Will-O-Wisp
Will-o-Wisp (CR 5)
Every trapper and bog farmer living near marshes or swamps has his own name for these faintly glowing balls of light—jack o' the lanterns, corpse candles, walking fires, pine lights, spooklights, rushlights—but all recognize them as dangerous predators and false guides in the darkness.
Evil creatures that feed on the strong psychic emanations of terrified creatures, will-o'-wisps delight in tempting gullible travelers into dangerous situations. In the wild lands where they're most common, will-o'-wisps favor simple tactics like positioning themselves over cliffs or quicksand where they can easily be mistaken for lanterns (especially if they can set their traps near actual signal lanterns), allowing them to lure unwary travelers into perilous situations. On rare occasions, will-o'-wisps seeking easier pickings will move into a city and take up residence near gallows or follow along invisibly behind an army in order to harvest the fear of the dying men; why the vast majority choose to remain in the swamps where victims are scarce remains a mystery. Will-o'-wisps only use their electric shock ability under extreme duress, preferring to let other creatures or hazards claim their victims while they float nearby and feast.
Will-o'-wisps can glow any color they choose, but are most frequently yellow, white, green, or blue. They can even vary their luminosity to create patterns—many will-o'-wisps are fond of creating vague skull-like shapes in their glow to further terrify their victims. Their actual bodies are barely visible globes of translucent spongy material 1 foot across and weighing 3 pounds, capable of emitting light from every surface. A will-o'-wisp's light is approximately as bright as a torch, and though they do not seem to use sound to communicate with each other, they hear perfectly and can vibrate their bodies rapidly to simulate speech.
While vilified by most other sentient creatures, will-o'-wisps are actually quite intelligent, if utterly alien in their reasoning. Sometimes organized into groups called “strings,” their society and goals remain complete unknowns to outsiders, as do their origins, though they have sometimes been known to strike bargains with those who can offer them vast quantities of appropriately frightened victims. As will-o'-wisps do not age, and are effectively immortal unless killed by violence, particularly ancient will-o'-wisps can serve as fantastic repositories of knowledge from the ancient past, although convincing one of these cruel creatures to cooperate with an interrogation can be a trick in and of itself.
GENERAL
CR 5 Hit Dice 7
XP 1,600
CE Small Aberration (Air)
Init +3; Senses Darkvision 60 ft., Perception +8
DEFENSE
AC 21, touch 14, flat-footed 17 (+4 dex, +7 armor)
hp 52
Fort +4, Ref +4, Will +4
Aura: -
SR: 15
Special Defenses: Naturally Invisible
Immunities: -
Weaknesses: -
OFFENSE
Speed Fly 50 ft. (Perfect)
Space / Reach: 5 ft. / 5 ft.
Single Melee Shock +10 (1d8+5 electricity damage; no crits)
Full Melee Shock +10 (1d8+5 electricity damage; no crits)
Ranged -
Special Attacks Feed on Fear
Action Points 0
STATISTICS
Str 3, Dex 19, Con 14, Int 15, Wis 16, Cha 14
Base Atk +5; CMB +11; CMD 22
Feats -
Skills Knowledge (all) +10, Stealth +5 (becomes +25 when invisible)
Languages Aklo, Common
SPECIAL ABILITIES
- Spell Resistance (Su)
Will-o-wisps have a spell resistance of 15.
- Naturally Invisible (Su)
Will-o-wisps have the ability to extinguish their natural glow as a move action, effectively becoming invisible, as per the spell. Use of this ability does not provoke attacks of opportunity, nor does it require any concentration.
- Attacking a Stealthed Enemy
- If you know that a stealthed enemy is in a particular square, you may attack him as though he has concealment (20% miss chance). However, in most cases, you don't know (in-game) which square a stealthed creature is in. In most cases, GM's should just disallow attacks when the target's location is unknown. However, area attacks and wild swings may sometimes come up, and the GM should calculate where the target could possibly be, make a roll to see if the right square was chosen and then roll miss chance.
- For example, a stealthy enemy is somewhere within an 80' x 80' room, and the insane gnome sorcerer wants to chuck a fireball at them, even though they don't have any real clue where the enemy is. Meta-game, the players can see a miniature on the board and know the enemy is in the northeast corner of the room. However, to simulate uncertainty, the GM could give the gnome a 25% chance to choose the right region of the room (since the fireball is a 40' diameter, and the room has roughly four 40' regions). Obviously, if the room were smaller, or the fireball bigger, the chance of guessing the correct region is improved. All of this is an attempt at ignoring the metagaming knowledge that the enemy is in a particular area, and instead simulate complete uncertainty. Generally speaking, the GM should announce how they're going to determine whether the attack had a valid target, but not reveal whether the check succeeded or not, since the players wouldn't know whether the fireball hit the enemy. If the enemy is later revealed, it may or may not look a bit charred.
- Feed On Fear (Su)
The will-o-wisp gains Fast Healing 5 any time there is an enemy within 50 feet of it that is dying or under the effects of a fear condition.
- Shock (basic attack)
Note that the shock attack of the will-o-wisp is not a touch attack, unlike the version of will-o-wisps in Pathfinder. Epic Path will-o-wisps must hit their target's regular AC.
TREASURE
sell value of approximately 1,375 gp
COMBAT TACTICS
Will-o-wisps prefer to lure prey into hazardous terrain rather than confront them directly. They will try to lure travelers over cliffs, into bogs or quicksand, or into other hazards, and feed on their fear as they die. If the hazard merely injures the prey, they're more than willing to dive in and finish them off.
In direct combat, the will-o-wisp will become invisible and make use of its shock attack. Note that on making this attack, the wisp becomes visible until it uses another move action to become invisible again.
Because of their spell resistance and invisibility, will-o-wisps are very difficult opponents. Furthermore, if they feel overmatched, it is a simple matter for them to flee combat. Note that will-o-wisps are evil and ageless, and tend to hold grudges against those who manage to chase them off.