Poludnica

Description

A tall, beautiful woman with pale flesh and long, silvery hair, advances with a graceful stride. She is dressed in simple but elegant garb, and is both clean and well groomed.

A distant cousin to the more common hags, poludnica (PO-LOO-DNEE-TSA, from: poludne, podne = noon) appears as a very tale, beautiful pale woman with long white hair, but she is in fact anything but. Her skin is warty and leathery; she resembles an ancient, wrinkled woman. Her nose is long and bent downward, and her chin bends upward, so that they almost meet when she grins.

Poludnica lives in vast underground complexes, filled with ovens and roaring fires. Her dominated slaves fulfill her wishes, roasting sheep and baking bread for her, all day long. Poludnica exits her underground lair only during sunlight hours. She usually perches in the immediate vicinity of her lair, waiting for unwary travelers to pass.

Poludnica is always hungry, and always looking for her next meal. She is not commonly encountered, but parents of children commonly warn about her. Any child that wanders off, especially into fields of rye, run the risk of being captured by a poludnica. Parents will often warn "Don't go to the rye, poludnica will eat you!" or "Poludnica will burn you up!"

A poludnica stands some 6 feet tall and weighs about 150 pounds. The favored class of a poludnica is Witch.

Combat

In combat, poludnica relies on her stealth and quickness to surprise opponents, and then renders them unconscious with her stinging-nettle.

Stinging-Nettle (Su): On a successful stinging-nettle attack, poludnica deal 1d4 points of Strength damage. When a creature's Strength drops to 0, he falls helpless and unconscious on the ground.

Domination (Sp): Poludnica can breathe on unconscious humanoid creatures to gain control of their actions. Creatures must succeed on a DC 18 Will save or be controlled as the dominate person spell (caster level 7th). The save DC is Charisma-based and includes a +2 racial modifier.

False Appearance (Su): This inherent ability changes the appearance of the poludnica into a tall, beautiful woman as the disguise self spell (caster level 7th). This ability is constant, but the poludnica can suppress or resume it as a free action. Once a creature recognizes this as an illusion, it can not be affected again by the false appearance of the same poludnica.

Bestow Immunity (Su): By breathing on a creature, poludnica can bestow immunity to fire on that creature for 24 hours. This ability is equivalent to a 4th-level spell.

Devouring (Ex): Poludnica can devour incredible amounts of food without any ill effects. She can eat virtually anything soft enough to chew, but prefers roast sheep and bread straight from the oven. Poludnica can devour a helpless Medium creature in but a minute.

Poludnica's Sheep

The sheep poludnica keep are anything but ordinary. Each is a Large monstrosity, with wool the color of fresh blood. For poludnica's sheep, use the Bison's statistics from the Core Rulebook III (Appendix I: Animals). Change the creature type to Magical Beast, and add the Fire subtype.

Advanced Benefits

In addition to the standard changes due to Hit Dice advancement, poludnica also gain the following special benefits.

• The caster level of the spell-like abilities is equal to the Hit Dice.
• The save DC of the domination attack is equal to 12 + ½ HD + Charisma modifier.

Also in this section of the source

Primal

Author: Robert J. Hall.

These elemental beings are the purified essence of the element from which they are formed. More than just an elemental being, they are the nexus of primordial traits by which the element gains its attributes. A primal is a simple being, with an intelligence only slightly better than an animal, but they possess an innate cunning which makes them a dangerous foe. Like an ooze, they are amorphous creatures that can move through narrow cracks.