The sorceress scowled as the spell at her fingertips fizzled while a shrunken head with skin stretched taut across its skull sneered at her, one of a mass of babbling heads covering the form of the hideous creature menacing her companions. One jaw clacked open in a hideous gape as the mass, grinning and jabbering skulls surrounding a vaguely humanoid shape, lunged at the barbarian. He brought his axe up to fend off a blow but as he struggled against the savagely snapping teeth of one head, another completed the incantation of the spell it had been readying and a bolt of lightning ripped from the abomination. The bolt lanced through the barbarian, streaking towards the alchemist and ranger, who dove from their cover. Taking a steadying breath, the sorcerer felt magic course through her veins, descending into a tingling in her fingers that she raised. Her gaze focused on the undead once more, catching one set of eyes that watched her with mocking glee, daring her to challenge them yet again in their mastery of magic.
First and foremost, I want to start off by thanking my good buddy and friend, Daniel Larios, for the absolutely amazing art he provided for this week’s monster. It’s seriously great stuff and with full respect to his previous works, a massive improvement over the first monsters he made.
With that out of the way, today’s terror is a monster based off of an inversion of the headless horseman – the horseless headsman. I’ve actually had this creature built for a while and was merely awaiting art for it though in my original concept for it, it was more of a physical menace. Actually building it did lead to some changes and in an effort to make it more distinct from the Dullahan (and many other monsters I make), I designed it as a caster. Its spells use a high DC and spell attack roll and it has a very general list of spells, based on the idea of this creature being created from the heads of multiple mages. With its focus on magic, it has low Hit Points but can be tough to hit with a high Armor Class and All-Around Vision making it immune to flanking. Then it has only a moderate attack bonus with its melee Strike dealing moderate damage and its head lob having low damage.
However, its Head Lob can also latch onto a victim, the detached head continuing to chew and worry at a victim until they Escape – though given that it is only a head, it can’t pin enemies down. Its other passive ability is Pooled Knowledge, which is mostly a housekeeping ability establishing how the creature functions and why it is immune to critical hits and precision damage. For its actual activated abilities, Collect Head gives it a way to add to its Pooled Knowledge, but also has a healing effect based on the healing effects of Consume Flesh from the ghoul. More uniquely, it has Maul, which is deliberately designed as a single action ability so that the headsman can use it in conjunction with spells that it wants to casts. It uses a high DC save while dealing damage based on a high damage Strike with one of its main purposes to be sustaining a grapple in this way rather than its more moderately bonused Athletics.
Initially, I only designed the headsman with a single reaction - Chorus of Jeers. This felt like a fun way for the headsman to dish out some debuffs, playing into its multiple heads taunting and overwhelming a target. This forces a high DC Will save but with the multitude of heads, it can deliver one of three effects - confused to potentially turn warriors against their allies, stupefied to debilitate rival casters, or frightened as a general means of debilitating a creature. However, during the Monster Mash, my test subjects and the viewers wanted to see this creature play into its wizardly inspiration, which led to the inclusion of Counterskull. This functions like a Counterspell - while it has a more limited range, it doesn't require the headsman to expend a spell. It has the added benefit of allowing the headsman to capture a spell that it critically succeeds at counteracting. This is based on one of the heads retaining the spell after successfully countering it, but it is fleeting, only available until the end of the creature's next turn.
Pathfinder 2e:
The headsman in Pathfinder 1e is slightly more focused on casting spells largely by virtue of not quite being kitted out for other options, being slightly limited by the action economy of 1e. Its spells are a little more thematic in 1e, being based on it stealing knowledge, biting and draining enemies, and sustaining itself. It has rake instead of its Maul and retains its head lob while its Collect Head and Pooled Knowledge are rolled into its head collection. An aspect of this that I do like is the existence of the coup de grace action in 1e allowing it to potentially do this to downed players, which is a dangerous powers to put in the hands of the GM.
Pathfinder 1e:
Blue's D&D 5e:
ENCOUNTER HOOKS
If one of the heroes is a wizard, magus, or other type of caster that learns their spells, they could easily become the target of a headsman. While usable as a solo encounter in such a situation, the headsman could also be the operative of a rival caster, the minion of a necromancer that the party has opposed in the past, or even tied into the character's backstory. Alternatively, the heroes could find themselves required to defend a wizard that is certain he is being targeted by a headsman after others of his class have been found decapitated.
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Have a monstrous Monday!
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