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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Faolyn" data-source="post: 9330744" data-attributes="member: 6915329">And now for our first 3e monster! This is the raknakle, a creepy barrow-dwelling fey, from an article on creatures of the Pomarj, in Greyhawk. I don’t know all that much about the setting or the location. Is Pomarj pronounced Pomarge, Pomarze, or Pomary? You never can tell with a J.Anyway, this thing successfully feels very fey-like. Among other things, the only thing it eats are the huckleberries from a single bush that grow at the top of its chosen hill, which is very folkloric. That’s already quite a difference from the more traditional 1e/2e fey-folk, which, even when Chaotic Neutral tricksters, were often written in a way that made them feel like any other humanoid or demi-human, just cutesy or nature-oriented. Anyway, raknakles have a nasty ability to curse targets with unluckiness that lets them hit way above their CR—I had to tone it down quite a bit. Originally, it lasted for a day, and if it wasn’t reversed before then, the cursed character had to make a second save or suffer from a potentially serious accident of the DM’s choice.Anyone else miss it when monsters and spells had affects that could last for days? I know they’re annoying when actually used in game—back in a 2e-era game, I once had a player who immediately threatened to suicide her character when she was hit with a blindness—but it seems like sometimes, terrible curses should last longer than a minute or two.[ATTACH=full]360478[/ATTACH]RaknakleThe Bestiary, Dragon Magazine #274Creature by James Jacobs; art by Carlo ArellanoRaknakle resemble pointy-headed, potbellied hobgoblins, completely hairless save for tufts of hair on their shoulders and the backs of their hands and feet. Their skin is a pale, translucent gray, and their hair only a bit darker. Their necks are twice as long as they should be, but their most unnerving feature is their lack of eyes—they have deep, empty sockets that emit pale yellow smoke that smells of honey.Barrow-Dwellers. These fey live under rounded hills, the type that often form around long-forgotten burial mounds or buried ruins. They can walk through the earth as if it were thin air, and thus there is little evidence of their existence.While the raknakle lives there, these hills are barren, with only tall, dry grass and a few scraggly bushes that, oddly enough, grow berries regardless of the time of year or weather conditions. The berries are the only thing the raknakle eats—it only needs a single berry a day to survive—so it guards them from all comers. Should its bushes be destroyed or picked clean, the raknakle will soon starve to death.Hill Haunts. When a person gets too near to a raknakle’s home, the fey begins wail like a ghost, using magically-summoned mist to conceal its home. With its empty eyes, cadaverous skin, and ability to walk through solid earth, most people who live near to the fey’s hill think it haunted.Climate/Terrain: subarctic, temperate; The Dreaming, hill, ruin, tombLegends and LoreWith an Arcana check, the characters can learn the following:DC 10. Raknakle are fey that live under hills. Although they lack eyes, they seem to be able to perceive their surroundings just fine.DC 15. The eyeless gaze of a raknakle bespells a curse or unluckiness on those who meet it.DC 20. The only thing that raknakle eat are the berries that grow on its hill. They will stop at nothing to revenge themselves upon a person who eats them.Raknakle EncountersChallenge Rating 0 raknakle; raknakle and 1 or 2 boars or giant badgersTreasure: 100 sp, 650 cp, 4 agates (10 gp each), bronze statue of a horse (25 gp)Signs1. Nothing but dry grass and berry bushes2. Ghostly wails3. With a DC 13 Perception or Survival check, footprints that disappear into a hillside4. Local tales tell of an eyeless ghost that curses peopleBehavior1. Dancing around its berry bush2. Trying to escape a group of goblins it cursed3. Watching the characters from hiding4. Gathering coins and valuable objects for its treasure hoardNamesAnwir, Brona, Dolion, Jolon, TajanaRaknakleMedium fey (shapechanger); Challenge 1/4 (50 XP)AC 13HP 9 (2d8; bloodied 4)Speed 30 ft., burrow 30 ft.STR 9 (-1) DEX 16 (+3) CON 10 (+0)INT 12 (+1) WIS 13 (+1) CHA 14 (+2)Proficiency +2; Maneuver DC 13Skills Insight +3, Nature +3, Perception +3, Stealth +5Condition Immunities blindedSenses blindsight 60 ft. (blind beyond this radius), passive Perception 13Languages —Earth Glide. The raknakle can burrow through nonmagical, unworked earth and stone without disturbing it.Innate Spellcasting. The raknakle’s spellcasting trait is Charisma (spell save DC 12). It can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components:1/day each: animal friend, fear, fog cloudActionsFist. Melee Weapon Attack: +1 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 1 (1d4-1) bludgeoning damageHurl Rock. Ranged Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, range 60 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d4+3) bludgeoning damageChange Shape. The raknakle magically takes the shape of a Large tree, or changes back into its true form. Any equipment it is wearing is absorbed by its new form. In tree form, its speed is 0 and it can take no actions or reactions other than to return to its true form, but it retains its senses.Unlucky Gaze (Gaze; Recharge 5-6). The raknakle targets one creature not under the effect of a raknakle’s Unlucky Gaze within 60 feet and forces it to make a DC 12 Wisdom saving throw or be cursed. While cursed, the target takes one level of strife and for the next minute, whenever it makes an ability check, attack roll, or saving throw, it must roll a d4 and subtract it from the total. The curse ends early if the target rolls a natural 20 on any of those roll, and the level of strife goes away after the creature completes a short or long rest.ReactionsLucky. If the raknakle is attacked or has to make a saving throw, it adds 2 to its AC or its saving throw, possibly turning a hit on an attack into a miss or a failed save into a success.CombatThe raknakle starts its attack by throwing rocks and using its Unlucky Gaze, and ducks into and out of earth in order to gain cover from attackers. It retreats if forced to fight in melee combat.</blockquote>

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