Ecology of The Scarecrow

[Scribble]

All that effort wasted ripping off Nathaniel Hawthorne and L. Frank Baum and you want to talk about some Batman funnybook?

Humbug, I say! Humbug!

Hey- top notch article man.

Did you do the scarecrow in the MM3 as well?

 

[Zaukrie]

Great mix of fluff and crunch. Drammatex has always been a great read (just his posts on hodelings....), so I'm glad he's writing for Dungeon.

 

[Drammattex]

Hey- top notch article man.

Did you do the scarecrow in the MM3 as well?

Thanks, Scribble!!!

I didn't do the MM3 scarecrow, and I wish I knew who did. It could have been another freelancer or a WotC designer. And I think you're spot on about the fear thing--it's been the scarecrow's schtick for time out of mind.

Looking over the MM3 scarecrow, it seemed to suggest fear, i.e. "horrid gaze" power and the "scarecrow haunter" that rips out your heart. I also recalled the old Ravenloft versions of the scarecrow from the Ravenloft Monstrous Compendium appendix (requiring a digging expedition through my gaming shelf), and the gorgeous Elmore painting that Claudio posted.

Truth be told, I wanted to open up options for introducing scarecrow companion characters and NPCs, and was at great pains to try to both keep them the fear-oriented constructs by which the MM3 designer (and previous versions) had established them AND figure out a way to let them be like the most famous of scarecrow in literature, Scarecrow from The Wizard of Oz, as well as Nathaniel Hawthorne's Feathertop--the earliest reference I found to a scarecrow character in literature. Sure those "friendly scarecrow" elements only get some brief mention in the article, but I tell ya--I spent a lot of time sweating over trying to reconcile the disparate "I'm here to rip your heart out" terror and "I'm the fey version of C-3PO" elements to make them seem plausible and cohesive. The implement section is a nod to Feathertop. The first clause of the first sentence of the Exploration and Synthesis section is a nod to the Scarecrow from Wizard of Oz. "Although the sackcloth head of an ordinary scarecrow lacks a proper brain..."

As for the scarecrow villain from Batman, I think he just fulfills the archetype. While I was working on the article, in my attempt to heighten and honor the MM3 scarecrow designer's concept by hammering the fear theme into the fracking ground, I remember feeling grateful that Cillian Murphy's portrayal of a scarecrow character from Batman Begins would support that choice in the collective consciousness. Man, Murphy does great films. 28 Days Later, Batman Begins, Sunshine, Inception... Ok, I'm rambling.

@ Zaukrie: You know all this WotC design is just a ploy to get something immortalized in plastic without having to build a warband and compete in the nationals, right?

 

[Scribble]

Truth be told, I wanted to open up options for introducing scarecrow companion characters and NPCs, and was at great pains to try to both keep them the fear-oriented constructs by which the MM3 designer (and previous versions) had established them AND figure out a way to let them be like the most famous of scarecrow in literature, Scarecrow from The Wizard of Oz, as well as Nathaniel Hawthorne's Feathertop--the earliest reference I found to a scarecrow character in literature.

Well- I know one thing... As I was reading the part on how different types of souls can lead to different types of scarecrows- it put me in mind that a Scarecrow soldier would make a GREAT villain... Serving as a kind of Death Knight, that isn't a death knight.

 

[Hellzon]

My thought when I started reading it:

"Wait, so that batman villain is canon in D&D now?!"

Bane already is, why not Scarecrow?

 

[Drammattex]

Well- I know one thing... As I was reading the part on how different types of souls can lead to different types of scarecrows- it put me in mind that a Scarecrow soldier would make a GREAT villain... Serving as a kind of Death Knight, that isn't a death knight.

Dude, that's an awesome idea. Unfortunately I've hit ENWorld's Scribble XP limitation. So here it is in writing. Woot!

 

[Klaus]

Dude, that's an awesome idea. Unfortunately I've hit ENWorld's Scribble XP limitation. So here it is in writing. Woot!

Gotcha covered.

 

[Bold or Stupid]

When do we get the stats for the Wicker man?
I so want to make one of those a big set piece villian.

 

[Drammattex]

I really wanted to do it, but promised I wouldn't go over 6k words. The final was exactly 6k words without a byline or bio.

Still... yeah. Epic tier wicker man was what I had in mind.

Heh, I'd probably give it some kind of power where it came with a bunch of minions inside that get burned every round or something. Just to horrify the PCs.

 

[Negflar2099]

I love this article, especially the ritual used to create a (companion) Scarecrow. Ever since I saw the companion rules in the DMG 2 I've thought they have great potential to be used for stuff like this, like rituals to create your own golems or a ritual to raise a skeletal warrior.

Of course, maybe it's just me but when I saw scarecrow companion I thought hey wouldn't it be cool to run a campaign with a young female warlord, a razorclaw shifter slayer, a warforged knight and a scarecrow companion character?

The only question is where can we get a tile set for a yellow brick road?