Skull Hunter (5e Creature)

Skull Hunter

Medium undead, neutral evil Armor Class 17 (natural armor) Hit Points 161 (19d8 + 76) Speed 30 ft. STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 19 (+4) 19 (+4) 19 (+4) 16 (+3) 17 (+3) 16 (+3) Saving Throws Dex +9, Wis +8, Cha +8 Skills Perception +8, Stealth +14 Proficiency Bonus +5 Damage Resistances cold, fire; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks that aren't silvered Damage Immunities necrotic, poison Condition Immunities charmed, exhaustion, frightened, paralyzed, poisoned Senses blindsight 60 ft., darkvision 120 ft., passive Perception 18 Languages the languages it knew in life Challenge 13 (10,000 XP) Bound Skull. While the skull hunter's skull is separate from its body, it has a speed of 0, AC 17 and 50 hit points. Whenever the skull hunter regains hit points, the skull regains an equal number of hit points. If the skull is lost or destroyed, the skull hunter can bind itself to a new skull through a ritual that requires a humanoid skull that the skull hunter must touch for 24 continuous hours. The skull hunter always knows the location of its skull and the most direct route to reach it if they are both on the same plane of existence. Rejuvenation. If its skull is intact, a destroyed skull hunter gains a new body in 1d10 days, regaining all its hit points and becoming active again. The new body appears within 5 feet of the skull. Turn Resistance. The skull hunter has advantage on saving throws against any effect that turns undead. ACTIONS Multiattack. The skull hunter uses its Hurl Skull. It then makes two attacks. Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6 + 4) slashing damage. Fire Ray. Ranged Spell Attack: +8 to hit, range 120 ft., one target. Hit: 10 (3d6) fire damage. Hurl Skull. The skull hunter throws its skull at a point within 120 feet of it that it can see, causing one of the following effects: Dreadful Skull. The skull emits an aura of chilling terror in a 30-foot radius centered on it. Each creature within that area must make a DC 16 Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, a creature takes 21 (6d6) cold damage and is frightened for 1 minute. On a successful save, a creature takes half as much damage and isn't frightened. An affected creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success. Screaming Skull. The skull emits a piercing cry audible out to 30 feet. Each creature within that area that can hear the skull must make a DC 16 Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, a creature takes 21 (6d6) psychic damage and is deafened for 1 minute. On a successful save, a creature takes half as much damage and isn't deafened. An affected creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success. Withering Skull. The skull emits an aura of crippling pain in a 30-foot radius centered on it. Each creature within that area must make a DC 16 Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, a creature takes 21 (6d6) necrotic damage and is paralyzed for 1 minute. On a successful save, a creature takes half as much damage and isn't paralyzed. An affected creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success. After using this action, the skull remains where it landed and the skull hunter can't use this action again until it has recovered the skull. Teleport Skull. The skull hunter magically teleports, along with any equipment it is wearing or carrying, up to 120 feet to an unoccupied space it can see that is within 10 feet of its skull. Alternatively, if its skull is within 120 feet of it and the skull hunter can see it, the skull magically teleports to an unoccupied space within 10 feet of the skull hunter that it can see.

A skull hunter is a devious sort of undead, sometimes created when one who has murdered many others is killed by beheading while its desire to slaughter remains unsatisfied. Mortals from many different walks of life can become skull hunters, from serial killers to heartless soldiers, though the resultant monster is always the same. A skull hunter exists to murder others, though the memories of its mortal life remain strong and cause it to have a preference for killing in the ways that it did while it still lived. The body of a skull hunter is much like that of an ordinary skeleton, though most skull hunters choose to wear the clothes they had in life or frightening costumes. The most obvious difference is that a skull hunter's eye sockets glow with pinpricks of blood-red light that burn particularly brightly when the creature enters combat. In battle, the skull hunter will hurl its skull with reckless abandon, confident that it will soon be able to reclaim or replace it. Murderous Skull. A skull hunter is bound to a skull, though it may not necessarily have been the head it had in life, as a skull hunter can freely change the skull it is bound to. Some skull hunters are incredibly attached to one or a few particular skulls, only rarely choosing to bind to another skull, while others change frequently, never using the same skull more than once, though most fall somewhere between. Those versed in necromantic lore know of a ritual that can bind a skull hunter to an individual's service by coating the skull hunter's skull in silver etched with ghastly runes and pairing it with an amulet that contains a droplet of blood from the first person that the skull hunter in question killed in life. Skull hunters despise being bound in this way and always seek to escape this entrapment as soon as possible, usually also exacting vengeance against the one that dared control them. Undead Nature. A skull hunter doesn't require air, food, drink, or sleep.

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