Imp [Mystara]

Three kinds of small, spiteful imp haunt the wilds: wood imps, bog imps and garden imps. All of them hate a straight fight and rely on traps and trickery.

Green-skinned and 1 to 2 feet tall, these dark-forest imps have wild bark-brown hair full of twigs and leaves, round faces split by needle-toothed mouths, and outfits of stolen scarves and bark strips.

Their coloring gives foes -2 on surprise. They rarely bite (1d3, leaving a harmless rash), preferring to ambush beside hidden pits and snares: a victim failing a save vs. paralyzation at -2 is trapped, then captured or shot. They also hunt intruders into those traps astride large spiders, on saddles that hold even when the spider clings upside down under a branch.

Short bows shoot twice a round for 1d4, even inverted. Spending a round to dip an arrow in its mount's venom makes a hit force a save vs. poison at +2; failure leaves the target sluggish for 2d4+2 rounds (+3 initiative penalty, half speed). This nonlethal venom does not stack and evaporates unless shot the following round. Pressed into melee, the imps drop from the branches on their spiders, swinging small two-handed swords for 1d6 as the spiders bite.

Petty and tribal, they truly get along only with their spiders. Each ten follow a 1-1 HD leader with little authority, who must bribe or bully them; a 1 HD chief heads the tribe, and morale drops to 7 if chiefs fall. Half the tribes include 1d4 shamans (1st- to 4th-level priests). Rotting old trees serve as lairs holding 2d6 captives, from kobolds and humans to forest beasts.

These swamp cousins dwell in the deepest fens and marshes. Wizened and gnarled, they have dark skin, wide mouths, slightly bulging eyes and long nimble fingers, and grassy hair runs from their greasy crowns down to their heels. They can yelp like a puppy.

Curled up, one passes for a grassy hummock, invisible to normal sight though not to infravision or scent trackers, and foes suffer -4 on surprise. In open combat it rakes at eyes and nose with two claws for 1d3 each.

More often they lure prey to a snare-ringed pool. Dodging a snare takes a save vs. paralyzation at -2; those caught save again or tumble in, and waiting imps pin them under with nets and weighted lines. Normal drowning rules apply, but a successful bend bars roll breaks free unaided. Reed blowpipes fire 1d2 darts tipped with a weakness poison: fail a save vs. poison and lose 1 Strength for 1d6+1 turns, cumulatively.

Lairs are caves or hollow logs beside their drowning pools. Leaderless, they settle disputes by trying to drown each other until something is decided or a better diversion appears. They hate other humanoids, and the surrounding water often hides a fortune in victims' gear.

Milder but still selfish and dangerous, garden imps are mottled green-brown, about 2 1/2 feet tall, with pointed faces, large brown eyes and elflike ears; lily-like flowers bloom in their soft hair through spring and summer.

Each knows its garden inside out and rigs it with snares, pits and other traps for annoying visitors. A favorite ploy lures someone onto a small rise that the imp has hollowed out above a pit of thornbushes; the victim must save vs. paralyzation at -4 or fall in for 1d6 damage. It can also direct swarms of tiny insects that match the summon insects priest spell, and it bites for 1d3.

Each lives alone in an overgrown or abandoned garden and keeps watch over any attached house, treating residents fairly unless they try to drive it off or change its garden. Its hair-flowers are an ingredient for a potion of vitality.