Renegade Thoul Class for OSE Classic

Freak. Mutant. Abomination. Thoul.

You've heard it all by now. It doesn't phase you anymore. You don't even bother snarkily correcting their pronunciation nowadays.* It's not like they'd listen, anyway. You just ignore them, or show them what those claws of yours can do if they really push you.

You were born into the ranks a normal hobgoblin, or so everybody thought. The mutation was so vanishingly rare in your stronghold that they stopped bothering to test newborns for it generations ago. But then you came along, and before the end of your first year you accidentally paralyzed three wet nurses in a row. Then the commander slashed the sole of your foot open with a knife, and watched the cut knit itself shut even as you kicked and wailed.

So you were labeled thoul, and cast down into the proverbial dung heap of hobgoblin society. Only menial labor and the worst, most dangerous postings in the stronghold were open to you. As you languished in squalor, those of your birth-group slowly but steadily climbed the ranks, leaving you behind. You keep mostly to yourself now. Others only stop to bark orders at you, or to stare at you and try to pick out the one feature that marks you out as thoul. Sometimes it's your nose, or your teeth, or something absurd like the sound of your breath or the shape of your shadow.

At least your hardships has given you the opportunity to gain a perspective on life denied to most hobgoblins; that the promise of meritocracy and advancement through the ranks according to ability and duty is a load of festering stirge guano, meant only to keep society's subalterns obediently following the orders of their "betters". Otherwise, you'd have earned at least a captaincy by now.

But what are you going to do about it? Abandon your post and desert?

... You should probably see if that norker and the varag runt want to tag along. They aren't terrible company, and their prospects aren't much better than yours.

Hobgoblin by Tony DiTerlizzi

Renegade Thoul

Requirements: Minimum STR 9, minimum CON 9
Prime Requisite: CON and STR
Hit Dice: 1d8
Maximum level: 8
Armour: Any, including shields
Weapons: Any
Languages: Alignment, Common, Elvish, Hobgoblin

Thouls (contraction of hobgoblin tah'oul, lit. 'death hands') are strange unfortunates of hobgoblin society. They are the rare few who express a highly recessive mutation unknowingly carried by most hobgoblin populations from a long-forgotten magical experiment in which some bored god or wizard merged bits and pieces of hobgoblin, troll, and even ghoul biology. They are outwardly indistinguishable from other hobgoblins except upon close inspection.

Thouls often live in blissful ignorance among their kin until traumatic childhood events reveal their unique abilities. Almost invariably this revelation leads to the thoul getting kicked down to the bottom rung of hobgoblin society, where they are treated as mutants and aberrations lacking in honor. Some still rise through the ranks by proving themselves as bodyguards to more important individuals, while others take steps to conceal their nature. A few even strike out on their own, or with other outcasts and castoffs.

Claws

Thouls are forced to defend themselves at an early age using the long, sharp claws they sport on each hand. They gain 2 unarmed attacks for 1d3 damage each.

Infravision

Thouls have infravision to 60’ (see Darkness under Hazards and Challenges in Old-School Essentials).

Paralysis

Thouls, though not undead in any way, possess a distant echo of the ghoul's paralyzing touch. From 4th level, if a thoul hits their target with both claw attacks in a round, the target must save vs paralysis or be paralyzed for 1d4 turns. As usual, elves and creatures larger than ogres are unaffected.

Regeneration

From 7th level, a thoul regenerates 1hp per round after being damaged. Severed limbs do not reattach. Fire and acid damage cannot regenerate as normal. Either the wizard got lazy, or they couldn't cram a whole troll's worth of regeneration into a thoul-sized body.

After Reaching 8th Level

A renegade thoul has the option of creating an underground stronghold that will attract other outcast members of goblin societies from far and wide, including 1d6 other thouls of levels 1-3. Neighboring goblins will generally be unfriendly and suspicious of any community led by a known thoul, and will rarely collaborate in times of trouble at first.

Thoul Level Progression
Level	XP	HD	THAC0	Saving Throws
				D	W	P	B	S
1	0	1d8	19 [0]	12	13	14	15	16
2	4,000	2d8	19 [0]	12	13	14	15	16
3	8,000	3d8	19 [0]	12	13	14	15	16
4	16,000	4d8	17 [+2]	10	11	12	13	14
5	32,000	5d8	17 [+2]	10	11	12	13	14
6	64,000	6d8	17 [+2]	10	11	12	13	14
7	120,000	7d8	14 [+5]	8	9	10	10	12
8	250,000	8d8	14 [+5]	8	9	10	10	12

D: Death / poison; W: Wands; P: Paralysis / petrify; B: Breath attacks; S: Spells / rods / staves.

* It's pronounced like tool rather than thool. The 'h' indicates an aspirated consonant similar to that used in the word 'ghoul', and it would perhaps be better rendered as tʰoul in Common. But when do they ever care about accuracy?