Image by Jonathan Wayshak, © Wizards of the Coast. Accessed at the Monster Manual III Art Gallery here
[One of the greatest encounters I ever ran involved a splinterwaif. I was running a game freshman year of college for players with very little to no experience. So when they heard the story in game about the “Crazy Thorn Man”, they wrote it off as flavor. Until they found one stowed away on the ship they were traveling on. The encounter that followed was a nail biter all the way through, as both the players and their characters were genuinely freaked out.]
Splinterwaif
This spindly humanoid seems to be sculpted from
wood—its hair and claws are a tangle of thorns, and its skin has a bark-like
texture. A long tongue protrudes from its maw.
Splinterwaifs are
urban fey, creatures to whom a vacant lot or overgrown garden are as beautiful
and important as an untamed forest. They are creatures of fear as many urban
fey are, seeming to represent the uncertainty of intrusions of nature into
supposedly human controlled environments. Splinterwaifs are herbivores of a weird
type—their favorite food is wood formed from the flesh of children. They stalk
and murder humanoid children, transform them into bushes and then browse from
their branches as they will.
Most
splinterwaifs live in abandoned alleys, poorly kept cemeteries, and other
places where their crop of formerly human bushes would not go remarked upon.
They prefer to strike from ambush whenever possible, firing splinters of wood
from their long tongues to impale enemies, then dragging them away to transform
and consume. Children are their favorite
prey—they tend to find adults turned into bushes to be sour and unpalatable. Some
splinterwaifs still transform adult victims into vegetation, using them more
for decoration or concealment than for food. Splinterwaifs are usually solitary
creatures, but in large slums with ample prey sources, they may form gangs led
by the cleverest and cruelest member. Splinterwaifs advance by class level, and
rogue is the most common class among them. A splinterwaif stands about five feet
tall and is very skinny, weighing no more than eighty pounds.
Splinterwaif Boons and Banes (2nd
level, CL 3rd, DC 14)
As their
relationship with humanoids is purely predatory, splinterwaifs are unlikely to
bestow either a boon or a bane to them. Some splinterwaif gangs may bestow
their boons on wicked humanoids, using them as couriers and spies to
find good sources of children to abduct and consume. They then use their bane
as punishment for any failures these minions may commit.
Boon—You may use the splinterspit ability of a
splinterwaif three times per day. This boon lasts for 1 week.
Bane—Your flesh becomes partially lignified,
giving you the inflexibility of wood. You suffer a -6 penalty to Dexterity.
This cannot reduce your Dexterity to 0. This bane is permanent until removed.
Splinterwaif CR
2
XP 600
NE Medium fey
Init +4; Senses
low-light vision, Perception +8
Defense
AC 16, touch 14, flat-footed 12 (+4 Dex, +2
natural)
hp 13 (3d6+3)
Fort +2, Ref
+8, Will +6
DR 5/cold iron; SR 8
Offense
Speed 40 ft., climb 30 ft.
Melee 2 claws +5 (1d4+1)
Ranged splinterspit +5 (1d6+1)
Special Attacks call branch
Statistics
Str 12, Dex
18, Con 13, Int 16, Wis 15, Cha 15
Base Atk +1; CMB
+2; CMD 17
Feats Stealthy, Weapon Finesse
Skills Acrobatics +10 (+14 when jumping), Bluff
+8, Climb +13, Escape Artist +11, Knowledge (local) +9, Knowledge (nature) +9,
Perception +8, Sense Motive +8, Stealth +16, Survival +8; Racial Modifiers +4 Stealth
Languages Aklo, Common, Sylvan
SQ camouflage, lignify, superior woodland
stride
Ecology
Environment urban
Organization solitary or band (2-6)
Treasure standard
Special Abilities
Call Branch (Su) As a standard action three times
per day, a splinterwaif can cause a branch to grow from any wooden object
within 60 feet and attack. The branch makes a claw attack every round, using
the splinterwaif’s attack and damage bonuses. The branch cannot move from the
space it is created in, has 5 hit points, AC 10 and DR 5/slashing. The branch
exists for three round or until slain.
Camouflage (Ex) A splinterwaif can make Stealth
checks in natural terrain without cover or concealment.
Lignify (Su) A splinterwaif can transform a dead
humanoid or fey into a thorn bush of the creature’s size. This takes 1 full
minute of concentration. The transformed corpse does not radiate magic. A
creature that has been lignified cannot be returned from the dead except
through a miracle, wish or true resurrection spell.
Splinterspit (Su) As a standard action, a
splinterwaif can fire a shard of wood from its mouth. Treat this as a ranged
attack with a range increment of 30 feet. It has a range increment and deals
damage as if it were a thrown weapon.
Superior Woodland
Stride (Su) A splinterwaif ignores all difficult terrain from natural
and magically enhanced plant life.
The Creature Codex 