Imp

Imps are found throughout the Lower Planes, either running errands for their infernal masters, spying on rivals, or misleading and waylaying mortals. An imp will proudly serve an evil master of any kind, but it can't be relied on to carry out tasks with any speed or efficiency.
An imp can assume animal form at will, but in its natural state it resembles a diminutive red-skinned humanoid with a barbed tail, small horns, and leathery wings. It strikes while invisible, attacking with its poison stinger.

Imp Familiar

Imps can be found in the service to mortal spellcasters, acting as advisors, spies, and familiars. An imp urges its master to acts of evil, knowing the mortal's soul is a prize the imp might ultimately claim. Imps display an unusual loyalty to their masters, and an imp can be quite dangerous if its master is threatened. Some such imps have the following trait.
Familiar. The imp can enter into a contract to serve another creature as a familiar, forming a telepathic bond with its willing master. While the two are bonded, the master can sense what the imp senses as long as they are within 1 mile of each other. While the imp is within 10 feet of its master, the master shares the imp's Magic Resistance trait. If its master violates the terms of the contract, the imp can end its service as a familiar, ending the telepathic bond.

Basic Information

Biological Traits

Imps are diminutive evil creatures who roam the world and act as familiars for lawful evil wizards and priests.
The average imp is a 2' humanoid with leathery, bat-like wings, a barbed tail, and sharp, twisted horns. The skin is often a dark red, but many other colorations are known; horns and jagged teeth are a gleaming white. The imp can polymorph self into two other animal forms. The most commonly encountered alternate forms are those of a large spider, raven or rat. In such forms the imp is physically identical to a normal animal.
In its natural form, the imp attacks with the wicked stinger on its tail. In addition to inflicting 1d4 points of damage, this stinger injects a poison that is very deadly. When polymorphed, the imp attacks with the natural weaponry of its adopted form.
The imp can use its special magical abilities no matter what its form. All imps can become invisible at will.

Society

Imps spread evil by assisting lawful wizards and priests. When such a person is judged worthy of an imp's service, the imp comes in answer to a find familiar spell.
When they have contacted their new "master," imps begin at once to take control of his actions. Imps maintain the pretense that the summoner is in charge, but the actual relationship is closer to that of a workman (the imp) and his tools (the master).
Although an imp's body can be destroyed on a foreign plane, its corrupt spirit instantly returns to its home plane where it reforms and, '' after a year and a day, returns from there to resume its work.
Though technically in the service of their master, imps retain a basic independence and long range ambition to become more powerful. They may acquire treasure from those they slay, and will often pilfer valuables encountered during their travels.
The imp confers some of its powers upon its master. A telepathic link connects the two whenever they are within one mile of each other. This lets the master receive the imp's sensory impressions, including its infravision. The master also gains the imp's inherent magical resistance.
Ecology: Imps are common on the planes of Acheron and Baator. They are formed from larva (q.v.) by powerful fiends. Imps do not age naturally and are remarkably durable. (Speculation, fostered by the imps themselves, has it that fiends evolved from imps.)
Imps now serve as errand runners, emissaries, and agents for their alleged descendants.

Genetic Ancestor(s)

• Devils

Average Height

2 ft (0.61 m)

Average Weight

8 lb (3.6 kg)