Animated Hand
Passive
Active
- Dire Leap
- Eye Gouge +7 : 2 (Precise, Piercing, Blinded)
- Strangle +7 : 2 (Ensnare, Necrotic)
Phases
- Resurrects (Vulnerable):
On the round after the monster is at 0 HP, it recovers half its total HP, rounded up, and becomes conscious again. Only if the monster is dealt damage that it is vulnerable to while dying will the monster die permanently.
Lore
You hear a faint scritch-scratching from outside the room, like little toenails on tile. Curious, you think... I thought the place was abandoned? Then, a horrific scuttle: a severed hand turns the corner, springing into the air like a spider made of human malice!
An Animated Hand is a grotesque necromantic remnant, typically fashioned from the severed limb of a murderer or the remains of a lich, and bound with dark magic to preserve its vile purpose. Its skin may be desiccated or disturbingly fresh, the nails yellowed or blackened with blood, and sometimes it bears rings that pulse with foul enchantments. These undead limbs move with unnatural agility, leaping, climbing, and skittering across walls or ceilings. When an Animated Hand strikes, it does so with gruesome precision, lunging for the eyes to blind or the throat to choke the life from its victims through its supernatural grip. Whether acting on its master’s commands or mimicking its final moments of violence, the Animated Hand is imbued with a singular focus. But beware the most terrifying category at hand: those still mystically tethered to their living host that can reattach at will.
Animated Hands are gleeful ambush predators that pursue the party through cramped, dimly lit spaces. While they act on simple commands or twisted instincts imparted into them by necromantic dweomers, they derive pleasure from tormenting their victims. When crafting an Animated Hand, increase its level by 1 for each enchanted ring it wears (you may select such rings randomly, or choose ones best suited for the Hand’s purpose). Hands prefer to fight unfairly, attacking from stealth or ceilings, with tactics enhanced by the spells embedded in their rings. Their grip can render targets breathless and vulnerable (use the rules for suffocation once a victim is grasped). In groups, Animated Hands employ a sinister intelligence to support one another, climbing over each other to reach victims or clinging to gear and limbs to hinder escape, turning what seems like a minor nuisance into an impish nightmare.