Monster Monday - Kholo Packmaster

A snarl of command tears through the air, emerging from the bared fangs of the looming kholo. The order sends a pair of hyenas bounding forward, howling and baying as they leap towards the barbarian. One catches his powerful arm in its bone-breaking jaws as its partner finds purchase in the warrior's leg, trying to tear him down. Their mistress sneers at the struggling while, at her side, a grotesque, two-headed hyena bearing blatantly mortal wounds vocalizes her mirth with twinned chuckles. Both of the heads snap to the side at the sound of the druid's chanting, threatening the primalist with low growls. The master of the pack follows their dead gaze and her whip lashes out, wrapping around the ankles of the caster before pulling them out from under him. As he crashes to the ground, she barks another order and the last laugh gleefully pounces, both of its fang-filled maws overflowing with froth and depraved giggles.

Kholo Packmaster, Illustrated by Blue

Party to pets putrid and primitive, this puckish packmaster pulls players into peril by pitting its puppets against their prone personage with pugnacious punishment.

You can check out the video for the kholo packmaster or the illustrator for it as well as my good friend!

After the last laugh that I built the other week, I had to built a companion to command it! As a creature, the kholo packmaster is meant to enhance its team, which means its own stats maybe a little lacking. Its health is rather lonely with a high value with its Strikes featuring only a moderate attack bonus with typically low damage. The intent is for the packmaster to hang on the edges of combat, tripping up foes with its whip and empowering its minions to to help take down enemies.

To that end, the packmaster is largely built around a Wild Pack aura (named for an obscure Marvel team), which grants creatures that would be part of her pack. As a kholo, she naturally gravitates towards commanding hyenas, so this affects animals, but kholos in my setting were created by the goddess of undeath. This has tied them to undeath and they often rely on zombie servitors, which the packmaster can command as part of its pack. Its aura is relatively short and either grants Pack Attack to a creature or empowers the Pack Attack of a creature that already has it since I still wanted the packmaster to be able to affect creatures such as its hyenas and last laughs.

As for its more activated abilities, the packmaster has the likes of Motivate. There's some darkness to a move like this, but I personally think that's fine as kholo are classically vile creatures. However, some GMs may not want to play with this concept and should consider using the alternate effect of Motivate as detailed in the sidebar. Sic 'Em! is a good bit less controversial and is actually based on an ability of the commander by the name of Double Team. I made a few changes, shifting it to a single action but with the flourish trait to prevent the packmaster from spamming it. This prompted a slight discussion between myself and a friend as I originally designed it as two actions, which he didn't think was a good benefit for a monster as monster actions are typically more valuable than PC actions. Furthermore, this uses up the reactions of the allies as does the packmaster's Savage the Prey reaction. This took some careful wording as I wanted it to be a little adaptable. The packmaster can use it herself to Strike at a downed foe or allow one of her pack to Strike at a foe she's downed. Either way she does it, if the Striking character manages to land their blow, it takes a grisly wound that leaves it with persistent bleed damage.

PF2e Kholo Packmaster

Blue's D&D Kholo Packmaster

ENCOUNTER HOOKS

When it comes to talking about encounters featuring the packmaster, I specifically built it at a level that isn't already occupied by other kholo. Furthermore, its level is kept low enough that it can still fight alongside hyenas, festrogs, hyenadon, or last laughs. For example, you could have a moderate encounter for a level 5 party that features 1 kholo packmaster and either 4 hyenas or 2 hyenadon.

Bound to the Bone: The party has managed to escape kholo captivity but their captors aren't so eager to let them go. A packmaster and its minions are sent to hunt down the escapees, which could lead into an immediate chase scene or a longer, drawn out challenge. For the former, the heroes reaching the end point could be their full escape or might just put them in an advantageous position, such as hazards they can activate or terrain slowing the packmaster. But if the packmaster catches up to them, it may still be close enough to camp that other low-level threats could join the fray if it goes on too long.

Packed In: The heroes stumble upon the den of a packmaster and its companions, which have struck out on their own after lacking the brutality and cruelty customary to their kind. The packmaster ferociously guards its new home, but if any of the pack go down, the master swiftly steps in to protect them, and vice versa. This protectiveness and willingness to sacrifice for each other might inspire the heroes to find a different tactic and shift the combat encounter to more of a social one.

A quick mention - I've talked with Blue, my maker of D&D monsters, and we've discussed starting a Patreon for the blog and channel. Please chime in with your thoughts and whether you would consider supporting us! Along with that, if you're interested in joining the discussion on what creatures/builds I'm working on or just talking about your own homebrew works, check out our Discord! If you want to get some teasers or help us get to our yet unlisted milestones for extra content, check out the Twitter.

Have a monstrous Monday!