Gremlin, Gremishka

Kleptomaniac house fairy. A tiny fey.

Imagine a pint-sized, furred, cat-eyed humanoid with a muzzle. It moves around at high speed, often passing for a house cat or a rat, but its long fingered hands and feet and oversized toothy mouth betrays its supernatural nature.

Vicious tricksters, Nagging coward, Hysterical pest.


 
HD: 0 Armor: none
Hit it: hard Dodge it: normal
Move: fast  

It resists mundane weapons and spells (because it’s a fairy). It can see in the dark, and be very sneaky. Also, as a imaginary creature, willpower must be used for attack rolls against it instead of dexterity.

Gremishkas are notably allergic to magic. If a spell is cast within 30’ of one of them, roll a D3 on this table once:

  1. The caster nearly mishaps. It gains 1 Doom Point.
  2. The gremishkas nearby grow! They gain 1D4 extra HP.
  3. The gremishkas multiply! Add a new swarm of them to the encounter.

Attacks (1/round)

Bite and Scratches. The gremishka makes a melee attack (1 damage). It then sneaks away nearby.

Steal. A target in melee range must save or have a small object stolen from their inventory. The gremishka then sneaks away nearby.


Gremishka Swarm

 
HD: 0 + 3D4HP Armor: none
Hit it: normal Dodge it: normal
Move: fast  

It resists mundane weapons and spells (because it’s a fairy). It can see in the dark, and be very sneaky. Also, as a imaginary creature, willpower must be used for attack rolls against it instead of dexterity.

In a swarm, creatures are immune to being grappled or attacked by single target spells, and resist mind and weapon damage. However, they take double damage from area of effect attacks.

Gremishkas are notably allergic to magic. If a spell is cast within 30’ of one of them, roll a D3 on this table once:

  1. The caster nearly mishaps. It gains 1 Doom Point.
  2. The gremishkas in range grow! They gain 1D8 extra HP.
  3. The gremishkas multiply! Add a new swarm of them to the encounter.

Attacks (1/round)

Bites. To dodge a swarm’s attack, the roll has to beat 10 + the swarm’s HP. It inflicts 1D4 damage. If it inflicts 4 damage or more in a single attack, it steals an object from the target.



Random Encounter
  1. Monster: 1D20 gremishkas or 1 gremishka swarm.
  2. Lair: A hole in the wall or the floor.
      OR
    Omen: High-pitched hysterical cackles.
  3. Spoor: Something falling from your bag, followed by a high-pitched cackle.
  4. Tracks: Bread crumbs.
  5. Trace: Something has been stolen here.
  6. Trace: A dead pet.
D6 What the Monster Wants
  1. To steal food.
  2. To steal shinies.
  3. To drive the adults of the house mad.
  4. Foster a children uprising.
  5. They are overpopulated, they need to move to a new house.
  6. Wage war against dogs.
Salvaging the Body

There is not much to do with the tiny naked body of a gremishka. Maybe an ugly fur coat could be made with the skin of 30 of them?

A wizard who manages to live in a house infected by gremishkas and ignore them for 7 days straight has the mad inspiration to write a spell with the word kettle in it.


Credits

The original gremishka comes from Ravenloft, and like many Ravenloft creatures, it is full of creepy flavor. For once, the 5e version made them even more interesting, adding OSR-style chaos to them. I tried to stay faithful to both.</details>

Written on November 14, 2020