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Table of Contents
WEN
Overview
The Wen are a human sub-group up cavemen, native to the mountains south of Sakhar. Their tribes stretch from Finaroka, across the continent as far as Port Elizabeth, and into the Telidan mountain spine. While some Wen have moved into more civilized areas, many still live in small semi-nomadic family groups and follow a traditional hunter-gather lifestyle.
Wen mountain tribes conform to the Pathfinder Neanderthal description. However, this is an effect of their situation, rather than innate ability difference, and those who integrate into society give birth to 'normal' human children.
Core Philosophy
They follow a simple nature loving green faith, with naturalistic deities along with a demon, Varen, who will punish them if they abuse the natural world, or intercede for them in times of need. The Wen are expected to live from the fruits of the land, and should live in harmony with their surroundings. For Example: Taking whole plants (including trees) is ok - so long as they are taken singly and the immediate locality given a chance to recover before another plant is taken out. EG single trees are OK - logging operations are not. Farming is questionable, large-scale commercial enterprises, set up to generate money, are seen as bad.
Details of the Wen religion can be found here
Tribal Wen
Tribal Wen use the Pathfinder Neanderthal description with a few minor changes.
Environment mountains Organization solitary, group (2-4), or clan (10-40) Treasure greatclub, hide armor, 3 spears, leather sack, assorted bones, shells, and uncut gems worth 1d20 gp.
Wen (also sometimes called “cavemen”) have squat bodies with large bones and powerful muscles. Their faces have ape-like features, including large brows above the eyes.
Wen are friendly toward dwarves and gnomes, but hate goblins and kobolds, and will attack ogres on sight. Wen are shy and will avoid humans, but are not usually hostile unless they are attacked. Wen live in family groups in caves and caverns, and may move about a fixed 'family' territory as the seasons change. They usually fight with thrown spears and use stone axes, clubs, or stone hammers in hand-to-hand combat.
Classes and Skills
Wen are usually warriors or fighters, with the occasional barbarian or ranger. All Wen are trained to weapons, and every adult will be a warrior (there are no commoners, adepts, experts or aristocrats). Leaders and heroes will be Fighters, Rangers or Barbarians.
Spell casting Wen are extremely rare and are usually Sorcerer or Shaman . Both classes are seen to be 'touched by the gods' and are treated with fearful respect. They often live isolated lives away from any specific family group, but generally in walking distance of more than one family, and serve as healers, prophets and seers to the whole community. They are known to make images, deep in dark caves, of natural phenomena, such as animals, trees, sun and moon.
Every Wen has Survival as a skill, at least one member of each family will have Cooking, Brewing or Perform:Percussion.
Weapons & Armour
All tribal Wen are familiar with the following weapons. I have used 'standard' equivalents, rather than giving them specific stone age names, which makes it easier to work out how something works between systems. It also means that PCs should recognize the weapon for what it is. Note that some of the weapons are fragile and will be damaged on a natural 1.
Tribal Wen Weapons
- Mere club (Fragile) - small stone club
- Club – normal wooden club
- Light Mace (Fragile) – think stone hand axe
- Morning Star (Fragile) – think stone axe
- Spear (Fragile) - with stone spear point
- Sling – normal sling with sling stones. Sling stones do d3 damage.
- Atlatl – normal atlatl and darts
Tribal Wen Armour
- Padded Armour - made from bits of leather and fur, to provide basic protection.
- Shield (Small Wooden) - made from withies into round, basketwork, shields.
Wen Characters
Wen are usually warriors or fighters, with the occasional barbarian or ranger. Spell casting Wen are usually Sorcerer or Shaman , and are extremely rare.
Wen are defined by their character classes; they do not have racial hit dice. Wen have the following racial modifiers.
- +2 Strength, +2 Constitution, -2 Intelligence.
- Medium size: Wen have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
- Normal Speed: A Wen ’s base land speed is 30 feet.
- Hardy: Wen begin play with +6 hit points.
- Low-light vision: Wen can see twice as far as humans in conditions of dim light.
- Natural Armor: Wen have tough skin and thick bones, which give them a +1 natural armor bonus.
- Hatred: Wen receive a +1 bonus on attack rolls against goblins, kobolds, and ogres.
- Mental Fortitude: Wen gain a +2 racial bonus to save throws against illusions or enchantments.
- Languages: Wen begin play speaking Common. Neanderthals with high Intelligence scores can choose language that they might have been in contact with. (This will vary from location to location and must be cleared with the DM)
