THE WOODSPRITE

Woodsprites are regarded by many as a bit on-edge and slightly paranoid. They often seem react to danger before realizing what they're doing, and sometimes even react when no danger is present. Despite this, they have a thriving society in certain arboreal settings, with treetop villages that can put elven communities to shame. These communities aren't very hospitable to outsiders, however, as they are designed for small beings with wings.

Personality: Their somewhat jumpy nature causes them to be a bit reserved when dealing with new people or situations, unconsciously on the alert for the first sign of trouble. Once trust is earned, they ease up, but even a long-lasting friendship can be put in peril if it is stretched too much. They prefer the tried-and-true to the experimental, the calm to the exciting, and the open air to the cramped dungeon.

Physical Description: Woodsprites resemble a cross between human children and halflings, with key distinctions being their pointed ears, odd coloration, and wings. Their skin ranges in shades from pale white to dusky gray to ruddy brown, while their hair comes in red, green, blonde or brown. Sprouting from their back are two insectoid wings which can be ovular like a housefly or more elongated like a dragonfly. They can be translucent or transparent, with a hue that generally matches their hair color. Women and men are both of roughly equal builds, 3-3½ feet tall and 20-30 pounds. Their bones are hollow, but strong. Both sexes usually lack body hair, but some men have a light smattering on their forearms and lower legs.

Relations: Woodsprites get along with elves despite their slightly chaotic natures, and their reserved nature meshes with dwarves, though their jumpiness can grate on a dwarf's nerves. They do pretty well with humans and half-elves and the odd darkaralome that they meet. Half-orcs are viewed with suspicion. Gnomes and halflings are tolerated, at best. A woodsprite often finds himself the brunt of practical jokes from those two races, usually just to see him jump. However, gnomes and halflings have been known to lose an eye or two when the reaction turns out to be more than was expected.

Alignment: Woodsprites tend toward lawfulness, as it tends to minimize the potential for surprises. They also tend towards good, as the life of evil leads itself towards a life of always watching your back. However, individual woodsprites can be of any alignment, and their nature helps them survive being chaotic or evil better than other races can manage.

Woodsprite Lands: Temperate forests, and jungles are the most likely places for woodsprites to live. Most mountains are home to sudden changes in weather that can throw a woodsprite off-kilter, but certain forested peaks are settled, as the terrain capitalizes on their natural affinity for high places.

Religion: Woodsprites revere gods of the sun, forests and nature, but they hold their patron god Ailalea in the highest regard.

Language: Woodspritish resembles Sylvan in many respects, even using the Elven script. Its sounds are sighing, melodious, and sometimes whispered. It's not impossible to have a shouting match in Woodspritish, but it's not made for such coarse usage.

Names: Children are named by their parents at birth and it's very rare that the child ever grows up and changes it. Naming a child after an ancestor is common, as is blending the names of the parents or other relatives. Nicknames are unheard of, and a woodsprite often won't even respond if an outsider tries to give him one.

Male Names: Alvar, Breiden, Dag, Harwan, Hauk, Lassen, Siv, Stian, Tauno, and Urya.

Female Names: Aila, Eeva, Froya, Karin, Laurah, Liisa, Linnea, Tora, Ulla, and Valma.

Adventurers: Woodsprites adventure for different reasons. Some are thrillseekers who are energized by their jumpy nature and find home life to be too dull. Others are compelled to fight the hidden dangers of the world and thus make their own homelands safer.

• Humanoid: Despite their name, woodsprite physiology differs enough that they are not considered sprite, nor even fey.
• +2 Wisdom, -2 Charisma: Woodsprites are in touch with the world around them, but their twitchiness makes them about as friendly as Dwarves.
• Small: As small creatures, woodsprites gain a +1 size bonus to Armor Class, a +1 size bonus on attack rolls, and a +4 size bonus on Hide checks, but they must use smaller weapons than humans use, and their lifting and carrying limits are three-quarters those of Medium-size characters.
• Woodspritish base speed is 30 feet. They are deceptively quick for their size.
• Low-Light Vision: Woodsprites can see twice as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions of poor illumination. They retain the ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions.
• Bonus feat: A woodsprite can choose either Lightning Reflexes or Improved Initiative as a bonus feat. The bonus granted by this feat is considered a racial bonus.
• Glide: A woodsprite with his wings free takes no damage from a fall from any height. Furthermore, he can travel horizontally four times the distance that he fell, with clumsy movement.
• +2 racial bonus to Climb, Jump and Balance checks, when his wings are free. A woodsprite making use of this bonus flaps its wings madly. He may keep his wings still and forgo this bonus at will (when silence is necessary, for instance).
• Automatic languages: Common and Woodspritish. Bonus languages: Elven, Gnoll, Gnome, Goblin, Orc, and Sylvan. Smart woodsprites learn the languages of friend and foe.
• Favored class: Ranger. A multiclass woodsprite's ranger class does not count when determining whether he takes an experience point penalty for multiclassing. Woodsprites are at home in even the most inhospitable woods and know their territory well. Rangerhood is almost second nature to them.

Ailalea (eye-lah-lee-ah), The Bright Beam.

She is the Ever-Constant, Woodsprite Mother, the light that breaks the darkness, and the dappled beams that shine through the treetops. Bards and rangers sometimes worship her, as certain groups of miners and such who work in darkness but crave the light. She is neutral good, and her domains are Air, Good, Plant and Sun. Her favored weapon is the bow and arrow and her symbol is a single pure beam of light slicing into a mass of darkness, illuminating a single leaf on the ground.