Race-as-Class: The Wose-man

The Wose-man

Requirements: Strength, Constitution & Dexterity 12+

Prime Requisite: Strength

Hit Dice: d10

Saw this image, felt inspired.
by Steven De Waele 

You are one of the hidden folk, one of the elusive wose-men who have lived in the mysterious and unpopulated forests of antiquity. Your kind avoids confrontation when it can be helped, but you know well how to defend yourself and your territory when a threat comes your way. Threats come your way more now than ever before; your woods are rife with wretched monsters, hordeling goblinoids, and destructive men whose ambitions outweigh their respect for the nature of the world.

Perhaps this is why you’ve taken up with some mannish thugs and vagabonds; though they are easily distracted by gold and vengeance they fight many of the same enemies you do. Their weapons and armor are of fine make, though they clatter about without any grace. They think you are simple, possibly scary. Simple is not bad, scary can be useful.

Wikipedia.

You stand tall, nearly nine feet but quite possibly ten. Your hands, your pelt, they smell of wild garlic, old dirt, and ancient meat. Your skin is black, brown, red; your pelt is matching; though with age it fades towards grey or is overcome with mossy green. Your eyes are like globes of blood and darkness, hiding an intelligence and capacity for tactics that would make clear that none should ever have trespassed in your domain.

Special Abilities

Arms & Armor: Wose-men have thick hair that feels like the matted mane of a horse, tough as leather and carrying an unpleasant smell when breathed in deeply. Wose-men go unarmored, but provided they are not shaved of their pelt, they have AC equivalent to leather. Wose-men can make use of shields, clubs, stones, spears, slings, and other primitive weapons.

Stench: A wose-man can once per day secrete its stench, causing all living creatures within 30 feet to make a Constitution save or become sickened for 1d6 rounds; suffering a -2 penalty to hit anything in the direction of the wose-man. Grappled victims during a secretion must Save vs Poison and suffer a penalty to any task for the next 24 hours. Wose-men can track any object or individual who has been slathered in its stench at a rate of 4-in-6, losing a 1-in-6 for every day passed since the original slathering.

Wose-might: The hands and feet of a wose-man are huge and brutal. If a wose-man grapples an enemy, their attacks deal 1d6+STR modifier in damage. If the wose-man has an enemy grappled for more than one round, they can easily toss them away, dealing 1d10+STR modifier in damage. Wose-men can also throw large items as a Hill Giant can, but they must pass a Strength save to first lift any great stone or fallen tree.

Hidden Men: Wose-men are masters of blending into the wilderness, hiding-in-plain sight at a rate of 4-in-6 while in woodland environments. Wose-men who hollar and hoot while hidden can make their sounds appear to originate from any direction they choose, as though by ventriloquism.

Born Forester: Wose-men can identify wild plants at a rate of 1-in-6, notice huntsmen traps at a rate of 2-in-6, and find a decent place to sleep at a rate of 2-in-6.

Definitely vibing some Stupid Rat Creatures

Drawbacks

Uncivilized: Being literal wild-men, the wose-men are not welcome in polite society. They are seen as primitive, savage, monstrous, and uncouth at the best of times. Wose-men suffer a -2 to all reaction rolls with civilized individuals, and they are utterly unable to find hirelings willing to serve them loyally unless they have been directly saved by the actions of the wose-man or they are wose-men themselves.

Fire’s Foe: Wose-men were never civilized and made properly mannish, as such fire is not their oldest and greatest ally. It seems to scorn them for their savagery. Wose-men struck by fire suffer an additional point of damage and have a 50% chance of catching fire (likely due to their oily stink which saturates their hair). Wose-men being threatened with fire suffer a -2 penalty to their morale.

Other Notable Things

Languages: Wose-men speak the complex language of Ormm, named for the guttural clearing of the throat they make before letting out a series of grunts, hollars, and ullulations; often punctuated with drumming upon trees. Animals can understand the rough concepts being spoken, but only other wose-men understand it entirely. Wose-men can understand intent behind a common mannish tongue, though they can only speak a few words of it at best.

An adventuring wose-man can speak a number of words in the common tongue equal to their Intelligence + Wisdom attributes. Have fun piecing together other character names via this situation.

Vision: Wose-men suffer sensitivity when exposed to direct sunlight outside of a forest, as they prefer the shadowy groves of woodland terrain. Wose-men can see adequately through fog and can see in moonlight as though they possessed a torch.

The Wose-man
Level	Breath Attacks	Poison or Death	Petrify or Paralyze	Wands	Spells or Spell-like Devices
1-3	13	10	8	12	13
4-6	10	8	6	8	10
7-9	7	6	4	6	8
10	5	4	2	4	6

The Wose-man
Level	Experience	Title	Hit Dice (d10)
1	0	the Skunk Ape	1
2	2,100	the Shaggy	2
3	4,250	the Savage	3
4	8,500	the Wose-man	4
5	17,500	the Tall Strider	5
6	35,000	the Wild Man of the Woods	6
7	70,000	the Long Strider of the Woods	7
8	140,000	the Lord of the Woods	8
9	275,000	the Greyman	9
10	450,000	the Greenman	+4 HP Only

I know one of my players, specifically my roomie, would play one of these. Because he's a filthy degenerate who loves to mock my fear for Bigfoot.