Monster Monday: Shadhavar - Evil Carnivorous Unicorn

Today's Monster Monday is the Shadhavar, an evil, twisted version of the unicorn.  Shadhavars have rough black hair, poisonous horns, the ability to magically disguise themselves, and a taste for the flesh of the innocent.

Bodleian Library, MS. Bodley 764, Folio 10v : Unicornis, via Wikimedia
   

It's really hard to find a public domain picture of a black unicorn that 

doesn't look like a Lisa Frank folder, so enjoy this derpy Medieval unicorn instead.

You know what unicorns look like - just imagine it black and sinister looking.  

The following text in gold is available as Open Game Content under the OGL. Open Game Content is ©2015 Jonah Bomgaars.

Shadhavar (Black Unicorn)  CR 4

XP 1,200

 CE Large magical beast

Init +3; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, scent; Perception +10

Aura magic circle against good

DEFENSE

AC 17, touch 12, flat-footed 14; (+3 Dex, +5 natural, –1 size; +2 deflection vs. good)

hp 42 (5d10+15)

Fort +8, Ref +8, Will +6; +2 resistance vs. good

Immune charm, compulsion, poison

OFFENSE

Speed 60 ft.

Melee gore +10 (1d8+5 plus poison), 2 hooves +7 (1d3+2)

Space 10 ft.; Reach 5 ft.

Special Attacks powerful charge (gore, 2d8+8 plus poison)

Spell-Like Abilities (CL 9th)

 At will—detect good (as free action), light

 3/day—inflict light wounds (cast through horn only)

 1/day—inflict moderate wounds (cast through horn only), greater teleport (within its territory), disguise self (horse or unicorn only)

 STATISTICS

Str 20, Dex 16, Con 17, Int 11, Wis 21, Cha 22

Base Atk +5; CMB +11; CMD 24 (28 vs. trip)

Feats Multiattack, Power Attack, Weapon Focus (horn)

Skills Acrobatics +7, Climb +9, Perception +10, Stealth +13, Survival +8 (+11 in deserts); Racial Modifiers +3 Survival in deserts, +4 Stealth

Languages Common, Sylvan

SQ magical strike, wild empathy +17

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Magic Circle against Good (Su)

This ability continually duplicates the effect of the spell. The shadhavar cannot suppress this ability.

Magical Strike (Ex)

A shadhavar’s gore attack is treated as a magic evil weapon for the purposes of damage reduction.

Poison (Ex)

Gore—injury; save Fort DC 15, frequency 1/round for 6 rounds, effect 1d2 Con, cure 2 consecutive saves.

Wild Empathy (Su)

This works like the druid's wild empathy class feature, except it can also be used in place of a Bluff check.  The shadhavar has a +6 racial bonus on the check. Shadhavars with druid levels add this racial modifier to their wild empathy checks.  Shadhavars generally use their wild empathy ability to lure their prey to them. 

ECOLOGY

Environment temperate forests, warm mountains or deserts

Organization solitary, mated pair, or curse (3–6)

Treasure none

   Shadhavars are evil carnivorous cousins of the unicorn.  They are all black, with red eyes and a poisonous horn.  They generally feed on woodland creatures which they lure to them with their wild empathy ability, but a shadhavar will attack and eat a unicorn on sight. 

   Like unicorns, shadhavars mate for life, making a valley, glade, or wasteland their domain and hunting ground.  They attempt, via clever manipulation, to lure good creatures into their territory and hunt them, often using their disguise self ability to pretend to be a unicorn or horse.  They take great pleasure in deception and murder. 

   A shadhavar’s horn is the focus for its powers, and in order to use its spell-like abilities on other creatures the shadhavar must touch them with it. Evil creatures greatly value unicorn horns as reagents for poisons and other dark rites, and a single shadhavar horn is worth 1,600 gp when used as a component for crafting evil magic items.

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

I've talked before about how formative Baldur's Gate was to my youth, but equally formative was my first computer RPG - Exile III: Ruined World.  I remember bringing my adventuring party to the surface and almost immediately discovering a secret area in the mountains.  I explored it and came face to face with a pack of 14 or so black unicorns that charged me and gored all my characters with their poisonous horns.  Evil unicorns?  I'd never even conceived of such a thing.  15 years later, and here we are.

Obviously I wanted to make evil unicorns a thing in my own adventures.  After a bit of digging, I encountered a creature from Persian mythology that was basically an evil carnivorous unicorn - the shadhavar.  That feels a lot better than just calling it an "evil unicorn" or a "black unicorn", which are pretty rubbish names.  It's always good to give your monsters a proper grounding in mythology, if you can manage it.

Since most adventuring parties tend to be good-aligned, unicorns usually get played as NPCs or maybe the mounts of exceptional paladins.  Shadhavars, however, are far more likely to end up as adversaries for the PCs, which makes them far more valuable in my book.  Their tendency toward deception can make for some interesting encounters.  A shadhavar disguised as a unicorn or a lost horse might lure off one party member and start hunting her, or a pack of them (a curse - the opposite of a blessing) might just charge in and set upon the party with their horns, then break away an instant later with their greater teleport ability to hunt the poisoned and confused party through their wild domain.  For higher-level encounters, try applying the half-fiend template to the shadhavar, or giving an antipaladin a shadhavar mount.  Or giving a shadhavar levels in antipaladin!

-your monocerous d20 despot