Sprite

Sprites are tiny, man-shaped pranksters seldom more than six inches tall, usually counted as kin to the Sidhe though naturalists still argue the point. Shy and elusive, they live in many wild places and ignore other races unless threatened or disturbed. Then they fight from hiding with little bows and similar missile weapons, usually tipped with a sleep poison; their goal is to leave trespassers helpless or frustrated, not wounded. Some arrows instead carry a venom that acts like a Love Philtre, and the sleep lasts 5-20 minutes.

Silly, precocious and playful, sprites love games and practical jokes and often treat bothering outsiders as a contest of how much mischief they can do without being caught. Kullervo the Wanderer blamed a run of bad luck in The Travels on one: after nights of stolen bowstrings and loosed horses, his party trapped a laughing, golden-haired sprite five inches tall who proudly admitted it was all a game of skill, and who bought her freedom by showing them a woodland shortcut.

Childlike and easily sidetracked, they are hard to deal with. They know many small spells, mostly Enchantments no higher than 3rd level, but use them chiefly for fun. Sprites can fly, go unseen among trees 95% of the time, are so elusive that attackers suffer -2 on every roll to hit them, and can spot magic just by looking. They live in sociable little bands and are seldom met unless they wish it. A traveler who wins a band's trust may enjoy its protection for a long while, until the sprites tire of the game, though even their gratitude comes with pranks and lapses attached.