Redcap

(From Volo's Guide to Monsters - 2016):

A redcap is a homicidal fey creature born of blood lust. Redcaps, although small, have formidable strength, which they use to hunt and kill without hesitation or regret.

Blood Lust Personified. In the Feywild, or where that plane touches the world at a fey crossing, if a sentient creature acts on an intense desire for bloodshed, one or more redcaps might appear where the blood of a slain person soaks the ground. At first, new redcaps look like tiny bloodstained mushrooms just pushing their caps out of the soil. When moonlight shines on one of these caps, a creature that looks like a wizened and undersized gnome with a hunched back and a sinewy frame springs from the earth. The creature has a pointed leather cap, pants of similar material, heavy iron boots, and a heavy bladed weapon. From the moment it awakens, a redcap desires only murder and carnage, and it sets out to satisfy these cravings.

Redcaps lack subtlety. They live for direct confrontation and the mayhem of mortal combat. Even if a redcap wanted to be stealthy, its iron boots force it to take ponderous, thunderous steps. When a redcap is near to potential prey, though, it can close the distance quickly and get in a vicious swing of its weapon before the target can react.

Steeped in Slaughter. To sustain its unnatural existence, a redcap has to soak its hat in the fresh blood of its victims. When a redcap is born, its hat is coated with wet blood, and it knows that if the blood isn’t replenished at least once every three days, the redcap vanishes as if it had never been. A redcap’s desire to slay is rooted in its will to survive.

Bloodthirsty Mercenaries. Redcaps don’t usually operate in groups, but in some circumstances they might be fond in the employ of hags and dark mages that know methods to call redcaps out of the Feywild and put them to work as grisly servants.

Also, some redcaps can sense the being whose murderous acts led to their birth. A redcap might use this innate connection to find its creator and make that creature its first victim. Others seek out their maker to enjoy proximity to a kindred spirit. An individual responsible for the creation of multiple redcaps at the same site could attract the entire group to serve as cohorts, emulating that creature’s murderous handiwork.

In any case, if a redcap works with another being, the redcap demands to be paid in victims. A patron who tries to stifle a redcap’s natural and necessary urge for blood risks becoming the redcap’s next target.

(From 3.5e Monster Manual III - 2004):

You see a very short, tough-looking old man with leathery skin, iron boots, and bright red hat. He is wielding a scythe that looks too large for him. His wicked grin is lined with sharp teeth. 

Redcaps are the most evil fey you’re ever likely to meet. They are mass-murdering psychotic killers who live on other creatures’ pain. A redcap stands 3 to 4 feet tall, weighs about 50 pounds, and looks like a tough old man with protruding teeth. On their heads redcaps wear bright red hats—kept fresh and moistly colored by dipping in their victims’ blood—and on their feet they wear boots of iron.  

Redcaps prefer to roost in old abandoned keeps and towers, preferably ones left vacant by some horrifi c tragedy. These fey absorb some of the essence of every creature they kill. Thanks to this ability, a redcap that manages to live a long life can amass tremendous strength and near invulnerability. When a redcap dies, it vanishes from the world, leaving only a single tooth behind. 

 Redcaps speak Common and Sylvan. 

Combat: Redcaps prefer to attack from ambush, usually waiting until their intended victims are preparing to settle in for the evening. Brutal combatants, redcaps attack without mercy, opening up combat with their slings and magic stones but quickly closing to fi nish opponents with their wicked scythes.  

A redcap normally attacks using its Power Attack feat, taking a –2 penalty on its attack rolls and gaining a +2 bonus on damage rolls (+4 if using a scythe). 

Eldritch Stone (Su): Bullets fired from a redcap’s sling glow with a greenish-blue magical energy, giving them a +1 enhancement bonus on attack rolls and damage rolls as well as dealing 1d6 points of damage (instead of the 1d4 points an ordinary bullet deals). 

Powerful Build (Ex): The physical stature of a redcap lets it function in many ways as if he were one size category larger. Whenever a redcap is subject to a size modifi er or special size modifi er for an opposed check (such as during grapple checks, bull rush attempts, and trip attempts), the redcap is treated as one size larger if doing so is advantageous to it. A redcap is also considered to be one size larger when determining whether a creature’s special attacks based on size (such as improved grab or swallow whole) can affect it. A redcap can use weapons designed for a creature one size larger without penalty. However, its space and reach remain those of a creature of its actual size. The benefi ts of this characteristic stack with the effects of powers, abilities, and spells that change the subject’s size category. 

Elder Redcap: 

The elder redcap entry represents a redcap that has advanced to 12 HD by slaying victims and absorbing their essence (see Advancement, below). 

Combat: An elder redcap fi ghts in a similar manner to the younger version, relying on ambush whenever possible. It is capable of tracking weak or wounded prey for miles, waiting until the intended victims let down their guard. 

Advancement: 

After a redcap has slain a victim, it dips its cap into the victim’s blood, thereby gradually gaining strength and power. This ability is refl ected in special rules for advancement that apply only to redcaps. For each additional Hit Die a redcap has, it gains +1 Strength, +1 Dexterity, and +1 Constitution as well as the normal benefi ts for advancing in Hit Dice. For every 2 additional Hit Dice, an advanced redcap gains +1 natural armor. The redcap’s damage reduction also improves as its Hit Dice increases....

Society: 

Redcaps assemble in small bands, occasionally squatting in old ruins or caves after slaughtering the previous tenants. Redcaps argue and fi ght with each other constantly, and fl aring tempers often result in bloodshed. They will massacre each other with little provocation, but they do not douse their hats in each other’s blood, fearful that some curse will be visited upon them. It takes one or more redcap elders to maintain some semblance of control over a group, essentially bullying the younger redcaps into submission.  

Redcaps can live up to 150 years, although they typically die at a much younger age. They are asexual creatures that propagate by budding.

A redcap buds once or twice in its lifetime, carrying each bud on its back like a hump for six months before it falls off and sprouts a head and limbs. A newborn redcap must fend for itself immediately and quickly develops a ravenous and foul demeanor. It grows to its full size within a year after its birth.  

Redcaps have their own elaborately interwoven superstitions. They believe rivers contain water spirits that can snatch their souls, so they bathe only in still water. Dubious of even-numbered quantities, they always travel in oddnumbered groups, and no redcap will carry an even number of coins in its pouch. Redcaps are not devout creatures, but redcaps who live near human settlements sometimes worship Erythnul, the god of slaughter. Redcap adepts are rare, and redcap clerics rarer still.

Redcap's Tooth: 

When a redcap dies, it leaves behind a single tooth. Anyone wearing this tooth gains a +2 circumstance bonus on Charismabased checks when dealing with fey, and a +4 circumstance bonus when dealing with other redcaps.  

Faint transmutation; CL 6th; cannot be made; Price 1,000 gp.

Redcaps in Eberron: 

Murderous gangs of redcaps prowl the hills of Khorvaire as far west as the foothills of the Byeshk Mountains in Droaam and as far east as the foothills of the Hoarfrost Mountains in the Lhazaar Principalities. Redcaps are found in considerable numbers in the Mror Holds, where they display a particularly fi endish hatred for dwarves. Redcaps that spend their days hunting dwarves near the Goradra Gap refer to themselves as “dwarfsplitters.”

Redcaps in Faerûn: 

Redcaps are found throughout Faerûn, although they are a particular nuisance to the halfl ings of Luiren. In many halfl ing fairy tales, redcaps are described as halfl ings who were cursed with murderous rage as punishment for some dreadful act of betrayal. However, these tales are nothing more than whimsy