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A New Race: the Oaves! (Trust me, it’s a Must-Read) [MitP II]
Oaves
Premise
Spoiler
Let me start by stating that I’ve been working on these guys for a few weeks now, & I must say that I am quite proud of them. I just recently discovered that no less than Gary Gygax himself created the only other race of Oaf-kind, for his Lejendary Adventure RPG. By the time I found out about them, it was too for me to abandon my own creation, so I have forged ahead, & now I’m done. I know nothing about his creation, other than it exists, so hopefully there are only a few thematic similarities.
Over the next few days, I’m going the post everything I’ve done with the oaf: culture, history, psychology, & language. There will also be statistics, rules, prestige classes & feats. This is the ambitious D&D-related project I’ve ever created, the crafting of an entirely new race, with a depth unseen outside of the Races series of splatbooks. I hope you enjoy them, & maybe even find use for them in your own campaign. I know that I will.
Most of what I will be posting here is fluff, but there will be sections of crunch that will require greater scrutiny. Please evaluate & critique honestly.
Re: A New Race: the Oaves! (Trust me, it’s a Must-Read)
A Day in the Life of an Oaf
Gorb wake up. It is early, sun wake up. Gorb stand up, toss off blanket. Ground is hard. Gorb back hurt from sleeping on ground. Gorb is tired.
Gorb is hungry. Gorb leave trundle. Gorb leave swamp. Gorb walk in woods. Gorb see rabbit. Gorb sit still. Gorb wait. Rabbit hop by. Hop, hop, hop. Gorb jump up. Rabbit run. Gorb catch rabbit. Gorb eat well.
Gorb must work. Work is hard. Gorb hate work. Oaf-men don’t work. Gorb began the Toiling when Gorb was six. Gorb now six twice. Gorb is tired. Gorb walk back to swamp. Back to trundle. Oom see Gorb. Oom is Watcher. Oom see everything. Oom tell Gorb to find more food. Trundle need more food. Gorb is mad. Gorb just leave woods. Work is hard.
Gorb leave trundle. Gorb leave swamp. Gorb walk in woods. Gorb find rock. Rock is big. Large as head. Gorb take rock. Gorb climb tree. Gorb wait. Gorb good at waiting.
Deer walk by. Gorb wait. Deer walk close. Gorb wait. Deer smell tree. Gorb throw rock. Hit deer head. Deer fall down. Gorb jump on deer. Gorb drag deer back to swamp. Back to trundle. Oom see Gorb. Oom like deer. Oom is happy. Oom call chief. Chief take deer. Chief is happy. Chief say Gorb is man-oaf now. Toiling is over. Gorb is happy.
Gorb eat with rest of adults. Gorb is tired. Gorb eat deer. Gorb get sleepy.
Gorb wake up. Gorb play with oaf-men. Play Rock-Toss. Gorb like Rock-Toss. Gorb good at throwing rock. Rock-Toss easy. Gorb almost win.
Oaf-men lay down. Gorb lay too. Look at sky. Sky is nice.
Oaf-men wander. Go find things. Things for trade. Humans live near. Humans need things. Humans will trade. Humans have stuff. Stuff oaf-folk like. Gorb wander too. Gorb look for things. Gorb get bored. Gorb look later.
Sky get dark. Sun lay down. Fire get made. Trundle gathers in circle. Circle around fire. Eat more deer. Tell oaf stories. Tell oaf jokes. Circle is fun.
Oom start Boasting. Gorb join in. Oom boast. Trundle like it. Chief boast. Trundle like it. Gorb stand up. Gorb make up story. Tell of oaf who work. Oaf is dumb. Oaf work hard. Oaf get crushed by rock. Rock fall. Oaf die. Trundle like it. Gorb win Boasting. Gorb is happy. Chief is happy. Chief call Gorb “Jokey.” Gorb is “Jokey” now.
Gorb is tired. Gorb hate work. Gorb get sleepy. Gorb lay down.
Re: A New Race: the Oaves! (Trust me, it’s a Must-Read)
Overview
Personality
In short, oaves are dumb & lazy. Labor is anathema to the oaven way, or it would be if they knew what “anathema” meant. They are perhaps the least ambitious of the humanoid races, content to lie around relaxing while other, more motivated people work hard all day. They tend to take what they want, & flee if that taking leads to conflict. They rarely craft anything on purpose; an oaf would rather find a substandard tool than go through all the trouble to make a better one.
The oaves are also noted for their stupidity. They are usually slow-witted, crass, boorish & dense. They seldom learn something that they don’t have to, & are even less likely to seek out new knowledge. At best, an oaf is simple yet kind, lacking refinement, but making up for it in gentleness. At worst, oaves can be obtuse & cruel, hurting others for their own convenience, without a though of compassion.
Re: A New Race: the Oaves! (Trust me, it’s a Must-Read)
Physical Description
Oaves are large, hulking creatures. They typically stand a little less than 7’ to a bit over 8’ tall & weigh between 225 to 425 pounds. The male oaf is only slightly taller than the female, although the female tends to be a little wider. Oaves usually have thick callused skin, tanned by the sun & tough from exposure to the elements. Graceless & lumbering, they have a round, portly stomach & large ungainly arms. Oaven hands & feet appear to be oversized, even for their hefty physiques.
Their face is considered rather ugly, by human standards: narrow-set eyes, large bumpy nose, sloping forehead, thick bony brow, protruding ears, large lips, & a weak chin. Their hair is coarse, greasy, & prone to growing in haphazard patches. They tend to be quite malodorous, due to their poor hygiene.
Oaves are considered adults at around 12 years old, & they age a little faster than Humans. Few oaves live longer than 80 years.
Re: A New Race: the Oaves! (Trust me, it’s a Must-Read)
Relations
Derided by other races for their idiocy & indolence, oaves often don’t get along with others. They generally look down on the “labor races,” as foolish (for working so hard) & arrogant (for being so smart). They have some dealings with Humans, who are adaptable enough to accept the oaven ways, are open-minded to anyone who is willing to trade goods fairly, & admire the oaven love of leisure. Although eager merchants & traders in their own right, Dwarves simply cannot understand the indolence of the oaves, nor do they want to. The Elves appreciate the oaves’ free-spirited demeanor & self-sufficient culture (such as it is), but have a hard time looking past the loutish behavior & dull wit of an oaf. Gnomes are frequently amused by their gullibility, falling for classic pranks over & over again. Halflings typically enjoy the company of oaves, both for their value of simple contentment & their larcenous tendencies. Half-Elves empathize with the oaves, due to their lack of a place in civilized society & their untapped potential; however, even a Half-Elf’s talent for diplomacy can only go so far up against the dimness of an oaf. Half-Orcs often find themselves directly competing with oaves for territory, & therefore they rarely make friends.
Re: A New Race: the Oaves! (Trust me, it’s a Must-Read)
Alignment
Laws have little place in oaven society. Oaves are too lethargic & too dumb to make much use of lawfulness. Chaotic to a fault, as a group they favor neither good nor evil. Those that lean toward good will forage, scavenge or trade for whatever they need, & try to “go with the flow” of those around them. Those that lean toward evil will steal from, intimidate or enslave others to accomplish their goals.
Re: A New Race: the Oaves! (Trust me, it’s a Must-Read)
Oaf Lands
Oaves live in places that no civilized people would inhabit: remote valleys, rugged badlands, fetid swamps, & dank caves. This puts them in opposition with orcs, goblinoids, giants, lizardfolk, & trolls. Since oaves tend to view combat as laborious, they will often migrate from an area that has become unpleasant, resettling in a new land that has better prospects & lesser competition. This practice makes oaves perpetual refugees, moving from place to place in a nomadic hunt for fertile land, easy game & affable neighbors.
Oaven settlements are loosely organized communities, known as trundles, which are typically slapdash & jumbled, ruled by the strongest & governed by whim. The inhabitants are simply too slothful to argue, they go along, as long as they aren’t forced to work. They tend to live in poverty & squalor, but are too languid to do anything to improve their lot.
Re: A New Race: the Oaves! (Trust me, it’s a Must-Read)
Religion
Contrary to what most people think, the oaves not only have a god, but an entire pantheon of deities. These gods, however, are not worshipped piously or with much enthusiasm. Above all, the oaves are torpid after all, & are not prone to devote themselves to the rigors of religious life. Those that do even think about piety usually venerate the creator of the oaves, Ofo. Oaves are also known to follow Gulu, the God of Ease, & Rozo, the Goddess of Theft. There are a few other gods in the oaven pantheon, but they are seldom worshipped exclusively, & like all oaven gods, they are rarely worshipped passionately.
For more information on oaven religion, see the Oaf Pantheon.
Re: A New Race: the Oaves! (Trust me, it’s a Must-Read)
Language
The Oavish language is a simple, guttural tongue that uses the Dwarven runic script on the very few occasions when it is actually written. Nearly all of its words are monosyllabic, & a good portion of the tongue uses body language in its syntax. This speech is virtually useless for communicating complex topics, such as science, engineering, philosophy, medicine, or even history. It really only lends itself well to topics concerning leisure: games, sleeping, play, relaxation & other idleness.
For more information on linguistics, see Oaven Language.
Re: A New Race: the Oaves! (Trust me, it’s a Must-Read)
Adventurers
Oaves are stupid, sedentary beings, not usually well-suited to the life of an adventurer. The curiosity, ambition & wit required to be an explorer or mercenary is rarely present in a typical oaf. A rare minority, however, does find the life of an adventurer appealing, & searches for exciting activities. These oaves are nearly always exiles from their respective trundles, cast out because they “make the others look bad.” Although adventurers have a lot to offer the generally-inactive oaves, the vast differences in viewpoint leave little in common. Without the support of the other oaves, these lone travelers often seek out adventurers of other races to compliment their abilities.
Re: A New Race: the Oaves! (Trust me, it’s a Must-Read)
Racial Traits
+4 Str, -2 Dex, +2 Con, -2 Int: Oaves are hulking & tough, but they are also dim-witted & clumsy.
Oaf base land speed is 30 feet.
Medium Size: As Medium creatures, oaves have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size. However, see the powerful build ability description below for more details.
Monstrous Humanoid: As monstrous humanoids, oaves are proficient with all simple weapons, but they have no proficiency with any armor or shield. They also have 8-sided Hit Dice, a base attack bonus equal to their total Hit Dice (like a fighter), good Reflex & Will saves, & skill points equal to (2 + their Intelligence modifier, minimum 1) per Hit Die, with quadruple skill points for the first Hit Die.
Human Sight: Unlike other monstrous humanoids, oaves lack darkvision, or even low-light vision. Instead, they have the same visual acuity as humans (which is to say, not much), & receive no special bonuses based on innate enhanced vision.
Powerful Build: The physical stature of an oaf lets him function in many ways as if he were one size category larger. Whenever an oaf is subject to a size modifier or special size modifier for an opposed check (such as during grapple checks, bull rush attempts, & trip attempts), the oaf is treat as one size larger if doing so is advantageous to him. An oaf is also considered to be one size larger when determining whether a creature’s special attacks based on size (such as improved grab or swallow whole) can affect him. An oaf can use weapons designed for a creature one size larger without penalty. However, his space & reach remain those of a creature of his actual size. The benefits of this racial trait stack with the effects of powers, abilities, & spells that change the subject’s size category.
Illiteracy: Oaves do not normally learn to read. Their culture deemphasizes education, & they have strictly oral histories & storytelling traditions. Therefore, oaf characters are by default illiterate. They must spend 2 skill points to gain the ability to read & write any language that they are able to speak.
+2 bonus to Survival checks: Oaves have becoming quite adept at living off the land, especially in the easiest manner possible.
-2 to Hide & Move Silently checks: Oaves are naturally clumsy, & are quite inept at being stealthy.
+2 to resist poison & disease: Oaves are naturally tough, & have become accustomed to squalid conditions, giving them a natural resistance to infection.
+2 to thrown weapons: Oaves have become quite adept at throwing objects, & can use them to attack with surprising accuracy.
Automatic Language: Oavish
Bonus Languages: Common, Giant, Dwarven, Troll
Favored Class: Barbarian. A multi-classing oaf’s barbarian class does not count when determining whether he takes an experience point penalty (see the XP for Multi-class Characters section, page 60 of the Player’s Handbook). The simple, indolent, largely illiterate life of the oaves produces many barbarians.
Level Adjustment: +2
Height/Weight Information
Base Height, Male: 6’6”
Base Height, Female: 6’4”
Height Modifier: +2d10
Base Weight, Male: 200 lbs
Base Weight, Female: 225 lbs
Weight Modifier: × (1d10) lbs
Age Information
Adult = 12 years old
Middle Age = 25 years old
Old = 37 years old
Venerable = 50 years old
Maximum Age = Venerable + 2d20 (52-90)
Starting Age (Barbarian, Rogue & Sorcerer) = Adult + 1d4
Re: A New Race: the Oaves! (Trust me, it’s a Must-Read)
Psychology
Outlook
A simple life of leisure & plenty is everything in the mind of an oaf. Lazy & dumb, oaves will avoid excess work at all costs. They will forage, scavenge, trade, bully & steal to get what they want or need. Some evil oaves have even been known to capture slaves to work for them. Most oaves, however, will simply do without something rather than force someone else to do it. They are often, after all, too lazy to capture & enslave people.
Oaves typically reinforce each other’s laziness, discouraging those who would work hard at anything. This includes thought, adding to the ignorance & dull wit of the average oaf. Particularly industrious or inquisitive oaves can find themselves cast out of oaven society, branded exiles for their denial of the oaven way.
Oaves are also infamous for their stupidity. They are only wise concerning survival & not working, applying their meager wits toward finding easier ways to do things, without expending any extra effort. Most are thick-headed in the extreme, making even orcs, trolls, giants, & goblinoids look wise by comparison.
Re: A New Race: the Oaves! (Trust me, it’s a Must-Read)
Clothing
Oaves do not make the most of their paltry possessions. They generally trade goods that they found or stole for things that they need, so most of their clothing was designed by & for other races. This fact, combined with their insistence on quantity over quality, means that their clothing often is of poor make & even worse fit, tight in some areas while overly loose in others.
Oaves prefer leathers & furs over woven cloth fabrics. They like their clothing to be simple, tough, & versatile. Once they find garments that they are fond of, they usually wear them until the articles are well past worn. Their clothes are rarely anywhere close to clean, & in fact are usually caked in filth, due to the slovenly habits of the oaves.
Oaves seldom wear jewelry, for a number of reasons. Ornamentations of other races do not usually fit their oddly-shaped bodies very well. Also, they hardly ever find jewelry of any sort during their foraging. Lastly, most oaves find that jewelry accentuates their otherwise disheveled appearance. Only simple rings, bracelets, & necklaces made of base or semiprecious metals appeal to oaven aesthetics.
Re: A New Race: the Oaves! (Trust me, it’s a Must-Read)
Grooming
Oaves, as a rule, do not truly groom themselves in any meaningful way. They care only a little about their appearance, & are usually too lethargic to do anything about it. Bathing is only done when necessary or convenient, so they are often scruffy & dirty. Their patchy hair is nearly always greasy or tangled. Their skin is grimy, their nails are cracked, their teeth are stained, & their breath is putrid. They typically smell quite rank, & are too dumb to notice that this affects their relations with others.
Re: A New Race: the Oaves! (Trust me, it’s a Must-Read)
Oaf Life
Leisure
Oaves favor relaxation to work with an almost religious zeal. They can easily lie around, doing little if anything, for days at a time. Extremely slothful, they are greatly averse to working hard, even to their own personal benefit. Unsurprisingly, this lack of motivation leads most of the oaves to live gluttonous lives of apathy. They enjoy their free time to a great extent, & will fight to protect it. They like games, sleeping, playtime, rest & all other manner of idleness. No form of recreation is unknown to them, & they revel in them all.
Few things can provoke them to act, but one activity that can prompt them is the Fire Circle. Every evening, all of the oaves in a trundle gather around a cooking fire after dinner, & for the rest of the night, they all tell each other stories. They recite myths, legends, tall tales, boasts, jokes & local folklore until the last oaf has retired to sleep. This practice is a strong tradition among the oaves, & for good reason. Young oaves gain most of their knowledge of the oaven way of life by listening to their elders tell the oaven sagas. Anecdotes & cautionary tales are often told in the circle, for the wise to learn from (though they only occasionally do). The bragging of past accomplishments in such stories has even led to the rise of Boasting as a competitive sport among the oaves. No yarn is excluded from the circle, & everyone can speak. The only rules are: do not interrupt another’s account, speak so that all may hear, & do not tell the same story twice in one night. In the chaotic realm of the oaves, however, even these few rules are regularly bent or broken.[/font]
Re: A New Race: the Oaves! (Trust me, it’s a Must-Read)
Oaf Games
As creatures of leisure, oaves play games of all types. They pretend that they are knights & princesses, they wrestle, they search for hidden stones, they do guessing games, & any other diversion that one can imagine. As oaves, though, certain games appeal to their simple, lazy nature so strongly that they are nearly universal among oaven communities.
Re: A New Race: the Oaves! (Trust me, it’s a Must-Read)
Trundling
A simple, easy sport for a simple people who love ease, trundling is merely a rolling race, where the objects to be rolled are the players themselves. Players gather at the top of a small, smooth-sided hill (one of the few occasions where a group of oaves can be convinced to climb a hill). Once they are lined up, they yell out “One! Two! Go!” (Oaves can seldom count past 2). They then drop to the ground, curl up in a ball & roll down the hill. Whoever rolls the farthest is declared the winner. Player must remain curled until they come to a full stop. This is the most popular sport in oaven life, & trundling tournaments between settlements are common. There are also many variations; one of the most widespread variants calls for a line to be drawn across the path at the bottom of the hill. Whoever rolls over the finish line first wins.
Participating in Trundling
Being a Trundler usually requires a heavy, round shape, not unlike a sumo wrestler (see below for more information regarding the Trundler prestige class). Players must make a Tumble check (DC15 for smooth hills, DC20 for rough hills, DC25 for rugged hills, DC30 for rocky hills) to make it down the hill without getting caught up in an obstacle, losing momentum. The distance one travels is the player’s weight + (1d8 × 50). Note that the distance is not given in feet or any other increment, as this would require knowing the height of the hill, as well as other factors; with the average small hill that would be suitable for trundling, this figure could be given in yards or meters. This distance is merely an abstract value that can be easily compared to the other players. Winning a game of Trundling is a challenge equal to the combined CR’s of the losing players, & earns the winner experience points equal to a battle of a corresponding CR, but only if success in the game is somehow relevant to the adventure as a whole.
Re: A New Race: the Oaves! (Trust me, it’s a Must-Read)
Boasting
In a culture that values a tall tale well told, some oaves tell taller tales than the rest. This has led to a competitive storytelling game known as Boasting. In the evening, at the Fire Circle, players gather with the rest of the trundle & try to out-do one another with the most outlandish, best-told story. The audience is the judge at these contests; it is their favor the players are seeking, not their rivals. Some stories are considered bad form, however. Tales involving another opponent, their family, or the friends are likely to provoke a violent reaction from that oaf, regardless of context. Likewise, stories that are true are also discouraged as bad form in this game, the reasoning being that a true story is unoriginal & that “anyone could tell it.”
Participating in Boasting
The players take turns telling their stories. They are each judged by the audience, & the person who tells the best story wins. Telling a good story calls for a Diplomacy check (DC15) to try & get the audience on one’s side. Then the story itself requires a Bluff check (DC20, +5 for an Unfriendly audience, +10 for a Hostile audience, -5 for an Friendly audience, -10 for a Helpful audience) to see if the crowd likes it or believes it. In the case of multiple players succeeding, the player who beats the Bluff check by the biggest margin is considered the winner. Participants who win a Boasting match earn experience points equal to the CR’s of the two toughest opponents, but only if that game was relevant to the current adventure.
Re: A New Race: the Oaves! (Trust me, it’s a Must-Read)
Rock-Toss
The game of Rock-Toss is not an original oaven invention. It was learned (with some difficulty) from the giants. Giants have been hurling stones, both in battle & for sport, since before recorded history. The rules are simple; each player stands in a small circle (5’ diameter). They then throw five (5) stones at a target a set distance away (usually 30’ from the player’s circle), which can be a tree stump, a boulder, or even a criminal to be executed. The player that gets one of their stones closest to the target is the winner.
Participating in Rock-Toss
Taking part in a game of Rock-Toss requires the Stone’s Throw feat (see Feats, below). Throwing a stone is a ranged touch attack, with the target’s AC being 15. The goal is to actually miss the target directly. Players aim for a point adjacent to the target, choosing a spot along the cardinal directions (1’ south, 2’ northwest, etc). They then roll a ranged attack. Hitting the intended spot causes their stone to bounce, landing 1d4’ away in the same direction as the throw. Missing the intended spot causes their stone to hit a spot 1d6’ away from the intended spot, in a random direction (roll 1d8 for course). This will also cause a bounce, landing 1d4’ away in the same direction as the throw, unless it hits the actual target. Hitting the target directly causes a stone to bounce 1d6’ away from it, in a random direction (roll 1d8 for course). Hitting the target with a bounce causes a stone to bounce again, this time landing 2d12” from the target. In the case of a tie, the tied players throw another stone, & the closest one is declared the victor. If that game was pertinent to the ongoing adventure, then the participant who won at Rock-Toss match earns experience points equal to the CR of the toughest opponent.
Re: A New Race: the Oaves! (Trust me, it’s a Must-Read)
Food
The oaven diet is a widely varied lot, consisting mainly of whatever an oaf can trade for, find, or take. They favor meat to other provisions, but will eat fruits, berries, grasses, leaves, roots, & other vegetables. They will also settle for mushrooms, algae, moss & lichens. Of the meats that they will eat, they prefer mammalian flesh to other kinds, but again, reptiles, birds, fish, amphibians, insects & even grubs will suffice. Other races may find fault with many oaven habits, but their lack of pickiness is often admired, albeit begrudgingly.
As with all aspects of oaven life, laziness governs the diet of the oaves. If game is abundant, then an oaf will hunt or fish. If beasts are scarce, then they will scavenge for carrion. If plants are plentiful, then an oaf will gather up the excess. If flora is scant, then they will forage for bugs, roots, & fungi. No matter what, an oaf will favor whatever food is easiest to find, procure & eat.
Because of the slipshod nature of the oaven diet, they have extremely resilient stomachs, as well as a resistance to poison & disease. They often eat things that even barbarians of other races find repulsive.
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Youth & Education
It may surprise those who don’t know much of oaven culture, but oaves do care for their children, to a certain extent. When oaves are born, their mother will nurse them for the first couple of years of life, until their teeth grow in & they can eat solid food. Then the young oaf child is passed into the care of another family in the same trundle, while the parents recuperate from the burden. The child will then stay with a family for a few months, maybe even a year or so, before being placed with yet another oaf family in the same trundle. This practice ensures that trundles are tightly-knit communities, despite their squalor & chaos.
Once the child is old enough to care for themselves (seen by most oaves as about 6 years old or so), the child begins the Toiling. Adults no longer care for the child. Nobody offers food, assistance, or shelter. A toiling child is given chores by the adults, usually difficult ones that involve a lot of physical labor. They are forced to hunt live game, to provide the trundle with meat. They are told to build their own shelter, & repair those of others. Only at night, when sitting around with the others in the Fire Circle listening to the oaven myths & legends, are oaven children treated like other oaves. All of this contributes to the mindset of the oaf: one who equates work with seclusion, suffering, & deprivation; one who believes that everything that they ever needed to know can be learned in the Fire Circle; and one should do what one’s elders say, not as they do.
The Toiling goes on until the child reaches maturity (at about the age of 12), when the oaf is considered an adult, of equal rank to the other oaves. By then, the oaf usually hates work of all kinds & wants nothing more than to get the most out of life, while doing the least to earn it.
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Arts & Crafts
Oaves are not generally crafty people, in any sense of the word. Crafting objects of practical & aesthetic value requires a certain diligence & creativity that the oaves do not possess in abundance. It is not that the oaves cannot see beauty; it is more of an issue of their dull-witted lassitude getting in the way of actually making it. That said, more than a few oaves have overcome their nature & produced works of appreciable usefulness & appeal.
They often work with wood & earth, as stone & metal are too difficult to easily manipulate. Oaven tend to take wood pieces that they find (or can easily rend from trees), lash them together with vines or twine to form a frame, & cake the frame with mud for a rudimentary sculpture. An oaf’s art may be simple & crude, yet their finer works demonstrate the best of what makes oaves appealing: their tenderness & quiet strength. Naturally, this form of creation is looked down upon by most other oaves as embarrassing & wasteful.
If the oaves excel at any craft, it would be trading. Not willing to work for the supplies necessary to sustain their lives, they are skilled hagglers, despite their poor intelligence. They have a canny knack for bargaining, always trying to get the most for their offer. Their disregard for the quality of the items that they are trading for combined with their simple, humble demeanor, means that they often succeed.
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Technology & Magic
Technology is alien to the oaven mindset. Despite the obvious work-reducing benefits that technology can offer, most machines (not to mention the physical concepts that they are based on) are simply over the heads of oaves. They use only the simplest of tools: wedges, inclined planes & the like. Even basic pulley use is not widespread in oaven society. Oaves might be lucky enough to get their hands on the occasional elven, dwarven or gnomish device, but without the expertise necessary to operate one properly, these gadgets tend to break swiftly, further undermining the oaven opinion of technology.
One avenue of labor reduction has proven fruitful though: magic. Adepts are common among the oaves; bards & sorcerers are not rare either. Even druids, rangers & clerics have their place in oaven society. The only spellcasters that are atypical are wizards. Although oaves rarely have the discipline for higher-level sorcery, low-level magic is a simple & efficient way to accomplish tasks without expending much effort.
Re: A New Race: the Oaves! (Trust me, it’s a Must-Read)
Love
To the oaf, love should be like everything else in oaven life: convenient & simple. Oaves, as a rule, do not have organized ceremonies or rituals of any sort, so formal marriage as one would generally know it is unheard of. Announcements of bonding are common though.
When two oaves decide that they wish to be together for the foreseeable future, they announce to the rest of the trundle that they are now bonded. Their relationship is, at least for now, official & exclusive. This type of matrimony is still somewhat casual, however. Marriages can & do get dissolved by either party, for any reason, which happens rather frequently. Oaves have no compunction to re-bonding with another person in the trundle, so the average oaf will be bonded to several spouses in their lifetime.
Unions among oaves are often issues of convenience. If a bonding would satisfy a mating urge, or make shelter upkeep easier, or provide companionship, then it is arranged with a compatible oaf who agrees, approval is sought from the trundle’s chief, & an announcement is made, as simple as that. This is not to say that love between partners is an unusual thing; it simply means that love isn’t strictly necessary in their minds. According to the oaves, love is something that one grows into over time. Oaves bond first, & then learn to love their spouse later. Inter-trundle marriages are arranged by the chiefs of the two communities, often without the intended partners even meeting each other first.
Children of the oaves grow quickly. Gestation is only 6 months, & they learn to walk in their first year. Talking takes a bit longer; most oaves are mute until they are about 4 years old or so. Both parents care for the child, as the mother demands that the father help lighten her burden. Males usually find that it is easier to help than to anger an oaven mother.
Infant mortality is somewhat high, due to the foul conditions of most oaven settlements. A certain Darwinian attitude is generally taken in the oaven culture concerning this fact. Children that survive are cherished & praised as good strong additions to the community; offspring that perish are quickly forgotten about, thought of as weak if thought of at all.
Re: A New Race: the Oaves! (Trust me, it’s a Must-Read)
Oaves at War
Fighting is typically judged to be too much work, so war is usually avoided if possible. Although they will fight if forced to, oaves would generally view fleeing an area under attack to be easier & safer. Shelters can be remade, items can be replaced, & trundles can be relocated. Oaves don’t often have many possessions in the first place, so defending them in combat is seen as foolish & a waste of effort.
There are a few situations in which widespread combat can occur. First & foremost, if they are forced to defend their very lives, then they will fight boldly & mercilessly. They may be idle & unintelligent, but they still have a strong will to live, like any other race. Second, wiser oaves that lean towards good will fight to defend a nearby community of another race, on the well-founded assumption that in return, they may be compensated later for their trouble with goods & services. Lastly, oaves of an evil bent will sometimes capture & enslave people of other races, forcing them to work for the oaves. This rarely ends well, even for the oaves, as their lack of intellect will often cause them to neglect or forget about their prisoners until they later return & find torn ropes or a bound corpse.
Oaves are partial to wooden clubs, maces & staves in battle (especially the oaven club (gush) or the oaven mace (moch)), mostly made from scavenged branches & young tree trunks. They favor bludgeoning weapons to slashing or piercing types in nearly every situation, preferring to bash & batter their foes into submission. Thrown rocks are also common, & oaves can hurl heavy stones with deadly precision. Armor & shields are rarely if ever used; most armor plate is made for other races & fits them poorly & good strong shields are hard to come by in the oaven world.
Re: A New Race: the Oaves! (Trust me, it’s a Must-Read)
Death
Casualties are a common occurrence in oaven life. Despite their tough, strong bodies & resistance to poisoning or disease, oaves are clumsy & foolish, which can be a dangerous combination. Oaves can be prone to getting in over their heads, & they are just as susceptible to injury & death any other race.
When death occurs among the oaves, they are usually pragmatic & unsentimental about it. Although they do care about their families & friends a great deal, they know that such things happen, that there is nothing that they do to change things, & that death happens far too frequently to get worked up over it.
After an oaf dies, their body is rarely well cared for. Only the most minimal effort is taken to prepare the cadaver, & the possessions of the deceased (if any) are stripped from the remains & given to others in the community. Often the corpse is merely dragged away from the trundle to an area that is both nearby & mostly unused, where it can decompose quickly. No effort is made to inter or preserve it; the body is just dumped & forgotten about. If an oaf were to expire while on a journey for some reason, then the other oaves would more than likely just leave the corpses where they lie, or at most, roll the cadaver over to the side of the road. The remains of oaves are a common sight in oaven lands, reaffirming their reputation among other races as a brutal, callous people.
Re: A New Race: the Oaves! (Trust me, it’s a Must-Read)
Law & Justice
Stringent adherence to the law is not part of the oaven way, & neither is the drafting nor the enforcing of laws. Laws are restrictive & confining. They require effort to remember & obey. Therefore, most trundles are fairly lawless communities; most oaves are content to do as they please, without rules & regulations governing their behavior.
This is not to say that every trundle is in a state of pure anarchy. Each trundle is presided over by a chief. The trundle’s chief is responsible for directing the settlement’s actions as a group. The chief judges when it is time to move the trundle to a better location, tells oaven children when it is time for them to begin & end the Toiling, supervises games & contests, grants permission for couples to bond, & appoints the Watchers, as well as a successor to the position of chief.
There are few official crimes in oaven lands, as there are few official laws. Most regulations are simple & obvious, like the oaves themselves. Killing other oaves is usually bad, as is the murder of other races. Working hard is a crime, as is forcing other oaves to work (slavery of other races is generally permitted, however). For oaven children, avoiding the Toiling is a crime, & so is disobeying an adult, especially when ordering a child to work.
Most crimes are punishable by beatings, administered by either the chief or one of his watchers. Other times, an oaf may find themselves forced to repeat the Toiling for a while, until they “learn their lesson.” If the crime is more severe, or the crime is repeated several times by the same oaf & beatings or Toiling are not effective as a deterrent, then the offending oaf is exiled, banished from the trundle for a set time, sometimes forever. Only on very rare occasions is a crime so heinous as to be punishable by death. Executions are usually performed by trying the criminal to a post & using them as the target in Rock-Toss games until they have been stoned to death, or die of thirst & starvation. If an easier method can be found to put the criminal to death, however, it will most likely be used instead.
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A New Race: the Oaves! (Trust me, it’s a Must-Read) [MitP II]
