Gremlin, Erinat

Family: Gremlins

Tiny fey (gremlin), chaotic evil

Armor Class 13
Hit Points 27 (6d4+12)
Speed 30 ft.

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
14 (+2)	16 (+3)	14 (+2)	8 (-1)	9 (-1)	16 (+3)

Skills Deception +7, Perception +1, Sleight of Hand +5, Stealth +7
Senses passive Perception 11
Languages Common, Deep Speech
Challenge 1 (200 XP)

SPECIAL TRAITS

• Innate Spellcasting. The gremlin’s innate spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 13). The gremlin can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components:
  • At will: minor illusion
  • 1/day: confusion (affects only 1 target and has a duration of 1 round)
• Magic Resistance. The gremlin has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
• Malicious Mischief. A pair of erinats working together can use both their actions to touch a creature within 5 feet. The creature must make a DC 13 Wisdom check. On failed save, the creature is magically compelled to use the Attack action against a random non-gremlin within range or reach. As part of this action, one of the erinats may offer a weapon or object; if the target fails the save, the creature must take the object attack with it as a weapon or improvised weapon. A gang of six erinats can curse a helpless creature over the course of an hour. The creature must make a DC 13 Wisdom check. On a failure, the creature becomes hostile toward someone of the erinats’ choice for 1 week. Thoughts of harming that second creature overwhelm the target of malicious mischief’s thoughts. If the creature goes 24 hours without taking a deliberately hostile act (such as contaminating food, opening an animal pen, attacking them, or so forth), the creatures suffers 5 (2d4) psychic damage and has their maximum hit points reduced by the same amount. If their maximum hit points reach 0, they become incapacitated but stable. Remove curse ends this effect and restores a creature’s maximum hit points. Creatures that are immune to being charmed are immune.

ACTIONS

• Multiattack. The erinat makes two lashing chain attacks.
• Lashing Chain. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d4 + 3) slashing damage.
• Incite Murder. The erinat targets one creature within 30 feet it can see. The target must make a DC 13 Wisdom saving throw. On a failed saving throw, the target is magically compelled to kill another creature of the target’s choice, to the best of its ability. The target must use the Attack command, moving closer if necessary or useful and if it is able to do so without placing itself in unreasonable danger. The effect lasts until the beginning of the erinat’s next turn. Creatures that are immune to being charmed are immune.
• Change Shape. The erinat magically polymorphs into the shape of a Small humanoid child or returns to its true form. It reverts to its true form if it dies. Any equipment it is wearing or carrying is absorbed or borne by the new form (the erinat’s choice). In a new form, the erinat retains its game statistics, other than its size and having normal 5-foot reach with melee attacks.

ABOUT

Well known for their mischievous natures, their nasty Senses of humor, and their destructive habits, the fey creatures known as gremlins rightfully earn their reputations as cruel pranksters and sadistic saboteurs. Ranging in size from 3 feet in height down to barely over a foot tall, numerous types of gremlins stalk the world’s dark and unseen reaches, tending to linger near thin spots in reality between the Material Plane and the realms of the fey. The smaller a gremlin is, the stronger its ties to the realm of the fey remain, and the stranger and more potent its powers.

Ruinous. While all gremlins share certain traits in common, such as a resistance to damage from weapons save those made of silver, a cruel and sadistic sense of humor, and their slight statures, all are famed for their ability to break, curse, and otherwise ruin the works of other creatures. Gremlins take great delight in ruining and breaking things, and while each gremlin race has a particular “specialty” (be it magical auras, complex machinery, coordinated tactics, or even luck itself ), all gremlins are fascinated by complex devices and intricate social constructs. Nothing pleases a gremlin more than being involved in the collapse of something complex.

Against larger creatures, particularly humanoids (whom gremlins particularly love to torment and vex), gremlins adopt a subtler approach. Lacking the physical strength to fight even the weakest humanoid societies, they seek out urban areas where the “big folk” don’t visit often, like sewers, dumps, graveyards, and abandoned buildings. Once established in the shadows of society, the gremlins move out singly or in pairs to undo anything that can be undone.

They love leaving objects, relationships, or situations looking stable to casual observation, but ready to collapse or fail spectacularly at the slightest touch, hiding nearby so they can observe the calamitous results but keeping well out of range of the disaster.

Countermeasures. In areas where gremlin activity is well established, many societies have developed unique and clever ways to both protect themselves from gremlin-related mayhem and root out the little monsters from their lairs. One common method of dealing with gremlins is to use objects known as gremlin bells. Crafted from bronze, brass, or other semiprecious metals and measuring no more than an inch tall, gremlin bells are hung from delicate chains or silken cords over door frames and windows or affixed to precious objects. The belief is that the presence of a gremlin bell sickens the creatures and even renders their supernatural and spell-like abilities useless. Strangely enough, many gremlins believe this as well, and even when the gremlin bells aren’t magic, gremlins won’t risk tinkering with most objects that seem to be warded in such a manner.

Other communities take a much more active path in ridding themselves of gremlins, training small animals like cats, dogs, falcons, or even weasels to seek out and attack gremlins on sight. Tiny trained animals can pursue gremlins into their cramped warrens with ease and, when their claws are fitted with cleverly constructed silvered spikes, can inflict significant damage on a tribe of these creatures. Many gremlin tribes have learned from such tactics, however, and utilize trained (or not) animals in their lairs for protection.

Erinats are obsessed with conflict and discord. They love nothing more than starting fights—the more inane and pointless the struggle, the better. Erinats change shape to appear as unfed, unwashed humanoid children as appropriate to their surroundings, allowing the gremlins to move freely through settlements (and accuse anyone who attempts to stop their malicious conduct of trying to kidnap them). Erinats don’t care who wins the fights they start; they simply wish to be entertained by the largest brawls they can arrange. The mischievous gremlins delight in creating chaos and are prone to making outrageous claims in the hope of sparking riots, aided by forcing bystanders to attack each other with random, often ridiculous objects.