Kappa

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The Kappa is a river-dwelling monster originating from Japanese mythology. Hugely popular in its native mythos, it is, understandably, an equally popular figure to feature as a monster (or perhaps even a playable race) in Oriental Adventures settings.

Kappas are strange creatures, described as resembling either a cross between a goblin (or a monkey) and a turtle, a sort of turtle-frog hybrid humanoid, an aquatic goblin, or a humanoid turtle. About the only consistent aspect of their depiction is the presence of a "bowl/dish-shaped depression" on the top of the head, which can be stylized as everything from an actual hollow divot in the skull to a bald pate surrounded by stiff hair. Kappas need to keep this depression constantly damp, or else they grow too weak to move; a traditional way of defeating them involves bowing to them, playing on their politeness and rendering them helpless when they return the gesture.

Incredibly fast swimmers, kappas are also known for being superhumanly strong despite their small size, and are often said to have invented the arts of wrestling. That said, they're also very smart; the medical arts, particularly herbalism and bone-setting, are often said to have been gifts to humanity from friendly kappas. Fickle creatures, they can be helpful, mischievous pests, or deadly predators depending on the whim. They have a weird obsession with butts; mischievous kappa like to loudly fart in public or grope women's asses, whilst predatory ones drown humans in pursuit of the shirikodma, a mystical ball of flesh located deep inside of the anus. Fortunately, the only thing they love more than raw entrails is cucumbers, so people will traditionally carve their names into cucumbers and throw them into kappa-inhabited springs to play upon their generosity and entice them to leave them alone in gratitude.

Such is the kappa's popularity that there are many regional variants of it in Japanese mythology:

• The Kenmun is a hairy kappa-relative from the Amami Islands, which alternates its time between living in trees and living in the water. They are much less aggressive than kappas, love snails instead of cucumbers, drool oil, and are terrified of clams and octopuses.
• The Kawa Akago is a red-skinned, diminutive kappa that mimics the sound of a crying baby to lure people close to rivers so it can trip them into the water and then swim off, laughing at them for getting wet.
• The Suiko is a larger, stronger, more malicious kappa that feeds on blood.
• The Garappa is a shyer, more lankily built kappa from Kyushu. They are said to move in migratory circles between the mountains and the rivers, and some stories claim they physically transform from Garappas when living in rivers to hairy, mono-eyed monsters called Yamawaro when living in the mountains.
• The Hyosube is a malicious, nasty-tempered goblin-like yokai said to be related to the kappa. It's most known for its filthy body, its love of sneaking into bathhouses and leaving them full of disgusting muck from bathing there, its ability to cause disease, and its voracious appetite for eggplants.