Scarecrow, Dread
- Armor Class
- 6 [13]
- Hit Dice
- 4 + 2
- Attacks
- Slam or Weapon (1d6)
- Special
- fear, gaze, fire, immunity, darkvision
- Move
- 12
- HDE/XP
- 6/400
Description
Sometimes during its creation a living scarecrow may become possessed by an evil spirit, becoming a Dread Scarecrow. These malevolent creatures take delight in seeking out and tormenting the living by inducing terror. During the day it hides in the fields as a normal scarecrow, but during the night it stalks, looking for unwary prey. In all respects it looks like a normal scarecrow except for the deep red-orange glow from within its pumpkin head and frightening visage.
A dread scarecrow is immune to fear (morale of 12), but has a self-preservation instinct. Use the morale of 8 to determine whether a dread scarecrow decides to flee from combat if it is outmatched or outnumbered.
Because of its evil spirit, a dread scarecrow has several powers. It has Darkvision out to 60 feet. It also has a gaze attack that it chooses to either Cause Fear or Bestow Curse against a single target out to 30 feet who fails a saving throw against magic. It also has a maniacal cackle that works likes the Bless (Curse) (Curse only) spell on anyone within 50 feet who fails a saving throw against magic. Those who make their saving throw are immune to the effect for 24 hours.
A dread scarecrow is also very nimble and quick, so it does not receive the initiative penalty like other living scarecrows, but is still weak against fire, suffering 1 extra point per die of damage and has a -2 penalty to save against fire-based attacks. A dread scarecrow has a magic resistance of 25%, but since it possesses an intelligence it is subject to mind-affecting magic and effects.
See Also
Other creatures grouped under Scarecrow: Scarecrow, Living, Normal, Scarecrow, Living, Small.
Source note: This creature is converted from The Basic Fantasy Field Guide of Creatures Malevolent and Benign – Omnibus Edition, 1st Edition Release 4, © 2010–2025 Chris Gonnerman, R. Kevin Smoot, James Lemon, Matt Sluis, and Contributors. The Basic Fantasy Field Guide textual material is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International; this page adapts that creature to White Box.