Leprechaun

About 2 feet tall, with sharp ears and a pointed nose, the leprechaun is said to come from mixed halfling and pixie stock. Roughly 30% of males are bearded. They favor green or brown breeches, gray or green coats, pointed shoes and a stocking cap or wide-brimmed hat, and many smoke a long-stemmed pipe.

Leprechauns avoid fighting, but at will they can go invisible, polymorph nonliving objects, cast ventriloquism and craft illusions with full sound and smell. Their sharp ears mean they are never surprised. There is a 75% chance one tries to grab a valuable item, vanish and run, succeeding 75% of the time. During a close chase it has a 25% chance per turn of dropping the prize, and the trail never leads home.

Only 10% of the time is one cornered or found in its lair, and then it fakes surrender while swindling its captor, so claiming the real treasure takes great care.

A clan holds up to 20 kin who share a surname, which usually tells you which clan you face. Word spreads uncannily fast among same-named clans, so a party may find its names already known. Home is a dry, cozy cave with rugs, furniture and a hearth. There are no villages and no real government, despite rumors of a leprechaun king. Children, about one per 10 adults, are rare and are born with full adult magic.

They eat what humans eat and adore wine, a weakness a clever visitor can use. Humans and dwarves strike them as greedy, while elves, halflings and gnomes are friends. A leprechaun will defend the helpless, may treat a harmless stranger politely, and might even carry an injured traveler home, but only once sure the guest is blind to the route and nobody follows.

Gold is in every hoard. Whoever takes it faces begging and bargaining, and at last an offer of three very limited wishes in exchange for its return, which are honestly granted. Then the leprechaun praises the wording and offers a fourth. If it is spoken, he cackles, all the wishes reverse, and the speaker and companions are teleported, without a save, 2d20 miles to a random place, never to find that leprechaun again.

Leprechauns are best seen at borderlines, times and places caught between states: dawn and dusk, the seashore, the solstices and equinoxes. Then they gather to frolic and celebrate.