Harrla (CR 3)
Medium Undead (Incorporeal)
Alignment: Chaotic evil
Initiative: +1 (Dex); Senses: Listen +7 and Spot +7
Languages: No known language
AC: 20 (+1 Dex, +9 natural), touch 11, flat-footed 19
Hit Dice: 4d10+8 (30 hp)
Fort +1, Ref +2, Will +3
Speed: Fly 40 ft.(perfect)
Space: 5 ft./5 ft.
Base Attack +2; Grapple -3
Attack: Incorporeal touch +3 melee
Full Attack: Incorporeal touch +3 melee
Damage: Incorporeal touch 1 pt permanent Charisma drain
Special Attacks/Actions: Emotion control
Abilities: Str -, Dex 12, Con -, Int 12, Wis 10, Cha 18
Special Qualities: see text
Feats: Improved Initiative
Skills: Hide +8, Listen +7, Search +7, Spot +7, and Survival +4
Advancement: 4-8 HD (Medium-size)
Climate/Terrain: Urban areas
Organization: Solitary
Treasure/Possessions: None
Source:
Converted
Every culture has reports of unusual behavior by otherwise normal people. Perhaps a wife who has been true and faithful for many years suddenly seeks passion in the arms of a stranger. Maybe a man who has been good and kind his entire life suddenly lashes out and kills several of his best friends. Sometimes this sudden change is the result of natural psychological stress or madness, but often it is the work of the dreaded harrla.
The harrla is naturally and permanently invisible. Those capable of sensing invisible objects see it as a humanoid figure, the height of a man. Its edges shimmer and fluctuate, making it impossible to determine if the form is a man or a woman.
The harrla has no known language, and seems unable to communicate. Some scholars say that a harrla can communicate with others of its kind, but there is certainly no proof of this. As they are almost never encountered in pairs or groups, however, language is all but unnecessary for them.
Combat:
The harrla does not enter physical combat the way that many creatures do. It has no capacity to inflict physical damage and takes whatever steps it must to avoid placing itself in danger of physical or mystical assault. Of course, it is aware that most material weapons and spells cannot harm it, so its judgment is affected by these considerations.
The main "attack" mode of the harrla is its ability to infuse a living creature with an overpowering emotion. Each harrla is able to project only a single emotion. Although there are, in theory, as many types of harrla as there are emotional states, some common examples include hate, passion, and fear.
Hate:
This type of harrla is capable of inducing hate in its victims that causes them to be overwhelmed with the desire to kill and destroy. While they do not simply attack anyone that they see, the slightest provocation results in a violent outburst. Thus, someone at the breakfast table might go into a killing frenzy upon finding that his meal was improperly prepared.
Passion:
Those infused with passion find themselves unable to control their romantic desires. They fall into the arms of the nearest person of the appropriate sex and behave in a most wanton manner. The effects of this infusion are similar to those of the philter of love, only more intense and of shorter duration.
Fear:
Persons overcome with fear flee from anything that presents itself to them in a frightening manner. Because the victims lose control of basic common sense, however, even persons reaching out to or walking toward the characters will take on menacing overtones.
The harrla is naturally drawn to those who are struggling to keep the emotion that it generates in check. Once it finds such persons, it begins to stimulate the emotional centers of the victims' subconscious minds. Within a few seconds, the victims become consumed by the false emotions of the harrla and act purely according to their new emotional state. While in this condition, the characters are under the control of the Dungeon Master, just as if they were NPCs.
The victims have no memory of what they have done while under the influence of the harrla and are often shocked to learn what has transpired during the missing minutes of their life. The harrla's influence remains for 30 minutes, minus 1 minute per point of the victim's Wisdom score. A Will Save (DC 20) is permitted to avoid the influences of this creature, with success indicating that the victims are safe for 24 hours. This save is permitted only when the harrla first attempts to dominate an individual.
Those under the influence of the harrla can be freed by a magical spell that counters the emotional effect of the creature. Thus, someone who was under the influence of a harrla that projected mindless happiness could be released by the casting of an emotion spell that induced sadness.
It is also possible to break the power of the creature through forceful persuasion and Charisma. In order for characters to drive out the influence of the harrla they must be a true and trusted friend of the dominated character. If this is the case, the individuals must try to convince the victims that things are not as they perceive them. The chance of this working is 1% per Charisma point of the person trying to break the enchantment.
Persons under the emotional influence of a harrla lose 1 point of Charisma. This loss is permanent, remaining even after the victims throw off the effects of the harrla's emotion controlling power. When the victims' Charisma scores are reduced to 0, the victims lose all vitality and will to live, dying in 1d6 rounds. Only restoring lost Charisma points prevents death.
When a harrla is dominating a specific person, it cannot travel more than 75 feet away from him. The creature retains its natural ability to fly, however, and often drifts above him as he moves through crowds and the like.
The harrla is composed of nothing but emotional energy and is immune to damage from any manner of non-magical weapon. Further, even magical weapons inflict only half their normal damage to the creature. Of course, the weapon gains the traditional bonuses associated with an invisible opponent (2 surprise modifier, etc.).
Magical spells have a reduced effectiveness against the harrla, because of its unusual form. It is immune to all spells that inflict damage based on heat or fire, cold or ice, electricity or lightning, and those that affect a biological function, such as sleep or cause light wounds. Emotion controlling spells, such as charm, have been known to affect the creature, although it gains a + 4 bonus to any saving throw it makes against them.
The harrla's energy nature gives it the ability to pass through any solid objects with ease. The only known barriers through which a harrla cannot pass are those of a magical nature, such as a protection from evil or similar spell.
When a harrla passes through an individual, it momentarily infuses the individual with the emotion of the creature. The harrla does not actually feed upon the character's emotional energy, and the victim is entitled to a Will Save (DC 18) to avoid its influence. If the save fails, the victim is consumed by the emotion for 1d4 rounds. Because the creature is not actually feeding when it does this, the harrla does not drain someone of a Charisma point.
While the harrla is indeed a dangerous adversary, it is not without weaknesses. Experience has shown that each and every harrla has a special weakness related to the emotion that it projects. For example, one scholar, a noted authority on paranormal creatures, reports that he once encountered a harrla that induced an utterly consuming depression in its victims. This despair was so great as to be life threatening. Upon researching the local rumors, he found ancient writings that convinced him that the tears of one of its victims would be damaging to the harrla. Sure enough, when the sage sprinkled such tears upon the harrla, it let out an audible shriek of agony and fled the area, never to be "seen" again.
In addition to its special weakness, a harrla can be driven away for 10-100 days with a dismissal spell or utterly destroyed with a banishment spell. The harrla is also vulnerable to spells such as trap the soul. An emotion control spell cast upon the creature stuns it for 1d4 rounds, during which time it can attempt no actions at all and is utterly helpless.
Incorporeal Subtype
Some creatures are incorporeal by nature, while others (such as those that become ghosts) can acquire the incorporeal subtype. An incorporeal creature has no physical body. It can be harmed only by other incorporeal creatures, magic weapons or creatures that strike as magic weapons, and spells, spell-like abilities, or supernatural abilities. It has immunity to all nonmagical attack forms. Even when hit by spells, including touch spells or magic weapons, it has a 50% chance to ignore any damage from a corporeal source (except for positive energy, negative energy, force effects such as magic missile, or attacks made with ghost touch weapons). Non-damaging spell attacks affect incorporeal creatures normally unless they require corporeal targets to function (such as the spell implosion) or they create a corporeal effect that incorporeal creatures would normally ignore (such as a web or wall of stone spell). Although it is not a magical attack, a hit with holy water has a 50% chance of affecting an incorporeal undead creature.
An incorporeal creature's natural weapons affect both in incorporeal and corporeal targets, and pass through (ignore) corporeal natural armor, armor, and shields, although deflection bonuses and force effects (such as mage armor) work normally against it. Attacks made by an incorporeal creature with a nonmagical melee weapon have no effect on corporeal targets, and any melee attack an incorporeal creature makes with a magic weapon against a corporeal target has a 50% miss chance except for attacks it makes with a ghost touch weapon, which are made normally (no miss chance).
Any equipment worn or carried by an incorporeal creature is also incorporeal as long as it remains in the creature's possession. An object that the creature relinquishes loses its incorporeal quality (and the creature loses the ability to manipulate the object). If an incorporeal creature uses a thrown weapon or a ranged weapon, the projectile becomes corporeal as soon as it is fired and can affect a corporeal target normally (no miss chance). Magic items possessed by an incorporeal creature work normally with respect to their effects on the creature or another target. Similarly, spells cast by an incorporeal creature affect corporeal creatures normally.
An incorporeal creature has no natural armor bonus but has a deflection bonus equal to its Charisma bonus (always at least +1, even if the creature's Charisma score does not normally provide a bonus).
An incorporeal creature can enter or pass through solid object but must remain adjacent to the object's exterior, and so cannot pass entirely through an object whose space is larger than its own. It can sense the presence of creatures or objects a square adjacent to its current location, but enemies have total concealment from an incorporeal creature that is inside an object. In order to see clearly and attack normally, a incorporeal creature must emerge. An incorporeal creature inside an object has total cover, but when it attacks a creature outside the object it only has cover, so a creature outside with a readied action could strike at it as it attacks. An incorporeal creature cannot pass through a force effect.
Incorporeal creatures pass through and operate in water as easily as they do in air. Incorporeal creatures cannot fall or take falling damage. Incorporeal creature cannot make trip or grapple attacks against corporeal creatures, nor can they be tripped or grappled by such creatures. In fact, they cannot take any physical action that would move or manipulate a corporeal being or its equipment, nor are they subject to such actions. Incorporeal creatures have no weight and do not set off traps that are triggered by weight.
An incorporeal creature moves silently and cannot be heard with Listen checks if it doesn't wish to be. It has no Strength score, so its Dexterity modifier applies to both its melee attacks and its ranged attacks. Non-visual senses, such as scent and blindsight, are either ineffective or only partly effective with regard to incorporeal creatures. Incorporeal creatures have an innate sense of direction and can move at full speed even when they cannot see.