Café de Nuit

I'm wondering if there is an entry on the Headless Horseman for 3.0/3.5?

Downloaded the 2nd edition adventure From the Shadows and want to convert it to d20-rules...

Not officially.

Undead Cabbage posted his version of the Ravenloft Horseman in this thread.

Of course there are several d20 takes on him available:
There's a d20 version of the HH available here for $ 5.
Kobold Quarterly published a free version in this article
Kain Darkwind of Dicefreaks posted his version of the HH here

For my Ravenloft version I would probably disregard the bard rumors and make him a fighter, with perhaps the Kinght Errant PrC or the Highwayman one and give him the Equestrian feat. Though there could still be some history between him and the Lady Boritsi.

Note that the Headless Horseman should probably retconned to Mistlord status (no longer being a Darklord of a pocket domain) as discussed here.

Considering that the HH only appears in FtS as a plot hammer to force the PCs to be decapitated, his stats hardly matter, do they?

Dissatisfied with that part of the adventure, I completely re-worked it for my campaign, with the help of the forum members here and here. If you're interested in the finished product, you can read about it in my journal.

FWIW, if you're trying to recreate the way the HH functioned in 2E, it may be more convenient to portray him as a hazard instead of a creature. The original description never allowed for interactive melee with the guy, just a sequence of attacks to be suffered or dodged, like a trap. Given the constraints of his circumstances -- can't stop riding, can't parley, can't even speak with no mouth -- it could be hard to justify the effort involved in statting him out fully, if you're not re-engineering his curse along the way.

The Giamarga wrote: Kain Darkwind of Dicefreaks posted his version of the HH here

"Fling Head (Su): Once every 1d10 rounds as a standard action, the Headless Horseman can fling his flaming skull at a foe with a range of 960 feet, dealing 18d6 unholy fire damage in a 20 foot radius burst. (Reflex 21 half) If the Horseman can strike his foe with a ranged touch attack, that foe gains no save against the damage."

Hmmm, I am not sure that this really fits, at least in Ravenloft.

The Headless horseman has a bit more personality than a scythe blade in that his severed head is out there to find and he presumably would be very happy to have it returned. Equally, there is a story in Tales of Darkness that suggests a tad more interaction.

As to a Mistlord, a powerful ghost might be a cleaner solution, with a phantom shift perhaps of the lonely road.

It's quite obscure, but the Deadlands d20 monster book has rules for their headless horseman.

Here's my take on HH. I picture him as one of Drakov's sons that developed a penchant for decaptitation. His curse is to live up to the example that Drakov's always wanted but without his head, his father will never know it's one of his own sons. It sure beats the beheaded bard idea of Borca.

Headless Horseman CR
Male human ghost fighter 8
CE Medium undead (incorporeal)
Init +xx; Senses ; Listen +xx, Spot +xx
Languages Falkovnian
AC 20 (+3 Dex, +2 deflection, -2 charge, +7 armor), touch 13, flat-footed 17; incorporeality (50% miss chance)
hp xxx (8d12 HD)
Immunities undead immunities, turning
Resistances SR 35
Fort +6, Ref +5, Will +1;
Speed 30 ft.(squares)
Melee sickle +15 (2d6+8, 19-20/x2)
Full sickle +15/+10
Base Atk +8; Grp +12
Atk Options severing strike, cleave, improved mounted combat
Combat Gear +1 sure-striking silver sickle
Abilities Str 18, Dex 17, Con --, Int 10, Wis 08, Cha 15
SQ mutable corporeality, eternal rider, manifestation, rejuvenation, steady ride
Feats Power Attack, Cleave, Great Cleave, Mounted Combat, Ride-by Attack, Spirited Charge, Trample, Improved Critical (sickle), Skill Focus (Ride)
Skills Hide +11, Listen +7, Search +8, Spot +7, Handle Animal +13, Ride +19, Intimidate +13
Possessions
Steady Ride (Su): Attempts to trip or impede movement of the Horseman automatically fail. He can also run across any horizontal surface with no impediment to movement (such as water or ice) and is immune to grease and similar effects.
Mutable Corporeality (Su): The Headless Horseman can manifest his attacks fully in the Material Plane, allowing him to use his Strength bonus as part of an attack while retaining his incorporeality while manifesting.
Improved Mounted Combat (Ex): The Headless Horseman can make a full attack action against single or multiple targets as part of a ride-by attack.
Severing Strike (Su): Upon a successful attack against an opponent, the opponent must make a successful Fortitude save or be beheaded (resulting in death of opponent). The base DC is 17. For every 2 points the Headless Horseman’s attack roll exceeds the target’s AC, the DC increases by +1; a confirmed critical hit increases the DC by +5.
Eternal Rider (Ex/Su): The Headless Horseman can never leave his mount. Any attempt to forcibly remove him from his mount or his mount from under him will automatically fail. He also gains a +10 to all of his Ride checks and take 10 during even stressful situations.
In addition, his mount shares his mutable incorporeality, spell resistance, immunity to fatigue and exhaustion effects, and acts on his initiative.
Feat Descriptions: (Mounted Combat) Once per round when his mount is hit in combat, the Headless Horseman may attempt a Ride check as a reaction to negate the hit. The hit is negated if his Ride check result exceeds the opponent’s attack roll.
(Ride-By Attack) When mounted and using a charge action, the Headless Horseman my move and attack as if with a standard charge, and then move again. His total movement for the round can’t exceed double the mounted speed. This doesn’t provoke an attack of opportunity.
(Spirited Charge) When mounted and using the charge action, the Headless Horseman deals double damage with his sickle (or triple damage with a lance).
(Trample) When the Headless Horseman attempts to overrun an opponent, his target may not choose to avoid him. His mount may make one hoof attack against any target he knocks down, gaining the standard +4 bonus on attack rolls against prone targets.

Horseman’s Mount, dread nightmare: Large Outsider (Evil, Lawful); CR 6; HD 8d8+24, 60 hp; Init +7; Spd 40 ft.; AC 25, touch 12, flat-footed 23; BAB/Grp +8/+13, hoof +13 (1d8+5); S/R 10 ft./5 ft.; SA flaming hooves, smoke, trample; SQ darkvision 60 ft., etherealness, frightful presence; SV Fort +9, Ref +5, Will +3; Str 20, Dex 17, Con 17, Int 13, Wis 13, Cha 12.
Skills and Feats: Intimidate +12, Listen +12, Move Silently +12, Search +10, Sense Motive +12, Spot +12, Survival +13; Alertness, Combat Reflexes, Improved Initiative.

Border Closing: Attempts to leave the road causes the victim to sink into the ground up to his waist. The road can also turn to follow its victims, branching if need be, using their footprints to guide it. The road even attempts to hold onto flying or levitating characters, attempting to pull the back to earth, while doing so, the road continues to shadow the victims’ movements.

Drakov's son and the curse you suggest is an upgrade over Ivana, the bard and the bloodbath. And they only complaints I would level at take on the headless horseman is the use of a lance and the power to have fleeing individuals sink up to their waist. The first distracts from the threat of being beheaded and the second seems excessive and indeed unnecessary. Better to have them be slowed.

cure wrote:Drakov's son and the curse you suggest is an upgrade over Ivana, the bard and the bloodbath. And they only complaints I would level at take on the headless horseman is the use of a lance and the power to have fleeing individuals sink up to their waist. The first distracts from the threat of being beheaded and the second seems excessive and indeed unnecessary. Better to have them be slowed.

All I did was a straight up conversion as it was described in HH's entry. The sinking up to the waist was a "border closure." The entry stated that victims couldn't leave the road but I see your point. The hardest part for me was coming up with a way to keep HH mounted (as it's part of his original curse) as PCs are notorious for dismounting mounted combatants. It was either a multitude overlapping abilities or the one described above.

I do like the lance idea.

Did you also read the short story in Tales of Ravenloft that features the HH? Id' very much like to incorporate that into the conversion. Also i can't shake the cool images from Sleepy Hollow.

I also feel that a lance distracts from the beheading aspect.

Further I'm questioning wether a sickle is indeed a proper weapon for a warrior let alone ride-by-incapitation. Historically a sword or axe would be most fitting, so perhaps a more sickle-like sword would be the way to go. Perhaps the scimitar or the 3E Falchion which is a 2-handed scimitar. Perhaps a tulwar (no 3E stats afaik) or the egyptian khopesh (from A&E), both types of swords that are very sickle-like.

The Giamarga wrote:Did you also read the short story in Tales of Ravenloft that features the HH? Id' very much like to incorporate that into the conversion. Also i can't shake the cool images from Sleepy Hollow.

I also feel that a lance distracts from the beheading aspect.

Further I'm questioning wether a sickle is indeed a proper weapon for a warrior let alone ride-by-incapitation. Historically a sword or axe would be most fitting, so perhaps a more sickle-like sword would be the way to go. Perhaps the scimitar or the 3E Falchion which is a 2-handed scimitar. Perhaps a tulwar (no 3E stats afaik) or the egyptian khopesh (from A&E), both types of swords that are very sickle-like.

I did read the story (which I think was very well-done). As far as the sickle is concerned, it was what was in the 2nd ed. stats, although it could always be upgraded to a heavy sickle (from the Planar Handbook); I think that a khopesh or tulwar wouldn't fit his flavor. Like I said, it was pretty much a straight-up conversion with some mild poetic license to make him more believable.

The increasing DC option for the severing strike ability was added so he could be used against higher level characters without having to adjust his Hit Dice. I've always been a fan of the lower-level NPC taking out the high-level PCs.

It's true that a sickle doesn't sound all that scary, unless it's described with heaping doses of purple prose.

Letting word get out that it's a vorpal sickle, OTOH...

If it's from that time period when cavalry were still being used with muskets, then he might reasonably carry a saber. These have been known to open skulls of enemies when wielded from horseback.