You may want to try coral bells (Heuchera). They fit your size requirements and have various shades and colors of foliage. They are not particularly appealing to deer.

ooo, a response! thanks stevega.. i was eyeing some heuchera the other day but was concerned about whether it would tolerate full shade. this area is facing north and although it gets a lot of reflected light (no overhead trees) it gets absolutely no direct sunlight on account of the shadow cast by the house..

I have had good luck here with heuchera in full shade so I think that they will do well in your situation. Also, wild ginger has nice variagation and could be used.
Enjoy

Pulmonaria and Brunnera are very hosta-like--people often ask me how I keep the "hostas" from being eaten by deer. There are a number of cultivars.

I am so glad I found this forum, could use all of the advise I can get on repelling deer but my experience has been the deer will eat the heuchera and brunnera just as readily as they eat the hostas (I have all of these planted together and around my yard). I've noticed they only eat the pulmonaria in the early spring when they were blooming, I guess they don't like the older leaves.

They don't eat sweet woodruff though, but will eat the heuchera & coneflowers interplanted among it.

Chester you are right the deer don't eat hellebore but they didn't protect the caladium and hostas interplanted amongst the hellebore.

I've noticed what works for one person is usually a fluke. I've said for the past 3 years interplanting herbs among my deer loving perennials detered the deer except this year the deer just stepped over the herbs and had their fill. LOL

I grow rohdea japonica or 'sacred lily' or sometimes called evergreen hosta. It's deep green, grows in dense shade, is deer resistant and looks like a hosta with somewhat narrower leaves. I don't understand why it's not more readily avaiable because its very easy to grow - the variegated ones are pricey.

Hi - i live in the middle of DEER country and have found a solution that works. the DEER used to eat all my hostas. my friend is a professional landscaper AND suggested GREEN IRISH SPRING SOAP. they hate the SMELL.

I cut the soap into tiny chunks and sprinkle the pieces around the hostas and any other plants they liked to eat... this is my fourth summer without a problem. THE ONLY DRAW BACK IS THAT U HAVE TO REAPPLY THE PIECES AFTER 2-3 RAINFALLS.

IT IS POSSIBLE THAT THE DEER NO LONGER CARES FOR MY YARD, AND THE SOAP CHUNKS HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH IT... ITS WORTH A TRY. Good Luck !!

What about bergenia? I've heard that deer tend to leave it alone, and it turns red in the fall.

ok i know this is an old post, but since i've had a few years to experiment, i thought i should share my findings...

my best-performing hosta-like plant has turned out to be jack frost brunnera.. i only like the 'jack frost' variety because of its silver foliage, the others don't compare. they are very hardy in our climate, don't have any insect or fungus problems, although sometimes slugs will chew on them (we put down sluggo and it seems quite controllable).

i've been frustrated with the heuchera, they get eaten a lot by the deer, and same with the bergenia..

pulmonaria comes a close second although if there is a lot of rain in spring, they seem to attract fungus and then look sparse the rest of the year.

helleborus is nice but not quite as hosta like as i want... great glossy green leaves though...