Redcap
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.
| Dungeons & Dragons 1st Edition Races | |
|---|---|
| Basic Set | Dwarf • Elf • Hobbit • Human |
| Creature Crucible 1 | Brownie • Centaur • Dryad • Faun • Hsiao • Leprechaun • Pixie • Pooka • Redcap • Sidhe • Sprite • Treant • Wood Imp • Wooddrake |
| Creature Crucible 2 | Faenare • Gnome • Gremlin • Harpy • Nagpa • Pegataur • Sphinx • Tabi |
| Creature Crucible 3 | Kna • Kopru • Merrow • Nixie • Sea Giant • Shark-kin • Triton |
| Dragon Magazine | Cayma • Gatorman • Lupin • N'djatwa • Phanaton • Rakasta • Shazak • Wallara |
| Hollow World | Beastman • Brute-Man • Hutaakan • Krugel Orc • Kubitt • Malpheggi Lizard Man |
| Known World | Bugbear • Goblin • Gnoll • Hobgoblin • Kobold • Ogre • Troll |
Monstergirls?
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.