Gremlin, Hobkins

APPEARANCE

This small, blue-gray humanoid has glowing eyes and huge ears on its round, oversized head.

HOBKINS CR 1/2

XP 200
NE Small fey
Init +2; Senses low-light vision; Perception +6

DEFENSE

AC 13, touch 13, flat-footed 11 (+2 Dex, +1 size)
hp 9 (2d6+2)
Fort +1, Ref +5, Will +4
Defensive Abilities out of phase; DR 5/cold iron

OFFENSE

Speed 30 ft.; minor levitation
Melee 2 claws +4 (1d4–1)
Special Attacks collateral damage
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 2nd, concentration +4)

• At will—dancing lights, ghost sound (DC 12), silent image (DC 13)

STATISTICS

Str 8, Dex 15, Con 12, Int 13, Wis 12, Cha 15
Base Atk +1; CMB –1; CMD 11
Feats Weapon Finesse
Skills Acrobatics +7, Bluff +7, Intimidate +11, Knowledge (local) +6, Perception +6, Sense Motive +6, Stealth +11; Racial Modifiers +4 Intimidate
Languages Aklo, Common
SQ frightener

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Collateral Damage (Su)

Whenever an attack fails to damage a hobkins, whether due to the attack result being too low, a miss chance, or a failure to penetrate DR, the hobkins can redirect the attack to any target that was in range of the original attack (if any). The attack can’t be redirected against the original attacker.

The attacker rolls a new attack and damage roll against the new target and is considered to possess the Improved Critical feat for the redirected attack. Hobkins delight in using this ability to force creatures to destroy their own prized possessions.

Frightener (Ex)

Intimidate is always a class skill for a hobkins, and it never takes a penalty on Intimidate checks due to being smaller than its target.

Minor Levitation (Su)

Hobkins generally float 1 inch above the ground. A hobkins can levitate up to 20 feet straight up as a move action, but at the end of the movement, unless it’s found something to cling to, it returns to 1 inch above the nearest flat surface below.

Out of Phase (Su)

Hobkins are slightly out of phase with the Material Plane, causing all ranged attacks against them to suffer a 75% miss chance, including spells that require ranged touch attack rolls. Anything that prevents the blink spell also prevents this ability from functioning.

ABOUT

Environment any
Organization solitary, gang (2–5), or infestation (6–30 plus 1 hobkins malefactor)
Treasure standard

Like many gremlins, hobkins enjoy destroying things others cherish, especially if they can manipulate people into destroying their own belongings. A hobkins may wait at a window during a storm so that it appears pressed up against the glass when the lightning flashes, only to hide away when they check again. Once its victims work themselves into a frenzy, the gremlin gives them time to arm themselves, then reveals itself, leaping and floating out of reach to force panicked victims to throw anything at hand. A hobkins stands 3 feet tall and weighs 15 pounds.

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.

While all gremlins share certain traits in common, such as a resistance to damage from weapons save those made of cold iron, 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.

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 cold iron 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.