Dullahan?

[Getsugaru]

Looking through various folklore, I once again find myself on the headless horseman known as the Dullahan. And once again, I find myself surprised that such a race does not appear in D&D 3.5. I mean, they would be a perfect fit! Just from Irish Lore, they:
are Fey of the Unseelie Court, which already exist in D&D,
are able to remove their head at no penalty (except for maybe some social skills...and head-banging),
possess the ability to sense when something is going to die and go to them, sometimes even helping the soul along out of its mortal coil (Death effects are a dime a dozen)
possess either really high racial bonuses to Open Lock or have a Knock spell/spell-like ability instead,
probably get some sort of bonus to ride checks, and
have a nonstandard weakness which is almost constantly common in D&D: gold (then again, that could be handwaved to something else like cold iron for game balance).

So this got me wondering, is it possible to create a character that can completely emulate the abilities of the Dullahan, or at least come close (and I am meaning without any Wizard shenanigans)? Thus, in my quest for strange new race/class/feat combinations, come to the playground for help.

Reward: Well, since gold pieces might drive off any helpful Dullahans that would be willing to take part, that cannot be the reward...how about a seal of approval?

P.S. Yes, I know about the Pathfinder one in the Bestiary 2; that one really isn't playable, and more importantly it does not seem (to me) to stick as close to the lore. I mean, not only is it an Undead (which, yes, I know is a better type), but it has nothing related to the lore other than a Death-causing ability and a horse it can summon. Heck, the only mention I can find in the Dullahan's info about being headless is one quick line in Italics.

[Alistaroc]

The feat Detach, from Savage Species, allows any monster with Con 19 and regeneration to detach a limb and throw it to attack with, although it specifically says you can't use a bite attack this way. You take 1/4 your health in subdual damage.

I'd suggest maybe tweaking this, allowing Undead to use it, and making it 1/4 your HP while your head remains detached. Then just throw a Necropolitan template on any race you want and you've got an Undead head-detacher, with DM approval anyways.

[Getsugaru]

The feat Detach, from Savage Species, allows any monster with Con 19 and regeneration to detach a limb and throw it to attack with, although it specifically says you can't use a bite attack this way. You take 1/4 your health in subdual damage.

I'd suggest maybe tweaking this, allowing Undead to use it, and making it 1/4 your HP while your head remains detached. Then just throw a Necropolitan template on any race you want and you've got an Undead head-detacher, with DM approval anyways.

The only problem with that is that technically the Dullahan is a Fey, i.e. not dead. I think I said that in the OP. Also, your method prevents me from randomly taking off my head to recite Shakespearean quotation, due to the damage cost and DM fiat. :smalltongue:

[Uhtred]

They definitely have Pathfinder stats, appearing in Bestiary 2, I believe. I bought the Pathfinder mini, which is a beautiful sculpt. They do, however, make the shift to Undead instead of Fey, which bugged me, too. And I agree, it's weird that 3.5 never introduced them!

[Afgncaap5]

The only problem with that is that technically the Dullahan is a Fey, i.e. not dead. I think I said that in the OP. Also, your method prevents me from randomly taking off my head to recite Shakespearean quotation, due to the damage cost and DM fiat. :smalltongue:

There's an oddity about real-world folklore that doesn't intersect well with D&D: you can have overlap between the fey and the undead. Often fairy stories and ghost stories overlapped, and some fairy creatures were overtly stated to be involved with the dead. I think that Shakespeare once gave a subtle nod to this by calling Oberron the "Lord of Shades" or something, but that might be my fevered imagination beating up my actual memory of his work.

I have a homebrew houserule to handle things like these that I call Supertypes. They're basically subtypes, but they're able to act as umbrellas to rest over several types at once. Goblin is one I use a lot, as is Fairy. (For instance, my homebrew Gremlin monster is a Fey creature with the Goblin and Fairy supertypes.)

The Dullahan, and to a lesser extent the Headless Horseman, is a creature that I'd put as either a Fey or a Monstrous Humanoid, and I'd give it the Fairy, Ghost, and Soldier supertypes (that last one mostly for the Headless Horsemen, as I can totally see a Dullahan not being a soldier.) These supertypes are specific to my personal interpretations, though, and might not fit for your campaign world.

To make something playable, though... what about a Humanoid with the Fairy and Ghost supertypes (or however you want to flavor them) and the Human subtype, a +4 racial bonus to Ride and Open Lock, and some custom abilities like...

-Spell Like Abilities: At Will: Open/Close, Mount (for self only). 3/Week: Knock.

-Golden Tarnish (EX): The Dullahan gains DR 1/gold, meaning only weapons plated with gold or alchemically treated to be golden (such as with alchemical silver) can overcome it. This Damage Reduction increases by one point for every four hit dice the Dullahan gains. Any golden weapon that DOES overcome this DR automatically triggers the Golden Ailment (see below), even though the Dullahan wasn't in contact with the gold for four hours, and the Dullahan must make a save or lose strength as if through Red Ache. This strength loss only happens once unless the weapon that caused the injury stays in contact with the Dullahan somehow.

-Tremorsense (Ex): When a Dullahan does not have its head connected to its body (see below), it gains Tremorsense to a distance of 15 feet.

-Headless (Ex): At no penalty, a Dullahan may remove his or her head as a standard action that provokes attacks of opportunity. Treat the Head as a secondary creature with [some complicated math about stats, probably borrowing heavily from a Sorcerer's familiar class feature]. The Dullahan may leave its head and still control its body at no penalty, though as soon as the head can no longer see the body the Dullahan must rely on its tremorsense. Once per hour, the Dullahan may teleport back to its head regardless of the distance as long as the body and head are on the same plane and even if the head is within an anti-magic or dimension-locked field. If the body is killed, the head instantly dies. If the head is killed, the body must make a DC 15 Fortitude save every round (with the DC increasing by 1 each round) or die. The body may restore the head to life, if possible. A Dullahan that casts spells may cast spells with verbal or somatic components even if the proper body part required for the component (head for Verbal and body for Somatic) is elsewhere, as long as the other body part is not restrained or prevented from doing so. The Dullahan is also immune to dying through any method that removes the head (such as vorpal blades or guillotines) though not to methods that merely affect the head (such as a mind flayer's extraction ability.)

-Court Allegiance (Ex): Every Dullahan has a connection to either the Seelie or Unseelie court. This connection only changes with the approval of a Fey Lord or Fey Lady of appropriate rank and power from the court that the Dullahan wishes to join, or through very powerful magic (Limited Wish, Wish, or Miracle.)

-Undead Metabolism (Ex): Though dead, the Dullahan maintains a body as if alive. If a member of the Seelie court, the Dullahan only heals half as much from healing magic related to positive energy (such as the Cure Light Wounds spell), but only receives half as much damage from negative energy (such as the Inflict Light Wounds spell). Unseelie Court members react to positive and negative energy as if undead, but again only take half as much healing from negative energy and half as much damage from positive energy. Spells specified to deal damage to the undead, such as Disrupt Undead, always deal damage to a Dullahan as if it was Undead, regardless of Court affiliation.

-Golden Ailment (Ex): A Dullahan must not carry items made of gold (including coins) or else be subjected to this Ailment. Whenever a Dullahan has carried such an object (even if in a secured box on his person where it won't come into physical contact, or even if it remains inside an interdimensional storage space that the Dullahan can easily access) for more than four hours, treat the Dullahan as if under the affects of Red Ache with no incubation period and new saves being rolled once every hour instead of every day. The Dullahan can not be cured of this until the gold is no longer in the Dullahan's possession.

Favored Class: Paladin (if Seelie), Rogue (if Unseelie).


A little rough around the edges, but maybe something like that could be tweaked to be playable? I'm not sure what level adjustment I'd give it. Maybe a custom feat to allow it to upgrade its Mount ability to Phantom Steed a certain number of times per day or something. Or maybe just turn the Mount ability into something like a Paladin's mount, but as a racial feature instead of a class feature? Not sure.

[jiriku]

I immediately thought of this. She has all those powers. :smallbiggrin:

http://i846.photobucket.com/albums/ab24/gallopinggiraffes/180_zpsigbpsybr.jpg (http://s846.photobucket.com/user/gallopinggiraffes/media/180_zpsigbpsybr.jpg.html)

[Getsugaru]

There's an oddity about real-world folklore that doesn't intersect well with D&D: you can have overlap between the fey and the undead. Often fairy stories and ghost stories overlapped, and some fairy creatures were overtly stated to be involved with the dead. I think that Shakespeare once gave a subtle nod to this by calling Oberron the "Lord of Shades" or something, but that might be my fevered imagination beating up my actual memory of his work.

I have a homebrew houserule to handle things like these that I call Supertypes. They're basically subtypes, but they're able to act as umbrellas to rest over several types at once. Goblin is one I use a lot, as is Fairy. (For instance, my homebrew Gremlin monster is a Fey creature with the Goblin and Fairy supertypes.)

The Dullahan, and to a lesser extent the Headless Horseman, is a creature that I'd put as either a Fey or a Monstrous Humanoid, and I'd give it the Fairy, Ghost, and Soldier supertypes (that last one mostly for the Headless Horsemen, as I can totally see a Dullahan not being a soldier.) These supertypes are specific to my personal interpretations, though, and might not fit for your campaign world.
While that is interesting, the main idea of the thread is to see if there is a way to make a Dullahan within the confines of the existing rules. While a houserule like that might work, that's still a DM fiat element. An interesting one to be sure, but still.


what about a Humanoid with the Fairy and Ghost supertypes (or however you want to flavor them) and the Human subtype, a +4 racial bonus to Ride and Open Lock, and some custom abilities like...

-Spell Like Abilities: At Will: Open/Close, Mount (for self only). 3/Week: Knock.

-Golden Tarnish (EX): The Dullahan gains DR 1/gold, meaning only weapons plated with gold or alchemically treated to be golden (such as with alchemical silver) can overcome it. This Damage Reduction increases by one point for every four hit dice the Dullahan gains. Any golden weapon that DOES overcome this DR automatically triggers the Golden Ailment (see below), even though the Dullahan wasn't in contact with the gold for four hours, and the Dullahan must make a save or lose strength as if through Red Ache. This strength loss only happens once unless the weapon that caused the injury stays in contact with the Dullahan somehow.

-Tremorsense (Ex): When a Dullahan does not have its head connected to its body (see below), it gains Tremorsense to a distance of 15 feet.

-Headless (Ex): At no penalty, a Dullahan may remove his or her head as a standard action that provokes attacks of opportunity. Treat the Head as a secondary creature with [some complicated math about stats, probably borrowing heavily from a Sorcerer's familiar class feature]. The Dullahan may leave its head and still control its body at no penalty, though as soon as the head can no longer see the body the Dullahan must rely on its tremorsense. Once per hour, the Dullahan may teleport back to its head regardless of the distance as long as the body and head are on the same plane and even if the head is within an anti-magic or dimension-locked field. If the body is killed, the head instantly dies. If the head is killed, the body must make a DC 15 Fortitude save every round (with the DC increasing by 1 each round) or die. The body may restore the head to life, if possible. A Dullahan that casts spells may cast spells with verbal or somatic components even if the proper body part required for the component (head for Verbal and body for Somatic) is elsewhere, as long as the other body part is not restrained or prevented from doing so. The Dullahan is also immune to dying through any method that removes the head (such as vorpal blades or guillotines) though not to methods that merely affect the head (such as a mind flayer's extraction ability.)

-Court Allegiance (Ex): Every Dullahan has a connection to either the Seelie or Unseelie court. This connection only changes with the approval of a Fey Lord or Fey Lady of appropriate rank and power from the court that the Dullahan wishes to join, or through very powerful magic (Limited Wish, Wish, or Miracle.)

-Undead Metabolism (Ex): Though dead, the Dullahan maintains a body as if alive. If a member of the Seelie court, the Dullahan only heals half as much from healing magic related to positive energy (such as the Cure Light Wounds spell), but only receives half as much damage from negative energy (such as the Inflict Light Wounds spell). Unseelie Court members react to positive and negative energy as if undead, but again only take half as much healing from negative energy and half as much damage from positive energy. Spells specified to deal damage to the undead, such as Disrupt Undead, always deal damage to a Dullahan as if it was Undead, regardless of Court affiliation.

-Golden Ailment (Ex): A Dullahan must not carry items made of gold (including coins) or else be subjected to this Ailment. Whenever a Dullahan has carried such an object (even if in a secured box on his person where it won't come into physical contact, or even if it remains inside an interdimensional storage space that the Dullahan can easily access) for more than four hours, treat the Dullahan as if under the affects of Red Ache with no incubation period and new saves being rolled once every hour instead of every day. The Dullahan can not be cured of this until the gold is no longer in the Dullahan's possession.

Favored Class: Paladin (if Seelie), Rogue (if Unseelie).


A little rough around the edges, but maybe something like that could be tweaked to be playable? I'm not sure what level adjustment I'd give it. Maybe a custom feat to allow it to upgrade its Mount ability to Phantom Steed a certain number of times per day or something. Or maybe just turn the Mount ability into something like a Paladin's mount, but as a racial feature instead of a class feature? Not sure.

This could be useful as a sort of base-line for finding stuff, but until more ideas that come from the existing rules come forward or someone wise points out that certain elements are not in fact possible within the confines of the rules, I ask that we stick to non-homebrew.


I immediately thought of this. She has all those powers. :smallbiggrin:

http://i846.photobucket.com/albums/ab24/gallopinggiraffes/180_zpsigbpsybr.jpg (http://s846.photobucket.com/user/gallopinggiraffes/media/180_zpsigbpsybr.jpg.html)
Somehow I had a feeling someone would bring this up eventually. After all, Lala is in fact a Dullahan. Not the reason I started this thread, but I knew that eventually she'd stick her head in...

...I'll get my coat.

[jiriku]

I knew that eventually she'd stick her head in...

...I'll get my coat.

*falls out of chair laughing, then groans and pounds head on floor*

[Arbane]

ahem.

http://24.media.tumblr.com/acd7e5ef779b352938d044d6f1e39935/tumblr_myfpjidE4y1r2y55mo1_1280.jpg

[Getsugaru]

ahem.

http://24.media.tumblr.com/acd7e5ef779b352938d044d6f1e39935/tumblr_myfpjidE4y1r2y55mo1_1280.jpg

Anything constructive to the OP you want to offer? This isn't a thread about posting Dullahan pictures, after all; this is a thread for trying to make one using the existing rules.

[Draconium]

I think Celty would work better in D20 Modern anyways... :smalltongue:

Anyways, I agree with a lot of what Afgncaap5 said, with one exception. I think a Dullahan should be able to naturally have a special mount, usually a horse, just like a paladin's special mount. Okay, maybe not just like it, but with the same basic concept - it's a mount that's bonded with the rider.

[Getsugaru]

This is quickly turning into a Homebrew Race thread. Should I take this as a sign that no one has any ideas of how to do it using the existing (and massive) rules set of 3.5?

[Draconium]

Well, I haven't seen an equivalent in 3.5, and while I'm not familiar with Pathfinder, it seems you aren't happy with what they've used. So homebrew is probably most of what you're gonna get.

[Crake]

There's the Lumi from monster manual 3? They naturally have a floating head, making them immune to vorpal effects and what not, but they can't actually remove their heads. Maybe with a bit of refluffing and letting them remove their heads?

[Getsugaru]

There's the Lumi from monster manual 3? They naturally have a floating head, making them immune to vorpal effects and what not, but they can't actually remove their heads. Maybe with a bit of refluffing and letting them remove their heads?

Now this feels like a step in the right direction. Lumi's have detached heads. While they cannot move their head away from their body (as if there is an ethereal neck or similar), it does at least give us a starting point that shows some of the traits are available within the rules (and as anyone who's read Serpent Kingdoms that book or knows how Pun-Pun works would know, it's not that hard to transfer traits from one creature to another...)...

[AlanBruce]

I am making my own Unseelie and Seelie Court for my campaign and came across a Homebrew thread in these very forums.

Amongst the many fey submitted, was Dullahan. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?58184-Creature-And-I-will-dance-upon-your-grave)

Again, this is homebrew, but the author is notoriously good at designing monsters.

If you are interested in all things fey related, here it is. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?226612-3-5-The-Fey-Compendium)