A bit of folklore

[Doresain]

i plan on running a game in the near future based around european folklore (primarily english, irish, german and scottish)...i have two reasons for starting this thread

1) are there stats for a puca?

2) what would be the best what to convert goblins, kobolds, hobgoblins, ogres, gnomes and trolls into their folklorish counterparts?

any and all ideas are welcome

thanks in advance

[Ascension]

What system?

[Doresain]

dnd 3.5 (sorry for not saying so earlier)

[AKA_Bait]

Well, some traditional folklore creatues have been statted out by WotC in splatbooks.

Redcaps and Glastigs are in either MM3 or MM5. I'm not sure about Puca's. I'd search the homebrew forums here though. Quite a few of these type creatures have been done up there.

[Doresain]

unfortunately i only have the first MM...so im gunna have to stat out some of the other creatures, such as redcaps and kelpies, myself...

but creatures like goblins and ogres are based on more Tolkien literature than on folklore...and if anyone has any suggestions on how to take a humanoid goblin and turn them more into a fairy goblin, that would be much appreciated

[black dragoon]

No idea but certain creatures will need to be changed around fluff-wise. Kobolds for example. Also don't forget that certain elements such as magic-items need to worked out. Magic cauldrons especially.

[AKA_Bait]

unfortunately i only have the first MM...so im gunna have to stat out some of the other creatures, such as redcaps and kelpies, myself...

but creatures like goblins and ogres are based on more Tolkien literature than on folklore...and if anyone has any suggestions on how to take a humanoid goblin and turn them more into a fairy goblin, that would be much appreciated

Well, thing is that Goblins and the like in traditional folklore tend to have a few differnt forms and sets of powers even per creature name. Could you pin down exactly what idea of a fairy 'goblin', 'ogre', etc. you mean? I could help with suggestions for altering the monsters to fit into 3.5 a lot more easily from there.

[Doresain]

yeah ive got a basic idea as to how the kobolds, goblins, ogres etc. work into the game...im just not sure how to stat them out into faeries, in the sense that i dont just want to five them the fey type

[Doresain]

goblins are mischievous pranksters with a malevolent streak much like in english folklore

redcaps are goblins who have been fed nymph flesh by hags and thus become more intelligent and murderous

ogres are big stupid creatures that eat flesh...so now that i think about i probably dont need to change anything

im basing the kobolds off of the mining variation of kobolds in german folklore

hobgoblins require the most work because i plan on making them smaller than normal goblins and less evil

[AKA_Bait]

yeah ive got a basic idea as to how the kobolds, goblins, ogres etc. work into the game...im just not sure how to stat them out into faeries, in the sense that i dont just want to five them the fey type

Maybe you should give us an idea of how they work into the game, specifically. What I was saying is that faerie 'goblin' can mean a bunch of different things depending upon which folktales you are basing them on. An idea of what you expect faeries to be able to do, and thus what fairy goblins to do, is something I for one would need to help you with the statting out.

[Doresain]

Maybe you should give us an idea of how they work into the game, specifically. What I was saying is that faerie 'goblin' can mean a bunch of different things depending upon which folktales you are basing them on. An idea of what you expect faeries to be able to do, and thus what fairy goblins to do, is something I for one would need to help you with the statting out.

sorry that post was directed towards black dragoon

[AKA_Bait]

goblins are mischievous pranksters with a malevolent streak much like in english folklore

Give them some SLA's. Perhaps some cantrips Ghost Sound, Prestigitation, Etc. This should add to their 'trickyness' without needing to really worry about an adjustment in CR.

redcaps are goblins who have been fed nymph flesh by hags and thus become more intelligent and murderous

Toss a level of barbarian on them. Barbarian rage becomes 'blood rage' for ingame purposes.

ogres are big stupid creatures that eat flesh...so now that i think about i probably dont need to change anything

Yeah, I'd say you're fine there.

im basing the kobolds off of the mining variation of kobolds in german folklore

Well, Kobolds already mine and dig. Remember that the german folklore kobolds were usually benevolent spirits rather than evil though. You might want to toss ghost sound on em for the 'tap tap tapping'

hobgoblins require the most work because i plan on making them smaller than normal goblins and less evil

Use gnomes and shrink em?

Edit:

sorry that post was directed towards black dragoon

No worries. I figured that out after I posted and saw your second post more obviously directed at me.

[Doresain]

well i had already planned on using tiny sized gnomes for...well gnomes...and i plan on making them more of a helpful race of alchemists and herbalists

im thinking about making the hobgoblins just smaller goblins that are more like pranksters than anything...maybe even give them invisibility

[Premier]

As I understand, you're looking for advice on how to give a fey/folk story-like/mythological bent to your monsters.

Well, I advise to forget about rules mechanics and templates and the like, and just concentrate on how these creatures appear and what they're like in the source material you're trying to emulate - the folk tales and legends. And then just have them be like that.

For instance, they shouldn't have villages, tribes, warcamps, strongholds and the like that adventurers ccan stumble on. Fairy-tale and mythological kobolds etc. never do. Other than very rare occasions (and even than they need special guidance), humans can't go to the Fey. It's always the Fey who come to the world of humans. They appear where they want and when they want - especially at Samhain, Hexennacht, and other such time.

Also, the Fey are always inscrutable. A D&D monster whose stats and feats the players know by heart are anything but. Therefore, make your monsters different. Call ogres trolls, and call goblins kobolds. As soon as your players see that familiar "kobold" do something it shouldn't be able to according to the books, they'll be immediately wary of them. On a similar note, give some individual monsters specific abilities.

[AKA_Bait]

well i had already planned on using tiny sized gnomes for...well gnomes...and i plan on making them more of a helpful race of alchemists and herbalists

im thinking about making the hobgoblins just smaller goblins that are more like pranksters than anything...maybe even give them invisibility

Just remember to up their CR if you do. Alternativley, you could use Pixies or Grigs for them mechanically and just change their fluff appearance.

[Doresain]

pixies i planned on using already, but i could use grigs i suppose...never liked them anyways

[Zeta Kai]

According to this page, WotC has never created a puca in 3.X. So, if you just gotta have one, it's gonna have to homebrew.

A Google search turned nothing. Perhaps my google-fu is poor today. Regardless...

Let's just start from scratch. Here, take this Gremlin here, make it a fey with a little less focus on destruction & a little more dark fur, viola! Instant pooka!

[Jimp]

1) are there stats for a puca?

Puca means ghost, and that's basically it. If I remember correctly though pucas generally haunt a place or person. I can't remember which book had haunting guidelines though.

[Doresain]

well a puca in celtic folklore is a mischievous shape changing animal spirit that always has black fur

[Chronos]

It's usually spelled "pooka", in modern English. Perhaps that would give you some more leads.

[CASTLEMIKE]

TSR statted Pookas in a AD&D fey based supplement. Not sure how helpful this is:

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgcom/daily/db44

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pookah

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puck_(mythology)

Mechanically you could just add the Major Fey blood to the lesser fey:

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/races/bloodlines.htm

Consider the +2 LA half-fey template for the more powerful fey.