Folk are small and various, ranging from 1 to 4 feet in height. Most appear as short (3 feet or so), wiry humans and could easily pass as children or just unusually small adults, however Ellyll are close to the land and some will manifest signs of this – they may have glittering, jewel-like scales, tufts of feathers instead of hair, or be encrusted with rocky or sandy protrusions (depending on whether their clan is most associated with the Element of Sea, Sky or Stone).

Prime Requisite - Fair Folk require a minimum Charisma of 9.

Armor and weapons - Fair Folk may only use non-metal armor if it is mundane, but may wear metal armor if it is magical. They may not use 2-handed weapons other than shortbows and crossbows.  

Special Abilities:

Detection – Due to the fact that many of their secret homes are hidden within hills and under mountains, the Ellyll are natural miners. Ellyll characters will detect sliding walls, sloping corridors, secret doors and new constructions on a roll of 1-2 on 1d6.

Hiding – Out doors, Fair Folk are in their element and are very difficult to find when they choose to remain hidden. If they choose to hide rather than reveal themselves, they will be noticed only 10% of the time, and are even difficult to find when actively being sought: a roll of 1-2 on 1d6.

Talents – Fair Folk are naturally magical in nature, and the closeness of their ties to the Elements grants them special talents. At first level a Fair Folk character may choose ONE talent from the following: Craft, Light, Ventriloquism, Speak with Animals. Each time a level is gained, the character may choose ONE additional talent from those listed as available at the new level and those below. Talents may be used only once per day. A talent may be selected more than once, and this permits it to be used an additional time each day. Talents with names matching Cleric, Druid or Magic-User spells have the same effect as those spells – refer to the spell description for details. Note that some of the spells referred to may be found in the Companion set, but most have been taken from the Basic and Expert sets.

Talents not corresponding to a spell are described below:

Craft: Using this talent, the character may use suitable materials to perfectly make or repair an ordinary item from the equipment list in 1 hour. At the DM's discretion, other ordinary items not listed may also be made (eg furniture, clothing, etc). Use the equipment list items for guidance on the quantity produced (eg if the number given on the equipment list is 10, then the character may make 10 in 1 hour) Weapons and armor cannot be made, however a character using this talent may make 6 arrows.

Diminution: Using this talent, the character will immediately shrink to 6” in height, and can do only 1hp damage physically attacking a creature larger than 1' regardless of the weapon used. Likewise, the character's strength is reduced proportionately and it will become difficult to move even ordinary objects. The character can slip through small cracks and and has a 90% chance of not being seen when standing still. The diminution effect will last until the next sunrise, or until the character decides to return to ordinary size.

Brew Potion: The character is able to brew a single dose of any potion. Brewing the potion takes 3 days and 3 nights of uninterrupted work, and requires that the necessary ingredients first be gathered.

Animal Shape: The character is able to take the shape of a specific animal (type selected at the time this talent is chosen). The form may be that of a bird, fish, reptile, amphibian or mammal but must be small to medium in size – of a type that could reasonably be described as a “small woodland creature”. (e.g. fox, mouse, cat, grouse, trout, heron, frog, snake, turtle, etc.) Having taken this form, the character gains all the abilities of this type of animal other than venom. The character may remain in animal shape until the next sunrise, or until he or she decides to return to ordinary form. Even while not in animal form, the character gains the ability to speak with the specific type of animal into which he or she can transform.

Forge Weapons and Armor: Using the finest materials and steel, and with access to the proper equipment, the character is able to forge weapons or armor of special quality. These weapons and armor are not magical, however they are of masterwork quality and will provide a bonus of +1 to hit or damage, or +1 AC. Creating one weapon (or 1 dozen arrows) or suit of armor takes 1 month. Materials cost 10x list price for orinary items of the same type.

Craft Item: Taking one year and one day to do so, the character is able to create a miscellaneous magic item with one power, provided the materials are gathered together and prepared appropriately. Should 2 or more Fair Folk with this talent cooperate in the creation of the item, th item may be imbued with 1 additional power per Fair Folk crafter.