d20 Devil's Workshop Legend of the Headless Horseman.pdf
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Legend of the
HEADLESS
horseman
LPJ9734
Legend of the HEADLESS HORSEMAN
The Legend
Legends hold that the first headless horseman was once
a brave, just, and loyal knight protector who served the
monarch of a kingdom that fell into oblivion long ago.
Tales from this forgotten period of history state that the
knight protector was not only the most accomplished
warrior and the boldest horseman of his era, but also the
kingdom’s most devoted champion. Through the years,
he served the king and his family impeccably well, and
became the monarch’s truest friend.
HEADLESS HORSEMAN
A headless horseman is a strange creature that haunts the area
around the place it was created. Undead, evil, and often as silent
as a ghost, the headless horseman roams under the crescent
shaped moon in search of prey it can behead. It comes out mostly
after dark, preferring the quiet solicitude of the night to hunt
down and murder its victims, which are always humanoid.
A headless horseman is a powerful undead that almost appears as
it did in life. Though its body remains the same as it was, its head
— severed at the neck when the creature was transformed — is
missing. Like some other intelligent undead, a headless horseman
frequently embraces riches and finery. A headless horseman
usually collects fine clothes and jewels as well as weapons and
suits of armor of good quality. Its lair typically contains a throne-
like chair, a great table with golden candelabrums or fine cutlery
set upon it, well-wrought tapestries and ancient paintings, as
well as a variety of other objects typically found in castles and
great manors inhabited by nobles. Thus the headless horseman
assumes the guise of nobility or royalty
This knight, whom many regarded as a veritable paragon
of virtue, never married. Despite the counsel and pressure
of his family and friends, the knight obstinately refused to
take a wife, for he had already met the love of his life. Ever
since he had first laid eyes on her, the valiant knight had
been secretly in love with the queen — and the feeling was
mutual. Unable to profess his love and unwilling to betray
his monarch and best friend, the knight spent many years in
silent torment and unbearable solitude.
Despite its humanoid appearance, a headless horseman has no
shred of humanity left in him. Bloodthirsty, merciless, and evil to
the core, a headless horseman is a fearsome opponent in battle.
Once it has beheaded someone, however, it often retreats to its
lair — seemingly satiated for the night and coming out to resume
its eternal hunt the following evening. A headless horseman
seems bound to collect the heads of its victims and often goes
out of its way to bring the ghastly trophies to its lair. If faced
with strong opposition or heavily injured, however, a headless
horseman always prefer to retreat than to risk being destroyed.
Rumors of the secret love of the knight and the queen,
however, eventually spread. Although the queen had always
been faithful to her husband and the valiant knight would
never have acted against his king, nobles and courtly advi-
sors began to imagine all sorts of schemes and invented
tales of secret rendezvous and a sordid love affair that
would eventually cause the downfall of the king and his
family. With the passing years, these rumors became both
more wretched and common, until most people in the
kingdom suspected these unbelievable tales were indeed
true.
This fiend possesses many of the qualities and much of the spirit
of the first creature that came to be called the headless horseman.
Thus, a headless horseman is an unequaled rider and fearsome
warrior. It also has an intrinsic connection with domesticated
animals, especially horses — which is unusual for an undead.
This connection allows a headless horseman to call upon the
services of a special mount, which may be its only true friend
throughout eternity.
When the king finally confronted his queen and the knight
on the matter, both admitted they had secretly loved each
other for years, but they also swore that none of the tales
concerning them were true and that they never acted on
their love. Hurt, feeling betrayed, and unable to control his
anger, the king accused both of them of treachery and had
them arrested. At midnight that same evening, the knight
was publicly beheaded.
A headless horseman has no hears, no eyes, and no mouth. It
does not have the capacity to speak.
CREATING A HEADLESS HORSEMAN
“Headless horseman” is an acquired template that can be added
to any humanoid or monstrous humanoid creature (
referred to
hereafter as the base creature
).
It is said that during the execution, the queen — chained
to a post not twenty paces from the knight — cursed her
husband and all the people who believed his evil lies. When
the axe came down upon the knight’s neck, the queen died,
unable to qualm her pain and anguish as the love of her
life was decapitated before her eyes. Days later, the head-
less corpse of the knight rose from the earth in which it was
buried. Damned for all eternity, he has been haunting the
area where he was unjustly murdered in a nightly quest for
his head.
A headless horseman uses all the base creature’s statistics and
special abilities except as noted below.
Size and Type: The creature’s type changes to undead (
either
augmented humanoid or monstrous humanoid
). Do not recal-
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Legend of the HEADLESS HORSEMAN
culate base attack bonus, saving throws, or skill points. The crea-
ture’s size remains unchanged.
If the headless horseman beheads a creature, 1d4 days after
burial, the victim returns as a headless spawn if it had 6 or less
Hit Dice and as a headless horseman if it had 7 or more Hit Dice.
Only Miracle or Wish can negate this effect. The new head-
less spawn is under the command of the headless horseman that
created it and remains enslaved until its master’s destruction. At
any given time a headless horseman may have enslaved spawn
totaling no more than its own Hit Dice. Any spawn it creates that
would exceed this limit are created as free-willed creatures. A
creature with 7 or more Hit Dice turned into a headless horseman
may not be enslaved, and thus becomes a free-willed creature
when created.
Hit Dice:
Increase all current and future Hit Dice to d12s.
Speed:
A headless horseman speed is the same as the base crea-
ture.
Armor Class:
The base creature’s natural armor bonus improves
by +10.
Attack:
A headless horseman retains all the attacks of the base
creature. If the base creature can use weapons, the headless
horseman retains this ability — and indeed prefers to fight with
weapons rather than with any natural attack it may have. A crea-
ture with natural weapons retains those natural weapons.
Despair (
Su
):
At the mere sight of a headless horseman, the
viewer must succeed on a Will saving throw or be paralyzed with
fear for 1d4 rounds (DC 10 + ½ the headless horseman’s Hit
Dice + headless horseman’s Charisma modifier). Whether or not
the save is successful, that creature cannot be affected again by
the same headless horseman’s despair ability for 24 hours. The
save DC is Charisma-based.
Full Attack:
A headless horseman fighting without weapons uses
its natural weapons, if it has any. If armed, it usually uses the
weapon as its primary and secondary attacks.
Damage:
A headless horseman causes the same amount of
damage with a weapon or a natural attack as the base creature.
However, it gains special abilities that may cause extra damage
(
see Special Attacks below
).
Unholy Strike (
Su
):
A headless horseman’s evil nature tran-
spires in all it touches. When wielding any arm or using a natural
weapon, a headless horseman imbues such a weapon with unholy
power, thus making it evil-aligned and able to bypass the corre-
sponding damage reduction. All attacks made with a weapon
wielded by a headless horseman (
including a natural weapon
)
deal an extra 2d6 points of damage against all creatures of good
alignment.
Special Attacks
A headless horseman retains all the special attacks of the base
creature and gains those described below.
Behead (
Su
):
Any slashing weapon wielded by a headless
horseman gains a quality similar to that of a vorpal blade. Thus,
when fighting with a slashing weapon, the headless horseman
can sever the heads of those it strikes. Upon a critical hit, the
weapon instantly severs the opponent’s head (if it has one) from
its body, unless the victim has more Hit Dice than the headless
horseman. In this case, the victim is allowed a Fortitude saving
throw (
DC equal to damage dealt by the headless horseman’s
critical hit
) to avoid being decapitated. Even with a successful
save, the victim still takes full damage from the critical hit and
the blow leaves a terrible scar — upon the victim’s face, neck,
shoulder, or torso — that never disappears (
even with magical
healing
).
Special Qualities
A headless horseman retains all the special qualities of the base
creature and gains those described below.
Blindsight (
Ex
):
A headless horseman is sensitive to vibrations
in the ground and changes in the air.
Damage Reduction (
Su
):
A headless horseman has damage
reduction 10/magic. A headless horseman’s weapons and natural
weapons (
if any
) are treated as magic weapons for the purpose of
overcoming damage reduction.
Fast Healing (
Ex
):
A headless horseman heals 5 points of
damage each round so long as it has at least 1 hit point.
Some creatures, such as many aberrations and all oozes, have no
heads. Others, such as golems and undead creatures other than
vampires, are not affected by the loss of their heads. Most other
creatures, however, die when their heads are cut off.
Immunities (
Ex
):
A headless horseman is immune to gaze
attacks and sonic attacks.
Lifesense (
Su
):
A headless horseman notices and locates living
creatures within one mile. It also senses the strength of their life
force automatically, as if it had cast deathwatch.
Once per day, a headless horseman may choose to strike a
creature paralyzed by its despair ability (
see below
) with an
automatic critical hit, thus beheading the victim. The headless
horseman can make no other attacks during the round, but can
take a move action.
Resistances (
Ex
):
A headless horseman has resistance to cold 10
and electricity 10.
Create Spawn (
Su
):
A humanoid or monstrous humanoid slain
by a headless horseman rises as a zombie 1d4 days after burial.
A Bless or Remove Curse cast upon the body cancels this effect.
For details on zombies, refer to the Monster Manual.
Summon Steed (
Su
):
A headless horseman may call upon the
service of an unusually intelligent, strong, and loyal steed (
which
is usually a heavy warhorse for a Medium headless horseman
).
Three times per day, as a full-round action, a headless horseman
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Legend of the HEADLESS HORSEMAN
may magically call a mount from the infernal realms in which it
resides. The mount immediately appears adjacent to the headless
horseman and remains until dismissed. The headless horseman
may dismiss it at any time as a free action. The mount is the
same creature each time it is summoned, though the headless
horseman may release a particular mount from service. Each time
the mount is called, it appears in full health, regardless of any
damage it may have taken previously. The mount also appears
wearing or carrying any gear it had when it was last dismissed.
Calling a mount is a conjuration (
calling
) effect.
HEADLESS SPAWN
Medium Undead
Hit Dice: 6d12+3 (
42 hp
) [
6x6.5+3 = 42
]
Initiative: +3 [
Dex
]
Speed: 30 ft. (
6 squares
)
Armor Class: 18 (
+3 Dex, +5 natural
), touch 13,
flat-footed 15
Base Attack/Grapple: +3/+8 [
undead BAB = ½ HD
]
Attack:
Slam +8 melee (
1d6+5
)
Full Attack:
Slam +8 melee (
1d6+5
)
Turn Resistance (
Ex
):
A headless horseman has +8 turn resis-
tance.
Space/Reach:
5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks:
Despair, unholy strike
Abilities:
Increase from the base creature as follows: Str +10,
Dex +4, Int +2, Wis +2, Cha –2. As an undead creature, a head-
less horseman has no Constitution score.
Special Qualities:
+4 turn resistance, blindsight, damage
reduction 5/magic, fast healing 2,
immunities, lifesense, resistance to
cold 10 and electricity 10, undead
traits
Skills:
A headless horseman has a +8 racial bonus on Handle
Animal, Hide, Intimidate, Move Silently, Ride, and Sense Motive
checks. Otherwise, its skills are the same as the base creature.
Saves:
Fort +2 [
+2 base, +0 Con
], Ref +5
[
+2 base, +3 Dex
], Will +6 [
+5 base,
+1 Wis
]
Feats:
Assuming the base creature does not already have these
feats (
and regardless of the fact that it meets all the prerequisites
or not
), a headless horseman gains Mounted Combat, Ride-By
Attack, Spirited Charge, Toughness, and Trample.
Abilities:
Str 20, Dex 17, Con —, Int 11, Wis
13, Cha 7
Skills:
Climb +10 [5 ranks + 5 Str], Hide +13
[
6 ranks +3 Dex, 4 racial
], Intimidate
+10 [
8 ranks –2 Cha +4 racial
], Jump
+10 [
5 ranks +5 Str
], Move Silently
+13 [
6 ranks +3 Dex, 4 racial
], Sense
Motive +11 [
6 ranks +1 Wis +4
racial
]
Environment:
Any, usually same as base creature.
Organization:
Solitary or squad (
1 plus 2–5 headless spawn
)
Challenge Rating:
Same as the base creature +3.
Treasure:
Double standard.
Feats:
Cleave, Greater Cleave, Power Attack,
Toughness [
3 feats + Toughness as
bonus racial feat
]
Alignment:
Always evil (
any
).
Advancement:
By character class.
Environment:
Any
Organization:
Solitary or pack (
2–5
)
Level Adjustment:
Same as the base creature +8.
Challenge Rating:
5 [
Compared to SRD’s CR 5 crea-
tures
]
Headless Horseman
Characters
Treasure:
Standard
Alignment:
Always evil (
any
)
Advancement:
—
Level Adjustment:
—
A headless spawn comes into being when a headless horseman
beheads a mortal humanoid or monstrous humanoid with 6 Hit
Dice or less. Undead and evil, a headless spawn serves its master
faithfully until it is either destroyed itself or its master is. Head-
less spawn without masters are free-willed creatures that often
join others of their kinds to form a pack. Devious and strong,
headless spawns are fearsome opponents that work equally well
alone or in groups.
Headless horsemen are always evil, which causes characters of
certain classes to lose some class abilities. In addition, certain
classes take additional penalties when they gain this template.
Since it has no mouth and cannot speak, a headless horseman
spellcaster loses the ability to cast spells with verbal components
unless it can use the Silent Spell feat. A headless horseman with
language dependent or sonic abilities loses the capacity to use
these particular talents. Similarly, a headless horseman may not
use language dependent spells.
Headless spawn cannot speak.
Clerics and Paladins: Headless horsemen clerics or paladins lose
their ability to turn undead but gain the ability to rebuke undead.
This ability does not affect any headless spawn a master controls.
A headless horseman cleric has access to two of the following
domains: Destruction, Evil, Strength, or War.
COMBAT
Headless spawn use their great strength when engaging mortals.
In battle, they prefer to hammer their foes with powerful blows,
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Legend of the HEADLESS HORSEMAN
Space/Reach:
5 ft./5 ft.
initially targeting individuals paralyzed by their despair ability.
Rapacious and cunning, these creatures target the weakest oppo-
nents first. When fighting in packs, they maneuver to flank their
foes and concentrate their attacks on one victim at a time.
Special Attacks:
Behead, create spawn, despair, unholy
strike
Special Qualities:
+8 turn resistance, blindsight, damage
reduction 10/magic, fast healing 5,
immunities, lifesense, summon steed,
undead traits
Despair (
Su
):
At the mere sight of a headless spawn, the viewer
must succeed on a DC 12 Will saving throw or be paralyzed with
fear for 1d4 rounds. Whether or not the save is successful, that
creature cannot be affected again by the same headless spawn’s
despair ability for 24 hours. The save DC is Charisma-based.
Saves:
Fort +8 [
+8 base +0 Con], Ref +5
[+4 base +1 Dex (in armor)], Will +6
[+4 base +2 Wis
]
Abilities:
Str 31, Dex 19, Con —, Int 16, Wis
15, Cha 14
Fast Healing (
Ex
):
A headless spawn heals 2 points of damage
each round so long as it has at least 1 hit point.
Skills:
Climb + 10 [
5 ranks +10 Str –5 armor
check penalty
], Handle Animal +20
[
10 ranks +2 Cha +8 racial
], Hide
+4 [
0 ranks (c/c) +1 Dex +8 racial –5
armor check penalty
], Intimidate +25
[
15 ranks +2 Cha +8 racial
], Jump
+10 [
5 ranks +10 Str –5 armor check
penalty
], Move Silently +9 [
5 ranks
(c/c) +1 Dex, +8 racial –5 armor
check penalty
], Ride +24 [
15 ranks,
+1 Dex, +8 racial
], Sense Motive +10
[
0 ranks (c/c) +2 Wis +8 racial
]
Immunities (
Ex
):
A headless spawn is immune to gaze attacks
and sonic attacks.
Lifesense (
Su
):
A headless spawn notices and locates living crea-
tures within 60 feet, just as if it possessed the blindsight ability.
It also senses the strength of their life force automatically, as if it
had cast deathwatch.
Unholy Strike (
Su
):
The slam attack of a headless spawn is
imbued with unholy power, thus making it evil-aligned and able
to bypass the corresponding damage reduction. Such an attack
deals an extra 2d6 points of damage against all creatures of good
alignment.
Feats:
Cleave, Combat Expertise, Exotic
Weapon Proficiency (
bastard sword
),
Great Cleave, Greater Weapon Focus
(
bastard sword
), Greater Weapon
Specialization (
bastard sword
),
Improved Critical (
bastard sword
),
Improved Disarm, Improved Initia-
tive, Improved Sunder, Mounted
Combat, Power Attack, Ride-By
Attack, Spirited Charge, Toughness,
Trample, Weapon Focus (
bastard
sword
), Weapon Specialization
(
bastard sword
) [
+1 bonus feat
(human) +5 feats (12 HD creature)
+7 fighter feats (12th level fighter) +5
racial feats (see headless horseman)
= 18
]
Skills: A headless spawn has a +4 racial bonus on Hide, Intimi-
date, Move Silently, and Sense Motive checks.
Feats: A headless spawn gains Toughness as a bonus feat.
HESS, HEADLESS HORSEMAN
OF SLEEPY HOLLOW
Medium Undead
Hit Dice: 12d12+3 (
86 hp
) [
+3 = Toughness
feat
]
Initiative: +5 [
+1 Dex (in armor) +4 Improved
Initiative
]
Speed: 20 ft. (
4 squares
)
Armor Class: 29 (
+1 Dex (in armor), +8 master-
work full plate, +10 natural
), touch
11, flat-footed 28
Base Attack/Grapple: +12/+22
Attack:
Environment:
Any
Organization:
Solitary
Challenge Rating:
15
Treasure:
+3 keen bastard sword of frost,
masterwork full plate armor
Alignment:
Chaotic evil
Bastard sword +27 melee (
1d10+17
plus 1d6 frost plus 2d6 unholy
) [
Atk:
+12 BAB +10 Str +2 feats (Weapon
Focus & Greater Weapon Focus)
+3 magicDmg: 1d10 base +10 Str
+4 feats (Weapon Specialization &
Greater Weapon Specialization) +3
magic
]
Before he was known as the Headless Horseman of Sleepy
Hollow, Hess was a fierce warrior who never shied away from
a fight. Born five hundred years ago, Hess, who hailed from a
foreign land, came to this region when he was still a young man.
In search of gold and glory, Hess joined the ranks of the king-
dom’s mercenary company, which supported the king’s army. He
fought in many battles against the king’s enemies and eventu-
ally became one of the mercenary company’s highest-ranking
commanders.
Full Attack:
Bastard sword +27/+22/+17 melee
(
1d10+17 plus 1d6 frost plus 2d6
unholy
)
page 5
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