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Archives of Nethys

Archives of Nethys

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PFS StandardTaunting Skull

Some beheaded are raised with their mental faculties mostly intact. These clever undead often provoke their victims into foolishly giving chase or harming themselves.

Recall Knowledge - Undead (Religion): DC 20
Unspecific Lore: DC 18
Specific Lore: DC 15

Elite | Normal | Weak
Proficiency without Level

Taunting SkullCreature 5

Legacy Content

NE Tiny Undead 
Source Book of the Dead pg. 74
Perception +13; darkvision
Languages Common, Necril
Skills Acrobatics +12 (+14 to Maneuver in Flight), Intimidation +12 (+14 to Demoralize)
Str +1, Dex +5, Con +1, Int +0, Wis +4, Cha +1
AC 22; Fort +10, Ref +14, Will +11
HP 80 (negative healing); Immunities death effects, disease, paralyzed, poison, unconscious; Weaknesses positive 5
Bite Back [reaction] Trigger The taunting skull is attacked by a creature within their reach; Effect The taunting skull makes a jaws Strike against that creature.
Speed 15 feet, fly 40 feet
Melee [one-action] jaws +14 [+10/+6] (agile, finesse, reach 0 feet), Damage 2d10+3 piercingIncessant Goading [one-action] (auditory, emotion, incapacitation, mental) The skull chooses one creature within 60 feet and antagonizes it mercilessly. The target must attempt a DC 22 Will save to resist the effect.
Critical Success The target is unaffected and is temporarily immune for 1 minute.
Success The target is unaffected.
Failure The target is flat-footed for 1 round. On its next turn, if the taunting skull is within the target's reach, the target wildly attacks the taunting skull as many times as possible.
Critical Failure As failure, but the target also immediately performs a Strike against itself; this Strike doesn't take any actions.

All Monsters in "Beheaded"

NameLevel
Daqqanoenyent9
Festering Gnasher1
Flaming Skull2
Severed Head-1
Taunting Skull5

Beheaded

Source Bestiary 3 pg. 30
Beheaded are the reanimated heads of decapitation victims. These mindless undead fly through the air or roll around to attack their prey.

Beheaded Abilities

Beheaded can manifest with a variety of abilities, such as those presented below.

Bleeding The beheaded is covered in slimy blood. The target of a successful Strike is splattered with gore and must succeed at a Fortitude save or become sickened 1.

Entangling Long, stringy hair clings to the beheaded's scalp. Its Strikes gain the Grab ability.

Fiendish (aura, divine, emotion, fear, mental, necromancy) 30 feet. The beheaded has a twisted, unsettling countenance. Foes that begin their turn in the area must succeed at a Will save or be frightened 1.

Giant A beheaded created from the head of a giant is a Medium creature, gaining 2 levels and one or more additional beheaded abilities.

Alternate Beheaded Abilities

Source Book of the Dead pg. 74 Lifesense The beheaded has imprecise lifesense out to 60 feet.

Whispering (aura, emotion, fear, mental, necromancy) 30 feet. The beheaded constantly whispers twisted incantations in unknown languages secret and foul. Foes that enter or begin their turn in the area must succeed at a Will save or be stupefied 1. The aura uses the moderate DC for the beheaded's level.

Furious Headbutt Frequency once per round; Effect The beheaded makes a wild Strike, taking a –2 penalty to its AC until the end of its next turn. If the Strike damages a creature, it deals additional damage equal to the beheaded's level.

Sidebar - Additional Lore Monstrous Heads

While the traditional image of a beheaded is that of a disembodied human head or skull, necromancers can create beheaded out of any sort of head. This variety can lead to extremely distinctive beheaded, including dragon heads, giant insect heads, medusa heads, or those of even rarer creatures. Occasionally, such beheaded retain weakened versions of their original special abilities from the constituent creature instead of a beheaded ability, such as a breath weapon for a dragon head or a gaze for a medusa head.

Sidebar - Advice and Rules More Beheaded Abilities

Since beheaded are very similar to skeletons or zombies (or at least the heads from those creatures), you can also customize them with abilities from the skeleton and zombie entries, though take care to avoid abilities that require bodies or limbs. If you give the beheaded more than one additional ability, you might want to increase its level and adjust its statistics accordingly. Use the guidelines in Chapter 2 of the Pathfinder Gamemastery Guide to determine its new statistics.