Dullahan
Powerful fiends create cruel military commanders to reap souls as dullahans. Dullahans typically haunt the areas where they lived to search for evil victims, but settle for innocents as well. Dullahans can target a person by name, which gains it extra power against its victim.123
The original template for the dullahans is an inhabitant of the First World known as the Headless King.4
Abilities
Dullahans can speak and understand the Common tongue and Necril.23
Dullahans recover from wounds even mid fight and they can detect the animating vitality or void energy of creatures nearby.23
Dullahans specialize in removing heads; slashing weapons they wield become preternaturally sharp53 and hatchets return to their hands when thrown. When a dullahan attempts a decapitation, it first whispers the victim's name before brutally removing the head when they die in a frightening display.23
Dullahans can summon a fiendish heavy war horse.123 Extremely powerful dullahans can instead summon a carriage and six horses. These dullahans are called a Coach of the Silent.1
Ecology and society
Dullahans often ride on horses at night hunting down those whom they feel are unworthy to live and then removing their heads from their bodies.23
Dullahans often arise from beheaded violent warriors that refuse or were barred from an afterlife.23
Dullahans usually return to their homeland to start vengeance on those who wronged them in life or their living descendants. What they consider justice is simply a matter of swiftness and mercilessness; they are unwavering once they have chosen their targets for vengeance.23
A dullahan will prioritize its cadaver head over revenge, grudgingly serving any that holds their head captive in the desire to get it back, if they are unable to seize the opportunity to kill the thief and steal their head back. Powerful fiends, such as devils, may use the hostage dullahan to harvest souls or command armies, while mortals could use them for settling personal vendettas.23
On Golarion
In Ustalav, there is a legend of a cadre of dullahans that drive a funeral carriage pulled by spectral horses called the "Coach of the Silent."23
In Lands of the Linnorm Kings, rumours among Ulfen warriors about dullahans that hunt with fiendish black dogs.23
Merchants and pirates on the western Garundi coast speak of a black-sailed ship crewed by headless undead sailors who may be dullahans.26
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 . “Monsters A to Z” in Bestiary 2, 111. Paizo Inc., 2010
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 . “Monsters A-Z” in Bestiary, 140. Paizo Inc., 2019
- ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 . “Dullahan” in Monster Core, 134. Paizo Inc., 2024
- ↑ . “Gazetteer” in The First World, Realm of the Fey, 49. Paizo Inc., 2016
- ↑ . “Treasure Trove” in GM Core, 238. Paizo Inc., 2023
- ↑ . “Dullahan” in Monster Core, 134. Paizo Inc., 2024 The text does not explicitly state if they are all dullahans, though in the context of the page, it is heavily implied.
External links
- Dullahan (Real-life mythical entity) on Wikipedia