Haint o’ the Crossroads
Medium Undead (Incorporeal)
Hit Dice: 8d12 + 48 (100 HP)
Initiative: +12
Speed: Fly 40 ft. (perfect) (8 squares)
Armor Class: 20 (+8 Dex, +6 Deflection), touch 20, flat-footed 16
Base Attack/Grapple: +4/+6
Attack: incorporeal touch +12 (2d6 negative energy damage, plus 1d6 Wis drain)
Full Attack: incorporeal touch +12 (2d6 negative energy damage, plus 1d6 Wis drain)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: maddening glare; wisdom drain
Special Qualities: Earthly domain; fast healing 5; incorporeal traits; invisibility; lifesense; turn resistance +4; undead traits; unholy toughness; unnatural aura
Saves: Fort +2, Ref +10, Will +2
Abilities: Str 14, Dex 27, Con —, Int 11, Wis 2, Cha 23
Skills: Hide +18, Intimidate +17, Listen +2, Move Silently +17, Spot +3, Sense Motive +7
Feats: Alertness; Improved Initiative; Lifesense; Weapon FinesseB
Environment: Any (crossroads only)
Organization: Solitary or pair
Challenge Rating: 10
Treasure: Standard
Alignment: Usually Neutral Evil
Advancement: 9-10 HD (Medium); 11-14 HD (Large)
Level Adjustment: —
As you come to the crossroads, you ponder for a moment which direction to take. The longer you stand, the harder it seems for you and your companions to concentrate on making that decision. Suddenly, in the center of the crossroads before you, a gaunt, billowing figure appears, almost man-shaped but not quite. It flies towards you and your allies, its glare bewildering sending some fleeing while it reaches its shadowy claws at others.
A haint o’ the hills is a terrifying undead monstrosity created when an unfortunate soul is killed at a crossroads and is driven mad by the years, or when a brigand or highwayman known to plague the crossroad is killed there. The haint cannot leave its home for long, and it seeks to make those that come there more like itself, listless and unliving.
Most haints are human-sized, but weightless due to their incorporeality. Advanced versions, made up of multiple souls wronged in the same spot, are even larger, up to 12 or more feet tall. Haints understand Common and occasionally other languages, but rarely, if ever, speak.
Combat
A haint o’ the crossroads survives by draining the life-force of those who come to its crossroads. When it closes in on foes, it uses its incorporeal touch to grab them, damaging them and causing them to grow confused, lost and unaware of their surroundings. It tries to stay within its domain, using its maddening glare as often as possible on more threatening targets while hitting others with its incorporeal touch.
Earthly Domain (Su): The haint o’ the crossroads is tied to a particular crossroads, usually the place where it was killed as a living creature. While in its earthly domain, a haint o’ the crossroads gains fast healing 5 (included above).
The haint usually stays within 120 ft. of its earthly domain. It can move beyond this area, but each round it does it takes 1d10 damage. If this damage causes it to be reduced to 0 hit points or fewer, or if an enemy’s attacks cause it to be reduced to 0 or fewer hit point while outside the domain, it is not destroyed and instead reappears in its domain with 1 hit point.
Incorporeal Traits: The Incorporeal subtype grants the haint o’ the crossroads the following traits.
Spoiler
Show
An incorporeal creature has no physical body. It can be harmed only by other incorporeal creatures, magic weapons or creatures that strike as magic weapons, and spells, spell-like abilities, or supernatural abilities. It is immune to all nonmagical attack forms. Even when hit by spells or magic weapons, it has a 50% chance to ignore any damage from a corporeal source (except for positive energy, negative energy, force effects such as magic missile, or attacks made with ghost touch weapons). Although it is not a magical attack, holy water can affect incorporeal undead, but a hit with holy water has a 50% chance of not affecting an incorporeal creature.
An incorporeal creature has no natural armor bonus but has a deflection bonus equal to its Charisma bonus (always at least +1, even if the creature’s Charisma score does not normally provide a bonus).
An incorporeal creature can enter or pass through solid objects, but must remain adjacent to the object’s exterior, and so cannot pass entirely through an object whose space is larger than its own. It can sense the presence of creatures or objects within a square adjacent to its current location, but enemies have total concealment (50% miss chance) from an incorporeal creature that is inside an object. In order to see farther from the object it is in and attack normally, the incorporeal creature must emerge. An incorporeal creature inside an object has total cover, but when it attacks a creature outside the object it only has cover, so a creature outside with a readied action could strike at it as it attacks. An incorporeal creature cannot pass through a force effect.
An incorporeal creature’s attacks pass through (ignore) natural armor, armor, and shields, although deflection bonuses and force effects (such as mage armor) work normally against it. Incorporeal creatures pass through and operate in water as easily as they do in air. Incorporeal creatures cannot fall or take falling damage. Incorporeal creatures cannot make trip or grapple attacks, nor can they be tripped or grappled. In fact, they cannot take any physical action that would move or manipulate an opponent or its equipment, nor are they subject to such actions. Incorporeal creatures have no weight and do not set off traps that are triggered by weight.
An incorporeal creature moves silently and cannot be heard with Listen checks if it doesn’t wish to be. It has no Strength score, so its Dexterity modifier applies to both its melee attacks and its ranged attacks. Nonvisual senses, such as scent and blindsight, are either ineffective or only partly effective with regard to incorporeal creatures. Incorporeal creatures have an innate sense of direction and can move at full speed even when they cannot see.
Invisibility (Su): In conditions other than bright light (or that of a daylight spell) haint can cloak itself in darkness, rending it invisible. This requires a standard action and can be performed at will, but the haint cannot remain invisible while attacking.
Maddening Glare (Su): A haint o’ crossroads is a terror to behold, and its very glare can cause confusion and paranoia. Once per round as a swift action it can use lesser confusion as the spell. The target can attempt a DC 20 Will save (10 + one-half HD + Charisma modifier) to negate the glare.
Undead Traits: As an Undead creature, a haint o’ the crossroads has the following traits.
Spoiler
Show
- No Constitution score.
- Darkvision out to 60 feet.
- Immunity to all mind-affecting effects (charms, compulsions, phantasms, patterns, and morale effects).
- Immunity to poison, sleep effects, paralysis, stunning, disease, and death effects.
- Not subject to critical hits, nonlethal damage, ability drain, or energy drain. Immune to damage to its physical ability scores (Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution), as well as to fatigue and exhaustion effects.
- Cannot heal damage on its own if it has no Intelligence score, although it can be healed. Negative energy (such as an inflict spell) can heal undead creatures. The fast healing special quality works regardless of the creature’s Intelligence score.
- Immunity to any effect that requires a Fortitude save (unless the effect also works on objects or is harmless).
- Uses its Charisma modifier for Concentration checks.
- Not at risk of death from massive damage, but when reduced to 0 hit points or less, it is immediately destroyed.
- Not affected by raise dead and reincarnate spells or abilities. Resurrection and true resurrection can affect undead creatures. These spells turn undead creatures back into the living creatures they were before becoming undead.
- Proficient with its natural weapons, all simple weapons, and any weapons mentioned in its entry.
- Proficient with whatever type of armor (light, medium, or heavy) it is described as wearing, as well as all lighter types. Undead not indicated as wearing armor are not proficient with armor. Undead are proficient with shields if they are proficient with any form of armor.
- Undead do not breathe, eat, or sleep.
Unholy Toughness (Su): The haint o’ the crossroads is empowered by its own hatred and force of will. It adds its Charisma modifier to its hit points at each level. (This is included in the statistics above.)
Unnatural Aura (Su): Animals, whether wild or domesticated, can sense the unnatural presence of a haint o’ the crossroads at a distance of 30 feet. They will not willingly approach nearer than that and panic if forced to do so; they remain panicked as long as they are within that range.
Wisdom Drain (Su): A haint o’ the crossroads’ touch does damages a creature’s ability to perceive its surroundings, making it listless and lost. A creature touched is entitled to a DC 20 Fortitude save to negate the Wisdom drain. (The save DC is Charisma based.) When it reduces a creature to 0 Wisdom with this ability, the haint o’ the crossroads gains 3d6+6 hit points.
Skills
A haint o’ the crossroads is stealthy and incorporeal, and has a +4 racial bonus on Hide and Move Silently checks.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Lore
Coming soon...
Re: GITP Monster Competition XXXIV - On the Road Again
