Sorcerer: Fey-Touched
Your innate magic comes from some mingling of Feywild magic into your bloodline. Your ancestors may have bargained with powerful fey, or spent too long living in the Feywild. A trickster fey may even have taken you as a child and placed a spell upon you, but whatever the case you have been given a variety of faerie magic to wield as your own.
Fey Blood
At 1st level, your blood is laced with the magic of the Feywild, granting you advantage on saving throws against being charmed, and giving you immunity to magical effects that would put you to sleep. You also know the minor illusion cantrip and it does not count against your number of cantrips known.
If you have the fey ancestry racial trait, you gain immunity to charm effects and advantage against all saving throws made against enchantment-based spell effects.
Additionally, you can speak, read, and write Sylvan
Court Magic
The Fey are split into four major courts, each representing different personalities, philosophies, and appearances based on the state of the world during their respective seasons. Your magic originates from a fey of one of these courts, and this links you to that court as well. At 1st level, you choose one of these courts and gain a number of special spells, as well as additional abilities as you gain levels in this class. These spells count as sorcerer spells for you and do not count against your number of spells known.
The Faerie Courts
Each of the Faerie Courts stand for different ideals and have different flaws, and each court appears outwardly different to reflect this. Sorcerers touched by one court or the other may take on certain attributes based on their court heritage.
The Fey of the Autumn Court are patient, reflective, and wise, using their magic to help others. A Sorcerer of this court may appear older than they are, act gently towards others, or exude an air of calm when they are near.
The Fey of the Winter Court are aloof, harsh and unforgiving, and its members can debilitate others with their magic. A Sorcerer of this court may have grey-blue skin, act coldly towards others, or naturally chill the air around them.
The Fey of the Spring Court are cheerful, optimistic and peaceful, often employing illusions and trickery for fun as well as combat. A Sorcerer of this court may have a young, glowing complexion, act enthusiastic regardless of the situation, or spread joy simply through their presence.
The Fey of the Summer Court are fierce, bold and energetic, employing powerful offensive and defensive magic. A Sorcerer of this court may appear to glow a soft crimson, suffer from bouts of fierce anger, or feel warm to the touch.
Autumn Spell List
| Level | Spells |
|---|---|
| 1st | goodberry |
| 2nd | lesser restoration |
| 3rd | spirit guardians |
| 4th | aura of life |
| 5th | circle of power |
| 6th | heal |
| 7th | sequester |
| 8th | holy aura |
| 9th | power word heal |
Winter Spell List
| Level | Spells |
|---|---|
| 1st | hex |
| 2nd | moonbeam |
| 3rd | bestow curse |
| 4th | mordenkainen’s faithful hound |
| 5th | destructive wave (necrotic) |
| 6th | harm |
| 7th | forecage |
| 8th | maddening darkness |
| 9th | imprisonment |
Spring Spell List
| Level | Spells |
|---|---|
| 1st | faerie fire |
| 2nd | enthrall |
| 3rd | conjure animals |
| 4th | compulsion |
| 5th | modify memory |
| 6th | otto’s irresistible dance |
| 7th | project image |
| 8th | illusory dragon |
| 9th | weird |
Summer Spell List
| Level | Spells |
|---|---|
| 1st | hellish rebuke |
| 2nd | flame blade |
| 3rd | elemental weapon (fire) |
| 4th | fire shield |
| 5th | dawn |
| 6th | primordial ward |
| 7th | divine word |
| 8th | antipathy/sympathy |
| 9th | prismatic wall (red) |
Illusory Movement
At 6th level, your innate talent for illusion magic begins to blossom. If you cast a spell of 1st level or higher on your turn, you can use your bonus action and spend 2 sorcery points to become invisible until the beginning of your next turn
Once used, this ability cannot be used again until 1 minute has passed.
Knowledge of the Courts
At 14th level, you undergo significant growth within your court, and gain knowledge of your own innate magic. You gain one of the following abilities depending upon your court.
- Autumn's Bounty. You gain proficiency in the medicine skill. Additionally, you can conjure a small feast of food and drink as an action on your turn. The magical feast appears as normal food and is enough for up to four small or medium creatures. When a creature that is not hostile to you consumes any of the food or drink, they must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or become charmed by you for up to 1 hour. This effect ends if the creature is attacked by you or your allies. Once this feature is used, you must finish a long rest before you can use it again.
- Winter's Grasp. You gain proficiency in the persuasion skill. Additionally, as an action on your turn you can spend 3 sorcery points to chill a creature you can see within 90 feet until the beginning of your next turn. A chilled creature has disadvantage on Dexterity and Constitution saving throws and must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or be forced to use all of its movement to seek warmth on its turn. If the creature is wet, it instead becomes frozen when chilled and is paralyzed until the beginning of your next turn.
- Spring's Love. You gain proficiency in the deception skill. Additionally, when you charm a creature, you can choose to empower that charm. A creature under an empowered charm follows your telepathic commands perfectly as long as it is within 120 feet of you. It believes it is taking all of its actions of its own free will. When an empowered charm ends, you can choose whether the target knows that it was charmed or not. Once this feature is used, you must finish a long rest before you can use it again.
- Summer's Warmth. You gain proficiency in the intimidation skill. Additionally, you harbor a fierce fighting spirit, and you can embolden it when the need arises. As a bonus action on your turn you can grant yourself the following benefits for up to 1 hour. Once this feature is used, you must finish a long rest before you can use it again.
- You gain resistance to fire damage.
- Your speed increases by 10 feet.
- You shed bright light for 30 feet and dim light for an additional 30 feet.
- Allied creatures visible to you within 30 feet are immune to the effects of extreme cold and gain advantage on saving throws made to resist charm effects.
Bridge to the Feywild
By 18th level, your fey magic has manifested fully, and your powerful magic allows you to bridge a small portion of the material plane with its feywild counterpart.
Minor Bridge
As an action on your turn you can create a 15-foot radius sphere centered on a point you can see within 60 feet of you.
The sphere appears as a translucent portal through which the feywild can be seen. Creatures within the sphere cannot see outside of it, and only see the feywild around them. While this sphere exists, you can choose to use a bonus action on your turn to call faeries to your aid, summoning 1d4 pixies, 1d4 sprites, or 1d2 quicklings. These creatures appear from the Feywild and can travel to the material plane through your sphere. They understand Sylvan and will obey your first command to the best of their abilities. Any commands after the first will require a successful DC 14 Charisma (persuasion) check. On a failed check the fey will act of their own accord, returning to the feywild, causing havoc on the material, or continuing to listen to you as they see fit. The fey will get bored and begin to defy you after 10 minutes and will attempt to escape your company, even after they have been given a command.
The Sphere will disappear only after one minute has passed, you fall to 0 hit points, or you close it as a bonus action. Any creature entirely within the sphere when it disappears remains in the Feywild. You can close the sphere as a bonus action while within it. You cannot close the sphere on the same turn on which it was created.
Once you use this feature to summon at least one fey creature you must finish a long rest before you can use it again. If no fey were summoned, this feature can be used again after finishing a short rest.
Major Bridge
You can choose to use this magic along with a powerful ritual to cover a larger area. If you are within a forest, you can spend 4 hours conducting a ritual to bridge that forest to the feywild. All forested area within 1 mile of you during the ritual is linked to the Feywild for up to 24 hours. You can repeat this ritual once each day for three months to make the effect last until dispelled by a dispel magic spell cast at 9th level, or a wish spell.
The appearance of the forest changes to suit your court. A Winter Court Sorcerer would create a forest that reflects the feywild's dark and cold corners, while one of the Autumn would be bright and filled with a bounty of fruit and plants.
The magic of this forest flows freely, making it hard to navigate. All creatures other than you who attempt to travel through this forest must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC or become lost. If you are within the forest, you know the location of any foreign creatures who enter. If a creature fails its saving throw and becomes lost, you can choose to alter illusory paths and guide it to any location within the forest as long as it continues to travel. You can do this from anywhere within the forest.
Additionally, all spells of the enchantment and illusion schools cast while within this forest are empowered; saves made to resist their effects are always made at disadvantage.
The fey flock to this new and different location, assisting you at your call. Once each day as a bonus action, you can summon 1d12 sprites, 1d12 pixies, or 1d10 quicklings, each of which will obey your every command for 24 hours. These fey can leave the forest, but will return after 24 hours.
You can only have one forest affected in this way at any given time. While a forest is under the effects of a major bridge, you cannot summon fey from your minor bridge.
Alternative Court Magic
The court magic feature of this subclass allows Sorcerers to learn new spells up to 9th level, which is unusual for classes. Instead of changing this outright, I figured I would add an alternative and more traditional table of spells for each court so that DM's have the option to choose which they prefer.
Autumn Spell List
| Sorcerer Level | Spells |
|---|---|
| 1st | goodberry, purify food and drink |
| 3rd | healing spirit, lesser restoration |
| 5th | create food and water, spirit guardians |
| 7th | aura of life, aura of purity |
| 9th | awaken, circle of power |
Winter Spell List
| Sorcerer Level | Spells |
|---|---|
| 1st | dissonant whispers, hex |
| 3rd | moonbeam, ray of enfeeblement |
| 5th | bestow curse, hunger of hadar |
| 7th | elemental bane, mordenkainen's faithful hound |
| 9th | Destructive Wave (Necrotic), negative energy flood |
Spring Spell List
| Sorcerer Level | Spells |
|---|---|
| 1st | cause fear, faerie fire |
| 3rd | calm emotions, enthrall |
| 5th | conjure animals, phantom steed |
| 7th | compulsion, hallucinatory terrain |
| 9th | modify memory, mislead |
Summer Spell List
| Sorcerer Level | Spells |
|---|---|
| 1st | hellish rebuke, searing smite |
| 3rd | flame blade, pyrotechnics |
| 5th | beacon of hope, crusader's mantle |
| 7th | fire shield, freedom of movement |
| 9th | dawn, flame strike |
Fey-Touched v1.2
Apologies for the lack of art. The primary goal of this version of the Fey-Touched is to gain feedback on the balance and cohesiveness of the subclass. Its Court Magic and Bridge to the Feywild features specifically.
Changes from v0.5
- Replaced certain court spells
- Reduced sorcerer point cost of Illusory Movement from 3 to 2
- Removed Soul of the Seasons (18th)
- Added Bridge to the Feywild (18th)
- Added alternative court spell lists section
Changes from 1.0
- Added 1 minute gap between uses of illusory movement.
- Added Wisdom save to the Autumn's Bounty ability of Knowledge of the Courts
- Added limitation to Minor Bridge that is cannot be dismissed on the same turn as it is created.
Background
This subclass is one I have had in the back of my mind for almost a year. When I heard about the shadowfell sorcerer that was released in an Unearthed Arcana article I immediately thought of one for the Feywild.
I enjoy faerie lore and the idea of these magical tricksters and chaotic beings, but my fey lore is not quite up to snuff. I don't know much of how 5e or Forgotten Realms handle the courts and what they mean to the setting, so I gathered a basic idea from some research and wrote out my summaries of the courts in the note on the previous page. I know this may not be the most accurate, but I tried to keep it at least internally consistent within this subclass.
I personally have never played a Sorcerer, so I'm a bit worried about the balance here, which is the main reason I'm asking for guidance.
I hope you enjoy this tricky and versatile mage!
/u/SubjectiveSloth
