Atlas   Rules   Resources   Adventures   Stories       FAQ   Search   Links

Brownie Racial Writeup and Progression

by Jamie Baty

Brownies are one of the most helpful of the Faeries, attaching themselves to a particular family or home, and protecting and taking care of their charge as best they can.

Personality: Most brownies are settled creatures, attached to a specific household, usually one near or in woodlands, and almost never in a town or city. They help the occupants by doing household chores, such as sweeping, cleaning, churning, and threshing, late at night. They do this without asking for anything in return; indeed it would be the height of rudeness to offer the brownie anything resembling a wage for their work.
Most households do leave out small treats as gifts for the brownies, usually based on the brownies favourite titbits: bowls of cream, and special cakes spread with honey. These little gifts, along with praise for his kind work is all that is needed to keep a brownie happy. Brownies will usually become troublesome in a household if his work is criticised or if low quality gifts are left for him. If given any item of clothing, the brownie will immediately leave- the brownie interpreting it as being paid a wage as hired help, or worse, that he is being treated as a criminal (who are often punished by having to work in a mortal household until given clothes for their work.)

Physical Description: The brownie, a homely being of about 2 and a half feet in height, is the most common household sidheog. His name comes from the reputation of wearing brown hoods and cloaks. Those that claim to have seen them claim they look like a bit like halflings. All known brownies have been males, and there are quite possibly no female brownies.
Brownies prefer to wear simple clothes. They are proficient with simple weapons. They may wear armour only if proficient with it from class levels.

Relations: Of all the Faeries, brownies have the best relations with mortals. They frequently are in the company of humans, elves, and halflings, and have grown accustomed to each races' temperaments and quirks. However, these races are not always aware of the brownie's quirks, and can easily and unintentionally offend one.
Brownies get along with all of the forest races and Faeries, but are more solitary, due to their roles in households, than others.

Alignment: Brownies are almost always lawful, and are often lawful good.

Brownie Lands: Brownies can be found throughout the Known World, usually residing in or near forests. They are settled creatures, usually finding a home where they can be of use and staying there as long as needed and wanted.

Religion: Like most Faeries, brownies do not worship the Immortals. This doesn't mean they are not aware of them or are disrespectful of them, just they do not see them as something to worship. Brownies are very respectful of the religious beliefs held by those under his care, and will not knowingly disrespect those Immortals and beliefs.

Language: Brownies speak Fairy, Sylvan, Halfling, the predominant local language and may communicate with animals. They may also know Common, Elven, Gnomish, and other local languages.

Names: Brownie names can be difficult to pronounce correctly. They do not use surnames.
Male Names: Alasdair, Hamish, Iain, Seumas, Uilleam

Adventurers: Brownies usually adventure for one of two particular reasons. First of them is it becomes necessary for him to do so in connection to his role as household guardian and protector- sometimes when a young child he looks after decides to embark on adventuring. Secondly, when a brownie is no longer attached to a particular household, they will travel and wander about until finding a new household or treasure to protect. Much more rarely, a brownie will simply prefer to adventure and travel, doing good deeds (and a little mischief) along the way for a variety of people.
Brownies have a favoured class of expert. A brownie's role a guardian and helper in a household requires it to be versatile and skilled. Brownies also do well as fighters, rogues, and occasionally bards. They also may pursue the arcane arts as sorcerers and wizards. Brownies are unable to use divine magic, and are never clerics, druids, paladins or other divine magic-based classes.

Brownie Racial Traits:
Brownie characters possess the following racial traits.
• -2 Str, +6 Dex, -2 Cha
• Small size. +1 bonus to Armour Class, +1 bonus on attack rolls, +4 bonus on Hide checks, -4 penalty on grapple checks, lifting and carrying limits 3/4 those of Medium characters.
• Space/Reach: 5'/5'
• Base move 30'.
• Lowlight Vision
• Racial Hit Dice: A brownie begins with two levels of fey, which provide 2d6 Hit Dice, a base attack bonus of +1, and base saving throw bonuses of Fort +0, Ref +3, and Will +3.
• Racial Skills: A brownie's fey levels give it skill points equal to 5 × (6 + Int modifier). Its class skills are Craft (any one), Hide, Listen, Move Silently, Profession (any one), Spot, and Use magic Device.
• Racial Feats: A brownie's fey levels give it one feat.
• Proficient with simple weapons
• Special Qualities:
Communicate with Animals (Ex): A brownie may communicate with animals as if he were permanently under the effect of a speak with animals spell.
Faerie Traits: As a Faerie, brownies have the following traits:
• Invisibility to Mortals (Sp): All faeries may become invisible to mortals at will as a standard action. This is the same as the invisibility spell except that creatures with second sight can see the subject normally.
• Second Sight (Ex): This is the ability common to all faeries and some mortals to be able to recognise a fey creature's true form even when invisible to mortals, polymorphed or shapechanged.
• Immunity to Normal Disease (Ex): Faeries are immune to all normal diseases but may still be affected by magical diseases such as mummy rot.
• Immortality (Ex): Faeries do not grow old. Death is merely a change in the cycle of their existence in which they become reborn as another faerie (in 0-999 years time).
• Holy Aversion (Ex): Faeries take 1d4 damage from Holy Water (no splash damage) and are made uncomfortable and tend to avoid Holy Symbols, Prayers or the names of the Immortals.
• Faeries cannot normally cast divine magic but, in the unlikely event that they would look for and find an immortal willing to accept them, they could trade all of the above traits for the opportunity to become a follower of that immortal.
• Brownies have a +4 racial bonus to all Use Magic Device skill checks.
• Automatic Languages: Fairy, Sylvan, Halfling, local language, communicate with animals. Bonus Languages: Common, Elven, Gnomish, and other local languages.
• Favoured Class: Expert.
• Level Adjustment: +1.

Brownie Racial Progression
The table below gives an optional level progression for brownie players. In this system, starting ability score modifiers and other abilities are granted later or partially granted. At the end of the progression, the brownie will be the same as if created normally.

Table: Brownie Racial Progression

Class Level	Hit Dice	BAB	Fort	Ref	Will	Skills	Special
1st	1d6	+0	+0	+2	+2	(6+ Int Mod) x4	-2 Str, +2 Dex, -2 Cha; speed 30ft; Communicate with animals; Starting Feat.
2nd	1d6	+1	+0	+2	+2	---	+2 Dex; +2 racial bonus on Use Magic Device checks.
3rd	2d6	+1	+0	+3	+3	6+ Int Mod	+2 Dex; +4 racial bonus on Use Magic Device checks.