Sprite

Sprites are diminutive, whimsical, and exuberant creatures from the fey realm. They love playing pranks, exploring new things, and embracing everything to do with magic.

When most people picture a fey, chances are they're thinking of a sprite. The majority of sprites remain in the Feywild, where they are essentially immortal, reincarnating to a new form of fey when their life eventually comes to an end. Some even meld together with others to form a more substantial body or split apart into multiple smaller fey. However, sprites are incredibly curious about all forms of magic, leading a significant number to risk the mortal world to explore the new possibilities offered by the unusually static nature of mortal existence. These creatures mix in with other, smaller groups of Material Plane comrades, including exiles from the Feywild, those whose family swore pacts to mortals, and even contemplative individuals curious to enter the mortal cycle of souls.

The first generation of Material Plane sprites were content to guard magical locations or objects, learn music, and play pranks on the unsuspecting. Panic struck when children born in the mortal world didn't form wings upon adulthood—some sprites transitioning to the mortal world likewise lost their wings after a time. Believing this to be a sign that the mortal world was too alien for them to live there, many of the initial sprite explorers returned to the safety of the Feywild.

However, their wingless children exhibited a potential unmatched by any of their ancestors, as well as a particular magical affinity for the mortal world. They became the mightiest of sprite heroes, but also, on occasion, the most dangerous villains. As they came close to reaching their full strength, many of them did grow their wings at long last: larger, unique, and more vibrant than any from the Feywild had seen before, a sign of their limitless potential.

SUB-ETHNICITIES
Dijiang
Draxie
Gandharva
Grig
Kanchil
Leungli
Melixie
Nyktera
Pixie

Sprites are tiny faeries whose features vary wildly based on their heritage. The Wingless—those with the potential to become powerful heroes and villains, including all PC sprites—slowly grow their wings over time as their magical potential manifests, though some never grow wings at all. Those sprites with humbler destinies typically grow wings when reaching full adulthood and mastering their innate magic. Sprites reach adulthood at around the same rate as humans do, but a typical fey who can manage to stay out of mischief and danger can live 1,000 years or more. Material Plane sprites who sense their time is coming to an end usually return to the Feywild to be reborn and start their adventure all over again.

Sprites habitually live in tiny, reclusive villages in areas with abundant magic, natural beauty, or other curiosities of interest. Other sprites live as loners or with small family or peer groups, traveling across the land in search of excitement.

Sprites run the gamut of alignments but are rarely lawful or evil. They are far more likely to worship the peculiar deities of the fey—than those of the mortal world.

Sprites in Society

Sprites who mingle openly among mortals find that mortal superstitions about fey regularly color their interactions with sprites, for both good and ill. Mortals often believe half-remembered tales, frequently about a different sort of fey altogether; most sprites find this hilarious and play along. Mortals uninterested in sprites' pranks tend to view them as nuisances and treat them accordingly. Additionally, sprites' small stature and excitable natures sometimes cause mortals to treat them like children. Sprites vary in their reactions to this sort of treatment from annoyance to good humor, and sometimes even a realization that they can get away with more this way.