Voadkyn

If this looks like an elf to you, then you must have some fucked-up elves.

The Voadkyn, or Wood Giant, is one of the the races of giant-kin in Dungeons & Dragons, an ill-defined category that also includes such creatures as the ogre, cyclops, verbeeg and firbolg.

Standing 9½ feet tall, and weighing around 700 pounds, voadkyns are known as one of the smallest giants. Dwelling in clannish groups that inhabit temperate to sub-tropical forests, voadkyn are almost always found in the same territory as Wood Elves, the only race with which this reclusive species regularly interacts. Described as friendly, but flighty and frivolous, they share a great deal of temperament with their elfin allies, although treants regard them as irrational, foolish and occasionally obnoxious. Herbivorous, they are never in a great hurry to do anything, and spend most of their leisure time lounging around, eating (predominantly roots, seeds and nuts), and drinking elfin wine. To defend themselves, they carry massive longbows and huge longswords, which are big enough to be greatswords for any other race - whilst not aggressive, they can move with startling speed and stealth.

Voadkyn are perhaps best known in the D&D community for being the most hideous giants in the game, outside of the intentionally freaky subspecies like the Athach and the Formorian. Initially described in their Monster Manual entry as resemble oversized wood elves, the same paragraph contradicts itself, admitting that they completely hairless and possess oversized heads with exaggerated mouthparts and ears placed unnaturally high on their heads. To put this in blunter talk, they look like you took a plain-faced man, shaved him bald, swelled his head up a size or two bigger than it ought to be, and stuck shaved-naked cat ears on the top of his head.

Apparently, voadkyn skin can be almost any shade of brown, mixed with yellow or green. Their artwork pretty much universally paints them as pinkish-tan.

They have unique magical abilities, including elf-like stealth within their forest environments, and the ability to polymorph into other humanoid creatures - they can't disguise themselves as a specific individual, but can take on the form of any race within a size range of 3 to 15 feet, allowing them to masquerade as anything from halflings and gnomes to ogres.

Voadkyn actually appeared alongside their Firbolg cousins in the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons sourcebook "Complete Book of Humanoids" as a PC option. Whilst left out of Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition so far, some older fans have complained that the 5e Firbolg seems to have absorbed some of the "elfin" (hippy druid) attitudes of the voadkyn.

PC Stats

Giant-kin, Voadkyn

Ability Score Range: Strength 11/18, Dexterity 13/19, Constitutioon 8/16, Intelligence 11/17, Wisdom 3/16, Charisma 3/18

Ability Score Modifiers: +1 Strength, +2 Dexterity, -1 Constitution, -2 Wisdom

Class & Level Limits: Fighter (11), Ranger (11), Mage (8), Shaman (7), Thief)

+7 Hit Points at first level

Natural Armor Class: 8

90% resistance to Sleep and Charm

Infravision 90 feet

At 7th level, can Polymorph (Self) into a generic specimen of any humanoid race within a size range of 3 to 15 feet tall.

Opponents suffer a -4 penalty to Surprise rolls against voadkyn in forest environments.

Only creatures that can Detect Invisible can see voadkyn hiding in a forest environment.

Can wield Giant-Kin Longbows when in their true form; these have the stats of longbows, but do 1d8 damage per shot, have a 50% increase in range, and gain a +1 bonus to their attack rolls.

Treat a humanoid-sized two-handed sword as a one-handed weapon.

Take damage as a Large creature.

No attack bonus for high strength.

Voadkyn warriors (fighters & rangers) use the Paladin experience table for gaining levels.

Weapon Proficiencies: Giant-kin Dagger, Giant-Kin Longbow, Giant-Kin Mace, Two-Handed Sword.

Nonweapon Proficiencies: Alertness, Animal Lore, Animal Noise, Animal Training (Dire Wolves), Bowyer/Fletcher, Direction Sense, Drinking< Eating, Fast-Talking, Gaming, Hiding, Hunting, Set Snares, Survival (Forests), Wine-making.