Things at the Know Direction get a bit… silly at times. The short story is that Ryan mentioned human/horse wrestling and things just kind of took off from there. Being the fan of all things lycanthropic that I am, I took the glorious honor of creating human/horse wrestler. This is, unfortunately, why we have this week’s monster, the werehorse! (Please forgive me.)
This muscular man has the head of a horse. He has thick hooves in place of feet.
Werehorse (human Form) CR 1
XP 400
Human natural werehorse brawler 1 (augmented humanoid)
N Medium humanoid (human, shapechanger)
Init +1; Senses Perception —1
DEFENSE
AC 16, touch 11, flat-footed 15 (+3 armor, +1 Dex, +2 natural)
hp 15 (1d10+5)
Fort +4, Ref +2, Will +1
DR 10/silver
OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft.
Melee unarmed strike + (1d6+3)
Special Attacks brawler’s flurry, martial flexibility 4/day
STATISTICS
Str 17, Dex 13, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 8, Cha 10
Base Atk +1; CMB +5 (+7 grapple); CMD 17 (19 vs. grapple)
Feats Improved Grapple, Improved Unarmed StrikeB, Toughness
Skills Acrobatics +5, Climb +7, Escape Artist +5, Intimidate +4, Perform (oratory) +4
Languages Common
SQ brawler’s cunning, change shape (human, hybrid, and horse; polymorph), lycanthropic empathy (horses), martial training
Gear leotard (studded leather armor), champion’s belt
Werehorse (Hybrid Form) CR 1
XP 400
Human natural werehorse brawler 1 (augmented humanoid)
N Medium humanoid (human, shapechanger)
Init +2; Senses Perception +1
DEFENSE
AC 17, touch 12, flat-footed 15 (+3 armor, +2 Dex, +2 natural)
hp 17 (1d10+7)
Fort +6, Ref +3, Will +1
DR 10/silver
OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft.
Melee unarmed strike +5 (1d6+4) and 2 hooves +0 (1d4+2)
Special Attacks brawler’s flurry, martial flexibility 4/day
STATISTICS
Str 19, Dex 14, Con 19, Int 10, Wis 13, Cha 10
Base Atk +1; CMB +5 (+7 grapple); CMD 17 (19 vs. grapple)
Feats Improved Grapple, Improved Unarmed StrikeB, Toughness
Skills Acrobatics +6, Climb +8, Escape Artist +6, Intimidate +4, Perform (oratory) +4
Languages Common
SQ brawler’s cunning, change shape (human, hybrid, and horse; polymorph), lycanthropic empathy (horses), martial training
Gear leotard (studded leather armor), champion’s belt
Werehorses are primarily solitary creatures. Their lycanthropic nature makes it quite difficult to reconcile their typical inclinations with their animalistic instincts. The horse portion of a werehorse’s intuition desires to be free, away from other creatures, but attachment to family and friends may make this difficult. Most werehorses are able to combat these feelings by taking on roles of traveling merchants or explorers. The nature of such work allows them to keep their feelings in check while still maintaining social links with others. As such, a number of werehorses tend to also take on the adventuring life. Most werehorses are particularly brawny, their stout bodies typically quite muscular. Most werehorse adventurers tend to be barbarians, fighters, and rangers.
In Your Game
A Day at the Races
The PCs are invited to a local athletic competition which culminates in a marathon. One of the entrants, a werehorse, is accused of cheating and the PCs must work to defend the werehorse and prove the competition is legitimate.
Clan of the Horse
The PCs meet a wandering tribe of werehorses. The tribe is on their annual pilgrimage across the land and require assistance with their journey. The PCs are made honorary werehorses as they help guard the tribe and assist in completing their rituals.
The Following Foal
A young werehorse wishes to explore more of the world and asks to tag along with the PCs on their adventures. The werehorse tends to get in to trouble and the PCs must continually rescue the young lycanthrope from his own deeds.
Monstrous Origins
I’ll be honest: this is the silliest monster I’ve created yet and this is coming from the guy who statted up an intelligent t-rex. Monstrous physique is right! The werehorse, as I mentioned, all came about from a silly bit in our KD chat, but is also inspired by the ubiquity of horse masks as an absurd thing on the internet and, of course, Bojack Horseman. With the idea of a horse wrestler in tow, I set out to make an actual viable werehorse. It turns out that a horse is a decent option for a lycanthrope. Horse stats are such that they work well for the hybrid form. The only main issue that I see is the lack of a bit attack for the horse. Without one, the werehorse doesn’t have a built in way to transmit the curse of lycanthropy to make another werehorse. It would not take much to add the bite attack, but it’s kind of interesting to have a lycanthrope without a bite. Also, the idea of a flurry of hooves is hilarious. Regardless of any actual merit as a monster, however, I think it’s better to put an end to this post, lest I slip further into madness and create something like a wererabbit. Well, actually…
That’s it for this week! Please let me know that I’m right and this is the worst monster yet. I don’t want any validation for my silly entries. (Actually I do, but I feel as if I’m required to say I’m not). If you end up up slipping a werehorse into your game or you have any request for a future Monstrous Physique, please drop me a line at KnowDirection@hotmail.com.
