Faun

Faun, sometimes called satyrs, trace their ancestry to the Feywild, though most families in Eldareth have lived in the Material Plane for many generations. The circumstances that first brought their ancestors across are not recorded as clearly as the great elven migrations, and modern Faun communities have long since developed histories and traditions of their own.

Many of those communities are found in forests, wooded hills, pastoral regions, and other places where old fey influence remains strong. Settlements are usually small and closely connected to the surrounding countryside, though Faun are by no means limited to rural life.

Music, storytelling, shared meals, and seasonal gatherings are common features of Faun culture. Hospitality is valued in many communities, and visitors may find themselves invited to a celebration or offered a place at the table with little ceremony.

Individuals are generally given considerable freedom in how they live and whether they remain within the community. At the same time, relatives, neighbors, and friends are expected to help one another when needed. Outsiders sometimes notice the freedom more readily than the obligations that accompany it.

Identity and Culture

Faun have humanoid upper bodies and goatlike lower bodies, with furred legs and cloven hooves. Their horns vary greatly in size and shape, with some forms appearing repeatedly within particular families.

Many Faun settlements maintain close relationships with the land around them. Some have occupied the same hills, forests, or valleys for generations, while others are more dispersed and gather at particular times of year before families and individuals travel elsewhere again.

Music and oral history remain important ways of preserving family and community memory. Songs may commemorate local events, departed relatives, old journeys, or encounters with neighboring peoples, while stories passed between generations often preserve details never committed to writing.

Festivals usually reflect the history and needs of the settlement itself. Seasonal changes, reunions, successful harvests, marriages, memorials, or important moments in local history may all provide reasons for a gathering, and customs can differ considerably between one community and another.

Local decisions are often discussed openly rather than left entirely to a single ruler. Some settlements rely on councils of older or widely respected members, while others allow anyone affected by a decision to speak before an agreement is reached. This can make deliberation lengthy when no clear consensus emerges.

Open expressions of grief, anger, affection, and celebration are accepted in many Faun communities. Mourning and joy are often shared rather than treated as entirely private experiences. This does not mean every Faun is outgoing or expressive, only that strong emotion is generally not considered improper in itself.

Faun who leave their home communities enter every kind of profession. Performers, traders, guides, craftspeople, scholars, soldiers, and adventurers can all be found among them, particularly in regions where Faun settlements have lived alongside larger towns and cities for generations.

Feywild Heritage

The Feywild remains an important part of Faun ancestry, but the communities of Eldareth should not be understood as unchanged remnants of those who first crossed into the Material Plane.

Generations in Eldareth have shaped their customs, relationships, and communities. Music, hospitality, seasonal gatherings, emotional openness, and oral tradition may preserve elements of older practices, but Material Faun cultures have developed along their own paths.

Faun communities remain widespread within the Feywild as well. Some live among the Seelie or Unseelie Courts, while others belong to Courtless communities or maintain their own local customs and allegiances.

Encounters between Feywild and Material Faun can therefore reveal both familiarity and difference. Shared stories or customs may have changed considerably over time, while practices preserved in one world may have disappeared entirely in the other.

Faun Across Eldareth

Faun have lived throughout Eldareth for many generations, particularly in regions where forests, hills, and old fey places remain close to settled lands.

Their oral traditions have preserved accounts of local events that were never written down elsewhere. Historians occasionally compare old songs and family stories with surviving records when studying abandoned settlements, local disputes, migrations, or changes in nearby fey activity.

Relationships with the Feywild differ considerably between communities. Some maintain old knowledge of nearby Fey Crossings or customs used when dealing with fey neighbors, while others have little direct contact with the plane beyond stories preserved within their families.

Today, Faun can be found in rural settlements and large cities alike. Music, festivals, food, and brewing traditions associated with particular Faun communities have also influenced neighboring cultures in places where they have lived together for generations.

No single way of life defines them. The customs of an old woodland settlement may differ considerably from those of a Faun family that has lived in a major city for centuries, while both remain part of the same broader people.

Faun Traits

Ability Score Increase. When determining your character's ability scores, increase one score by 2 and increase a different score by 1, or increase three different scores by 1. You can't raise any of your scores above 20.

Creature Type. You are a Fey.

Size. You are Medium.

Speed. Your walking speed is 35 feet.

Ram. You can use your head and horns to make Unarmed Strikes. When you hit with them, the strike deals 1d6 + your Strength modifier Bludgeoning damage instead of the normal damage for an Unarmed Strike.

Magic Resistance. You have advantage on saving throws against spells.

Mirthful Leaps. Your jump distance is always calculated as though you had a running start. Additionally, when you jump, you can roll a d8 and add the result to the distance of a Long Jump or the height of a High Jump. This extra distance costs movement as normal.

Community Traditions. You have proficiency in the Performance and Persuasion skills, and you have proficiency with one musical instrument of your choice.

Languages. Your character can speak, read, and write Common and one other language that you and your DM agree is appropriate for the character. The Player's Handbook offers a list of languages to choose from. The DM is free to modify that list for a campaign.