Krampus


Conversions

Editor, Jon Brazer Enterprises

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Here's a little something for all you GMs prepping holiday-themed games this week... ;D

Krampus - CR 15
A terrifying hairy humanoid with curved horns, clawed hands, and cloven feet dressed in tattered clothing stands before you. A great black bag, its contents squirming and squalling, is slung over his back, and he holds a gnarled walking stick of birchwood rimed with frost. His serpentine tongue snakes out between wickedly pointed fangs as he locks eyes with you.
XP 51,200
NE Medium fey
Init +4; Senses low-light vision; Perception +17
Defense
AC 30, touch 14, flat-footed 25 (+4 Dex, +15 natural, +1 shield)
hp 215 (25d6+125)
Fort +13, Ref +18, Will +18
DR 10/cold iron or good; Immune cold; SR 26
Offense
Speed 35 ft.
Melee +3 icy burst quarterstaff +22/+22/+17/+17 (1d6+11 and 1d6 cold), or 2 claws +20 (1d6+8) and gore +20 (1d8+8)
Special Attack spellstrike
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 13, concentration +17)
At will—dimension door, frost fall (DC 16), healing thief, shadow anchor (DC 16)
3/day—gloomblind bolts (DC 17)
Statistics
Str 26, Dex 18, Con 20, Int 10, Wis 18, Cha 18
Base Atk +12; CMB +20; CMD 47
Feats Combat Reflexes, Critical Focus, Dazzling Display (quarterstaff), Defensive Combat Training, Double Slice, Fleet, Improved Two Weapon Fighting, Shatter Defenses (quarterstaff), Toughness, Two Weapon Defense, Two Weapon Fighting, Two Weapon Rend, Weapon Focus (quarterstaff)
Skills Acrobatics +17, Bluff +17, Climb +21, Craft (traps) +13, Diplomacy +17, Disguise +17, Escape Artist +17, Knowledge (geography) +13, Knowledge (local) +13, Knowledge (nature) +13, Perception +17, Sense Motive +17, Sleight of Hand +17, Stealth +17, Use Magic Device +17
Languages Common, Sylvan
Ecology
Environment cold mountains or cold urban
Organization solitary
Treasure standard (+3 icy burst quarterstaff, sack of Krampus – see below)
Special Abilities
Sack of Krampus (Su) Krampus possesses a black sack that functions as a type IV bag of holding equipped with an invisible bottle of air to keep naughty children alive and fresh for cooking and eating.
Spellstrike (Su) Whenever Krampus uses a spell-like ability with a range of touch, he can deliver the spell through his quarterstaff as part of a melee attack. Instead of the free melee touch attack normally allowed to deliver the spell effect, Krampus can make one free melee attack with his quarterstaff at +24 as part of activating the ability. If successful, this melee attack deals its normal damage as well as the effects of the spell.

All know that the Yulefather possesses a magical list which records the names of every little boy and girl in the world, denoting whether they are Naughty or Nice, with a capital N. Nice children awaken on Midwinter's Day to find their stockings stuffed full of candied fruits and presents under the Yule tree bearing their names.

What is seldom mentioned, though, is what happens to the kids on the Naughty list: they get a visit from Krampus. Some children who have only mildly misbehaved may find that Krampus has left coal or kindling in their stockings; others vanish in the night, never to be seen again.

Krampus vaguely resembles an extremely hirsute human with a wild, oily beard and large goat horns on his head. His tongue is long and pointed, and his feet sport cloven hooves. He always carries a magical quarterstaff cut from a gnarled birch tree. He dresses himself in muddy breeches and a dingy patchwork coat, and carries a grubby black sack on his back, which he uses to carry away the especially naughty children back to his secret cave high atop a snowy mountain. Krampus cooks and eats the meanest child for his Midwinter's Eve dinner in front of the other brats, then turns the rest out into the cold to make their way home as best they can with only a lump of coal and a bundle of birch sticks.

Krampus has many special abilities to help him elude any adventurers who might try to put an end to his villainy. His favorite trick is his ability to cast dimension door at will; he uses this to reposition himself for advantage and escape, as well as to snatch his victims from their beds.

Want more holiday-themed monsters for your game? Check out Book of Beasts: War On Yuletide from Jon Brazer Enterprises!


This all looks good, but I'm not sure the alignment is quite right...


I think the alignment is fine.

But I think the critter is too powerful, since there is not only one Krampus; they usually come in groups.


I've read and heard stories that indicate that a race of demonic beings similar to Krampus, called the perchtan and derived from a Germanic goddess figure, are often represented in the Krampus runs in Europe. Oddly enough, I was talking to someone about Christmas myths at great length just tonight, and there's a great piece on St. Nick here that he referenced with awesome tidbits on the Krampus legend.

I submit that a weaker version of the above stat block focusing more on natural attacks could be generated to represent them. Anyone wanna take a crack at it?


And on a side note, someone needs to stat up St. Nicholas the Demon Binder as an inquisitor.


Something Positive did a version for 3.5

Contributor

Reaper has a great Krampus miniature.

RPG Superstar 2013 Top 8

Power Word Unzip wrote:

I've read and heard stories that indicate that a race of demonic beings similar to Krampus, called the perchtan and derived from a Germanic goddess figure, are often represented in the Krampus runs in Europe. Oddly enough, I was talking to someone about Christmas myths at great length just tonight, and there's a great piece on St. Nick here that he referenced with awesome tidbits on the Krampus legend.

I submit that a weaker version of the above stat block focusing more on natural attacks could be generated to represent them. Anyone wanna take a crack at it?

The krampus I posted last year, available here, might work as a good perchtan.


Wow, a creature I've never heard of before.

After reading a bit, the thing sounds more like a dire yeti to me. Either that, or a fiend-touched (tiefling) yeti.

I have to wonder if he's got a cousin named wendigo.


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Owen and Hyrum did a workup of Krampus for Super Genius Games' "Winter Ravagers" from a few years back. In fact, he graces the cover. The interior art is more cartoonish, as the book was designed to be a fun holiday release. Also, he's only CR 4 there. A lot of folks malign this particular SGG release, but I loved it.

RPG Superstar 2013 Top 8

DungeonmasterCal wrote:
Owen and Hyrum did a workup of Krampus for Super Genius Games' "Winter Ravagers" from a few years back. In fact, he graces the cover. The interior art is more cartoonish, as the book was designed to be a fun holiday release. Also, he's only CR 4 there. A lot of folks malign this particular SGG release, but I loved it.

That krampus was, in fact, a Medium yeti. The "whip Father", also in that book, had more of the krampus-y flavor.

Sovereign Court Contributor

The Perchten were apparently the entourage - being essentially horned Woodwoses - of Freya/Perchta/Dame Holda, the Queen of the Elves/Alfar in Germanic legend...
Apparently their handsome counterparts (Schönperchten) were thus the Elves, and these were their wilder, dangerous, counterparts. In Italy, they were called Orchi, and associated with Fauns.
Folklore can be stranger than gaming... hence we have shaggy, horned Orcs alongside beautiful, magical elves as a single community.


Maybe fey-related races are like birds - the males are the 'peacocks'. :P

On the other hand, a lot of rpg/myth material represents Satyrs as the male half of nymphs, which is just so wrong on so many levels. Nymphs almost always invariably run from satyrs (then again, they run from gods as well... I guess mere mortals are better.... ummmm... represented?)

Since there seems to be two different models represented - a race of Krampus, and just a single, unique creature, I say we go with both. 'krampus' are the offspring of THE Krampus (maybe their mommies are perchtens?). Then we have to call the much larger, more intelligent Krampus something else... how about Hippokrampus? :D

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