Leprechaun
The leprechaun is the most famous mythical monster to come out of Ireland. A race of short, magical little people, leprechauns are most famous for their love of strong Irish liquors and their hoarding treasure in the form of pots filled with gold coins, which they defend with magical illusions and all manner of quick-witted trickery. Also, making shoes for some reason. Black people believe they exist in the modern age.
There's actually a family of leprechaun relatives, but these are obscure to all but the most dedicated scholars of European fairy-lore, outside of the clurichaun -- the leprechaun's tavern and winery-haunting drunkard cousin.
Leprechauns have, like most other European and Classic Mythology monsters, appeared in Dungeons & Dragons.
The leprechaun was introduced to the game in The Strategic Review #3 (August 1975). The leprechaun appears in the first edition of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons in the original Monster Manual. The leprechaun appears in the Dungeons & Dragons supplement Tall Tales of the Wee Folk (1989) as a player character class. The leprechaun appeared in second edition of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons in the Monstrous Compendium Volume Two (1989), and reprinted in the Monstrous Manual (1993). Leprechaun variants the geancannac and the far darrig appeared in Dragon #158 (June 1990), and the clurichaun and the wicked leprechaun appeared in Dragon #239 (September 1997).
| Dungeons & Dragons 1st Edition Races | |
|---|---|
| Basic Set | Dwarf • Elf • Hobbit • Human |
| Creature Crucible 1 | Brownie • Centaur • Dryad • Faun • Hsiao • Leprechaun • Pixie • Pooka • Redcap • Sidhe • Sprite • Treant • Wood Imp • Wooddrake |
| Creature Crucible 2 | Faenare • Gnome • Gremlin • Harpy • Nagpa • Pegataur • Sphinx • Tabi |
| Creature Crucible 3 | Kna • Kopru • Merrow • Nixie • Sea Giant • Shark-kin • Triton |
| Dragon Magazine | Cayma • Gatorman • Lupin • N'djatwa • Phanaton • Rakasta • Shazak • Wallara |
| Hollow World | Beastman • Brute-Man • Hutaakan • Krugel Orc • Kubitt • Malpheggi Lizard Man |
| Known World | Bugbear • Goblin • Gnoll • Hobgoblin • Kobold • Ogre • Troll |
Monstergirl Leprechauns
 | This article or section is about Monstergirls (or a monster that is frequently depicted as a Monstergirl), something that /tg/ widely considers to be the purest form of awesome. Expect PROMOTIONS! and /d/elight in equal measure, often with drawfaggotry or writefaggotry to match. |
Like most of the fairy races out there, leprechauns have shown up as monstergirls, altough just like their kinsfolk, they're considered very entry-level examples. Your typical leprechaun girl is a red-haired, pale-skinned but freckled shortstack with a penchant for wearing green, a thick Irish brogue in her accent, and a love of mischief, strong liquor, and sex. They may sometimes be portrayed as having a workaholic attitude, or at least believing in the philosophy of "work hard, play hard", but mostly they're just portrayed as party girls. They may have magical abilities relating to illusion or, more rarely, to shapeshifting, and producing illusory gold is a pretty iconic ability.
If this sounds like basically an Irish theme park version of a monstergirl gnome, then that would be because leprechauns were one of the many participants in the fairy-folk orgy that ultimately gave rise to the Dungeons & Dragons gnome that /tg/ knows and usually ignores today.