Brag [Shadow Fey]

Brag are stonemasons, carpenters and engineers who stand 30 to 36 inches tall, slighter than dwarves. Hair, eyes and nails are jet black against skin so white it is nearly albino, and they pull their hair back into tails that look like a horse's mane. They favor white clothing, especially kerchiefs knotted over the head like caps.

A brag can turn into a pony for a combined twelve hours in any day, changing freely within that limit. Their own language is all snorts and nickers, and they love long, technical talk about masonry and architecture.

Small but stubborn, brag enjoy wrestling and do not shy from a brawl. They punch, or take pony shape and kick. Anyone hit by a brag fist or hoof saves vs. spell or comes to believe he is a horse, walking on all fours and fighting only with his 'hooves'. He may save again daily, with a -1 penalty that grows by 1 each day.

If it chooses, a brag can turn its black stare on any human or demihuman who meets its eyes; the target saves vs. spell or falls asleep as per sleep, with normal resistance still applying. Brag also cast abjuration spells as 5th-level mages.

Leather weapons such as whips, or weapons of +2 or better, are the only things that hurt them; wooden weapons fail even when magical, and cold and ice cannot harm them. Direct sunlight burns a brag in either shape for 2 points per round, or 2 points per turn under cloud. Their climbing gives them a 75% chance to climb walls as thieves do, and their infravision reaches 120 feet.

A brag family lives in a whitewashed stone cottage with a workshop attached. Cairns or low walls mark the property line, and all their stonework is laid dry, without mortar. Show a brag an architectural trick it has never seen, say how a flying buttress carries weight, and you have a friend, one who rewards you with dangerously strong brag ale.

In nearby human lands, any brutal job like a barn-raising gets called brag-work. Brag sometimes slip into villages for tools and materials, simply taking what lies about but wrecking the place if they must break locks to get at it. They also inspect buildings going up and help or sabotage according to what they think of the craftsmanship, so a builder may leave a half-done job at dusk and find it complete at dawn. Now and then a clan seizes an unusually gifted carpenter or mason and takes that mortal back to the hidden shadow realm to be made a changeling.