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TASSA CR 8

XP 1,600
Half-Elf broken soul bonded witch 6
CE Medium humanoid (elf, human)

Init +6; Senses low light vision; Perception +10

DEFENSE

AC 20, touch 14, flat-footed 16 (+1 deflection, +4 Dex, +4 natural, +1 shield)
hp 66 (6d6+30+3+6+6);
Fort +10, Ref +8, Will +5
Defensive Abilities elven immunities DR 5/-; Immune sleep Resist acid 5, cold 5, electricity 5, fire 5, sonic 5

OFFENSE

Speed 20 ft.

Melee hook hand +0 (1d4-3 slashing)

Special Attacks agonized wail, baleful gaze, torturous touch, hexes (flight, evil eye, prehensile hair, slumber)

Witch Spells Prepared (CL 6th; concentration +1)
3rd — bestow curse (DC 18), fireball (DC 18), haste
2nd — blindness/deafness (DC 17), cat’s grace (already cast), disfiguring touch (DC 17), lipstitch (DC 17)
1st — adhesive spittle (DC 16), ear-piercing scream (DC 16), 2x command (DC 16), ray of enfeeblement (DC 16)
0th (at will) — detect magic, guidance, mending, read magic

Patron: Agility

STATISTICS
Str 4, Dex 19, Con 20, Int 20, Wis 8, Cha 14
Base Atk +3; CMB +2; CMD 16

Feats skill focus (perception), improved initiative, ability focus (torturous touch), craft wand, diehard, endurance, great fortitude, toughness

Skills craft (alchemy) +14, fly +13, intimidate +11, knowledge (arcana) +14, perception +10, spellcraft +14, use magic device +11; Racial Modifiers +2 perception

Languages Aklo, Common, Dwarven, Elven, Infernal, Undercommon

SQ bonded item (wand)

Combat Gear bonded wand of magic missile (38 charges), hook hand

Other Gear cloak of resistance +1, ring of protection +1, wooden shield, filthy robes, amber brooch containing a portrait of a young human adult male (worth 200gp)

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Agonized Wail (Su)
As a standard action, Tassa can emit an agonized wail that inspires terror in those who hear it. All creatures within 120 feet must succeed at a DC 17 Will save or become shaken for as long as they remain within 120 feet of him. A successful save renders a creature immune to Tassa's agonized wail for 24 hours. This is a sonic mind-affecting fear effect.

Baleful Gaze (Su)
Any creature within 60 feet of Tassa must succeed at a DC 17 Fortitude save or take 1d4 points of Strength, Constitution, and Charisma drain. Whatever the result of the saving throw, the creature cannot be affected by Tassa’s baleful gaze again for 1 minute.

Torturous Touch (Su)
Tassa can make a touch attack to cause hideous, painful wounds to rip open in the target's body. This touch deals 2d6 points of slashing damage and 1d6 points of Dexterity damage, and causes the touched creature to fall prone in a fit of convulsions and be dazed for 1d4 rounds. A successful DC 19 Fortitude save negates the Dexterity damage and the convulsive fit.

Hexes

Tassa can use one of his hexes at will on any creature within 30 feet. Using a hex is a standard action (unless otherwise noted) that does not provoke an attack of opportunity. Save DCs are Intelligence-based.

Evil Eye Hex (Su)

This hex causes the target creature to take a -2 penalty on one of the following (Tassa’s choice): AC, ability checks, attack rolls, saving throws, or skill checks. This effect lasts for 8 rounds, or only 1 round if the target succeeds at a DC 18 Will save. This is a mind-affecting effect.

Flight Hex (Su)

At 1st level, the witch can use feather fall at will and gains a +4 racial bonus on Swim checks. At 3rd level, she can cast levitate once per day. At 5th level, she can fly, as per the spell, for a number of minutes per day equal to her level. These minutes do not need to be consecutive, but they must be spent in 1-minute increments. This hex only affects the witch.

Prehensile Hair Hex (Su)

The witch can instantly cause his hair (or even his eyebrows) to grow up to 10 feet long or to shrink to its normal length, and can manipulate her hair as if it were a limb with a Strength score equal to her Intelligence score. His hair has reach 10 feet, and she can use it as a secondary natural attack that deals 1d3 points of damage (1d2 for a Small witch). His hair can manipulate objects (but not weapons) as dexterously as a human hand.

The hair cannot be sundered or attacked as a separate creature. Pieces cut from the witch’s elongated hair shrink away to nothing. Using his hair does not harm the witch’s head or neck, even if he lifts something heavy with it. The witch can manipulate his hair a number of minutes each day equal to her level; these minutes do not need to be consecutive, but must be spent in 1-minute increments.

Slumber Hex (Su)

A witch can cause a creature within 30 feet to fall into a deep, magical sleep, as per the spell sleep. The creature receives a Will save to negate the effect. If the save fails, the creature falls asleep for a number of rounds equal to the witch’s level.
This hex can affect a creature of any HD. The creature will not wake due to noise or light, but others can rouse it with a standard action. This hex ends immediately if the creature takes damage. Whether or not the save is successful, a creature cannot be the target of this hex again for 1 day.

Tassa is a bonded witch rather than a standard one for a very important reason: Baleful Gaze cannot be turned off, meaning that if Tassa had a standard familiar, it would be taking up to 4 STR/CON/CHA drain every minute. A witch with a dead familiar is a witch who cannot cast spells.

It's not all bad news though. While Tassa loses the bonus a familiar would grant him, his Bonded Wand gives him access to spells not otherwise on the witch list. Furthermore, it can be made into an actual wand (in this case, a wand of magic missile). This is a nice ranged attack option should his primary strategy fail: He can pop his flight hex and start harassing the party from midair.

The primary strategy in question, and the point of the build, is Tassa's ability to use the 10-foot-range natural weapon granted by Prehensile Hair to land Agonizing Touches. Although it is a secondary weapon, the rules state that creatures with only one natural weapon use it at full BAB and with the usual 1.5 x STR mod to damage. Tassa has ability focus for Agonizing Touch in order to more reliably land the DEX damage and falling prone aspects of the ability.

Tassa is not running the Cackle hex because, as far as I'm aware, he can only attack with Prehensile Hair as a full action, leaving him no move actions to spend on cackling. If that's not the case, then I would definitely be running the Cackle / Misfortune combination. Still, Slumber and Evil Eye are nice things to throw out early in a fight, especially since the former just takes someone entirely out of the fight for a while.

Tassa's prepared spells are partly for witchy flavor, but there's some good stuff there. He's running a lot of handy debuffs, two self-buffs (one of them having been counted in the stat block under the assumption he'll have cast it before the fight), and a smattering of battlefield control in the form of Command and Adhesive Spittle. Blindness/Deafness is backbreaking if the target fails their save, and Fireball is, well, Fireball, meaning it should do alright against non-dodgy low-dex types.

Agonized Wail is nasty, and easy to pop at the start of a combat. Baleful Gaze is brutal, and happens once every ten rounds, meaning the longer the fight goes, the weaker the party becomes (unless they just snipe her from range, at least).

I've chosen to leave Tassa's backstory fairly sparse and ambiguous. As such, the prerogative is on you if you feel they need developing. I've chosen to do it like this because honestly, the flavor for the Broken Soul template can get you into some pretty unpleasant territory (physical and psychological torture), and it's better if you decide what level of detail, if any, is appropriate for your game / players. I've left a few hooks (the brooch, the hook hand, and Tassa's language choices) if you want somewhere to start, but you can just as easily scrap those and do something else with him.

coming soon!