Fey Goblin

*"As long as their have been aelves in the Feywild there have been goblins. They are our servants. It is right."-Skalfloc, aelven warrior, speaking to a visiting adventurer.*

*"Just remember the warnings kits. You follow pixies in the woods and you'll come back strange, if you come back at all."- Mammy Rotgrub, goblin grandma, warning the tribe's children.*

*"Goblins plus! I love them! Cheery when home, sad when not. Can't imagine the Feywilds without them! Just don't touch them with cold iron!"-Velazora Shorthorns the Fair, Piper Bard, in her classic book* Witticisms on all Sentient, and not so Sentient, Life.

## Physical Description:

A fey goblin, also sometimes called gremlin, looks like a bog-standard goblin, except for their skin color, which is a brilliant green or bright yellow. However, a closer examination reveals oversized ears, hands and, particularly large feet. Their eyes are round and large and universally golden in color. They many are wart covered, with pointy teeth and a lanky frame. Fey goblins have a wider range in height than most goblins, standing between 2.5 to 4 feet tall. A mischievous twinkling appears in their eyes, suggesting an impish intelligence and love of mischief. Small patches of scales on their neck, wrists and legs are common but not universal. They have tufts of dark black hair on their heads and sometimes other parts of their body sticking out at seemingly random angles. They enjoy brightly colored clothing, decorative jewelry, fun hairstyles and modifying themselves whenever they feel like it. This is usually done by applying random pieces of metal to their hair or clothing, occasionally as DIY piercings. Fey goblins love to be seen and they love to be the center of attention. Only Nilbogs are more obvious, or obnoxious, and nilbogs cannot do those things that earns the nickname "gremlin."

## History:

Goblins are curious creatures, inquisitive and mechanically minded. They love developing traps, alchemical creations, magic and ideas. It's not surprising that creatures of the feywild would be drawn to them. However, this has led to two opposing theories of their origin. Perhaps both are true, or perhaps both are lies. There is the goblin legend and the fairy account.

According to the goblin legend, a band of pixies lured a goblin tribe into the feywild in an attempt to further cultivate their creativity within the realm of boundless creative thinking. It's not clear whether the goblins then interbred with the fey or if they were fundamentally altered by the feywild itself but what is known is that the goblins were changed. Because time doesn't flow normally in the Feywild, these fey goblins had a new history and appearance, they'd served in seelie and unseelie courts, they'd worked within the courts of the aelves and developed their own love of pranks, mischief and other fairy style hobbies. Physically, they now resembled fey in some slight ways but mentally they were completely altered. They now relished the ideas of pranking, trickery and illusion, they were boisterous, rambunctious and all around mischievous in a way different from other goblins. They were now closer to gnomes. However, the largest change was their compulsive need to break things down to their base components, specifically anything mechanical. Golems, traps, crossbows, clockwork parts, anything that was more complicated than a hammer or nail was to be broken down; sometimes it was reassembled incorrectly, or integrated into their own appearance, but usually it was abandoned.

The seelie and unseelie courts of the Feywild tell a different story. They tell that goblins were originally natives of the feywild, they were originally fey, servants and soldiers for greater faries. However, the curious goblins, not satisfied with the glories of elfland, stumbled through various portals and laylines, finding the material plane and there, most transformed into the mainline goblins that have pestered Apian as raiders. For whatever reason, some maintained their old fairy nature despite the shift to the material plane, thus being identical to the above described gremlins. All agree on the current nature of the fey goblin, the question is how they came to be. Perhaps the nilbogs alone know they truth, but none can fully understand their mad ramblings.

Regardless of which origin is correct, most gremlins on the material plane created their own communities, ramshackle places where they could be themselves. Others integrated into gnomeish towns where they are carefully monitored but welcomed. The Goblin Dominion allowed gremlins immigration cautiously, using them in specialized roles against constructs or siege weapons. However, their chaotic nature clashes with the more ordered Dominion leading to no shortage of tension and grief. Fey goblins in either realm have no major accomplishments, no great heroes, but they've ended plenty of lives, directly or indirectly, and they've accidentally made their share of great discoveries.

## Geography:

Gremlin towns can be found all across Apia, typically near portals to the feywild or within cities with large gnometowns. They can be found in The Dominion but never in communities of their own. Fey goblins inside The Dominion are carefully split into small, easily controlled units, to ensure they do not wreak havoc on the carefully organized society. Many Dominion dwelling gremlins are deeply depressed about their lot, lacking the creative freedom their feywild peers enjoy.

## Personality:

While they are obnoxious destructive pranksters, who will pull all the wires out a gnomish water-clock and laugh about it, they are not malicious creatures. The compulsion they feel to break things down is overwhelming and many keep small mechanical toys around simply to dissemble them when the compulsion becomes to great to resist. They are often frigidity, barely able to sit still without tapping a foot or a hand. Their energy can be contagious in the right company, but others find their constant need to go and tinker with everything frustrating. A gremlin rarely considers the consequences of her actions, if an unattended crossbow can be dissembled it will be. Most are capable of reigning in their impulses around friends and employers, understanding that a friend's things should not be touched, but containing that nature can make the fey goblin irritable. They are quick with a laugh, quick to prank and joke around and usually don't take things too seriously. They can have flashes of brilliance as the goblin creativity and fey imagination can lead to the most outlandish ideas. Because they spend so much time serving in the various fey courts or aelven kingdoms, fey goblins are comfortable with servitude, not typically seeking positions of influence but doing their assigned tasks for the day so they can play, sleep and prank some mortal.

## Society:

Fey goblins live in small colonies that often attach themselves to fey, gnome or goblin communities, if they are allowed to do so. Otherwise they dwell in isolated areas, working on their own strange devices and ideas. Most gremlins are anarchistic by nature and so lack an organized system of government, mostly acting as individuals. They have little regard to their fellow gremlins, dwelling in numbers merely for the sake of mutual protection from their many enemies. This isn't to say that they actively harm one another, or don't corporate, but they mostly work on large projects based on mutual interest, rather than any form of societal pressure. They do respect older gremlins, mostly on the basis that they haven't managed to explode yet and therefore are probably doing something right but these elders wield no actual power. It is simply the respect a grandparent or favored uncle is afforded. Fey goblins operate mostly on bartering scrap, with little use for actual money or commerce. They find whatever food they can but have little patience for any form of agriculture. Still, their mischievous fey-nature seems to keep them relatively safe and small communities of gremlins somehow continue to thrive, even without marketable skills.

Within the feywild, fey goblins serve notable roles where the chaotic energy of the plane itself allows them to function without constantly breaking things down. While they do have clans, most of these are sworn to one court or family, serving that group. Aelves march to war with legions of fey goblins serving as shock troops. The seelie courts are supported by goblin butlers, servants, soldiers and guards. The unseelie courts have countless fey goblin slaves, serving the same roles but without freedom. Many a mortal traveler to the feywild has been fleeced of their goods by a clever fey goblin.

## Religion:

Gremlin religion is a mystery, some honor Machanacus in their own way. Others follow the loosest interpretation of Maglubiyet. A select few honor the mad god Dybium or, some honor the great archfey ancients. Regardless of patron, gremlin worship is rather lackluster and haphazard, and usually changes from day to day.

## Alignment:

The vast majority of gremlins are chaotic neutral, with some chaotic good or evil. Few fey goblins are actively malicious but they can barely sit still, let alone function within an organized structure without the firm hand of hobgoblin handlers.

## Relations:

Gremlins do get along with some goblinoids who are willing to put up with their eccentricities. Gnomes however make the most common friends, with halflings in close second. Some feybloods, pipers, half-nymphs, dryads and other similar free spirited beings often share in the gremlin's joy. Most Modrons, warforged, empty men and other mechanical beings despise and fear gremlins for their innate ability to do them harm. They manage to alienate most other races, notably dwarves who have little patience for their antics.

## Language:

Fey goblins speak rapid-fire goblin variant and common. Gremlin tongue, as it is called, is a variant of common goblin which borrows many sylvan words. A speaker of either language can understand about 75% of what the fey goblin is saying. A speaker of both can understand the gremlin with 100% accuracy. Most also speak sylvan but with a thick goblin accent.

## Names:

Gremlin names are close to goblin or fey names, either list is acceptable.

## Adventurers:

Gremlins often adventure for the same reason other fey do, curiosity. Others are on the lookout for things to dissemble and repair, trying to expand the boundaries of mechanical aptitude. Some are exiles or hunted loners who have little reason to remain in one place for fear of retribution. Escaped slaves from the unseelie courts are often found adventuring on the mortal plane. Regardless of the reason, a band of adventurers who adopts a gremlin and sets a few ground rules for her, finds a rogue with little equal, who can dismantle traps with relative ease and make constructs quiver in fear.

## Traits:

Gremlin traits are described below...

Type: Humanoid (Goblinoid)

+2 Dex, +2 Con, –2 Str, –2 Int, –2 Wis.

Small Size: As a small creature, a gremlin gains a +1 size bonus to its Armor Class, a +1 size bonus on attack rolls and a +4 bonus on hide checks, but they use smaller weapons than humans use and its lifting and carrying limits are three-quarters of those of a medium character.

Gremlins have a base land speed of 25 feet.

Low-light Vision: Gremlins can see twice as far as humans in low-light conditions.

+4 dodge bonus to AC and Reflex saves made against attacks and effects created by constructs or traps.

+1 racial bonus to attack and damage rolls against constructs and traps.

+4 racial bonus to Disable Device and Strength checks made to break objects.

+2 racial bonus to Listen, Search and Spot checks.

Illiteracy: All gremlins are illiterate by nature just like a 1st-level Barbarian. If a gremlin sacrifices 2 skill points or takes 1 level of a literate class they become literate.

Spell-Like Abilities: A gremlin with a Charisma score of at least 10 has the following spell-like abilities: 1/day—dancing lights, ghost sound, prestidigitation. Caster level 1st; save DC 10 + fey goblin’s Cha modifier + spell level.

Automatic Languages: Common, goblin, sylvan

Bonus languages: Draconic, dwarven, gnoll, goblin and orc.

Favored class: Rogue. A multiclass gremlin's rogue class does not count when determining whether they take a experience point penalty.