playing as one of the "Fair Folk" in current AD&D

[The Yosemite Bear]

yes, they can't stand Iron, they like infant kidnapping and screwing humans in so many nasty ways, and they are really nasty pointy eared bastards...

so how would one be able to create a character of the nasty fairy tale elves?

[Eulogy]

Well, I'd suppose you'd want your little monster to have as much longevity, options, and favours as possible, because sooner or later he WILL piss off people who can Do Something about him and can arrange for him to have an even nastier fate inflicted on him. Although I'd suspect that that might not even be enough, and he gets thrown in the Sarlacc Pit Of Eternal Retribution or something.

So yeah, don't expect him to have a long shelf life if he constantly ruins lives, especially if those lives involve the DM.

He is Always Evil, of course.

[DPDarkPrimus]

So play an unreformed Drow.

[The Yosemite Bear]

drow don't hate iron

[Bakustra]

You can't because of two reasons: First, treating the mythological distortion of the Iron Age but disorganized Milesians overcoming the Bronze Age but settled Tuatha De Danann, (along with the later superstition of iron serving to repel evil) as some sort of Kryptonite for fairies is, quite frankly, overdone and dumb in fantasy stories. It doesn't fit into the context of D&D at all.

Secondly, there's no point in introducing an "iron" keyword just for this single purpose, and all it would do is add more bloat. Just play an antisocial elf/eladrin.

EDIT: Clarification.

[DPDarkPrimus]

There are some magic items available that shut down various fey powers or do extra damage to fey creatures, but I'll defer to Bakustra as far as having an entire spectrum of creatures, potential PCs included, be vulnerable to an extremely common mundane element.

[Bakustra]

Well, either way, if you wanted the full Elf Kryptonite effect, you'd have to add a bunch of riders onto the keywords and introduce a materials system significantly more complex than Dark Sun's "average weapons are bone and stone, metal weapons are at least +2 masterwork".

[houser2112]

As of 3rd Edition, Fey are vulnerable to Cold Iron, which is not the same as iron that would be used to shoe your typical horse, for instance.

[Bakustra]

As of 3rd Edition, Fey are vulnerable to Cold Iron, which is not the same as iron that would be used to shoe your typical horse, for instance.

That's a ridiculous attempt to take poetic kenning and make it literal just because you want to include a bit of folklore without actually making it meaningful.