Is there any good reason to separate "faeries," "nature spirits," and "elementals" in a setting?
Well, elementals also see use as a separate wizardy thing that doesn't have much to do with faeries and nature, at least in D&D (except when it does) and similar.
That being said, I still recall a campaign where my druid tried to communicate with a raging water elemental because I figured it meant that nature was out of balance and would need to be calmed, only to be smashed in the face due to it being a different kind of elemental (the one from the elemental plane of water, summoned by some random asshole to cause assholity). I'm still salty about that so I'll say no, that's stupid.
If your setting is large enough to demand that you not only separate demons from devils but to also include subgroups within demons and devils alongside yugoloths and uncategorized generic fiends, I think it makes sense to go ahead and split those three you mentioned.
Well they come from different planes/realms, so if there's going to be any dimension hopping there's a bit of a distinction.
If not, there are certain spells and abilities (eg druid elemental wildshape) that are going to require a distinction.
As for faeries, the fey realm is one of the more popular backstory stuffers.
What is your idea for your setting?
>>44495865
>elementals also see use as a separate wizardy thing that doesn't have much to do with faeries and nature
Tell that to Paracelsus.
elementals = artificial
nature spirits = primal
faeries = flying asshats
>>44495827
In case you think they're different things?
It's fantasy, there are zero rules.
For example, I don't even relate any of the things you just said to eachother. To me a fairy is a species of small magical beings, a nature spirit is a minor and relatively weak god, and an elemental is an non-sentient personification of an element.
>>44495827
It depends on the setting.
>>44496434
hue
>>44495827
If you have reasons to make a distinction.
In my setting, faeries are born from good will. They look like small children and mostly do house chores in exchange for a tithe of milk and crumbs.
Elementals are just a catch-all phrase for when you construct a thing from magic.
I don't have nature spirits, but hypothetically you could separate them from those two by making them a physical manifestation of natural disasters or something. "Hurricanes" don't really exist, but when The Wind is pissed, it creates an entity that rages across a path until it's stopped or has nothing to destroy. Alternately, nature spirits could be local gods that inhabit natural landmarks and preserve them or something.
>>44496820
>non-sentient personification
>non-sentient
>personification
>>44495827
Fae are tricksters and sociopaths, think wodsie king, nature spirits are literally plants after they die and elementals are a more natural, raw golem.
>>44496889
The fae are literally evil incarnate. Go read some myths.
>>44496915
The fae are whatever I want them to be. Evil incarnate is something else.
>>44495827
Fairies are generally the closest thing to benevolent, or at least not-pants shittingly chaotic and terrifying fey there is. They're one of those situations where you wonder how the bridge between an earth elemental, a living tornado, and a banshee is a cute little girl in a frilly dress asking for candy.
>>44495827
Depends on the setting.
>>44496915
Fae=/=fairies. They're related to each other in the same way that a bonbo is related to a man.
>>44497033
That's just fairy propaganda used to make their kin (which they are notoriously racist against, I might add) look like savages when in fact they're hardly better with their own trickery!
>>44495827
you can either have nature spirits and elementals together or fairies and nature spirits together but not all 3 together.
>>44496915
This kind of attitude is why I'd like to go with nature spirits. I'm pretty sure they're allowed to be meaningfully benevolent. I mean, there's still plenty of chance of being red-in-tooth-and-claw but that's not mistaken for being always evil, I think.
>>44496915
>>44497033
>>44497631
"All faeries are evil" is a neologism by people who aren't familiar with the vast array of faerie folklore out there.
>>44496899
Personification doesn't necessarily include sentience, you know?
>>44497726
Came from association of fae with gypsies.
>>44496434
What makes elementals artificial?
>>44501441
artificial = manmade
they were created by a wizard
