Copyright 2010 Wizards of the Coast

I believe wilden are new to 4e, first appearing in the Player’s Handbook 3 as an option for PCs. This is their corresponding Monster Manual entry.

The Lore

Wilden are the middle world’s immune response to the Far Realm. They appeared very recently, emerging from the Feywild’s deepest and most untouched natural environments. Theoretically, that’s a reaction to an upsurge in Far Realm activity in the world, and it’s worrying that the signs of that haven’t been noticed by anyone else yet.

Not even the wilden themselves have a clear idea of what caused them to emerge. The setting’s youngest sapient people by far, they have an instinctual drive to protect nature and oppose aberrant creatures, but they have yet to form a unified culture and traditions of their own. Most individuals turn to other creatures around them for examples. For many, those come from more established fey peoples like elves, eladrin, and gnomes. Others turn to the beasts of the wild, or to more zealous spirits like dryads and treants, and end up much fiercer and much less sociable. Some even fall in with evil fey like fomorians, ending up as villainous as them.

The Numbers

Wilden are Medium Fey Humanoids with a speed of 6 and low-light vision. As PCs, their gimmick is that they may assume one of three aspects after an extended rest, each of which changes their appearance a bit and gives them a different racial power.

Each of the three stat blocks in this entry belongs to a single aspect and carries that aspect’s related power, in a version stronger than what’s available to PCs. They’re Unaligned and may represent allies, neutrals, or hostiles as your story requires.

They’re all in the low-heroic range, which means you can find NPC wilden in the same areas where you’d find NPC elves and gnomes. They often use wolves, spiders and drakes as pets, and there are many such creatures that would be level-appropriate for a wilden encounter.

Wilden Destroyer

Wildens who adopt the aspect of the Destroyer are usually the designated warriors of their communities. They wield large carved wooden clubs, and every time they survive a battle they add a new carving to their weapons to celebrate it.

Destroyers are Level 2 Soldiers with 39 HP. Their carved greatclubs damage and mark for a turn on a hit, and they can throw handaxes as basic ranged attacks. If an enemy marked by the destroyer tries to ignore the mark, the destroyer gains a +4 bonus to attack and damage that enemy during their next turn. If a bloodied enemy attacks the destroyer or one of the destroyer’s adjacent allies, it can use the Wrath of the Destroyer encounter power to attack that enemy as a reaction. If this hits, the enemy becomes stunned for a turn.

PC Wildens in Destroyer aspect can use that power too, though for them it dazes instead of stunning.

Wilden Hunter

Wilden who adopt the Hunter aspect fulfill that role in their community, and also make for excellent scouts. They are Level 2 Lurkers with 33 HP. They fight with shortswords and longbows that just make basic attacks. All their interesting stuff is in their passive traits and their racial power.

The passives are familiar to us by now: Camouflage allows them to make Stealth checks with only partial cover and concealment; Sniper lets them stay hidden when they miss with a ranged attack from hiding; and Hidden Shot lets them deal extra damage when they attack from hiding.

Their encounter power is Pursuit of the Hunter, which triggers when an enemy ends their movement within 2 squares of the hunter. The hunter can react by shifting 3 squares, and for their next turn they will deal 5 extra damage with their attacks against that enemy, and will also ignore partial cover and concealment against them.

PC Wilden in the Hunter aspect get a similar Pursuit power, except it deals 1d6 extra damage instead of the fixed 5.

Wilden Ancient

Wilden who adopt the aspect of the Ancients are their community’s shamans and guides. They’re called “Ancients” because their magic lets them cast their minds to the collective history of the Feywild and the world. When they go into these trances, their whole community stops to take care of them and await their awakening, which might bring important insights or prophecies with it.

The Ancient depicted here is Level 4 Artillery with 45 HP and the Leader tag. It’s a primal spellcaster who fights with a spear and with several combat spells. Their spear attacks are very weak but allow an ally adjacent to the target to make a free melee basic attack at +4 to hit.

Their combat spells have varied effects: Spectral Vine is a basic ranged attack that deals physical damage and pulls 2 squares; Rumbling Earth (recharge 5+) is a ranged area attack that damages and immobilizes (save ends); and Lightning Storm (encounter) is a ranged area attack that does heavy lightning damage, half on a miss.

Once per round as a minor action they can impart the Wisdom of the Ancients, granting them a +2 attack bonus for their next turn. And then they hit an enemy with an area attack, they can use their Voyage of the Ancients encounter power to teleport 3 squares and make one of the enemies they just hit grant combat advantage for a turn.

Despite their many controllery effects, it makes sense for Ancients to be artillery. They want to stay safe behind a wall of bodyguards and bombard their enemies, not mix it up in melee like a controller might want to do.

Final Impressions

I gotta say it feels a bit odd to find a low-heroic entry right after the high-epic Weavers, but that’s just a product of the book being in alphabetic order.

Wildens are serviceable enough as low-heroic enemies, about in line with what I expect from an entry dedicated to a creature that’s also a PC option.