The result of four noble houses of sun elves breeding with demons in an attempt to strengthen their bloodline, fey’ri are a type of planetouched that breeds true among their own kind. Marked by their fiendish blood, fey’ri are unique among most planetouched in that they have a self-sustaining community, so they are raised among their own kind. Because of this, young fey’ri do not suffer the feelings of ostracism that other planetouched do despite growing up among creatures with strong fiendish blood. Most fey’ri are evil, but a few are able to shrug off the fiendish taint’s influence on their behaviour and emulate some small part of the innate good nature of the elves.
Fey’ri are the descendants of sun elves and demons (usually succubi in male or female form). Having bred with these demons and among their own kind, fey’ri are a distinct race and share the same common fiendish traits. In general form they resemble sun elves, although all have large bat-like wings. They all have one or more unusual features reflecting their fiendish heritage, such as:
Fey’ri are obviously different from normal elves and would quickly be killed by most other elves if discovered. Luckily for them, their demonic bloodline gives them several abilities, including the ability to change their shape. Thus they can pass freely among other creatures without causing an alarm.
There may be other fey’ri in Faerûn other than those allied with House Dlardrageth, but since the likelihood of an elf breeding with a demon is very small, such an individual would be essentially unique outside these four elven houses. The rest of this section assumes Dlardrageth fey’ri are the subject matter.
Fey’ri have the same life expectancy and age categories as a sun elf.
History: Thousands of years ago, the sun elves of House Dlardrageth (in what is now the forest of Cormanthor) secretly bred with succubi to strengthen their bloodline. Although they were eventually discovered and imprisoned in a series of caverns, before their confinement they allied with three minor noble houses of the elven nation of Siluvanede in the High Forest. These nobles acquired caches of Dlardrageth magic items and bred with demons as well, using these items and their fiendish powers to strike out at their enemies. These nobles were defeated and magically imprisoned in the Dlardrageth cache sites.
Three Dlardrageth half-fiends were accidentally released when Hellgate Keep was destroyed in 1369 DR. When they broke through the magical seals on their armories they were surprised to find the descendants of their allies from Siluvanede within. Now freed, the planetouched elves joined with their old allies and began to enact their long-awaited plans.
The fey’ri associated with House Dlardrageth originally numbered less than 60. Since their release, some of these fey’ri have broken from their families, trying to find a place in the world after centuries of magical imprisonment.
Outlook: Most fey’ri live for revenge. They feel wronged by other elves, particularly moon elves, and superior to all other races (as befits their lineage, which ties them to the ancient elven kingdoms that predate human civilization). While their plans for revenge unfold, they wish to restore the glory of the elven empires with themselves at their head, not realizing that their fiendish taint has corrupted the sun elf qualities that they prize the most. Individual fey’ri comply with these goals, knowing that their half-fiend rulers are too powerful to challenge and feeling that they themselves have been punished unfairly by the moon elves with their too-long magical imprisonment. The fey’ri also suffer from unfamiliarity with the changes to the world and are still learning about its current state. A fey’ri is patient, calculating and suspicious, but her fiendish blood makes her prone to undeserved acts of cruelty and rage.
Of special note are the fey’ri who have chosen to leave the banner of House Dlardrageth. The members of the house considered these renegade fey’ri a great risk to their plans, for the Dlardrageth nobles know their numbers are too small to survive a concerted effort to eradicate them — they must act in secrecy, or risk discovery and death. This makes any renegade fey’ri a creature marked for death by the entire house. Since Countess Sarya Dlardrageth (CE female half-fiend sun elf Sor18) is a powerful spellcaster, these renegades must be even more cautious than their isolated kin, or they could be discovered and destroyed.
Fey’ri are usually chaotic evil. Some hear an echo of their elven heritage and are chaotic neutral, and a few may be entirely neutral. None have yet been found who are lawful or good.
Characters: Fey’ri blood practically overflows with sorcerous power, so many fey’ri characters become sorcerers. Those who don’t become rogues or fighters, although a fair number are sorcerer/rogues or sorcerer/fighters.
Favoured Class: A fey’ri’s favoured class is sorcerer. Their demonic bloodline and the type of magical training they get pushes fey’ri to develop as sorcerers instead of wizards (the typical sort of magic a true sun elf practices).
Prestige Classes: Fey’ri sorcerers often aspire to become archmages, while those of a more martial bent consider becoming ranger/blackguards or rogue/assassins. Because fey’ri have elven blood, the arcane archer prestige class is open to them as well.
Society: Fey’ri society is very close-knit. They are all close relations, and so each fey’ri has a very good idea how each of his or her family members would react to a situation. Yet they have a subtle loathing for each other, both because their elven nature rejects the taint of their kin and because their demonic ancestors are so chaotic and rebellious that they find it difficult to work together. As a result, fey’ri society is based on power and fear — power to make your commands obeyed, fear that your superiors could destroy you if you fail to comply. House Dlardrageth is a house that cannot stand the test of time, and the only reason it has lasted as long as it has is the magic that imprisoned its members for centuries. In the next hundred years, it is likely that the fey’ri will scatter across Faerûn, creating their own pockets of evil, possibly accompanied by near-adult offspring. Until that time, this group of evil-tainted but magically powerful elves has the potential to incite a great slaughter of their enemies.
Language: Fey’ri speak Common, Elven and Abyssal. Individuals often learn Gnoll, Goblin and Sylvan because of the creatures that did and still do live in the High Forest. Fey’ri spellcasters usually learn Draconic to acquire magic from old sources.
All fey’ri are literate (none of the demonfey are barbarians).
Magic: Fey’ri draw upon the ancient lore of the sun elves. They favour three primary schools of magic: Conjuration, Evocation and Transmutation.
Spells and Spellcasting: Fey’ri like to use conjuration spells to summon fiendish creatures to fight their enemies, relying upon their knowledge of the Abyssal tongue to give their servant creatures complex commands. Mage armour is a common spell known by fey’ri sorcerers.
Evocation spells appeal to the destructive, chaotic nature that hums within every fey’ri’s blood. However, they still are reluctant to harm their forest home, even if it would allow them to eliminate a large number of their hated moon elf enemies, so area-affecting spells are used cautiously if trees might be harmed. Fey’ri are fond of fire and electricity spells, since many of their own kind are resistant to those energies and they need not be very cautious when targeting foes engaged in melee with their allies.
Transmutation spells are used to enhance their combat abilities. Fey’ri are fond of bull’s strength, cat’s grace and bear’s endurance to enhance their strengths or compensate for their weaknesses, and spells such as haste and slow are always useful.
Magic Items: As they are descended from ancient elven families, the fey’ri have access to typical elven magic items and the knowledge needed to make them. Boots of elvenkind, cloaks of elvenkind, keen weapons, oathbows and magical elven chainmail are items commonly used by fey’ri.
Religion: Because of their taint and their alignment change, most fey’ri no longer worship the good elven deities of the Seldarine. However, unlike tieflings, they rarely worship demons, preferring true deities rather than powerful agents of their own fiendish bloodlines.
The foul creature known as Ghaunadaur manifested to one of the elders of House Floshin nearly a century ago, and since that time the worship of Ghaunadaur has grown to encompass most of the fey’ri associated with House Dlardrageth. The fact that most of these sun elves now worship a drow deity is evidence of how corrupt they have become.
Fenmarel Mestarine lives on the outskirts of the elven pantheon and, as the god of elven outcasts and those who live away from others, he appeals to the rare neutral fey’ri. A few have started to worship him in secret, hoping to learn the secrets of survival in modern Faerûn but not wishing to draw the ire of their family members who worship Ghaunadaur. Shevarash, an elven deity consumed by bitterness and a thirst for revenge against the drow, also has some small appeal to the fey’ri. While some fey’ri whisper his name in secret, he considers them as vile as the drow and does not reward them for their worship.
Relations: Fey’ri of Dlardrageth wish to recruit more sun elves into their breeding program, but hold no love for any other kind of elf, including drow. They have a sun elf’s disdain for all other humanoid races, regardless of philosophy or politics, and particularly see humans as pretentious upstarts that have only acquired civilization on the ruins of elven kingdoms. Fey’ri are indifferent toward genasi. Their demonic blood recoils from the celestially tainted presence of aasimar, making them natural enemies. They see tieflings as interesting potential allies, less worthy than a fey’ri or a sun elf, but certainly more valuable than a normal human.
Renegade fey’ri form their own opinions of other races, but their views are coloured by their families’ prejudice and they have difficulty dealing with elves other than sun elves. Of all non-elves, they feel the closest to tieflings, for they too know the touch of evil and the desire to live a life not defined by their heritage.
Equipment: Fey’ri prefer traditional elven equipment and often refuse to use items of non-elven make. They especially favour mithral chain shirts and elven chainmail, since these armours are light enough to be worn while flying.
Animals and Pets: House Dlardrageth’s original heraldic device had a feathered phoenix, Aelorothi’s a swan, Ealoeth’s a pair of pegasi and Floshin’s a two-headed griffon. The fey’ri sometimes tame or enspell fiendish creatures of these types to serve as steeds or animal companions, although they have no special affinity for them.
Regions: Delimbiyr Vale
Source: Races of Faerûn (Page 118), Player’s Guide to Faerûn Monster Update (Page 5)
Your character can be either male or female.
Every player character starts as an adult. You can choose or randomly generate your character’s age. If you choose it, it must be at least the minimum age for the character’s race and class (see Table: Starting Ages). Your character’s minimum starting age is the adulthood age of his or her race plus the number of dice indicated in the entry corresponding to the character’s race and class on Table: Starting Ages.
Alternatively, refer to Table: Starting Ages and roll dice to determine how old your character is.
| Adulthood | Intuitive1 | Self-Taught2 | Trained3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 110 years | +4d6 (114—134) years | +6d6 (116—146) years | +10d6 (120—170) years |
1 This category includes barbarians, rogues and sorcerers.
2 This category includes bards, fighters, paladins and rangers.
3 This category includes clerics, druids, monks and wizards.
With age, a character’s physical ability scores decrease and his or her mental ability scores increase (see Table: Aging Effects). The effects of each aging step are cumulative. However, none of a character’s ability scores can be reduced below 1 in this way.
| Middle Age1 | Old Age2 | Venerable3 | Maximum Age |
|---|---|---|---|
| 210 years | 315 years | 420 years | +6d% years |
1 -1 to Strength, Dexterity and Constitution; +1 to Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma.
2 -2 to Strength, Dexterity and Constitution; +1 to Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma.
3 -3 to Strength, Dexterity and Constitution; +1 to Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma.
When a character reaches venerable age, the DM secretly rolls his or her maximum age, which is the number from the Venerable column on Table: Aging Effects plus the result of the dice roll indicated on the Maximum Age column on that table, and records the result, which the player does not know. A character who reaches his or her maximum age dies of old age at some time during the following year, as determined by the DM.
The maximum ages are for player characters. Most people in the world at large die from pestilence, accidents, infections or violence before getting to venerable age.
Choose your character’s height and weight from the ranges mentioned in the appropriate race description or from the ranges found on Table: Height and Weight. Think about what your character’s abilities might say about his or her height and weight. A weak but agile character may be thin. A strong and tough character may be tall or just heavy.
Alternatively, roll randomly for your character’s height and weight on Table: Height and Weight. The dice roll given in the Height Modifier column determines the character’s extra height beyond the base height. That same number multiplied by the dice roll or quantity given in the Weight Modifier column determines the character’s extra weight beyond the base weight.
| Gender | Base Height | Height Modifier | Base Weight | Weight Modifier |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Male | 4’ 10" | +2d10 (5’ 0"—6’ 6") | 90 lbs. | ×2d4 (94—250 lbs.) |
| Female | 4’ 5" | +2d10 (4’ 7"—6’ 1") | 70 lbs. | ×2d4 (74—230 lbs.) |
Source: Player’s Handbook (Page 109), Races of Faerûn (Page 40)