Mythic Gremlin, Jinkin

APPEARANCE

Grimacing like a maniac, this lean little bat-eared horror displays a mouth full of needle-like teeth and glowing, orange eyes.

Mythic Jinkin CR 1/MR 1

XP 400
CE Tiny fey (mythic)
Init +4; Senses darkvision 120 ft., low-light vision; Perception +6

DEFENSE

AC 20, touch 18, flat-footed 14 (+4 Dex, +2 dodge, +2 natural, +2 size)
hp 12 (1d6+9)
Fort +0, Ref +6, Will +4
DR 5/cold iron; SR 13

OFFENSE

Speed 40 ft.
Melee short sword +6 (1d3–4/19–20), bite +1 (1d2–4)
Space 2-1/2 ft.; Reach 0 ft.
Special Attacks mythic power (1/day, surge +1d6), sneak attack +1d6, tinker^MA, unending revenge^MA
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 1st; concentration +3)

• At will—prestidigitation
• 1/hour—dimension door (self plus 5 lbs. only)

STATISTICS

Str 3, Dex 19, Con 11, Int 14, Wis 14, Cha 15
Base Atk +0; CMB +2; CMD 9
Feats Dodge^MF, Toughness^B, Weapon Finesseb
Skills Bluff +6, Craft (traps) +10, Disable Device +9, Escape Artist +8, Perception +6, Sleight of Hand +8, Stealth +16, Use Magic Device +6; Racial Modifiers +4 Craft (traps), +4 Disable Device
Languages Undercommon

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Tinker (Sp)

A group of six jinkins working together over the course of an hour can create an effect identical to bestow curse on any living creature. This effect functions at CL 6th and has a range of 60 feet, and the target creature must be either willing or helpless (but still gets a saving throw to resist). The save is DC 14 + the Charisma modifier of the jinkin with the highest Charisma score (DC 16 for most groups of jinkins). Alternatively, the group of jinkins can attempt to infuse a magic item with a curse. The nature of this curse is determined randomly; half of these curses make the magic item unreliable (each time the item is used, there is a 20% chance it does not function), while the other half give the item a random requirement. A jinkin can take part in a tinkering only once per day, and may only tinker with a creature or object that isn’t already cursed. Once a tinkering curse is in place, it is permanent until removed via an effect like remove curse. All jinkin tinkerings function as a curse created by a 6th-level caster.

A mythic jinkin can create the same effects as a group of jinkins. If it leads a group of jinkins, it adds its mythic rank to the save DC and the caster level. Additionally, if it works with a group of jinkins to curse a magic item, it increases the chance of an unreliable item not functioning to 50% or it adds a second random requirement.

Unending Revenge (Su)

A mythic jinkin can focus its ire on a specific target. When it does so, it gains the benefit of the locate creature spell with respect to the subject of its hatred. Each day, the targeted creature must succeed at a DC 17 Will save or take a –2 penalty on all its attack and damage rolls, saving throws, and skill checks for 24 hours. The mythic jinkin also becomes permanently invisible to the creature as if greater invisibilty protected it (other creatures can see the jinkin as normal). These effects last until the target or the jinkin dies (if the target is restored to life, the jinkin does not resume its unending revenge), or the jinkin is somehow appeased (typically involving a major quest or expenditure).

A mythic jinkin can expend one use of mythic power to add a second target for this ability. While it has a second target, it does not regain the expended use of mythic power.

ABOUT

Environment any underground or urban
Organization solitary, pair, mob (1 mythic jinkin plus 3–12 jinkins), or infestation (1 mythic jinkin plus 13–20 jinkins with 1–3 sorcerers of 1st–3rd level, 1 rogue leader of 2nd–4th level, 2–8 trained stirges, 2–5 trained darkmantles, and 1–2 trained dire bats)
Treasure standard (short sword, other treasure)

Sneaky and sadistic, jinkins are hideous gremlins that inhabit the dark places underground. Well acclimated to the shadows, they hide in cramped quarters and attack larger creatures when they’re strategically positioned. Jinkins commonly work with or near larger or more powerful creatures; these larger creatures provide cover for the jinkins’ trickery. They use their teleport ability to exit any battle that goes badly, taking any stolen goods with them. Jinkins delight in leading larger creatures into dangerous caves or pits, usually by lunging out of the shadows to make a single sneak attack against a creature and then running away, taking care while “fleeing” to remain visible to their target so that they can lure the victim into a trap. The average jinkin stands almost 2 feet tall and weighs about 13 pounds.

Jinkins also hold dangerous grudges, and one might follow a creature that supposedly slighted it for weeks, looking for an opportunity to take revenge. This revenge can take many forms, from leading horses astray to contaminating food supplies to directing larger monsters toward the begrudged creature. Dwarves in particular hate jinkins, with numerous tales in their folklore telling of tragedy at the hands of the gremlins. The loathing is largely mutual.

One of the most direct and unwelcome revenges of the jinkins is the destruction or cursing of magical items. Many times they’ll observe camped enemies from a distance and either steal an item to tinker with it or just use their tinkering magic at a distance to annoy the item’s owner. Once a jinkin has worked its sabotage on a stolen item, the jinkin either grows bored with the item or may attempt to return it to its owner. Jinkin lairs are often cluttered with stolen items that bear curses the jinkins themselves have forgotten all about.

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.