Wodewose
Select Subtype:
Description:
Wodewose are large and powerful tree faeries who embody the power of the ancient woods. Some believe them to be a warrior caste of the dryads, and like their cousins, they are often mistaken for living plant creatures like spriggan, eoten, or mandragge.
Large, heavy, and bipedal, the wodewose are imposing warriors - typically armed with axes and shields, and protected with a thick skin of heavy bark. While wodewose prefer to avoid humanoids, they will sometimes be encountered defending undeveloped wooded regions from humanoid encroachment. Many legends tell of humanoid lords who, while attempting to expand or develop their lands and holdings, were warned off, threatened, or in some cases challenged to single combat by wodewose. A few of these legends are fanciful tales of heroic knights, but most are dark and troubling stories that end in shame and ruin.
When the fae go to battle, the wodewose are their elite forces, seemingly appearing by the hundreds or the thousands to answer the call of the Fae Lairds, as if the ancient woods themselves have come alive and taken up arms. With a phalanx of wodewose forming a front line, a faerie army is an almost unstoppable force.
Special:
Wodewose are immune to all normal weapons, poison and disease, but they take +100% damage from flame attacks.
Variants:
Standard wodewose are large and dangerous, and wield battle axes and shields to great effect. While they cannot cast many spells, they are not shy about using them, and if they anticipate battle, with often cast summon beast to bring in reinforcements.
Brute
Wodewose brutes are larger, heavier and tougher than their standard brethren, forgoing the defensive value of a shield in exchange for dual battle axes and the ability to stack their melee damage. A flurry of attacks from wodewose brute is enough to down even experienced, heavily armoured warriors.
Charger
While the large and imposing form of a wodewose does not suggest they woud rely on speed, wodewose chargers are far quicker than one would expect. They will typically enter battle from the flanks, attempting to knock down as many enemies as possible before engaging downed opponenets with sword and shield. Chargers will often use combined tactics with wodewose tanglers to eliminate entangled opponents, or to knock more opponents down for the tanglers to prey on.
Tangler
Wodewose tanglers use a retiarius fighting style - combining net and spear to entangle and then impale opponents. They will also use the entangle spell to interfere with distant enemies - particularly archers or other ranged attackers who might cause them problems. Tanglers will use their tactics in combination with Brutes and Chargers to make their enemies vulnerable to extremely dangerous attacks from their more powerful brethren.
Verdant
Wodewose verdants are devious casters who use their considerable magical powers to support other wodewose in battle. While they tend to stay at range and prefer to cast spells strategically in support of a larger offensive, they are nothing to be trifled with even on their own.