PoludnicaA haze of heat shimmers around this beautiful woman. The glare
of the sun gleams from her radiant skin.
Poludnica CR 10Source Pathfinder #72: The Witch Queen's Revenge pg. 88
XP 9,600
CN Medium fey
Init +5; Senses low-light vision; Perception +19
Aura sunstroke haze (10 ft., DC 21)
DefenseAC 24, touch 20, flat-footed 18 (+4 armor, +4 deflection, +5 Dex,
+1 dodge)
hp 119 (14d6+70)
Fort +11, Ref +14, Will +11
DR 10/cold iron; Immune blindness, exhaustion, fatigue, fire; SR 21
Weaknesses darkness powerlessness
OffenseSpeed 30 ft.
Melee +1 scythe +15/+10 (2d4+10 plus 1d6 fire and 1d2 Con
damage/×4)
Special Attacks searing weapons
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 10th; concentration +14)
Constant—pass without trace
At will—daylight, plant growth (enrichment only), touch of
fatigue (DC 14)
3/day—blur, dimension door, rainbow pattern (DC 18),
searing light
1/day—sunbeam (DC 21), waves of fatigue
StatisticsStr 22, Dex 20, Con 21, Int 10, Wis 15, Cha 19
Base Atk +7; CMB +13; CMD 33
Feats Cleave, Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Great Fortitude, Power
Attack, Stand Still, Weapon Focus (scythe)
Skills Bluff +12, Diplomacy +13, Intimidate +9, Knowledge
(local) +17, Perception +19, Sense Motive +15, Spellcraft +10,
Stealth +20, Survival +10
Languages Common, Sylvan
SQ grace, tied to day
EcologyEnvironment temperate plains
Organization solitary
Treasure standard (+1 scythe, mithral chain shirt, other treasure)
Special AbilitiesDarkness Powerlessness (Su) As long as a poludnica is within
an area of magical darkness, her sunstroke haze aura does
not function. She also becomes staggered and cannot use
any of her spell-like abilities.
Grace (Su) A poludnica adds her Charisma modifier as a
deflection bonus to her Armor Class.
Searing Weapons (Su) Any weapon a poludnica wields becomes
incredibly hot and conducts and amplifies her ability to cause
fatigue by reducing the target’s ability to resist the effects.
In melee combat, such a weapon deals an additional 1d6
points of fire damage plus 1d2 points of Constitution damage.
The Constitution damage is negated with a successful DC 21
Fortitude save. The weapon cools rapidly if it leaves her grasp,
losing these additional abilities immediately.
Sunstroke Haze (Su) A poludnica radiates oppressive heat
in a 10-foot radius. Any creature that starts its turn within
this area must succeed at a DC 21 Fortitude save or take
1d6 points of nonlethal damage and become fatigued. A
fatigued creature that fails a second saving throw becomes
exhausted. The fatigued or exhausted condition lasts for as
long as the nonlethal damage goes unhealed. A poludnica
can activate or suppress this ability as a free action and the
save DC is Charisma-based.
Tied to Day (Su) A poludnica’s connection to the sun tethers
her to the Material Plane. During daylight hours (from dawn
to sunset), her abilities are as shown above whether she can
actually see the sun or not. During the nighttime hours (from
sunset to dawn), a poludnica shifts to the Ethereal Plane (as
ethereal jaunt). This is automatic, involuntary, and causes
a poludnica great distress. While on the Ethereal Plane, a
poludnica is affected by her darkness powerlessness and is
nearly helpless. This curse cannot be dispelled or removed
by anything short of divine interaction.
DescriptionDriven by an obsession that few can fully comprehend,
poludnicas are bitter creatures of light, heat, and envy.
Although they are surprisingly strong and deadly
combatants, these scythe-wielding women resort to
violence only when guile and trickery have failed. They
are lonely creatures that seek the company of mortals
by luring farm workers and children away from their
families so that they can briefly enjoy a feeble simulation
of family life. In the rural farming communities where her
kind is most commonly found, a poludnica might also be
known as Cornwife, Lady Midday, or Mother Noon. She
might even be mistaken for a vengeful or beneficent ghost
depending on how she presents herself.
Averaging 6 feet tall and weighing approximately 170
pounds, poludnicas could easily be mistaken for strapping
farm girls if it were not for their radiance. Their maximum
life expectancy has not been documented and it is commonly
believed that poludnicas are effectively immortal unless
they suffer some deadly mishap. It has been theorized that
permanently keeping a poludnica in magically darkened
conditions would eventually lead to her death, but no
scholars have so far attempted to prove this hypothesis.Ecology
Poludnicas draw their physical sustenance from sunlight,
but they often eat and drink to emulate the simple folk who
are the subjects of their obsession. However, emotional
nourishment is more difficult for them to obtain and their
need for companionship and the simulation of a normal
family life leads them to commit questionable acts of
kidnapping or even murder.
Like bees who pollinate nearby flowers—which then
go to seed and produce more flowers the next season—a
poludnica’s ability to enrich local plant life leads farming
communities to thrive around their lairs. These plentiful
fields bring more farmhands and more families, all
potential companions for the poludnica.
Though the magic that pulls poludnicas into the Ethereal
Plane at nightfall is viewed as a curse, it is also one of their
most useful abilities. Though distressed and weakened on
the Ethereal Plane, poludnicas can nonetheless perceive
events upon the Material Plane. They often spend their
nights spying on mortal families. Each night they move
ethereally through mortals’ homes, watching them eat,
sleep, and enjoy the company and intimacy of others.
Though this fills all poludnicas with sorrow, many are
also driven to impotent, jealous rage as they watch children
sleeping peacefully and wives embracing their husbands.
The origin of their cursed existence is a mystery—
whether poludnicas were created by some powerful creature
that did not anticipate the maddening effects of their
abilities or whether they were once different creatures
cursed for some failure or insult is not known. Either way,
the curse has driven these lonely fey slightly mad.Habitat & Society
Poludnicas usually claim a few hundred acres of
fertile land as their territory, most often centered on
a lair that is hidden in plain sight, inaccessible, or
avoided by the community, such as a hollow beneath
the tangled roots of a tree, the tumbledown barn
of a former companion who no longer lives, or an
abandoned and supposedly haunted farmhouse.
By day, a poludnica prowls crop fields seeking to lure,
coerce, or physically abduct an overworked farmhand back
to her home where she has built a mockery of a human
farmhouse kitchen or bedroom, expecting her abductee
to indulge her whims in a pantomime of normalcy,
companionship, or intimacy. Sometimes one of these
companions might choose to play along with his captor
or try to escape during daylight hours, but those that bide
their time until nightfall when the poludnica disappears
at least have a chance of escape.
If a companion survives until nightfall, the poludnica
fades away, leaving the suitor or child to fend for himself
while she watches impotently from the Ethereal Plane. This
may not prove to be a problem, but since many poludnicas
make their daytime lairs in inaccessible places, if the captive
cannot free himself before dawn, the poludnica often
simply returns—likely unhappy with the “inconsiderate”
companion’s lack of loyalty to his new “family.”
Some poludnicas who are kinder than most choose to
hide their presence altogether. They avoid coming into
contact with the peasants working the land, except at night
where they can invisibly and sorrowfully observe mortals
enjoying the companionship that is denied to the poludnicas
themselves. More commonly, poludnicas are driven to lure
away farmhands and kidnap children who they believe will
come to love them and consider them their new family.
For all the suffering poludnicas cause, dwelling in a
poludnica’s territory is not without its benefits. Their
crop-enriching powers provide abundant food, and many
farming communities have come to see them as a kind of
guardian spirit. Children often weave cornhusk dolls to
placate a local poludnica, ask for her protection, or thank
her for sparing their fathers or brothers. Some poludnicas
are touched by these displays and stop, or at least reduce,
their predations on those in the community.
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