The Santa War: Army of the Immortals

The author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum, also created a backstory for Santa that involved a surprising amount of violence between demonic forces and fey immortals. This article focuses on the good guys for Fifth Edition Dungeons & Dragons games looking for holiday inspiration.

[h=3]Troops of the Fey Folk[/h]Baum describes the immortals who might seem impressive but have a host of magical weapons and powers at their disposal:

Soon the entire Valley, from hill to hill, was filled with the little immortals. The Master Woodsman stood first, bearing a gleaming ax that shone like burnished silver. Next came the Ryls, armed with sharp thorns from bramblebushes. Then the Knooks, bearing the spears they used when they were forced to prod their savage beasts into submission. The Fairies, dressed in white gauze with rainbow-hued wings, bore golden wands, and the Wood-nymphs, in their uniforms of oak-leaf green, carried switches from ash trees as weapons.​

[h=3]Ryls[/h]Baum describes the Ryls as cousins of the wood-nymphs but "differently-formed":

For the Ryls are required to watch over the flowers and plants, as the nymphs watch over the forest trees. They search the wide world for the food required by the roots of the flowering plants, while the brilliant colors possessed by the full-blown flowers are due to the dyes placed in the soil by the Ryls, which are drawn through the little veins in the roots and the body of the plants, as they reach maturity. The Ryls are a busy people, for their flowers bloom and fade continually, but they are merry and light-hearted and are very popular with the other immortals.​

• As NPCs: Use sprite statistics.
• As PCs: Use the forest gnomes subrace.

[h=3]Knooks[/h] The knooks are dwarf-like creatures who look over beasts:

Next came the Knooks, whose duty it is to watch over the beasts of the world, both gentle and wild. The Knooks have a hard time of it, since many of the beasts are ungovernable and rebel against restraint. But they know how to manage them, after all, and you will find that certain laws of the Knooks are obeyed by even the most ferocious animals. Their anxieties make the Knooks look old and worn and crooked, and their natures are a bit rough from associating with wild creatures continually; yet they are most useful to humanity and to the world in general, as their laws are the only laws the forest beasts recognize except those of the Master Woodsman.
​

Knooks have a lot in common with dwarves.

• As NPCs: Use the druid statistics and change the race to dwarf.
• As PCs: Use the hill dwarf subrace, change their battleaxe proficiency to spear, and stonecunning to animal cunning (any check related to animals).

[h=3]Fairies[/h] The fairies play a prominent role in Oz and Baum created several stories featuring their wondrous powers. In the Santa stories they are largely subdued but still have their fearsome wands at their disposal:

Then there were the Fairies, the guardians of mankind, who were much interested in the adoption of Claus because their own laws forbade them to become familiar with their human charges. There are instances on record where the Fairies have shown themselves to human beings, and have even conversed with them; but they are supposed to guard the lives of mankind unseen and unknown, and if they favor some people more than others it is because these have won such distinction fairly, as the Fairies are very just and impartial.​

• As NPCs: Fairies have powers that are all-encompassing. The closest parallel is drow, but remove their sunlight sensitivity and darkness powers.
• As PCs: As a playable race, fairies are very powerful -- their wands cause the dragons' breath to turn back upon them -- so the eladrin elf subrace is a good substitute.

[h=3]Wood-Nymphs[/h] Wood-nymphs have a lot in common with dryads, but its their switches that are deadly. The wood-nymphs turn the awgwas to clods of earth by touching them.

• As NPCs: Use the dryad statistics, but remove their fey charm ability and change the dryad's club attack to a switch, which has a reach of 10 ft., and inflicts 3 (1d4+1) slashing damage. Any creature hit by the whip must make a DC 16 Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, the creature begins to turn to stone and is restrained. It must repeat the saving throw at the end of its next turn. On a success, the effect ends. On a failure, the creature is petrified until freed by the greater restoration spell or other magic.
• As PCs: Players who would like to be be wood-nymphs can treat them as wood elves.

[h=3]The Others[/h] There are mention of pixies and gnomes and the traditional D&D analogues work fine for those purposes.

Although it might be fun to wage a war with an immortal army, there's lots of opportunities for the various races to help Santa Claus on his missions. The Army of the Awgwas are varied and devious, dedicated to preventing children from enjoying their toys; the immortals could easily be dispatched to help, just as Santa's four companions worked tirelessly to continue his work even when he was out of commission. The PCs could act as Santa's advance agents (see Disney's Prep and Landing) to prepare the way for his arrival, dodging wakeful children, guard dogs, and security cameras along the way. Or they just might be shock troops ready to fight the forces of evil on their own terms.

Mike "Talien" Tresca is a freelance game columnist, author, communicator, and a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to http://amazon.com. You can follow him at Patreon.