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Realms of Chaos
2011-03-09, 11:47 PM
The Huntsman
Large Undead
HD 8d12 plus 32 (84 HP)
Speed 30 ft. (6 squares)
Init: +5
AC 20 (+5 Dex; +2 Leather, +4 Natural –1 Size) touch 14; flat-footed 15
BAB +4; Grp +11
Attack Longsword +6 melee (2d6+3/19-20 plus curse of the hunt) or Longbow +7 ranged (2d6/x3 plus curse of the hunt)
Full-Attack Longsword +6 melee (2d6+3/19-20 plus curse of the hunt) or Longbow +5/+5 ranged (2d6/x3 plus curse of the hunt)
Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft.
Special Attacks Curse of the Hunt, Mark Foes, Spell-like Abilities
Special Qualities Blindsight 30 feet, Darkvision 60 feet, Eternal Enigma, Fast Healing 5, Hide in Plain Sight, Imperturbable, Relentless Tracker, Undead Traits, Unholy Toughness
Saves Fort +2 Ref +7 Will +11
Abilities Str 16, Dex 20, Con --, Int 16, Wis 20, Cha 18
Skills Hide +16, Intimidate +12, Listen +12, Move Silently +20, Spot +12, Survival +20
Feats Far Shot, Point Blank Shot, Rapid Shot, Track (b)
Environment Any Nonurban
Organization Name (Number appearing)
Challenge Rating 7(?)
Treasure Standard
Alignment Always Neutral Evil
Advancement --
Level Adjustment –

The large humanoid before you wears a hooded cloak over a suit of leather armor, appearing almost normal (save for its size) at first glance. The creature’s flesh, however, is a dull shade of lifeless grey and the space beneath its hood is an utter void of darkness.

Wherever there is game to hunt, there are sure to be hunters. Among the more dangerous of these hunters is the Huntsman, a mysterious breed of undead hunters that hunts the living with very little pattern or purpose. Nothing is known about how Huntsman are created and even less is theorized. Oddly, information about Huntsmen is almost impossible to spread, remembered only by the unlucky few to have met one. Huntsmen have been known to speak, perhaps speaking the languages known in life.

Combat:
Though they won’t hesitate to take out weaker foes in a first encounter, Huntsmen often prefer to attack through skirmishes, marking and possibly cursing a couple of foes before backing off and hunting foes from a distance, spiritually ambushing them each day and turning anything killed near them into an undead tracker and additional pair of eyes. Beyond mere combat, Huntsmen act to instill fear.

Curse of the Hunt (Ex): Any successful attack that a Huntsman makes delivers an extra 1d6 points of damage that can’t be healed while in the wilderness. In addition, such a target must make a Will save (DC 19) or be cursed for 24 hours. During this time, animals that approach within 5 feet of the target are frightened (no save).

Even worse, any living creature with a discernible anatomy that dies within 20 feet of the target is reanimated as an undead creature 1d4 rounds later unless the corpse is destroyed to prevent it. Creatures with 5 or fewer HD are animated as skeletons while those with more HD are animated as zombies (regrowing flesh if necessary). All such creatures are under the Huntsman's control and gain a +10 foot enhancement bonus to their speed along with track as a bonus feat. The Huntsman can observe the world through their eyes, which appear as pools of inky blackness. A Huntman can only control up to twice its HD in undead at any given time, with excess undead collapsing into dust (which may be targeted by resurrection or stronger effects as normal).

Eternal Enigma (Ex): While it is possible to learn much about a Huntsman from fighting one, it is almost impossible to pass on this knowledge. Sources of text are forgotten, lost, and damaged, people forget what they have been told; bards replace the Huntsman with more famous creatures, and so forth. As a result, knowledge checks never reveal any information about the Huntsman and effects that rely on knowledge checks (such as knowledge devotion or dark knowledge) have no effect against a Huntsman and grant no benefit against him. Even worse, divination effects used against the Huntsman reveal that there is no such creature in existence and that there is effectively nothing in its space, rendering it immune to most such effects.

Hide in Plain Sight (Ex): While in a natural environment, a Huntsman can make hide checks without cover or concealment, even while being observed.

Imperturbable (Ex): Unlike other creatures, a Huntsman shows no signs of pain or weakness under any circumstance. Though they are harmed by attacks as normal, no amount of force is sufficient to produce a visible wound, visibly batter them (though bull rushes can still knock them back), or even break their stride, making it impossible to tell how healthy or injured a Huntsman is by observing it. To this end, the Huntsman gains immunity to all effects that operate by creating obvious wounds, automatically succeeds on all Concentration checks, and gains immunity to the daze condition. A turned Huntsman merely walks away from the creature turning it, standing still if cornered, while rebuked creatures simply stand in place.

Mark Foes (Su): When a Huntsman makes an attack against a creature, they may choose to mark that creature as an immediate action. The targeted creature remains marked for 7 days, though the Huntsman can renew this duration by going through the same process. At any given time, a Huntsman may have a number of marked foes up to their Charisma modifier.

While marked, the target’s footsteps seem to blaze behind them endlessly, though this blaze is harmless and only visible to marked creatures and the Huntsman. In most cases, this reduces the Survival check DC to track a creature by –20 but creatures with trackless step or a similar ability can merely be tracked normally.

Once per day, a Huntsman may spend a full-round action to spiritually visit a marked creature, appearing in any open space within 30 feet of the target. While visiting a creature in this way, a Huntsman is observable to all senses (magical and mundane) of marked creatures as if actually there and gains a full round of actions to spend, allowing them to talk to targets, observe their surroundings, or even attack (but not mark foes). The Huntsman vanishes at the end of this action (though any damage they have taken remains) and is effectively blinded and helpless while using this ability.

Relentless Tracker (Su): A Huntsman can track in ways that others couldn’t begin to imagine. The Huntsman can track foes at full speed without penalty to his Survival checks and takes only a –10 penalty for tracking at up to twice his speed. Furthermore, the huntsman has immunity to magical effects that create false trails.

Lastly, up to three times per day, when faced with a magical dead end to a trail (such as when a tracked creature teleports or enters an extradimensional space), the huntsman can follow the creature to its destination with a full-round action.

Spell-Like Abilities: At will – Dancing Lights, Ghost Sound (DC 15), Spike Growth (DC 17), Snare, Obscuring Mist; 3/day – Freedom of Movement, Transport Via Plants, Wall of Thorns; 1/day – Air Walk, Commune with Nature. Caster level 7th. The save DCs are Wisdom-based.

Unholy Toughness: A Huntsman gains additional hit points equal to their Charisma modifier x their Hit Dice.

Racial Skills: A Huntsman gains a +4 racial bonus to Hide, Move Silently, and Survival checks.

Debihuman
2011-03-10, 11:00 AM
I still hate the stat block.

Armor Class: 20 (+5 Dex, +2 Leather, +4 Natural –1 Size) touch 14; flat-footed 15.

Touch is minus the armor bonuses and flat-footed is minus the Dex bonus.

This is a Large creature so it should have Large weapons. A Large longsword does 2d6 points of damage. Melee Attack is BAB + Str mod. + Size mod. (+4, +3,-1 = 6. Ranged is BAB + Dex mod. + size (+4, +5, -1). Since it uses manufactured weapons, its attacks are based on BAB. It can only make 1 attack per round. A Large longbow also does 2d6 points of damage.

Attack: Large longsword + 6 melee (2d6+3/19-20 plus 1d6 and curse) or Large longbow + 8 ranged (2d6/x3 plus 1d6 and curse)
Full Attack: Large longsword +6 melee (2d6+3/19-20 plus 1d6 and curse) or Large longbow +8 ranged (2d6/x3 plus 1d6 and curse)

How do you determine what the state of the corpse is for Curse of the Hunt? It needs a mechanic or you could say that creatures with 5 hit dice or fewer rise as skeletons and those with 6 hit dice or more rise as zombies. I think HD is a lot easier to handle than trying to figure out the state of a corpse.

Otherwise, it looks pretty good. Nice special abilities with excellent mechanics. I particularly like Imperturbable. The curse is especially nasty. It doesn't say but resurrection should work normally on creatures that are turned to dust.

Debby

Realms of Chaos
2011-03-10, 11:43 AM
I still hate the stat block.

Wait, what? :smallconfused:
Have you seen this somewhere before?
Are you referring to the older style of 3.5 stat blocks?


Armor Class: 20 (+5 Dex, +2 Leather, +4 Natural –1 Size) touch 14; flat-footed 15.

Touch is minus the armor bonuses and flat-footed is minus the Dex bonus.

Thank you for the correction. This creature was originally medium so when I bumped up its size category, I forgot to apply the penalty to touch and flat-footed AC.


This is a Large creature so it should have Large weapons. A Large longsword does 2d6 points of damage. Melee Attack is BAB + Str mod. + Size mod. (+4, +3,-1 = 6. Ranged is BAB + Dex mod. + size (+4, +5, -1). Since it uses manufactured weapons, its attacks are based on BAB. It can only make 1 attack per round. A Large longbow also does 2d6 points of damage.

As I was unable to find the table dictating the increase in damage die for creatures, I saw that the halberd and heavy flail increased from 1d8 to 1d10 while the greatsword increased from 1d10 to 2d6 (going from small to medium) so I assumed that the same patterns of advancement continued.

Also, why are you telling me the bonuses that they get to attack rolls? I actually calculated that properly. :smallconfused:

Also, this character can make a second ranged attack with ranged weaponry as it possesses rapid shot.


Attack: Large longsword + 6 melee (2d6+3/19-20 plus 1d6 and curse) or Large longbow + 8 ranged (2d6/x3 plus 1d6 and curse)
Full Attack: Large longsword +6 melee (2d6+3/19-20 plus 1d6 and curse) or Large longbow +8 ranged (2d6/x3 plus 1d6 and curse)

The problem here is that you are kind of splitting up the entire Curse of the Hunt ability. By saying plus 1d6 plus curse, some people will likely read this to be an extra 1d6 plus the 1d6 dealt by the curse itself. As such, simply putting "plus Curse of the Hunt" seems like the best course of action (though I am open to arguments to the contrary).


How do you determine what the state of the corpse is for Curse of the Hunt? It needs a mechanic or you could say that creatures with 5 hit dice or fewer rise as skeletons and those with 6 hit dice or more rise as zombies. I think HD is a lot easier to handle than trying to figure out the state of a corpse.

You know what, that's a brilliant idea.

Also, I just realized that I forgot to specify only creatures with discernible anatomies are affected. No zombie oozes for me, thank you very much. :smallyuk:


Otherwise, it looks pretty good. Nice special abilities with excellent mechanics. I particularly like Imperturbable. The curse is especially nasty. It doesn't say but resurrection should work normally on creatures that are turned to dust.

Debby

It now says that resurrection and stronger effects work normally on the dust.