• Kindred Type: Demi-fey
• Level 1 PC Age: 50 + 3d6 years
• Lifespan: 300 + 2d100 years
• Height: 3′ + 2d6″ (Small)
• Weight: 60 + 2d10 lbs
• Native Languages: Woldish, Sylvan

Woodgrues are capricious, bat-faced goblins who, many generations ago, forsook their ancestral home in Fairy and migrated to the musty dells of the mortal world. They have massive, flapping ears and soft, downy fur upon their heads and chests, while the rest of their body appears like that of a human child.

Further details: The Dolmenwood Player's Book provides further flavour and background information on woodgrues, including tables for backgrounds, trinkets, and personal details.

Naming a character: Either choose a first name and surname from the table below, roll for each, or invent something in a similar vein.

Woodgrue adventurers are commonly bards, magicians, or thieves. It is rare for a woodgrue to be accepted into the ranks of Dolmenwood nobility as a knight. Woodgrues cannot be clerics or friars as they have no spiritual connection with the deities of mortals.

Armour must be tailored to woodgrues’ small size. Likewise, woodgrues cannot wield Large weapons (see Armour and Weapons).

A woodgrue who witnesses a party, feast, celebration, or festival must partake; they are utterly compelled with every fibre of their being. If, for some reason, a woodgrue wishes to resist this compulsion, they may Save Versus Spell (but feel drained and downtrodden for the length of the engagement).

In melee with Large creatures, woodgrues gain a +2 Armour Class bonus, due to their small size.

Once per day, a woodgrue may play one of the enchanted melodies listed below on a wind instrument while hooting and dancing terribly.

Subjects: All living creatures within 30′ (including allies) must Save Versus Spell or be afflicted by the melody. Fairies and demi-fey gain a +2 bonus to the Saving Throw.

Duration: The effects of the melody last as long as the woodgrue keeps playing. While playing, the woodgrue may move but cannot attack or perform other actions.

Disrupting: If the woodgrue is harmed or fails a Saving Throw, they stop playing. Subjects who are harmed or fail a Saving Throw likewise cease to be affected.

Confide: Subjects speak in a slurred voice, confessing some deeply hidden emotion or revealing an ally’s secret.

Dance: Subjects begin dancing a profane, nonsensical jig. Those affected gain a +1 bonus to Armour Class, but cannot move from the spot where they dance.

Imbibe: Subjects ravenously consume any liquids (potable or not), herbs, mushrooms, and such like that are available and proceed to act as though drunk, suffering a –2 penalty to Attack Rolls until the revelry ends.

Jape: Subjects mock the immediately preceding occurrence, be it a deed of words or acts.

Jubilate: Subjects burst into irrepressible laughter, preventing them from speech. There is a 1-in-6 chance each Round of falling over in a laughing fit.

Mount: Subjects attempt to mount nearby creatures, be they friend or foe, and ride them piggyback (Save Versus Hold to resist being mounted). Unaffected creatures may Save Versus Hold once per Round to buck off a rider.

Revel: Subjects cannot speak; instead they bark out terrible scats of sound, in an attempt to keep up with the woodgrue’s maddening melodies. Speed is halved if subjects are not headed in the direction of the woodgrue.

A woodgrue can see in darkness up to 60′, viewing the world as though it glows in faint moonlight. This does not incur low light penalties (Darkness and Blindness), but fine detail (e.g. writing) cannot be perceived.

A woodgrue can employ a musical instrument as a melee weapon, doing 1d4 damage.

Woodgrues begin play with a wind instrument.

As demi-fey, cold iron weapons inflict +1 damage on woodgrues. (e.g. a cold iron shortsword would inflict 1d6+1 damage on a woodgrue, rather than the standard 1d6).

Woodgrues have a Skill Target of 5 for Listen.