Robin Goodfellow: Well, mortals, we’ll share tales of our fairy kin. Have you heard of the brownies? I’ Il tell you the story of one.
Many years ago there lived in Vestland a man named Godfred Egilssen and his wife, Ingrid. Though they were of little means, they worked hard and always managed to get by comfortably.
As much as the neighbors admired this, they felt sorry for the couple, who had no children. Ingrid wasn’t overtly gloomy, but always had a distant look of unhappy resignation in her eyes; and, though Godfred was too good a man to complain about his lot, it was known how much he wanted a son or daughter to continue the family.
Finally the Immortals saw fit to grant the husband and wife their dearest wish: Ingrid discovered she
was pregnant. When it neared the time the baby was due, Ingrid’s sister came to live at the Egilssen house
to be of help.
“Why Ingrid!” exclaimed her sister. “What a neat house you keep, despite your condition, and so
warm—though it is small and unsealed.”
Ingrid smiled. ‘ ‘Asa,” she began, you must not tell anyone, but we have a brownie…
The day the baby was born, everyone was very happy. Asa wished to share the joy with even the brownie, and so she knit him a little cap and coat, and left it beside the cakes and cream bowl that evening.
The next morning the clothes and food was gone; but the hearth was the same mess she’d left it. As she sat there and puzzled over it, she heard a little voice sing:
“Pretty new mantle and pretty new hood—
poor brownie! Ye’ll ne’er more do these folk good.”

Happily the loss of a helpful fairy was little compared to the joy in the household, and indeed the family’s fortunes soon changed for the better, and they moved to a bigger, warmer house. But to this day the many children and grandchildren of Godfred and Ingrid give neither hats nor cloaks on birthdays.

~ Story from “Tall Tales of the Wee Folk” Pages 27~28. (Bruce Heard: 1989)

Brownies are a member of the Fairy races, also known as the Fair-Folk. Most brownies are settled creatures, moving into a household that they help out at. Brownies in a household will wait until late at night, when everyone is asleep, and then do cleaning, such as sweeping, butter churning, threshing or other household chores.

Brownies of a household do no ask for any sort of payment, and in fact this can be insulting to them to receive this. Gifts of food are often welcome, each brownie having a favorite food, but most will accept fresh cream, little cakes, or cookies with honey. If you leave these and thank the brownie for their work, they will remain happy, and continue to help.

On the opposite side, if any criticism is made of the work they do to help, or if spoiled food is left out for them, the brownie may be offended, and will start to become troublesome. They will start to make the work harder for the tenants until appeased. Common things for them to do is to dirty the house, move furniture, let pets or animals out, or curdle milk. Brownies scorned will sometimes even follow their victim to new homes.

The only way to get rid of a brownie, is to give them clothing. Mortals are often shocked by this, but clothing is a manufactured thing, and not a gift of nature. Clothing in when gifted is the same as paying the brownie for their service and is so repulsive that they will leave. This makes sense in a brownies eyes, as the only fey that wear manufactured clothing are leprechauns. Giving them a gift of clothing is like calling them leprechauns.

Clothing can also be seen as an admittance of being criminal. Many fairies that misbehave in the fey-wild are assigned houses to care for in the mortal world. they must care for and clean this household instead of playing and dancing, like they wish they were. Fairies that are assigned a house are done so due to misbehaving, and this is their penance. And so, when a mortal makes and gives them clothing, hats, or shirts and pants, anything, it is comparable to giving them prison clothes and declaring to the fey world, that even the mortals know they are a criminal worth punishing. It is humiliating.

But not all brownies are household helpers, some are protectors of treasures buried by mortals. They may do this as a favor to the mortal, or the mortal may have made a deal with the brownie. Sometimes the mortal makes a prayer to the fey-lords and leaves a food gift for the brownie for this favor.

Brownies that learn to hate mortals and try their best to harm them, are known as Redcaps, and they tend to wear red colored hats.

Brownie PCs (BECMI / OSE)

Ability Scores:

Strength	Intelligence	Wisdom	Dexterity	Constitution	Charisma
5~15 (2d6+3)	3~18 (3d6)	3~18 (3d6)	6~18 (4d4+2)	3~18 (3d6)	4~16(4d4)

Prime Requisite: Dexterity. If a Brownie has a 13 or higher, they receive a +5% to their experience gains, a Dexterity of 16 or better increases this to +10%.

Languages: Brownies speak Fey, Common, Halfling, and can communicate with any normal or giant animal.

Invisibility to Mortals: Invisibility to mortals can be used to make the brownie completely invisible. They can be revealed just like any invisible creature, but may also be seen by creatures with Second Sight.

Second Sight: For fey, this ability begins with the ability to see creatures that are invisible to mortals, but it also allows them to receive prophetic dreams at times. There have been cases of Mortals gaining the ability, but in those cases, the fey usually find a way to remove the ability (in severe cases by blinding the mortal.)

Magic Items: Brownies may use items created for Fighters, dwarves or halflings normally. Once the brownie has reached level 1, they may also attempt to use items created for Elves or magic-users. This is not always successful however, due to their nature. When they attempt, they must roll % dice, and refer to the table near their level.
S (Success): The item works normally.
F (Fail): The item fails to work.
B (Backfire): The item does the opposite of what it is designed to do.
U (Unexpected result): The DM Chooses an effect, but the effect is not related to the item at all.

Saving Throws:

Saves	Level 1~3	Level 4~6	Level 7+
Death Ray / Poison	8	5	2
Magic Wands	9	6	3
Paralysis / Turn to Stone	10	7	4
Breath Attack	13	9	5
Rod / Staff / Spell	12	8	4

Experience:

Level	XP	Hit Dice	Item (S)	Item (F)	Item (B)	Item (U)
—	-2,000	1d8	—	01~100	—	—
Normal Monster	0	2d8	—	01~100	—	—
1	2,000	3d8	01~05	06~89	90~99	100
2	6,000	4d8	01~05	06~89	90~98	99~100
3	14,000	5d8	01~10	11~89	90~97	98~100
4	30,500	—	01~15	16~89	90~96	97~100
5	62,000	6d8	01~15	16~89	90~95	96~100
6	125,000	7d8	01~20	21~89	90~94	95~100
7	250,000	8d8	01~20	21~89	90~93	94~100
8	500,000	9d8	01~25	26~89	90~92	93~100
9	800,000	10d8	01~25	26~89	90~91	92~100
10	1,100,000	10d8+2	01~30	31~89	90	91~100

Brownie PCs (5e)

Creature Type. You are a Fey.
Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 2 and your Charisma increases by 1.
Age: Brownies are eternal. Being Fey, they don’t actually age, and when they die, their essance returns to the fey-wild.
Alignment: Unlike most fey, brownies are fairly lawful in alignment, and rarely, if ever, evil.
Size. Brownies are one of the smallest of the fey races. Your size is Small.
Speed. Your walking speed is 25 feet.
Faeriefolk. You cannot be put to sleep or aged by magic.
Slight. Your small size gives you a +1 bonus to your Armor Class, and you have proficiency in Stealth.
Keen Senses. The brownie has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on hearing or sight.
Fey Magic. You know the druidcraft cantrip. Once you reach 3rd level, you can cast the entangle spell once per day. Once you reach 5th level, you can also cast the spike growth spell once per day. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Second Sight: For fey, this ability begins with the ability to see creatures that are invisible to mortals, but it also allows them to receive prophetic dreams at times. There have been cases of Mortals gaining the ability, but in those cases, the fey usually find a way to remove the ability (in severe cases by blinding the mortal.)
Invisibility to Mortals: Invisibility to mortals can be used to make the brownie completely invisible. They can be revealed just like any invisible creature, but may also be seen by creatures with Second Sight.

Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and Sylvan.

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The Image of the Brownie is from the Monstrous Manual (1989) by Jim Halloway

Brownie BECMI Rules by Bruce Heard (Tall Tales of the Wee Folk, 1989). (Modified slightly)

Brownie 5E Rules From the 5E SRD