It is said that when Percy Bysshe Shelley died, his wife, author Mary Shelley, plucked his heart from the still-burning pyre, and kept it until her own death. If so, his was a lucky heart, for not all are so dearly loved. Some are ripped untimely from the breast of the lovelorn by the actions of cruel lovers, and, while their owners never love again, they are unaware that their hearts have left them to become the bloated un-dead known as hideous hearts.
A hideous heart appears like a monstrous, throbbing heart, swollen to the size of a human head. Pulsing, rope like veins extend from it, which it uses to pull itself along. It can also use these veins to grasp and strangle, causing its base damage automatically each round. The hideous heart still makes a normal attack roll; if it succeeds, it also does 1d3 points of temporary Stamina damage from strangulation. It is possible for the heart to critically hit a grasped character, with the normal effects. There is a 3 in 6 chance that any melee attack against a hideous heart which misses must be rerolled against any character it is grasping. A grasped character can escape from a hideous heart with an opposed Strength check (the heart has a +5 bonus), but this uses an Action Die.
This creature is stealthy, attacking by surprise on a 3 in 6 chance.
A hideous heart is completely immune to all charms and mind-affecting magic, having long ago given up on its emotions. It radiates cold, and although this does no extra damage it may offer a hint to the heart’s weakness: fire- or heat-based attacks do an extra 1d6 against the monster.
Hideous Heart: Init +4; Atk grasping vein +3 melee (1d3); AC 15; HD 4d12; MV 20’ and climb 20’; Act 2d20; SP un-dead traits, grasp, strangle, stealthy, vulnerable to fire; SV Fort +4, Ref +0, Will +8; AL C.
Happy Valentine's Day!
