Pixie Racial Write-up
by Jamie BatyPixies are a race of tiny fey, known for their pranks, merriment and dancing. They are perhaps the most iconic of the fey creatures.
Personality: Pixies are mischievous, graceful and whimsical. They love dancing by moonlight in fairy-rings, having various contests and games, and practical jokes. Perhaps their greatest joy is teasing the big races. Leading travellers astray (i.e. pixie-led) is one common joke, and the other common joke is to pester someone into looking clumsy and foolish (i.e. pixie-ridden.)
When dealing with wicked being, pixies are much more harmful in their jokes and pranks. Pixies loathe evil as a great ugliness, and will take action to remove it from their midst.
For a faerie race, pixies can be quite war-like, making them the primary defenders of faerie lands, and the forests they inhabit.
Pixies are meticulously clean as a race and love water; to win the favour of local pixies, many people will leave out pails of fresh water at night for the pixies to bathe and frolic in. They are also fond of fresh cream and delicate foodstuffs.
Physical Description: Pixies are between one and two feet tall. They are usually red-headed. They have insect-like wings, green and translucent, sprouting from their backs. Their faces are round with pert, upturned noses and eyes that are often squinty and crossed. They have pointy, elvish-looking ears. Most wear green clothing.
Pixies are proficient with all simple and martial weapons; they prefer to use longswords. They are proficient with light armour and medium armours, all shields but tower shields. Outside of combat, most wear green clothing.
Relations: Pixies generally bear no ill will to the larger humanoid races, although they enjoy pranking humans and dwarves. This is meant to be mischievous rather than harmful, and pixies have a habit of looking after those that can laugh at themselves and take the pranks well.
Not surprisingly, pixies relate well to elves and other forest creature races. They tend to get along fairly well with Halflings too.
Pixies survive by living off the land and "borrowing" food from other races. Their claim that any apples left on the tree after harvest are theirs by right is an extension of this "borrowing." This can occasionally lead to misunderstandings.
Alignment: Pixies are usually neutral, and most are good as well.
Pixie Lands: Pixies are found throughout the Known World wherever the other faerie races can be found. They are also one of the most numerous faerie races. The largest grouping is in the areas of Alfheim and Darokin known as the Dreamlands.
Religion: Like most Faeries, pixies do not worship the Immortals. This doesn't mean they are not aware of them or are disrespectful of them, just they do not see them as something to worship.
Language: Pixies speak Fairy, Sylvan, Elvish, Halfling, Gnome, and the dominant local language. They can communicate with animals as well. They may also speak Common, Dryad, Hsiao and other local languages.
Names: Pixie (as well as sprite) names are based on natural things: male names tend to relate to insects and animals, female names are related to flora. Many also acquire nicknames. They do not use surnames or clan names, but some do garner descriptive epithets.
Male Names: Cobweb, Moth, Robin
Female Names: Peaseblossom, Mustardseed, Rose
Epithets: Goodfellow, Silkenhair
Adventurers: Pixies have a great love of adventure- it gives them opportunities to trick, prank and harass mortals. They do not hesitate to adventure in defence of their homes. Their nature abilities and martial prowess makes them excellent scouts and their mischievous, easy-going attitudes generally make them fun companions.
A pixie's favoured class is fighter. Pixies are capable fighters and warriors. They also make for good rogues and bards. While not as magically inclined as sprites, they are excellent sorcerers and wizards. Pixies are unable to use divine magic, and are never clerics, druids, paladins or other divine magic-based classes.
Pixie Racial Traits:
A pixie character exchanges its 1HD of fey for its first class level.
Pixie characters possess the following racial traits.
• -4 Strength, +4 Dexterity, +2 Con, +4 Intelligence, +6 Charisma.
• Tiny size. +2 bonus to Armour Class, +2 bonus on attack rolls, +8 bonus on Hide checks, -8 penalty on grapple checks, lifting and carrying limits 1/2 those of Medium characters.
• A pixie's base land speed is 30 feet. They have a fly speed of 60' (average).
• Low-light vision.
• Skills: Use Magic Device is always a class skill for pixies.
• Weapon Proficiency: All simple and martial weapons.
• Armour Proficiency: All light and medium armours, all shields but tower shields.
• Special Qualities: Communicate with Animals (Ex): A leprechaun may communicate with animals as if he were permanently under the effect of a speak with animals spell.
Faerie Traits: As a Faerie, leprechauns have the following traits:
• Invisibility to Mortals (Sp): All faeries may become invisible to mortals at will as a standard action. This is the same as the invisibility spell except that creatures with second sight can see the subject normally.
• Second Sight (Ex): This is the ability common to all faeries and some mortals to be able to recognise a fey creature's true form even when invisible to mortals, polymorphed or shapechanged.
• Immunity to Normal Disease (Ex): Faeries are immune to all normal diseases but may still be affected by magical diseases such as mummy rot.
• Immortality (Ex): Faeries do not grow old. Death is merely a change in the cycle of their existence in which they become reborn as another faerie (in 0-999 years time).
• Holy Aversion (Ex): Faeries take 1d4 damage from Holy Water (no splash damage) and are made uncomfortable and tend to avoid Holy Symbols, Prayers or the names of the Immortals.
• Faeries cannot normally cast divine magic but, in the unlikely event that they would look for and find an immortal willing to accept them, they could trade all of the above traits for the opportunity to become a follower of that immortal.
• Automatic Languages: Sylvan, Fairy, Elven Gnomish, Halfling, local language. Bonus Languages: Common, Dryad, Hsiao, other local languages.
• Favoured Class: Fighter.
• Level adjustment +1