Leprechaun
The "wee folk" are related to the other fey races of brownies, pixies, and sprites
Stat Blocks
Basic Fantasy Field Guide Omnibus
| Armor Class | 19 |
|---|---|
| Hit Dice | 1** |
| Number Appearing | 1 |
| Attacks | 1 miniature weapon (1d2) |
| Damage | 1d2 |
| Movement | 30' |
| Save As | Magic-User: 1 (+ bonuses) |
| Morale | 5 |
| XP | 49 |
| Treasure Type | M (5,000 to 40,000 gp) |
The “wee folk” are related to the other fey races of brownies, pixies, and sprites. A Leprechaun stands about 2 feet tall and appears as a miniature human. Its hair color can be blond, brown, or red with a predominant tendency toward a red shade of all the colors. A male leprechaun usually prefers to have a beard. Leprechaun clothing tends toward tans and greens with gold buttons and buckles. A leprechaun can speak various Fey languages and invariably speaks Common with a heavy accent called a “brogue”. Leprechauns have Darkvision out to 60 feet. Because the wee folk are very suspicious of other races, a leprechaun is also very observant and will only be surprised by a roll of 1 on 1d6.
A leprechaun prefers to live alone or in small family clans. Leprechauns can be found in forests, usually in unexplored or rarely-used glades. A leprechaun will have a lair that only a dwarf or halfling character can access. It will not willingly lead anyone to this lair. Leprechauns have a deep desire for gold and will have treasure that reflects this. A leprechaun is very fearful of humans and dwarves, because it believes that these races desire their gold. If there is an elf in the party, the leprechaun will ignore any human or dwarf leader and will address the elf, since elves are kindred fey spirits.
Leprechauns use tools and will have tiny swords that are treated like daggers. It will rarely use small bows and cannot use pole weapons. Like a brownie, a leprechaun will get a +4 bonus to any saves vs. Magic.
A leprechaun will use the Hide and Move Silently skills to try and avoid a party. If a party does happen to catch one, the leprechaun will use Pick Pocket to steal any gold on the person that is holding it. The leprechaun will then cast confusion on the party, followed by teleport. Since it stays within a range of about 50 miles of its lair, it will generally be on target. If prevented from teleporting, the leprechaun will try to buy its freedom with treasure or three wishes. Note that the treasure may have a bane curse (see the bless spell in the Basic Fantasy RPG Core Rules). The wishes will be very limited. The leprechaun will fulfill the wish, but will put a twist on it that could severely hurt the wisher (the leprechaun will tell the wisher where a large treasure is, but fail to mention the two level-7 red dragons guarding it).
There is rumor of a leprechaun king, an exceptionally wealthy leprechaun, with a very twisted idea of how to make a wish turn back on the person making the wish. An example: “I wish for a mighty sword” results in a sword +3 made from the tooth of a demon, but for every enemy killed with the sword there is a chance that the wisher will become a vampire.
Old-School Essentials Advanced Fantasy Genre Rules
| Hit Dice | 1/2* |
|---|
Limited monster data (name, HD, biome, type only) published with permission from Necrotic Gnome. Full statistics available in the published book.
OSRIC
| Armor Class | 8 |
|---|---|
| Hit Dice | 1d4+1hp |
| Number Encountered | 1d20 |
| Attacks | None |
| Damage | Nil |
| Move | 150-ft |
| Alignment | Neutral |
| Intelligence | Exceptional |
| XP | 3/50+3/hp |
| Treasure Type | 1d20Γ1,000 sp (10%), 1d12Γ1,000 ep (15%), 1d8Γ1,000 gp (40%), 1d8Γ100 pp (35%), 3d10 gems (20%), 1d10 jewellery (10%), 3 magic items (no sword or misc. weapon), 1 potion, 1 scroll (30%) |
| Size | Small |
| Frequency | Uncommon |
| Lair | 10% |
Monster statistics extracted from online SRD wiki, not the published hardcover edition.
Leprechauns are a magical race that love to torment those they encounter with practical jokes, general mischief, and swindles. They normally live in green fields or rolling hills on the outskirts of civilisation. A leprechaun can turn invisible, polymorph inanimate objects, make illusions, and perform ventriloquism at will. Because of their sharp senses they are never surprised.
One of the leprechaun’s favourite tricks is to grab some valuable object, turn invisible and flee with it. If they are chased too closely they will drop the item rather then be tracked back to their lair. If they are caught or tracked back to their lair, the leprechaun will do or say just about anything to win their freedom back. Be warned, leprechauns are magical and they take great pride in their confidence games. Nothing they say should be considered the truth. A leprechaun will always be playing some kind of scam.