Werewolves are overrated. Add WERESWANS to your D&D game.

[@Mr_Welch]

You know you want penguin-mays

[@feywildfiend]

You know I do

[@bukharagunboat8466]

There's a set of early reading books about werepenguins.

[@keenirr5332]

@@bukharagunboat8466 that sounds cool; can I request the title, please?

[@bukharagunboat8466]

@@keenirr5332 Curse of the Werepenguin! Published, of course, by Penguin!

[@BoboftheOldeWays]

Just so we’re clear: every werebird is technically a weredinosaur. Swanmays are dinosaurs

[@feywildfiend]

Did you ever stop to ask if the world was ready for this take?

[@BoboftheOldeWays]

@@feywildfiend The world? I dunno. My body? Yes, definitely.

[@keenirr5332]

so, when they rage, they get clawed fingers and toothed mouths? sweet

[@Tworedhorses]

Ubtao would like to hear more

[@AaronSteinPittsburgh]

I also love the idea of Skinwalkers as a whole separate approach to Lycanthropy-type character options. Also I think that Lycanthropy should be less of a "player race" and more of a "Dark Gift" like in VRGtR. I built those as "Feats" in DnDBeyond so I could add them to a character rather than swap out their race.

[@AaronSteinPittsburgh]

Makes me think of the song The Crane Wife pt I, II, and III by the Decemberists. I love this lore.

[@Terigena]

"they disliked noisy, ferocious and evil beings." Say you never met a swan without saying you never met a swan.

[@feywildfiend]

Literally laughed out loud

[@keithulhu]

The Leaves' Eyes song Angus and the Swan is about a swanmay.

[@amandadiamond7147]

Swans are pretty big and they like to flick the "elbows" of their wings at threats which can really hurt and do a little damage. I like the idea of Swanmays being brawlers who are very protective of their flock.

[@dylanehooverlibrarian7026]

Ah, the Three Swords and Three Lions character option. Very good stuff!

[@JeffsGameBox]

Weregeese. We need Canadian Weregeese. 😂

[@feywildfiend]

Diabolical. I need it NOW.

[@jeroenlabohm7468]

And they are political rivals to the Swanmays. But one day a young Swanmay falls in love with a Weregoose...

[@MegaPokefan97]

Swans are what canadian geese think they are

[@JaredClaunch]

I can’t thank of anything more terrifying than “Canadian Weregeese”

[@AaronSteinPittsburgh]

There is no way the Canadian Weregeese don't serve the Winter Court. They would be evil through and through. And act as a Flock.

[@VerbenaComfrey]

A story about two sister, swanmaiden and bear, also combined with Jewish folklore, is Sisters of the Winter Wood by Rena Rossner.

[@Dragowolf_Rising]

I think I'd try to turn this into a homebrew subclass for rangers or druids.

[@FeralVentas]

3rd edition's lycanthrope template had a funny little quirk in that it could be applied with any animal. The Swarm subtype didn't remove the Animal tag from a creature. Were Murder of Crows was a viable option. More nightmarish, Were Leech Swarm.

[@thekaxmax]

Note: dire animals still counted as animals. ...were-dire-elephant (and 3.0 and 3.5 dire elephants have a climb speed, due to a typo)

[@namelessspook7987]

It's been a long time since I've heard anything about Swanmays. I'm glad to see they are getting some attention again.

[@bukharagunboat8466]

Glass in odd contexts in fairy tales can have an origin in French homophones. Verre = glass, but vert = green (which makes way more sense for a mountain). Of course this applies to Cinderella's slippers. In that case though there is a third homophone in medieval French, vair = squirrel fur. Flemish is a dialect of Dutch spoken in Belgium, so in close proximity to French speakers.

[@jonburan6090]

This is really great stuff. May have to introduce the partay to a Swanmay on their soon-to happen trip into the Feywilde. They sound like excellent wardens for the abandonded Eladrin city.

[@keenirr5332]

A thought: perhaps, even when their feathers-of-transformation are stolen, swanmays deliver extra damage when hitting someone/something with their fists, the flat of their hand (palm or otherwise), and even their arms...an aspect of their swan form, that never leaves them.

[@feywildfiend]

Love that!! Could even still give them the resistances, just not the ability to transform

[@macoppy6571]

2:58 Feywild Fiend points Swanmae at Antarctica and releases at full speed

[@MemphiStig]

4:15 *less unwieldy (I think you mean) This is what I love about the game. There are so many things just like swanmays that are low key universes unto themselves. All it takes is someone to find it and contextualize it and give it a new life. And put it in the Feywild (or whatever). Love it!

[@feywildfiend]

Thank you! I'm out here DIGGIN' for that gold, believe you me. And yes, less unwieldy lol

[@thestormofwar]

A Weregoose would be the End of Days...

[@Klepto699]

I was thinking the opposite I love geese

[@Micaerys]

Amazing video! In my campaign i made Fionnghuala an archfey-like fey who creates a type of magic item known as cloaks of avian form. She bestows them only to those she deem worthy, so that they can transform into a specific type of bird, or a giant equivalent of the same bird for a brief period of time. Swan cloak is obviously the most iconic, and for the statblock i use the one from Witchlight, but adding a Wing attack, since swans normally attack with those. Also, teeeechnically Fionnghuala isn't against giving cloaks to people other than woman, but she is still traditional, so in her closest circle the most common thing is to see elven women able to transform into hawks, female dryads able to transform into owls, etc.

[@gavinwatson1466]

I love this! I have an idea for a future video if you're interested, kinda tied to a werewolf theme! My fey campaign has my players dealing alot with legends and powers of the moon (three in my world: the mother, maiden, and crone) I'd love a video on literature or legends tied to the moon! Thanks!

[@Arnkel]

The D&D Swan Maiden is based on Alianora from "Three Hearts, Three Lions" by Poul Anderson

[@BLynn]

If you are looking for a story containing a "Swan King" (a male swanmane) you may wish to read Laurell K. Hamilton's book "The Lunatic Cafe".

[@JamiesonHorton]

This is cool lore, thanks! I'm currently running The Wild Beyond the Witchlight, and I might add a swanmay encounter.

[@nosotrosloslobosestamosreg4115]

King Liar loves this video.

[@hunrahel]

Commemorative honors bestowed (constellation/flowers, frequently greek) has a lot of potential

[@colbygonzalez6546]

I was always amused that the Ravenloft books differentiated between Werewolves and Wolfweres. To me, that always felt even more silly than weresharks and wereseals.

[@xyreniaofcthrayn1195]

So are wolfweres wolves/other canines turned man shape?

[@colbygonzalez6546]

@@xyreniaofcthrayn1195 Yep, exactly!

[@violetpencil9614]

So basically Black Swan if it were quite literal

[@chriswandell3570]

them being linked to the feywild is a later addition, originally they were just linked to nature, being linked to druidic and ranger orders. Then again, the feywild didn't exist until 4e as far as i'm aware.

[@peterterry7918]

I would have the feather token be small and grows in the scalp. If it is removed, the swan maiden must either recover it or wait until the next moon phase that was present when she became a swan maiden where she can transform into a swan and after that has her token again. She still senses the part of her taken and if it was taken without her consent, she may be compelled to hunt it down and retrieve it. If she gave it willingly, she may still be able to track it down.

[@joaomrtins]

Now that's a menace

[@Mr_Welch]

they made the best rangers

[@VikingMale]

And a favourite in my 1st edition game back in the day.

[@thekaxmax]

Weretribble

[@retu3510]

yes! Just yes!!

[@dabneybowen8097]

Answered! Thk. U.

[@BradsPitts.]

Or the version where he accepts her for who she is and doesn’t have to coerce her because they’re actually in love

[@IndustrialBonecraft]

Based and DwarfFortress-pilled.

[@PoopooMaghoo]

In real life I have had real fist fights with the ducks, geese, and swans in central park, it was easy fight's when your opponents neck is always exposed. I would have had a harder time with wolves still would have killed a few but at least I would have had some scrapes and bruises against wolves

[@nosotrosloslobosestamosreg4115]

2:54 Curious how folklore almost never speaks about paternity fraud... I wonder how much of a simp the scribes were.

[@korowheke3182]

now do Were-Camel

[@nLinggod]

Wow. I haven't heard the name swan-may since AD&D

[@dabneybowen8097]

I love Swanmays. Who is their Goddess?

[@QuiteNephilim612]

I like the idea of making it some sort of a reward item maybe a big swan hat or something.

[@QuiteNephilim612]

I needed an excuse for a new NPC

[@nosotrosloslobosestamosreg4115]

2:54 Curious how folklore almost never speaks about paternity fraud... I wonder how much of a simp the scribes were.