Oddlings

Oddling
3 HP, 7 STR, 12 DEX, 8 WIL, claw/bite (d4), slingshot (d4)
  • Small, mischevious, grotesque humanoids with a variety of physical mutations.
  • Avoid combat, except to take targets by surprise with numbers.
  • Critical Damage: rather than doing further harm, a nearby Oddling steals a random item from inventory and runs off with it.

No one is quite sure where Oddlings come from, though there are many theories. Some think they grow spontaneously from muck and refuse--where else do they get their ragged clothes? Others, with great sophistication, explain that when a gnome's mother tree withers, the whole tribe mutates into Oddling form. Still others think them the result of malign experiments performed on missing children.

Wherever they come from, everyone knows an Oddling when they see one: diminutive, dishevelled, and mischievous in the extreme--and with the face of something entirely inhuman. For the Oddlings' part, they don't seem to mind--or even notice--this reputation. Indeed, they seem to go about their lives with childish ignorance and exuberance--though they do appear to take wicked delight in inconveniencing you.

Inspiration

Let me level with you: I'm extremely tired of goblins. They're such a staple, but ya, any time little mischievous, green-skinned, pointy-eared baddies show up I kind of inwardly sigh: "here we go again". (I'm kind of bored with elves and dwarves, too, but let's not go there right now.)

So, forthrightly, Oddlings are my re-skin of goblins. (I change the name of them now and again--names are hard). This time though, instead of being generically evil twerps, they're more like purely chaotic nuisances. They're not just here to be mowed down in droves, they're here to get under your skin and fray your nerves.

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