With the holidays coming soon, ever do they loom, I bring to life a man from that beloved cartoon. The Nightmare Before Christmas from Mr. Tim Burton, a movie you’ve heard of, I’m ever so certain. It’s a movie filled with plenty of holiday cheer, but also lots of sights that fill hearts with fear. From the film comes a skeleton, no other is kinder, and now he’s come to life to play in Pathfinder. The great Pumpkin King, you know him as Jack, has all of his stats, including 2 claw attacks. I hope that you like him as it took lots of work, to stat up to life that most wondrous smirk. Now follow me as we go into this post, dear reader, and we will take a look at this great Halloween leader.

This skeleton is clad in a dark, striped suit. Its face bears a welcoming yet gruesome grin.
Jack, the Pumpkin King   CR 11
XP 12,800
CG Medium undead
Init +10; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +0
DEFENSE
AC 26, touch 21, flat-footed 20 (+5 deflection, +6 Dex, +5 natural)
hp 152 (16d8+80)
Fort +10, Ref +13, Will +12
DR 10/bludgeoning and magic; Immune fire, undead traits; Resist cold 10; SR 22
OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft.
Melee 2 claws +19 (2d8+9)
Space 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft. (10 ft. with claws)
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 16th; concentration +20)
At will—burning hands (DC 16), chill touch (DC 16), ray of frost, scare (DC 17), shocking grasp
3/day—fear (DC 20), fireball (DC 19), ice storm, lightning bolt (DC 19)
STATISTICS
Str 11, Dex 22, Con —, Int 14, Wis 10, Cha 21
Base Atk +12; CMB +18; CMD 31
Feats Critical Focus, Improved Critical (claw), Improved Initiative, Iron Will, Leadership, Lightning Reflexes, Skill Focus (Perform [Sing]), Weapon Focus (claw)
Skills Climb +20, Craft (alchemy) +18, Disguise +24, Intimidate +24, Perform (sing) +30, Stealth +26
Languages Common
SQ living limbs, spirit of the Pumpkin King
ECOLOGY
Environment any (holiday world)
Organization solitary
Treasure none
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Living Limbs (Ex) Jack can remove his head or limbs as a standard action and continue using them while unattached. If he removes an arm, he loses access to one of his claw attacks. If he removes a leg, his speed is reduced by half. He loses his move speed entirely if he removes both legs. Jack can concentrate as full-round action to animate any unattached limbs to move. His limbs move at a speed of 10 feet and have blindsight 5 feet. His head retains all of its senses and can roll at a rate of 5 feet per round. Jack can reattach a body part as a move action.
Spirit of the Pumpkin King (Ex) Jack embodies the essence of Halloween. As the master of fright and a demon of light, Jack uses his Dexterity score in place of his Strength score for the purposes of attack rolls, damage rolls, and determining his carrying capacity. His claws receive 1-1/2 times his Dexterity bonus on damage rolls. Additionally, he adds his Charisma bonus as s deflection bonus to his AC.

Hailing from the town of Halloween
Is this skeleton who is not so mean
Jack is his name, a man of delight
Who loves a good song as much as a fright
And always at his side, what appears to be fog
Is just his companion, Zero, his dog
Jack bears great power, completely unrivaled
Which helps the theatrics of his yearly arrival
At the time of horror and scares, he makes himself known
As the night fills with shrieks, howls, and moans
Once a year, it’s his holiday that rules
As the world fills with monsters and ghouls
The creeps get together, happy to sing
Of the return of the great Pumpkin King!

Zero CR 1
XP 400
CG Small undead (incorporeal)
Init +1; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, scent; Perception +8
DEFENSE
AC 12, touch 11, flat-footed 11 (+1 Dex, +1 size)
hp 4 (1d8)
Fort +2, Ref +3, Will +1
Defensive Abilities Channel Resistance +4, incorporeal, rejuvenation; Immune undead traits
OFFENSE
Speed fly 40 ft.
Melee corrupting touch +1 (1d6)
STATISTICS
Str —, Dex 13, Con —, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 10
Base Atk +0; CMB +0; CMD 11 (cannot be tripped)
Feats Skill Focus (Perception)
Skills Acrobatics +1 (+9 jumping), Perception +8, Survival +1 (+5 scent tracking); Racial Modifiers +4 Survival when tracking by scent
SQ glowing nose
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Glowing Nose (Ex): Zero can make his nose glow brightly, providing light as a torch. He can his nose to end or resume this glow as a swift action.

In Your Game

The Stolen Holiday
Jack arrives in town at the start of celebrations
Of a holiday celebrated across the nation
He takes it upon himself to help with the holiday
Riding around in a stolen sleigh
It’s up to the PCs to put a stop to Jack
Take back the sleigh and steal back the sack
To return stolen gifts, candies and toys
To their rightful owners, the girls and the boys

The Boogie Menace
A terrible creature attacks in the night
Filling children with fear at his terrible sight
Jack knows the creature, the terrible Oogie
And works with the PCs to stop that mean Boogie
They chase that meanie into his lair
Filled with machines all meant to scare
They must survive these devices
Or end up cut up to slices!

Ghoulish Concoction
Jack has a girl, the jewel of his eye
“Oh, my sweet, Sally!” he always does sigh
He pleads the PCs to help with his plight
To win Sally’s heart and her smile so bright
He needs strange reagents to fill up the night
With great fireworks of wonderful light
If all goes, well it will be true love
That fills Sally’s heart or a lack thereof

Monstrous Origins

Okay, first, I’ll put an end to the rhyming. If I don’t stop soon, it will throw off the blog’s timing!

Oh, Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King. He is such a fun whimsical character and a staple to Hot Topic sales everywhere. I was asked by Alex to stat him up around Halloween time, but decided he wouldn’t make the most interesting of monsters. Then came Ryan and asked me about Jack again. With a second request, I figured I should give it a try. The Nightmare Before Christmas always sits in a weird spot between Halloween and Christmas. Some people say it’s one or the other (I’m of the Halloween leaning), so I guess it’s okay to bring him around now in December.

In the movie, Jack has no real neat abilities that scream that it must be part of a monster, save for being able to remove his head to recite Shakespeare. For proper abilities, I turned to his appearance in the Kingdom Hearts series. Here, he is a magic user, slinging fire, electricity, and ice with his spells. I gave him some SLAs to fight properly. Otherwise, he is a basic monster with normal attacks. The one thing I had to make sure he absolutely have was Perform (sing) because of course he can sing.

That’s it for this week! Please let me know if you would like to see some more childhood icons statted up. There’s a deep well of lots characters from shows and movies to draw from. If  Jack visits your game world, or you have any request for a future Monstrous Physique, please drop me a line at KnowDirection@hotmail.com.