Dokkaebi

 So I was reading Gus L's excellent analysis of The Dragon Of Icespire Peak, here, on All Dead Generations. If you haven't read it, do so. Because in a way, his review can act as a kind of mini-guide to how campaigns should be structured. 

I was struck by what he says about orcs being a wasted opportunity in that campaign because you can't negotiate with them and they're predictable and its always going to end in a fight. I realised this was true in some of my own stuff where I had deliberately swapped out orcs for something else. My go-to swap has been hobgoblins,but they can easily fall into the same stereotype and often, I end up playing them as something very different from, well hobgoblins.

For my Dark Peak setting, I wanted to include a creature the players were not already familiar with. So I looked around. And I found the korean Dokkaebi.

Now  I could change their name in a campaign, but so far, I've chosen not to in my notes because I want to remember where they come from. 

But what I took away from my reading about them on the internet (okay, not that extensive as research goes, but sufficient for my own game),  is that they are unpredictable. That's kind of their thing. They might be helpful, mischievous or aggressive. I don't want to randomise these responses too much, in game, because if they become too unpredictable, the players won't want to interact with them. And I very much want them to do that. But if I were writing a campaign that was kind-of-inspired by The Dragon Of Icespire, then I would use these in place of orcs and I would do this everywhere orcs might otherwise crop up in that setting (I don't usually use orcs anyway, for all of these reasons) with the express intent that PCs could negotiate with them without them being totally reliable. And without different groups of Dokkaebi being the same. One groups is cool; they negotiate and play fair. Another group has a different outlook. They cheat and steal and commit murder.

Okay, that's the  play dynamic I'm after. If you want a summary of the real world Dokkaebi, you can look online; Wikipedia has a good page. What follows is how they will appear in my campaign.

In the korean mythology, Dokkaebi seem to mainly appear as yellow or red. I'm going with red; I can introduce a yellow population later if I want to. They are red, not red-brown, not 'redskins', not reddish but a non-human, unmistakable red. They sometimes have horns. They sometimes have beards and wild hair. They have large teeth which sometimes appear to be tusks. And they have large features, such as eyes, nose, etc. I'm giving mine large ears with hairy tufts like a red squirrel. Just because. Oh and they are human sized. Done. 

Dokkaebi are not fey; that's a western tradition and therefore well-worn, and also has been boxed and sold already by WOTC et al. I'm not interested in explaining exactly what Dokkaebi ARE, and I won't explain it in my campaign either, other than that mages say they exist differently, and thus have power over different things than humans. So, Dokkaebi are  potent against evil spirits. Any rolls they make to banish, intimidate or expel supernatural beings gains a +2 bonus, which becomes Advantage against beings with lower Hit Dice than the Dokkaebi.

Dokkaebi also know how to ensure a good harvest, good catches of fish and general prosperity. This is knowledge-based. They have knowledge of fungi, the nitrogen cycle, etc..

But they can also carry disease, such as Black Speckle Fever. Not all Dokkaebi have this, and it isn't easy to catch, but if a human does get infected, its unpleasant. It doesn't spread from human to human, which is why Dokkaebi have the reputation for carrying it.

Due to the intrinsically magical nature of Dokkaebi, their exended presence can cause a human's perception of reality to shift, or even falter. They can essentially cause a condition in humans that appears a little like what humans call 'madness'; at the GM's discretion, after each week spent in daily contact with Dokkaebi, a successful Will save is needed, to avoid a roll on the Madness table on p161 (at GM's further discretion count only even-numbered results). 

Dokkaebi often make sue of mystical clubs or hats. The hats confer the spell  Limited Transmogrification, which can transform the wearer a number of times equal to their level, into a member of another humanoid race. Clubs confer one of the following spells (d4) Dark Slumber, Crush of the Warp, None Shall Pass or Shadows And Dust. 

STATS

DOKKAEBI

#4d6 AC11 (14 with armour) HD2 Club d5, Nat 19 1d10 Blunt Trauma or Spell (see above). S13 D14 C11 P13 W8 Ch10 L7 Reac 2-4 hostile 5-7 indifferent 8-10 curious 11-12 friendly

 Dokkaebi get Disadvantage on all Charisma checks with non-dokkaebi due to their appearance and reputation for unpredictability.

Dokkaebi get Advantage on all trickery-based Dexterity checks.  

 If you try them out, please let me know how they play at the table.