# Hoary Hunter >[!rimg]+ > ![[Placeholder2.png]] <div class="grid-container"><div class="MON">Hoary Hunter</div> <div class="CR">CR 25 (1,638,400 XP)</div> <div class="SOU">Epic Level Handbook pg. 197</div> <div class="SYS">Dungeons & Dragons 3.5</div></div> NE Medium Fey (cold) **Init** +19 **Senses** low-light vision, mistsight; **Perception** +55 #### defense **AC** 46, 36 touch, 20 flat-footed (+11 Dex, +15 insight, +10 natural) **hp** 736 (46d6+598) **Fort** +28, **Refl** +36, **Will** +31 **Feint** 65, **Demoralize** 62 **DR** 10/epic and cold iron; **SR** 36 **Immune** cold **Weakness** vulnerable to fire #### offense **Speed** 30 ft. **Melee** +6 longsword of binding +42/+37/+32/+27 (1d8+27/17-20 plus 1d6 plus binding) **Space** 5 ft., **Reach** 5 ft. **Spell-Like Abilities** > At will—_discern location_, _true strike_, _fog cloud_, _hold monster_, _plane shift_ > 3/day—_dimensional anchor_, _dominate monster_, _greater dispel magic_ > 1/day— _mage's disjunction_, _contingent recall and resurrection_ #### statistics **Str** 38, **Dex** 33, **Con** 36, **Int** 21, **Wis** 23, **Cha** 26 **BAB** +23, **CMB** +31, **CMD** 67, **TA** +37, **RTA** +34 **Feats** [[Blind-fight]], [[Cleave]], [[Critical Focus]], [[Dire Charge]], [[Epic Weapon Focus]] (longsword), [[Great Cleave]], [[Greater Vital Strike]], [[Greater Weapon Focus]] (longsword), [[Improved Critical]] (longsword), [[Improved Initiative]], [[Improved Vital Strike]], [[Mounted Combat]], [[Mounted Mobility]], [[Overwhelming Critical]] (longsword), [[Power Attack]], [[Ride-by Attack]], [[Spirited Charge]], [[Staggering Critical]], [[Stunning Critical]], [[Superior Initiative]], [[Trample]], [[Vital Strike]], [[Weapon Focus]] (longsword) **Skills** Acrobatics +60, Climb +63, Diplomacy +57, Disguise +57, Escape Artist +60, Knowledge (nobility) +51, Perception +55, Ride +57, Sense Motive +55, Stealth +60, Survival +52 **Languages** Aklo, Aquan, Common, Elven, Sylvan #### ecology **Terrain** Any cold **Organization** Solitary or company (2–5) **Treasure** None **Advancement** 47-96 HD (Medium) Hoary hunters are malevolent fey that appear on frosty, moonlit nights to hunt travelers for sport, selecting their prey, chasing them down, and dragging them into the night realm of the Unseelie Court to be imprisoned forever. Though difficult to see because of its mount’s magical breath, a hoary hunter appears as a gaunt man or elf, but with sharp, exaggerated features that are always unsettling to behold. Everything about the hunter is white, from the wild mane of hair atop its head to the pearly, luminescent buttons on its coat. At midnight, when the temperature is below freezing, and any sort of moon shines upon the frozen ground, the hunter appears initially as a roiling fog accompanied by echoing hoof beats. Dismounted and out in the open, a hoary hunter seems to be some ghostly apparition in the moonlight, but it is not undead. A hoary hunter rides a magnificent flying horse, a snowy steed whose breath billows in great clouds of frosty vapors and whose blue eyes glow coldly in the darkness. It is often said that one who is selected as prey by a hoary hunter first knows his doom from the sound of hoofbeats and the starry glow of those eyes coming toward him through the mists. ### Combat The hoary hunter prefers to charge its prey while upon horseback, slashing with its +6 keen longsword of binding as it rides by. When a hoary hunter confirms a critical hit, or reduces a target to 0 or fewer hit points, that creature must succeed on a DC 30 Will save, or be bodily transported into a brilliant white diamond at the end of the sword’s hilt. This effect is as a _soul binding_ spell heightened to 16th level. The hunter then returns to its realm, taking its prisoner with it to be enslaved. Rarely does a hoary hunter encounter those formidable enough to challenge it, but on those occasions, it uses its spell-like abilities to overwhelm such foes, making it easier to capture them. If a chosen victim does manage to escape the hunter for 1 hour, or succeeds in defeating the fey creature, the hunt is not over. A hoary hunter cannot be killed while on the hunt (see below). It returns on the very next night that is both cold and moonlit, with a second hunter to aid it, and attempts again to capture this victim. If it fails again, this pattern is repeated each suitable night until either the prisoner is taken or five such nights pass. If a victim escapes all five nights, a hoary hunter never again troubles him. Moving to a warmer locale only delays the inevitable. The hoary hunter bides its time, waiting years if it must, only to appear again when the night conditions are right. Shifting to a different plane of existence does not stop the hunt; a hunter follows its prey to any realm in the multiverse during the hour, and it and its companions can appear on any plane to begin the hunt anew so long as there is moonlight and freezing temperatures.