The fey-touched condition, also called feytouch, commonly affected non-fey creatures that resided in the Feywild for longer periods of time, or otherwise came in strong contact with fey magic. It resulted in visible physiological differences and often gifted greater control over fey magic and a change in mentality and personality.

"Faetouch" only described physically altered non-fey that became actual fey and their immediate offspring. Established fey races, and fey-touched creatures with a few generations behind them, were not fey-touched.

Contracting the Condition

The Feywild was a strange and mysterious realm. Creatures not native to this plane that spent long amounts of time there could suffer magical alterations of their physiology.

Fey-touched mutations usually took the shape of one or another fae type. These can be derived from the Courts, but could also be natural shades of the environment.

Due to the plane's inherent magic, affected creatures often gained supernatural resilience to standard forms of attacks and mind-altering effects.

Feywild Fugue

Fey-touched creatures often featured great magic, which they drew from the Feywild's fugue. Thus, removing affected specimens from the plane could have serious effects on them, from limiting their abilities to fully reverting them to their "natural" form.

Fey-Touched Types¹

There were some common "types" of fey-touch, although in actuality there were many more, some of which were blends of other types, or completely obscure and unique.

Most types were derived from prominent fey Courts.

Seelie Beasts

Seelie regions of the Feywild featured sprawling expanses of warm weather and vibrantly colored flora and fauna. It was said that merely gazing upon Seelie creatures or plants could induce a slightly psychedelic effect.

Creatures touched by Seelie magic seemed to glow in bright shades of all sorts. Their bodies were wreathed in scintillating dust or multicolored flames as they flitted about. This was actually an effective defense mechanism that revealed things that would otherwise be hidden - a useful trait in the Feywild, where many predators could turn invisible.

Unseelie Beasts

Certain regions of the Feywild were enveloped in perpetual darkness and frost, and stood under the rule of the Unseelie Court. Creatures exposed to this area for longer spans or time, or ones directly corrupted by Unseelie fey, took a shape more adapted to their harsh environment. Their skin and fur turned to shades of dark blue and black, while they developed an affinity to the cold and the dark. These creatures had the uncanny ability to skulk through the shadows and envelop their surroundings with frigid darkness.

Blink Beasts

Blink beasts attuned to the illusory aspect of the Feywild. They could create illusory copies of themselves when they need to escape danger. They also had preternatural speed, allowing them to seemingly blink from spot to spot in an instant.

Lunar Beasts

Moon-touched creatures drew their power from the lunar magics that were heavily present in the Feywild. This granted them the ability to change their form at will. These creatures also had the uncanny ability to see through shapechanging illusions and even inhibit other creatures' shapeshifting. These fey-touched were revered by many druidic circles, who drew from their fugue to gain power.

Gloaming Beasts / Therians

Creatures touched by the Gloaming magic were unique in that they didn't share the characteristics the Gloamers were known for. Namely, rather than having mental or illuminating traits, they appeared as odd chimeras. Gloamer-touched were believed to be the common ancestor of therianthropy. They came in many shapes and sizes, but their common feature was that they looked like a mix of other races, while some had the ability to change their form. Due to this, beasts touched by Gloamer fae magic were called "Therians".

A popular example of a therian was an akhlut, which normally resembled a whale but could transform into a whale-wolf hybrid. Another example was owlbears, a race that spread out of the Feywild and over most of the known world.

Some therians were also lycanthropes, and could make others fey-touched with a single bite or scratch.

Sylvan Beasts

Sylvan beasts were the rarest of all fey-touched creatures. It was said that these powerful beasts could only be created by queens or other powerful fey, which imbued these beasts with a portion of their power.

Sylvans tended to have heightened intelligence as well as a wide array of supernatural abilities, such as redirecting magic, teleportation, and invisibility. These creatures were extremely elusive and were often revered as avatars of Queens. Their rarity sometimes made them the target of hunters and poachers seeking the thrill and reward of a rare hunt.