Café de Nuit

I am working on a domain based off the story of sleepy hollow, however I have some things I need help with.

First: Brom Bones needs a different name that still carries the idea of his name.

Second: I am thinking that when PC's come into this domain Katrina falls in love with one of them and of course Brom plots their death. Does this work or is it to predictable

Third: Location, I think that this could go in the core somewhere but also know it might work better as an island

thoughts would be appreciated...

Mordent would be a great place to put it, but failing that it could perhaps be put into the forests of Darkon, Verbrek, Richelmoulot, Lamordia, Nova Vassa, Tepest, ect...

1.From Brom bones I used a little Latin and made him Bartlet Talus. (talus=Bones in latin).

2. A tad predictable and hurts you in the long run if your Pcs happen to be mostly female. I would just make Brom your basic drunken bully. If you in any way stand up to him and his crownies he will sulk away untill he can gain revenge.

3. Any of the western domains will work. Placing it right on the border with Dementlu and Lamordia will give it a constant late fall/early winter feel.

And of course, The Winding Road may visit the domain on occasion, bringing back time and again the horror of the Headless Horseman

Wiccy of the Fraternity wrote:And of course, The Winding Road may visit the domain on occasion, bringing back time and again the horror of the Headless Horseman

And there is a nail to the coffin! Have you tried to convert a Headless Horseman for 3E or 3.5E? I tried, but got stuck with Magic Resisstance conversion, and critical hits options.
Are you going to use one descibed in old accesories (Darklords as far as I remember) or create new one, based on motion picture?

As it's location, I would consider Darkon (as a pocket domain if it must be a domain), near the Lamordian Border. You have Lamordian family names (settlers taken in by Darkon), but Sleepy Hollow would still be a non-technological backwater. Martira Bay would replace NewYork. Lamordias climate, still near, could provide the gloomy autum/winter-like atmosphere.

The Horseman should be redone entirely. In Darklords he has medusa and medar heads among his following heads...the whole head following thing is very ungothic to my mind.
Maybe he was an (evil, merciless?) mercynary horseman from Falkovnia (He is also called "the Hessian" > hails from Germany, which sadly is linked to Falkovnia). He was killed on the road from Rivalis to Ludendorf through the treachery of the female soon-to-be darklord (forgot her movie name ). Then she collected his head and as much of his blood as she could, prepared a magical "blood-bath" and offered her soul to the dark powers if they granted her command of the Horseman. The sickle moon thing from "Darklords" could still work: the horseman wields a sickle moon shape vorpal blade of beheading (I know sounds stupid). Now he is cursed to ride the roads of the worlds on the nights of the sickle moon, collecting heads and returns them to the tree he is buried below (might be changed into some sort of death heads tree?). Maybe the Darkonians consider him to be the Horseman of War from their mythology?
The darklord of SH may use his head to summon him whenever (but only at night) and from whereever, if she has need of him.
He is undead, functions like a lich or death knight (or maybe a wandering mist horror?), his head being some kind of phylactery. Only if freely returned to him or destroyed within minutes of the horseman's destruction will he find peace. The first option will bring about the end of the darklord, as the horseman will take revenge. The second option will lead to the killing of a new horseman, as the darklord tries to replace the one she lost (possibly one of the PCs who destroyed her assasin? )
The darklord of sleepy hollow could be an (immortal) sorceress or a hag in disguise. Her goal should be altered, for if she intended to get controll of the lands of Sleepy Hollow, it would be an easy goal to reach, with the horseman at her disposal. Maybe it's greed. Everytime she wants something (the love of a man, magic items,...)and it's denied to her, she sends the Horseman to kill the offender, but her price is denied to her nonetheless (various ways, either instantly or later through the workings of the dark powers). The other thorn in her side send by the dark powers are the witches of Hala. Everytime she kills one, the witch is replaced sooner or later by a young witch.
So her crime has something to do with a witch of Hala, the horseman killed on the night of the sickle moon and something she lusted for with all her dark heart.
She can close the border, which results in travlers getting lost in the woods surrounding SH. If a traveller gets out of the domain, he is relativly save from the Horseman, as the darklords power to command him ends at the border of SH (she may only call him back).
Katrina van Tassel is a witch of Hala whose mother was killed by the darklord. Her role should be reduced to just opposing the darklord.

I never converted the Headless Horseman to 3E, instead I made him an indestructable ghost that would materialise and attack those in his path. Any critical blow would force a Fort save (DC = 10 + damage dealt), failure resulting in instant death by decapitation. Any attack that was not a critical would deal standard critical damage.

His curse and method of being laid to rest remained intact.

However, I only use human, demihuman, caliban and vistani heads for those that followed him, they would appear in states of decay equal to the passage of time since they were lopped off.

Wiccy of the Fraternity wrote:I never converted the Headless Horseman to 3E, instead I made him an indestructable ghost that would materialise and attack those in his path. Any critical blow would force a Fort save (DC = 10 + damage dealt), failure resulting in instant death by decapitation. Any attack that was not a critical would deal standard critical damage.

Ghost...
That's kinda strange idea to me, but give me time to settle with it I have never considered HH as apparition and in my understanding he's cursed, madman, or preferably undead of some unique sort. Yours explanation has some advantages over mine ideas (for example sudden disappearing).
Have you thought about giving him improved critical feat? Maybe couple of times?
As for placing SH, border of Darkon, Falkovnia and Lamordia would be ideal.


P.S.
It's funny, that topic of SH, HH and in RL comes up, when i put piece of old conversation in my signature

I may've said it before, but I think the Horseman converts to 3E better as a *trap* than as a monster. His number of attacks is limited and he's not supposed to be something the PCs can fight back against, so why not design him with the traps/hazards rules and avoid all the confusion of what his creature-stats ought to be...?

Paladine wrote:Ghost...
That's kinda strange idea to me, but give me time to settle with it I have never considered HH as apparition and in my understanding he's cursed, madman, or preferably undead of some unique sort. Yours explanation has some advantages over mine ideas (for example sudden disappearing).

Possibly make him a ghost that can take on corporeal form (as a salient ability). Then he can fade in and out as he pleases. Perhaps he can only remain corporeal for 3 rounds before fading out again, making him a difficult opponent indeed

Have you thought about giving him improved critical feat? Maybe couple of times?

Ummm.... no. He is dangerous enough already. If he hits with any attack, he gets to roll for a subsequent attack as if it were a critical, if that hits, he strikes again and so on. I think it is unfair to give him improved critical, since any critical could instantly kill a character.

So, this is how I picture the Headless Horseman (please note that his horse is not given statistics here, though it too would be a ghost that he woulc mount and would share the same invulnerability)

(Be warned, this guy is tough and could take anything down)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Headless Horseman
Medium size undead (4th Magnitude Ghost), Fighter 12
CR 18; HD 12d12, hp 100; Init +9; Spd 30 ft.; AC 27 (+5 Dex, +1 dodge, +4 armour, +7 deflection); touch 16, flatfooted 21; Base Atk +12; Atk +17(longsword; 1d8+5, crit 19-20); Full Atk +17/+12 (long sword 1d8+5, Crit 19-20); SA Criticals, frightful moan, horrific appearance, manifestation; SQ Expert rider, invulnerable, rejuvenation, turn resistance +6, undead traits; AL CE; SV Fort +8, Ref +9, Will +7; Str 20; Dex 20; Con -; Int 13; Wis 16; Cha 24.

Feats: Cleave, Combat Expertise, Dodge, Improved Initiative, Mobility, Mounted Combat, Power Attack, Ride-by Attack, Spirited Charge, Spring Attack, Trample, Whirlwind Attack,

Combat
The Headless Horseman strikes hard and fast, his passage left bu a stream of headless corpses. He storms into his foes, lashing out with his sword and casting heads into the air to join the legion that follow him in his endless journey to find his own missing head.
The DC to ward off the headless horseman's special abilities is 23 (unless noted otherwise).
Criticals (Ex): Any successful attack made by the headless horseman is counted as a possible critical. Roll to attack again, if this blow lands, then continue rolling until an attack misses and accumulate all the damage dealt. These strikes counts as a single attack. If the headless horseman successfully rolls a critical during any attack (even a subsequent roll for a standard attack) then the target must make a Fort Save (DC = 10 + damage dealt) or die immediately by decapitation.
Expert Rider (Ex): The headless horseman may not be knocked from his mount, though he may dismount of his own free will.
Frightful Moan (Su): While the headl;ess horseman may not make any sound himself, the approach of his horse and the wails of the heads that follow him count as this salient attack.
Invulnerable (Su): The headless horseman is immune to all harm, though may be turned, but not destroyed as a result of being turned.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As you can see, he doesn't really need Improved Critical heheheheheh

Have you thought about making an Tv appearances in show called "How to create a perfect monster"?

Your Horseman is terrifing, and much better than one from 2 edition! Haven't you any skull, hidden in closet, have you?

Paladine wrote:Have you thought about making an Tv appearances in show called "How to create a perfect monster"?

Not recently, but I am tempted to offer the people in charge to make THEM into the perfect monster.

Your Horseman is terrifing, and much better than one from 2 edition!

Thanks, I just think he should be a teriffying force to be reckoned with. he is the stuff of nightmarish legend in the dread realms, so having him turn out to be a something less, wouldn't seem right.

Haven't you any skull, hidden in closet, have you?

Not anymore, I sold it on E-Bay

Wow! That was some awesome replies and most if not all of it is stuff I can use, thanx a million all who responded. Now I am closer to creating the new realm of Sleepy Hollow but I still am trying to get a new name for the domain I don't want the PC's players to draw the conclusion to quick..


Any ideas?

Perhaps you could give it a name somewhat reminiscent to Dutch?

Desertrising wrote:Wow! That was some awesome replies and most if not all of it is stuff I can use, thanx a million all who responded. Now I am closer to creating the new realm of Sleepy Hollow but I still am trying to get a new name for the domain I don't want the PC's players to draw the conclusion to quick.

Here's a couple of ideas:

1. Phantom Valley.
2. Sombulistic Hill.
3. Twilight Valley.
4. Mount Hope
5. Mount Morpheus
6. Cape Morpheus
7. Hazy Hill
8. Narcoleptic Rock
9. Somber Glade
10. Drowsy Meadow
11. The Reposing Forest.