Monster Monday: Horror Beast, a Chimera of Creepy Crawlies

Today's Monster Monday is the horror beast, a creatively named chimera of as many phobia-inducing critters as possible.  It has the body and legs of a spider, the head of a snake, the wings of a bat, and the stinging tail of a scorpion.

Halloween approaches, and with it come many festive, horror-filled adventures.  GMs looking for a unique low-level monster to populate a Gothic castle, mad wizard's lair, or haunted forest should check out this beastie.  Did I mention that its venom causes maddening fear, and it can be taken as a familiar with the Improved Familiar feat?

The following text in gold is available as Open Game Content under the OGL. Open Game Content is ©2016 Jonah Bomgaars.

Horror Beast            CR 2

XP 600

CE Small magical beast

Init +7; Senses low-light vision, darkvision 120 ft., blindsight 60 ft.; Perception +5

DEFENSE

AC 15, touch 14, flat-footed 12 (+1 size, +3 Dex, +1 natural)

hp 22 (3d10+6)

Fort +5, Ref +6, Will +4

Immune fear effects

OFFENSE

Speed 40 ft., climb 40 ft., fly 40 ft. (good)

Melee bite +5 (1d6+1 plus poison), sting +5 (1d3+1 plus poison)

 Special Attacks web (+7 ranged, DC 13, hp3)

STATISTICS

Str 12, Dex 17, Con 14, Int 6, Wis 13, Cha 12

Base Atk +3; CMB +3; CMD 16 (28 vs trip)

Feats Improved Initiative, Iron Will

Skills Climb +9, Fly +10, Perception +5, Stealth +7

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Poison (Ex) Fear Venom: Bite or Sting – injury; save Fort DC 13; frequency 1/minute for 2 minutes; initial effect frightened for 2d4 rounds; secondary effect confused for 1d4 rounds; cure 1 save

ECOLOGY

Environment any

Organization solitary, pair, shroud (3-12)

Treasure none

With the head of a snake, legs of a spider, bat wings, and the tail of a scorpion, this chimaeric creature seems designed to trigger as many phobias as possible.  Horror beasts were almost certainly created by a deranged spellcaster for just such a purpose, but they now inhabit the dark places of the world, driven by an insane need to cause fear in unsuspecting creatures. 

   Horror beasts possess limited intelligence, and will occasionally form a partnership with one who is as demented as they are.  An arcane spellcaster of at least 7^th level whose alignment is within one step of chaotic evil and who has the Improved Familiar feat may select a horror beast as a familiar. 

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Sorry, no story snippet for this monster.  I've hit a bit of writer's block today.  Imagine I wrote something cool where an evil wizard tells a story about how he was always afraid of everything when he was younger, but now he's decided that instead of letting his fears conquer him, he would make his fears reality and use them to conquer others.  Then the adventurers are like, "You're a monster!" and he goes, "No, this is!" and he releases his horror beast and the adventurers are all like, "Eww, gross!"  But cooler.

-your horrible d20 despot