Within the shadowed woods, the shapes seemed to twist and the sounds became muted and ominous. Among the creaking boughs of the looming trees, large birds with feathers that bled into the darkness lurked, watching with crimson eyes. Trappings of shamanic religions and faiths hung in the area – figures made from bundled sticks, yellowed bones, and scraps of beasts. At the center of the macabre scene was a deer skull perched high atop a tree. A skull that slowly inclined as the towering figure tore itself free. Cries arose from the dreary flock as the celebrated the rising of their master, lifting into the air to circle about the towering entity. Its long claws flexed as its heavy feet stomped across the ground while the birds circled around it like a storm, cawing and shrieking. The leshen’s wooden body creaked and groaned beneath the call of its flock as it lumbered through its domain, drawn towards intruders that had dared to enter its domain.
This monster was suggested by two different people in two different instances over on the Discord, so I figured it was one I should probably put together. Having only played one of the two game series the leshen is featured in, I may have ended up leaning more into the Monster Hunter version of the creature rather than the Witcher. The leshen is a powerful forest spirit that grows violent at the intrusion of humans upon their encroachment in its home. While described as protectors of the forest, they seem quick to judge those that trespass there. They launch their attacks by manipulating their environment and its inhabitants - using plants and beasts alike to savage foes. Apart from summoning animals, it is often surrounded by a flock of bird-like creatures that tear at anything that gets too close. The leshen has an innate ability to teleport around, which it uses to compensate for its slow speed in Monster Hunter. It will make a swipe with its powerful claws only to teleport before the blow lands to attack from a new, unexpected angle. Finally, it was able to inflict bleed with its claws in Monster Hunter, at the very least. Like many creatures from the world of Witcher, silver is required to harm it.
While powerful in its home game, the leshen seemed best suited for a mid-level creature given the high fantasy setting of Pathfinder. Naturally, it is a plant, which is a creature type I haven't built in a while. Reflective of its resilience from its original game, it has a decent resistance to physical damage that is bypassed by weapons made of silver, but it remains vulnerable to fire. Despite its impressive antlers, it only uses its long claws to make sweeping strikes with, but can inflict bleed as per Monster Hunter with its bloody rend. This ability functions the same as rend, but adds bleed damage to the extra damage inflicted. Its ability to teleport are reflected in both dimension door and tree stride while its skill at intermixing it with attacks is accomplished with the Dimensional Agility line of feats. It can use ether step to dodge incoming attacks, call forth powerful animal allies with Augment Summoning and summon nature's ally V, and trap foes in roots and thorns with thorny entanglement, wall of thorns, and its erupting roots. The last of these abilities is a fairly standard AoE ability that has some lasting effects that makes it difficult to get out of between knocking targets prone and making the area difficult terrain. This should slow players down enough to potentially give it a chance to pull off spells with a longer casting time such as summon nature's all V.
Finally, the leshen has its flock of circling birds. This felt a strange ability to include as internally, I debated that they should simply be something it summons. However, that runs the risk of not being an appropriate challenge for the level the creature is. As a sort of compromise, I made the birds explicitly linked to the leshen through magic - creatures that roosted in it and became twisted by its magic. They deal only minor damage but can leave a foe staggered, inspired by the distraction ability that many swarms possess.
Tactically, the leshen wants to begin combat hidden with its Skill Focus in Stealth so that it can unleash its erupting roots or thorny entanglement in the surprise round. Hopefully, this slows foes enough that it can still manage to call more allies to its side despite its low initiative.
Pathfinder 1e:
This is another instance where the 2e leshen was built first, meaning much of what I talked about there applies here as well. For this version of the leshen, I did remember to include its ability to speak with animals and plants. Its ability to teleport out of attacks is a simple reaction that allows him to Step 15 feet, a distance that was decided on after realizing that having it be lower actually made it difficult for him to move around creatures given his size. Possibly more than the 1e version, this leshen is something of a magical striker. It has a number of AoE spells that also reflect its ability to summon minions, such as feral shades, vomit swarm, and summon animal; its teleportation powers with dimension door, and movement hampering spells such as wall of thorns, entangle, and tanglefoot for single target lockdown. In particular, I like the way that feral shades meshes with other aspects of its kit, such as Carve Open and Stabbing Roots. The bleed and prone conditions they inflict can leave afflicted creatures at a penalty on their save if they don't take care of the problem quickly. Startling Strike serves as something of a stand-in for the Dimensional Agility line and is what inspired me to include it on the 1e version. In my initial build of the 2e leshen, I had the animal allies spell, which is a damaging emanation before deciding that it was somewhat redundant with its aura. I kept the Circling Birds, and included the caveat I usually do that Aoe damage temporarily scatters the swarm.
Pathfinder 2e:
Blue's D&D 5e:
ENCOUNTER HOOKS
Lost in the Woods: Ages ago, a hero of the region was lost to an ancient woods and the heroes must find his resting place to retrieve the McGuffin he was carrying. Aside from the challenge that comes from finding the lost hero’s resting place and the standard dangers of the forest, there is the actual culprit of the hero’s death – a leshen who’s the hero’s sword is still stuck in. They must retrieve the plot device and either escape or defeat the leshen to gain more of the treasure left by the slain hero.
Root of the Problem: Tired of human expansion, a leshen has decided to turn the tables. Assembling a number of treants, witchwoods, and other denizens of the forest under its foul influence, they begin expanding the woods themselves. Frontier towns are soon swallowed and their people slaughtered. Eventually, the heroes are called to venture into the growing forest where every tree can be an enemy. As they fight their way through the leshen's minions, they might be able to reclaim villages swallowed by the arboreal advance, using them as staging grounds before they dive deeper to face the leshen itself.
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