Redcap

Close enough.

Not exactly the prettiest fae on the block.

Redcaps are a race of malevolent, murderous dwarf-like sprites native to Scottish mythology. Said to prowl lonely and desolate regions, redcaps may have some eagle-like features, but universally are described as incredibly strong and swift, wearing iron boots, and murderous: they attack and kill any human they encounter, in order to soak their caps in the blood of their victims. These gore-soaked hats are the source of the redcap's magic and/or strength, and if the blood should fade from it, the redcap would lose all of its power. In their native Scotland, redcaps are also known as powrie.

Redcaps actually appeared as a player character race for Basic Dungeons & Dragons in "Tall Tales of the Wee Folk".

Redcaps also appeared as Powries in the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons and Dungeons & Dragons 3rd edition setting versions of Ravenloft. Here, they were a form of Arak, or "Shadow Fey", and resembled distorted, murderous, carnivorous versions of the common sprite.

Both Pathfinder and Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition feature redcaps in their traditional guise of dwarf-like fey who seek to butcher living beings to replenish the life-giving coating of gore on their hats. The D&D 5e version was introduced in "Volo's Guide to Monsters" and was stated to spontaneously form when people are murdered in or near Feywild crossings.

In the Corona setting, the source of the Demonwars Saga novels written by R.A. Salvatore, Powrie are the native dwarves; malicious little seafaring raiders who gain strength and vitality from their enchanted hats by soaking them in blood, and who can reproduce without women by means of ritualistically burying the hearts of slain powrie under cairns of stone, causing a baby powrie to crawl out from under it in a lunar month.

BECMI Stats

Redcaps appeared very briefly in the BECMI splatbook "Tall Tales of the Wee Folk", where they were presented as evil, murderous, Chaotic-aligned equivalents of the Brownie, and were made playable with a tweaked version of the brownie's race-class.

Ability Score Minimum/Maximum: Strength 5/17, Dexterity 8/18, Constitution 3/18, Intelligence 3/18, Wisdom 3/18, Charisma 3/10

Prime Requisite: Dexterity

Redcaps are close enough to halflings in height that they can use the following human weapons: blackjack, bola, club, dagger hand-axe, horned shield, javelin, knife, shield, short sword, sling, and throwing hammer. They may also use the following weapons as two-handed weapons: light crossbow, mace, net, normal sword, shortbow, staff, whip.

Redcaps armor must be custom-sized to be usable.

Redcaps make saving throws as Halflings of a level equal to their hit dice.

Redcaps can become Invisible to Mortals at will.

Redcaps have clawed fingers and fangs, which allows them to make 2 claw attacks (1d2 damage) and a bite attack (1 damage) in a single round instead of using weapons.

Redcaps take 2d4 damage when splashed with a flask of holy water.

Redcaps can use any magic item usable by a Fighter, Dwarf or Halfling. From first level onwards, they can also attempt to use an item normally restricted to a Magic-User, Elf or Faerie Spellcaster, but must roll a percentile die and compare it to the results for that level. On a Success, the item works. On a Failure, the item does not function. On a Backfire, the item malfunctions in some way. And on an Unexpected Result, the item behaves in a completely unpredictable way.

Redcap Level Advancement, Hit Dice & Item Use:

Level: Experience Points: Hit Dice: Item Use

-1: -2,000 EXP, 1d8 HD, Failure: 01-100

0: 0 EXP, 2d8 HD, Failure: 01-100

1: 2,000 EXP, 3d8 HD, Success: 01-05, Failure: 06-89, Backfire: 90-99, Unexpected Result: 100

2: 6,000 EXP, 4d8 HD, Success: 01-05, Failure: 06-89, Backfire: 90-98, Unexpected Result: 99-100

3: 14,000 EXP, 5d8 HD, Success: 01-10, Failure: 11-89, Backfire: 90-97, Unexpected Result: 98-100

4: 30,500 EXP, - HD, Success: 01-15, Failure: 16-89, Backfire: 90-96, Unexpected Result: 97-100

5: 62,000 EXP, 6d8 HD, Success: 01-15, Failure: 16-89, Backfire: 90-95, Unexpected Result: 96-100

6: 125,000 EXP, 7d8 HD, Success: 01-20 Failure: 21-89, Backfire: 90-94, Unexpected Result: 95-100

7: 250,000 EXP, 8d8 HD, Success: 01-20, Failure: 21-89, Backfire: 90-93, Unexpected Result: 94-100

8: 500,000 EXP, 9d8 HD, Success: 01-25, Failure: 26-89, Backfire: 90-92, Unexpected Result: 93-100

9: 800,000 EXP, 10d8 HD, Success: 01-25, Failure: 26-89, Backfire: 90-91, Unexpected Result: 92-100

10: 1,100,000 EXP, 10d8+2 HD, Success: 01-30, Failure: 31-89, Backfire: 90, Unexpected Result: 91-100

Gallery

• 
  3e. More like a redturban.
• 
  In 4e redcaps got absorbed into spriggans.
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  5e
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  This is what happens when a redcap dips his hat in demon blood.
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  PF
• 
  PF 2e

Monstergirls?

One take on what a Redcap might look like if given the MG treatment.

You might think that being blood-obsessed murdering dwarves would spare redcaps from the monstergirls treatment. Hah, no, you'd be wrong. It's true that they're uncommon, but they do exist.

Perhaps the best known on /tg/ is, of course, the Monster Girl Encyclopedia version; here, it's a pale-skinned, long-haired, fiendish-looking loli and technically part of the goblin family. Haunting ruins and other dark places, they attack male travelers with mamono-forged weapons that don't hurt, but incapacitate their target by inducing extreme lust, before mounting them in a mating frenzy; they're very found of rough sex. Their hats aren't soaked with blood, but shift colors in response to the ambient lust of their wearer; the redder the hat is, the hornier the redcap is. This is because they sweat out their lust-tinged magical energies in the form of a blood-like substance. When sated, they become gentle, loving and actually rather meek, but with their libido, they quickly return to their sexually ferocious ways.