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| Monsters | - | Dragon magazine | - | 1st Edition AD&D |
When sorcerous experiments go awry, what do magicians
blame? Gremlins.
When a perfect heist falls through, what do thieves curse?
Gremlins.
Distantly related to the pixie, sprite, leprechaun, and other
members of the ?wee folk,? the gremlin is a natural follower and
enforcer of Murphy?s Law: If anything can go wrong, it will ?
at the most inopportune time and in the worst possible way.
Gremlins are not native to the AD&D world; they are recent
immigrants from our own real world. They first came to our
attention during World War I, when they plagued Britain?s
Royal Naval Air Service pilots. The poor pilots found themselves
targets for such amusing gremlin jokes as drinking a plane?s fuel
during reconnaissance flights, plucking wing struts until the
wires snapped, and playing teeter-board on the ailerons during a
student?s solo. This last resulted in a flight that seemed to be
nothing but Immelmann turns and loop-de-loops.
At the time, the Allied pilots did not know what was causing
their problems, but they probably blamed the other side. (It is
not known if the German forces were also troubled by gremlins,
but it is very probable.) It was not until 1922 that gremlins were
actually ?discovered.? During a routine R.A.F. flight, a pilot
called the weather station at Le Bourget Field in Paris for a
weather report. He was warned, ?Gremlins sur la manche.? His
radio then died.
Since then we have become very familiar with gremlin activities.
During World War II, gremlins were blamed for overturning
a Sunderland bomber while it was patrolling over the Bay of
Biscay; changing the positions of the stars in the sky to confuse
navigators; shorting out electrical equipment; and generally
making things difficult for pilots.
There was a popular belief among airmen that the gremlins
had undermined every aerodrome in England and underpinned
the runways with hydraulic-jacks. A gremlin kept watch over the
jacks and, when a student-pilot was about to come in for a perfect
three-point landing, would pull a lever and either raise or
lower the runway by 10 feet or so.
Gremlins are very technology-oriented and are fascinated by
any new advances in science. Thus, they flew with the planes
that dropped the first atomic bombs in 1945 and were present at
every nuclear test conducted during the 1950?s. When these
nuclear devices exploded, the energies released tore rifts in the
space-time fabric. Some of the gremlins observing the explosions
were caught in the ensuing vortices and hurled through the rifts,
landing in the AD&D world.
Confused at first by the strange circumstances they found
themselves in, the gremlins quickly adapted and eventually
found certain gates which led back to their original world. They
then organized groups of gremlins to migrate to the new world
they had discovered.
Every gremlin is either chaotic neutral with good tendencies
(Type I) or chaotic neutral with evil tendencies (Type II). In our
world, gremlins are believed to be hybrids of the races of dwarf
and sprite, with Type II gremlins also exhibiting some influence
from lesser demons and imps.
Type I gremlins have been known to help humankind on
occasion, at least in our world. A passage on page 466 of Vol. I of
the Funk & Wagnalls Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology, and
Legend states that ?Many times gremlins have banded together
to assist a pilot fly home in a small percentage of the plane he
was issued only a few hours before.? Type II gremlins, however,
take great delight in tricks which seriously injure or even kill
their victims.
A Type I gremlin stands about 12 to 20 inches in height and
weighs about 17 pounds. Physically, it resembles a North American
jackrabbit crossed with a bull terrier. It has been described
as having the facial expression ?of an A.C. 2 who has just been
advised that his 48-hour pass has been cancelled? (Funk &
Wagnalls
Dictionary, page 465). The Type I gremlin dresses in
green
breeches and a red jacket, sometimes with ruffles, and wears spats
and a top hat. In the AD&D world, this costume may be somewhat
different.
Type I
FREQUENCY: Uncommon
NO. APPEARING: 1-11 or more
ARMOR CLASS: 5
MOVE: 6"
HIT DICE: 1-4 HP per rank
% IN LAIR: 5%
TREASURE TYPE: [S, T, V, X]
NO. OF ATTACKS: 1
DAMAGE/ATTACK: See below
SPECIAL ATTACKS: See below
SPECIAL DEFENSES: See below
MAGIC RESISTANCE: See below
INTELLIGENCE: Exceptional
ALIGNMENT: CN (good tendencies)
SIZE: S (12-20 inches)
PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil
Attack/Defense Modes:
Nil
LEVEL/X.P. VALUE: II / 61 + 1/hp
Type I
FREQUENCY: Rare
NO. APPEARING: 1-11 or more
ARMOR CLASS: 5
MOVE: 6"
HIT DICE: 1-4 HP per rank
% IN LAIR: 5%
TREASURE TYPE: [S, T, V, X]
NO. OF ATTACKS: 1
DAMAGE/ATTACK: See below
SPECIAL ATTACKS: See below
SPECIAL DEFENSES: See below
MAGIC RESISTANCE: See below
INTELLIGENCE: Exceptional
ALIGNMENT: CN (evil tendencies)
SIZE: S (6 inches)
PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil
Attack/Defense Modes:
Nil
LEVEL/X.P. VALUE: II / 61 + 1/hp
Type II gremlins, seen less frequently than their cousins, are
usually decked out in aviator?s clothes, wearing black leather
suction boots.
Even though individual gremlins are chaotic in behavior,
gremlin society is militaristic and strictly organized. Young
gremlins, or widgets, live with their parents until they become
young males, known as grunts (this is also the lowest rank in the
land-arm of the Gremlin Forces), or young females known as
fifinellas. They are then inducted into the Gremlin Forces and
assigned to whatever division suits them: land, sea, or air.
Land gremlins live in underground burrows similar to those
inhabited by halflings. The entrances are concealed or camouflaged
to look like the entrance to a giant rat warren or some
wild animal?s burrow.
Marine gremlins have webbed feet with fins on the backs of
their heels. They have a set of secondary gills which enable them
to breathe underwater and live in grottos and undersea caverns.
The spandule is a species of gremlin which lives entirely in the
upper reaches of the sky. Spandules either ride on the backs of
large flying creatures such as rocs, or live on high mountain
peaks.
Starting at the bottom of the heap, the gremlin works his way
up through the ranks (see Table 1) until he either perishes in the
line of duty or retires. Retired gremlins usually take the rank of
Warrant Officer and become specialists.
The ultimate authority among gremlinkind is the Chief, who
presides over a council of 10 of the highest-ranking gremlins.
The Chief is chosen by the council members from among themselves
and rules for a term of somewhere around four years; the
council promotes a lower-ranking officer from among the brass
to take the seat vacated by the newly-elected Chief. Re-election is
possible and has occurred before; one Chief held the post for
three terms before illness forced him to retire. Chiefs who are not
re-elected will retire and become Inspector-Generals.
Gremlins generally work in groups of two or more, though
certain individuals do like to strike out on their own. The most
common grouping is the squad, which is led by one of the Sawj
classes (see Table 2). The Sawj is the
highest rank that nongremlins
have ever seen, and a louder, meaner, more ornery and
foul-mouthed being never existed. Rumors abound of the existence
of Looeys, Cap?ems, Jayjeez, Teks, and other higherranking
gremlins, and logic seems to dictate that these ranks
exist, but only the gremlins themselves have ever seen them.
Gremlins are amazingly strong (18) for their size, easily rivalling
most humans. But they tend to avoid combat, preferring
trickery instead. They also have certain natural magical abilities
at birth, possibly a genetic holdover from their former magical
might during Earth?s younger days. They have both infravision
and ultravision. They can turn invisible at will, and can feather
fall whenever they wish. They have one peculiarity in this
respect: they like to keep their heads pointed downward (toward
the ground) when feather falling. Frequently gremlins will form
chains, linking arms and feather falling as a group, much the
way skydivers form patterns as they fall.
Magic resistance varies according to rank, starting from a basic
resistance of 5% for grunts and civilians and increasing by 5% for
every two steps in rank up to a maximum of 50% for a Jenrul.
As mentioned previously, gremlins are fascinated by technology.
Upon introduction to a magic-based universe, they immediately
set about learning the ways of sorcery and have become
quite adept at using magic to confound and confuse the victims
of their practical jokes.
As widgets, gremlins learn certain magic-user cantrips (see
Table 3) which aid them in bedeviling
non-gremlins. Upon joining
the Forces, gremlins are taught certain higher-level spells
(see Table 4) so that they might continue
making life more and
more miserable for others.
Gremlins are not dependent on spells to carry out their disruptive
duties. Since they are able to draw on generations of
mechanical and technological knowledge gleaned from gremlin
and human experiments, gremlins view magic as simply a supplement,
an additional aid to be used only when a task really
requires it.
Gremlins find simple pranks to be the best. Some favorites are:
tripping people at the top of a darkened stairwell; blowing out a
party?s torches just before an encounter with a monster; giving
false or inaccurate information by pretending to be the voice of a
?magic? mirror or some other object; removing arrowheads from
their shafts; and drinking up all the lantern oil a party may be
carrying.
Any adult gremlin, regardless of rank, can function as a 5thlevel
thief, though generally the only thieving abilities gremlins
make use of are moving silently, climbing walls, and picking
pockets.
Gremlins do not carry treasure on their persons, and they
rarely have magical items. They have no use for gold, jewels, and
other such things valued by the other races, though type II gremlins
sometimes use gold as a lure. Any magic items picked up are
taken to Stores and looked after by the Quartermaster Gremlin.
The Quartermaster, a Sawjmayjer, will refuse any attempt to
requisition items, forcing gremlins to either steal from Stores
(which is considered good practice for their other pranks) or do
without.
Of all the other races, gremlins like humans the best. Humans
in the AD&D world remind them of the humans back home:
natural patsies, to use a gremlin term. Dwarves are another
favorite target because of their dour disposition. However,
gnomes do not seem to be plagued as much by gremlins, perhaps
because gnomes and gremlins seem to share a common attitude;
both enjoy a good joke at someone else?s expense. Gremlins are
also fond of annoying flying creatures.
Of the different character classes, gremlins especially like
bothering magic-users most, mainly because magic-users provide
so many opportunities for a gremlin to ply his trade. Thieves are
second in popularity for much the same reason. Clerics are third
on the list. Gremlins are no respecters of religion, but are very
careful not to provoke divine wrath; they do not interfere with
healing and resurrection spells and the like.
Fighting men are the least preferred targets of a gremlin.
Because of their own military background and the history of
relations between gremlinkind and soldiers in our world, gremlins
have developed a special fondness for the common warrior
and easily identify with him. They are reluctant to play tricks on
a fighter when another target is within easy reach. Fighters,
however, are not exempt and may find themselves on the receiving
end of a gremlin gag if no one else is available.
Sometimes a gremlin will ?attach? himself to a character for a
period of time. DMs may roll d20 at their option and, if the
result matches or exceeds a character?s charisma, the gremlin
?likes? the character. Then roll d8, doubling the result, to
determine the number of days (2-16) the gremlin will stay with
the character. At the end of this time period, the DM may choose
to again roll d20 vs. charisma to determine if the gremlin will
stay on longer.
During times of war, siege, and other major human and
humanoid undertakings, the entire gremlin force will be mobilized
to harry both sides. Such mobilization will also include all
gremlin support personnel, including a medical corps using
clerical healing spells granted by the gods of chaos and mischief.
DMs are advised that not all disasters and mishaps which
befall an adventuring party are due to gremlins. At least half of
such occurrences are the fault of player characters and/or plain
bad luck. If player characters suspect gremlins, by all means the
DM should let them wear themselves out looking for them, even
if there?s not a gremlin within 50 miles. It makes setting up an
encounter with the band of ogres lurking around the corner
much easier.
| Land | Sea | Air |
| Grunt | Grunt | Grunt |
| Buck | Pup | Flyboy |
| Peefsee | Seadog | Ayefcee |
| Corp | Peeohthree | Sawj |
| Sawj | Peeohtoo | Stafsawj |
| Sawjfustclass | Peeofust | Tek |
| Massersawj | Seenyerseepeeoh | Cheefsawj |
| Sawjmayjer | Masserseepeeoh | Massersawj |
| Sekenlooey | Ansen | Sekenlooey |
| Looey | Jayjeez | Looey |
| Cap'em | Looey | Cap'em |
| Mayjer | Looeyseeoh | Mayjer |
| Looeychik | Seeoh | Looeychik |
| Chik | Cap'em | Chik |
| Brigdeer | Lowadmerl | Brigdeer |
| Mayjerjenrul | Highadmerl | Mayjerjenrul |
| Looeyjenrul | Viceadmerl | Looeyjenrul |
| Jenrul | Admerl | Jenrul |
| Name | Numbers | Leader |
| Squad | 11 (including 1 medic) | Sawj |
| Platoon | 40 (including 5 medics) | Looey |
| Company | 200* | Cap'em |
| Battalion | 500--1,200* | Looeychik |
| Brigade | 3,000--5,000* | Chik |
| Division | 10,000* | Mayjerjenrul |
| Corps | 15,000--20,000* | Looeyjenrul |
| Field Army | 25,000* | Jenrul |
| Useful | Reversed | Person Affecting | Personal | Haunting | Legerdemain |
| Chill | Candle | Belch | Bee | Creak | Change |
| Color | Dirty | Cough | Bug | Footfall | Distract |
| Dampen | Dusty | Giggle | Firefinger | Groan | Hide |
| Dry | Hairy | Nod | Gnats | Moan | Mute |
| Flavor | Knot | Scratch | Mouse | Rattle | - |
| Salt | Ravel | Sneeze | Spider | Thump | - |
| Spice | Sour | Twitch | Tweak | Whistle | - |
| Sprout (weeds) | Spill | Wink | Unlock | - | - |
| Tie | Tangle | Yawn | - | - | - |
| - | Tarnish | - | - | - | - |
| - | Wilt | - | - | - | - |
Cantrips are minor magic spells, also referred to as zerolevel
spells. Gremlins employ certain cantrips normally
available to magic-users; although special cantrips also
exist for illusionists, none of those are in the gremlins?
inventory. For detailed information on the gremlin cantrips
listed above, see the original articles in From the Sorceror's Scroll,
issues #59 and #60 of DRAGON® Magazine,
or the reprinted articles in the Best of DRAGON® Vol. III
anthology.
<Cantrips (UA)>
| 1st level |
| Dancing lights |
| Detect magic |
| Push |
| Ventriloquism |
| 2nd level |
| Audible glamer |
| Fools gold |
| Pyrotechnics |
| Scare |
| Shatter |
| Stinking cloud |
| Invisibility |
| 3rd level |
| Dispel magic |
| Gust of wind |
| Phantasmal force |
| Suggestion |
| Tongues (reverse) |
| 4th Level |
| Confusion |
| Fumble |
| Hallucinatory terrain |
| 5th level |
| Teleport |
| 6th level |
| Control weather |
| Move earth |
| 7th level |
| Reverse gravity |
| 8th level |
| Incendiary cloud |
| Maze |
| Otto's irresistible dance |
| 9th level |
| Time stop |
See p. 26 of the Players Handbook, "Spells
usable by
class and level -- magic-users,"
for the number of spells a
gremlin of a certain rank (level) is able to use. Grunts are
always 1st level; jenruls and admerls are level 18.
Bibliography:
Barber, Richard and Riches, Anne: A Dictionary of Fabulous
Beasts. New York, Walker & Co., 1972.
The Funk & Wagnalls Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology, and
Legend, Vol. 1, Maria Leach, ed., New York, Funk &
Wagnalls,
1949.
Ridley, Michael and Neary, Bryan: The Book of Gremlins.
London, J. M. Dent and Sons Ltd., 1980.
World Book Encyclopedia, Vol. 16, Chicago, 1972.
<Gremlin or Jermlaine?>