I had the idea to test current promising small fine-tunes one by one and provide an overview of sorts that can help people understand what a model is capable of before downloading it / spending their own time testing them out. I plan to try many models ranging from 2B to 8B, this is the **second model** that I'm testing, [Sicarius’ Impish LLAMA 4B](https://huggingface.co/SicariusSicariiStuff/Impish_LLAMA_4B).

# Tested With 5 Different Character Cards

* Knight Araeth Ruene by Yoiiru (*Themes: Medieval, Politics, Morality.*) **\[**15 Messages **|** [**CHAT LOG**](https://rpwithai.com/st-chats/logs/sicarius/impish-llama-4b/araeth-revark/)**\]**
* Harumi – Your Traitorous Daughter by Jgag2. (*Themes: Drama, Angst, Battle.*) **\[21** Messages **|** [**CHAT LOG**](https://rpwithai.com/st-chats/logs/sicarius/impish-llama-4b/harumi-revark/)**\]**
* Time Looping Friend Amara Schwartz by Sleep Deprived (*Themes: Sci-fi, Psychological Drama.*) **\[25** Messages **|** [**CHAT LOG**](https://rpwithai.com/st-chats/logs/sicarius/impish-llama-4b/amara-jake/)**\]**
* You’re A Ghost! Irish by Calrston (*Themes: Paranormal, Comedy.*) **\[17** Messages **|** [**CHAT LOG**](https://rpwithai.com/st-chats/logs/sicarius/impish-llama-4b/irish-juniper/)**\]**
* Royal Mess, Astrid by KornyPony (*Themes: Fantasy, Magic, Fluff.*) **\[35** Messages **|** [**CHAT LOG**](https://rpwithai.com/st-chats/logs/sicarius/impish-llama-4b/astrid-ragnar/)**\]**

All chats go up to a decent length to give you an idea of how the model performs. You can find my detailed observations and conclusions of individual conversations, testing parameters, and more in the [**linked article**](https://rpwithai.com/sicarius-impish-llama-4b/).

# Overall Conclusion

The model’s biggest strength is its context awareness. This 4B fine-tune surprised us with how well it recalled details from the character card and used them naturally in the roleplay. It made the characters actually feel unique. Across all the scenarios, it didn’t get confused or forget story elements, except for a single instance.

Sicarius’ Impish LLAMA 4B successfully passed our five roleplay tests. It had a tendency to be repetitive and required some effort from our end to keep the story moving. But we were impressed with its performance. The model also doesn’t easily agree with you, prolonging scenarios involving conflict or where both the user and the character need to reach an understanding.

It handled Araeth’s dialogue-heavy roleplay very well, provided decent angst and battle scenes with Harumi, added extra sci-fi elements to Amara’s scenario, portrayed Astrid in a very endearing manner, and followed along in the paranormal setting with Irish.

Sicarius also highly recommends using the model with a specific format of character cards for roleplay and dropping system prompts. Using this recommended format lets you enjoy fun, fast-paced roleplays similar to the good old days of Character AI. It’s worth putting in the extra time if you prefer that style of roleplay.

# Notable Messages

Some messages that shows this 4B fine-tune capabilities.

>"I will do my best to protect you, but you must understand that I cannot guarantee your safety completely. You must also be prepared to face the challenges that come with being a ruler who defies the status quo." Araeth’s words carried a mix of determination and concern, her tone unchanging. 

**From Araeth's chat log message #13.**

>She stepped closer, her blade still at her side as she leaned in, her breath hot against his ear. "You may have granted me your mercy, father, but you have never granted me the freedom to choose. You have never allowed me to be my own person, to think for myself. You have always forced me into your shadow, into your way of thinking and doing things."

**From Harmui's chat log message #13**

>She paused for a moment before continuing. "I-I can kind of relate. I mean, I'm not trapped or anything, but I-I don't have many friends. I'm kind of a loner, I guess. But I-I don't really have anyone to talk to either." She said, looking down at her hands, her fingers tracing the scars on her wrists. "Do you ever get lonely? Do you ever wish you could be free?"

**From Irish's chat log message #11**

>She looked down at the piece of paper, trying to make sure she had written everything correctly. "I promise to feed you carrots and mint tea. I'll also make sure you have a comfortable place to sleep. I'll give you all the carrots you want, and I promise not to make you do anything dangerous or harmful."

**From Astrid's chat log message #8** *\[she likes carrots and mint tea in her character card info, and used it in a cute manner here.\]*

# Next Models I Want To Test

It takes a while since I go to a satisfactory depth with each roleplay, but these are the models I plan to test one by one. If you have any suggestions for small models you'd like me to add to this list and test, let me know!

**4B**

* TheDrummer/Gemma-3-R1-4B-v1

**7B**

* icefog72/IceMoonshineRP-7b

**8B**

* SicariusSicariiStuff/Dusk\_Rainbow
* TheDrummer/Ministrations-8B-v1
* SicariusSicariiStuff/Wingless\_Imp\_8B
* Sao10K/L3-8B-Stheno-v3.2 **OR** Sao10K/L3-8B-Lunaris-v1
* ReadyArt/The-Omega-Directive-M-8B-v1.0
* ArliAI/DS-R1-Qwen3-8B-ArliAI-RpR-v4-Small

Previously tested models:

* TheDrummer's Gemmasutra 2B - [Reddit Thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/SillyTavernAI/comments/1n4bp8j/thedrummers_gemmasutra_mini_2b_a_tiny_model_that/).

Sicarius’ Impish LLAMA 4B: A Small Model With Surprising Awareness