Welcome to the King of the Monsters 2 finals (see the list of finalists): the hooded hunter is random finalist 5 of 10. These submissions are left almost entirely as they were received with the exceptions that all submissions are posted with an image and are standardized to KoboldQuarterly.comstyle. Let the fight commence!

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A small figure in a dirty robe—much too long for it—examines the nearby corpse. You watch as it takes the body’s leg and begins eating the festering remains in irregular chunks, bones breaking within the thing’s maw. After it finishes its meal, it loots the body of its belongings and places them in a sack much too small for all the treasure stored inside. When it finally notices the party watching, it draws the corpse’s weapon and glares at you with piercing blue eyes from beneath the hood.

A Hooded Hunter is a unique type of fey that evolved with the proliferation of adventurers. Normally a minor nature spirit of war, they adapted to the never ending food and supplies careless adventurers and battlefields leave behind…

Hooded Hunter CR 2

XP 800
CN Small Fey
Init +2; Senses low-light vision; Perception +7

DEFENSE
AC 16, touch 13, flat-footed 13 (+3 armor, +2 Dex, +1 size)
hp 22 (4d6+8)
Fort +3, Ref +6, Will +4

OFFENSE
Speed 25 ft.
Melee longsword +4 (1d6+2/19–20)
Ranged light crossbow +5 (1d6/19–20)
Special Qualities adaptive, fey pockets, mimicry, survivalist

STATISTICS
Str 13, Dex 15, Con 15, Int 12, Wis 11, Cha 7
Base Atk +2; CMB +2; CMD 14
Feats Combat Reflexes, Fleet
Skills Escape Artist +8, Perception +7, Perform (Dance) +7, Sleight of Hand +8, Stealth +12, Survival +7, Use Magic Device +5
Languages Aklo, Common, Sylvan

ECOLOGY
Environment ruins/dungeon, underground
Organization solitary or party (3-5)
Treasure standard (crossbow with 20 bolts, longsword, studded leather, and other treasure)

SPECIAL ABILITIES
Adaptive (Ex) As a free action (1/round), a hooded hunter may choose a target to study during combat. For each round spent studying a single target this way, the hooded hunter may choose to receive either a +1 dodge bonus to AC against the target or +1 morale bonus on attack rolls against the target. This bonus increases each round studying the same target (maximum +3). Should the hooded hunter choose to study a different target or switch bonus types, it loses any previous bonuses it gained this way.

Fey Pockets (Su) All of the pockets and backpacks of a hooded hunter collectively function as a bag of holding (type 2). No matter how many pockets or backpacks a hooded hunter may have, it cannot carry more than a single bag of holding’s (type 2) weight capacity. Upon death, the contents of the fey pockets are spilled into adjacent squares.

Mimicry (Ex) A hooded hunter is proficient in all weapons, armor, and shields. In addition, it can use any spell trigger or spell completion item as if the spells were on its spell list (CL equals its racial HD).

Survivalist (Ex) Survival is always a class skill for a hooded hunter.

Habitat and Society

Relatively few in number due to their sudden emergence, hooded hunters are accustomed to living a lonely life. Should multiple hooded hunters meet, they stick together for fear of never seeing another of their own kind. Mates are highly prized.

Most prefer to travel to where free food and supplies can be found but dislike cities due to an innate fear of large groups of people. Abandoned dungeons and ruins are a favorite location, but their innate drive to move means even an ideal location isn’t settled for very long. Corpses are considered a delicacy, yet they never eat those they personally kill.

A very uncreative people, hooded hunters prefer to scavenge for whatever they can carry and often have hordes of discarded weapons, armor, treasure, and whatever else they can find that catches their interest.

Appearance

Underneath the hood, hooded hunters appear with a mishmash of humanoid, feline, and rodent characteristics. Their body structure is built toward being short and fat, with little variation in height or weight between individuals. Tails are where the most variation occurs either being ratlike, catlike, or absent altogether  A hooded hunter’s face consists of a wide mouth with irregular sets of sharp and dull teeth, a rodent like nose, fist-sized glowing blue eyes, and cat like ears that often poke through their hoods. They typically wear loose, concealing clothing that masks their appearance. Scavengers of the highest order, Hooded Hunters are covered in multitudes of pockets and backpacks to hold their gains.

Tactics

Hooded Hunters often run into fights with adventurers and monsters within the dungeons they live. Very resourceful, they study their targets in mid battle to determine how to best defeat them. Through battle, they learn to copy the way their looted weapons and armor work best for later conflicts.

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