Earth folk are little people that are deeply connected to earth, soil, and stone. They are generally knowledgeable about stone and earth and can even disappear into it. Often found in caves, mines, or similar underground dwellings.
Stonecunning: Earth folk gain a +2 bonus to perception checks to notice unusual stonework, such as traps and hidden doors in stone walls or floors. They receive a check to notice such features whenever they pass within 10 feet of them, whether or not they are actively looking.
Tremorsense: Earth folk can pinpoint the location of any creature within 30 feet that is touching the ground or any other solid surface they’re in contact with.
Meld into Stone: Earth folk can hide inside stone surfaces, as with the spell meld into stone. They can remain in stone in this way for up to 10 minutes per level per day, divided up as they choose.
Knockers are European little folk, and stand, on average, about two feet tall. They essentially look like miniature miners, complete with miniature clothes and, oftentimes, equipment. The knockers generally dwell in mines, current or abandoned. Males are usually the only ones seen, the females remaining deeper in the earth or in unused side-tunnels. The knockers are most famous for their classical ’knock’, a loud, sharp stone-on-stone noise that occurs when they use their Hairline Fractures spell-like ability. They often use this ability to weaken stone for easier tunneling, but the nature of the ability has been known to cause cave-ins. Knockers are sometimes blamed for these, but other times they’re seen as heroes who warn the miners with the sound.
Kobolds are a particularly elusive breed of European earth folk. They are almost never seen in person, instead making their presence known through the use of their dancing lights spell like ability, or using it to distract the humans while they do things around the mine. Kobolds are known to cause cave-ins, accidents, and even foul ore with a poisonous substance recently given the name ‘cobalt rex’. The kobolds can be guilty of the first two, but often it’s out of an interest to drive miners away from ore veins already corrupted by the substance. Generally they don’t mind humans, and are content to mine separately as long as they do not interfere with each other.
Ohdows are a new world little folk. They don’t dwell in mines, rather, they live deep in natural cave systems. They resemble well-formed but very small natives, just shy of two feet tall, and they perform an invaluable service to the people above. There are many creatures in the deep earth that must remain there or they would do terrible damage to the world above, and the ohdows believe it their job to ensure that these monsters remain below. The ohdows fight hard to ensure this happens, valiantly standing their ground against the most fearsome creatures of the deep underground, despite their small size, wielding deadly crystal-tipped arrows.