Torden

Medium monstrosity, neutral evil

Armor Class 13 (leather armor)
Hit Points 91 (14d8+28)
Speed 30 ft.

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
14 (+2)	15 (+2)	14 (+2)	12 (+1)	13 (+1)	13 (+1)

Saves Dex +4, Wis +3
Skills Perception +3, Stealth +6, Survival +5
Damage Immunities cold
Damage Immunities fire
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 13
Languages Common, Druidic, Sylvan
Challenge 3 (700 XP)

SPECIAL TRAITS

• Faultless Tracker. A torden can track foes who leave no tracks, even flying opponents or creatures affected by pass without trace. A torden has disadvantage when tracking in this way.
• Innate Spellcasting: The torden’s innate spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 11). The torden can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components:
  • At will: faerie fire, find traps
• Wintry Stride. Moving through nonmagical difficult terrain costs the torden no extra movement. They can also pass through nonmagical plants without being slowed by them and without taking damage from them if they have thorns, spines, or a similar hazard. In addition, they have advantage on saving throws against plants that are magically created or manipulated to impede movement, such those created by the entangle spell. In addition, their movement is never adversely affected by snow or ice, and they can walk across a thin snow crust or thin ice without breaking through. A mounted torden can share this ability with a mount one size larger than himself.

ACTIONS

• Multiattack. The torden attacks twice with its longbow, or twice with its lance and once with its gore.
• Lance. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 8 (1d12+2) piercing damage. A lance attack against a foe 5 ft. away has disadvantage.
• Longbow. Ranged Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, range 150/600 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d8+2) piercing damage.
• Gore. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d6+2) piercing damage, and the target must succeed at a DC 12 Constitution saving throw or take an additional 7 (2d6) necrotic damage.
• Harrowing Horn (Recover 5-6). The torden can conjure and sound a phantom trumpet. All horn effects have a duration of Concentration, to a maximum of one minute. This feature uses the torden’s innate spellcasting DC. The horn can have one of the following effects:
• Bless: All allies within 30 ft. who can hear gain the benefits of bless.
• Bane: All enemies within 30 ft. who can hear are targeted by bane.
• Pursuit: All allies within 30 ft. who can hear gain the benefits of longstrider.

BONUS ACTIONS

• Track. A torden may make a Wisdom (Survival) check as a bonus action.

ABOUT

Tordens are a race of savage hunters of the cold lands born of an ancient curse. Their legendary forebears, their names now largely forgotten, were once great hunters themselves but trespassed one too many times into the sacred woods of the elder druid circles. Mortally wounded when their erstwhile prey turned savagely upon them, and abandoned by their allies to their fate, they were taken by the druids to be reforged into living weapons upon their former allies, hunting them as they had once hunted the beasts of the field and forest. They hunted well, terrorizing lands they once ruled and being branded outlaws and traitors, but upon returning with the spoils of their first hunt they saw no reason to stop hunting just because their creators and supposed masters were in view. Thus, the druids that made the first tordens also fell by the hand of their murderous creations, loyalty and obedience being of no moment. In time, the tordens forgot all allegiances but to one another.

Even their own names were discarded as meaningless. There was only the hunt, and an undying hatred for the druids that cursed him to live for nothing else.

Children of the Curse. Tordens roam across all the cold lands, from the polar ice to the barren tundra, icy mountain ranges and chilly bogs, but it is the boreal forests they love best. They sometimes range into warmer temperate woodlands during the winter, but they rarely remain past the coming of spring.

Some think them fey, transient spirits of winter’s hunger and Torden cruelty, but they are entirely natural creatures for all their unnatural lineage. They reproduce by spreading their curse, though rumors persist that some tordens can mate with ordinary women and that the children of such unions, always male, will manifest the curse upon reaching adulthood. In either case, most tordens have no qualms about spreading their curse, though they are careful to avoid creating too many hunters with whom they will have to compete. When a group grows too large the two strongest leaders split the clan and go their separate ways to ensure that every hunter will always have enough prey. Some tordens try to turn away from their legacy of death, confining their hunting to non-sentient beings and never passing along their curse, and some are solitary and do not pass on the curse simply because they despise the company of others and do not wish to share their kills, but most travel in packs.

Cold Riders. Tordens are skilled warriors afoot, but they are almost always found mounted.

Many use common mounts, such as horses or trained elk, sharing their wintry stride ability and allowing them to ride through dense and tangled woodlands and drifts of snow and treacherous ice at speeds impossible for most of their prey to match. Over the centuries since their creation, however, tordens have also developed a unique and almost empathic affinity for giant owls and winter wolves. These creatures are not servants but allies, as the tordens live among them and fight alongside them, using them sometimes as scouts or magnificent mounts.

They share trophies, treasure, and meals alike with their inhuman comrades, as each understands the other is key to their mutual success in planning and executing a successful hunt.

Huntmasters. The greatest and most bloodthirsty tordens become the fearsome huntmasters, leading their fellows in the scouring of the land and even racing in deadly hunts across the sky through the winter storms. Huntmasters typically lead from the rear of their fellows, raining deadly arrows in the thick of the fighting before diving in with leveled lance and tearing horns. Huntmasters are primarily focused on their own business and may not concern themselves with PCs unless they interfere with their hunt; of course, the malevolent huntmasters are just as likely to be encountered in the employ of someone willing to pay well to target the PCs.