Back in the day, White Dwarf magazine was the British answer to the Dragon, and its regular “Fiend Factory” column was a source of many monsters for early D&D games. In fact, the first edition Fiend Folio (1981) was largely a collection of monsters submitted to WD. This 3e conversion is part of an ongoing project to resurrect some interesting WD monsters that, for one reason or another, fell by the wayside. The brother of the pine was a submission of Julian Lawrence and appeared in White Dwarf 21 (Oct/Nov 1980) as part of the article “Fiend Factory: One Eye Canyon - Mini-Wilderness Scenario, 5th-7th Level.” Lawrence had a couple of monsters that made the final cut for the Fiend Folio: the doombat and the frost man.

This creature smells strongly of pine boughs and appears to be a twisted, lurching man with wild eyes and disheveled appearance. Its skin is gray and wrinkled, and several opens sores on its body weep a thick yellow sap.

Brother of the Pine CR 3

The Brothers of the Pine

Always NE Medium undead

Init +1; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Listen +8, Spot +8

Aura frightful presence (DC 12)

Languages Common

AC 15, touch 11, flat-footed 13
(+1 Dex, +4 natural)

hp 22 (3 HD); DR 5/magic

Immune cold, undead traits

Resist electricity 10

Fort +1, Ref +2, Will +5

Weakness fire vulnerability

Spd 30 ft. (6 squares)

Melee scimitar +1 (1d6/18–20)

Ranged dart +2 (1d4)

Space 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.

Base Atk +1; Grp +1

Atk Options magic strike

Typical Spells Prepared (CL 1st)

1st—entangle (DC 13), obscuring mist

0—create water, guidance, virtue

Abilities Str 11, Dex 12, Con –, Int 12, Wis 15, Cha 13

SQ create spawn

Feats Alertness, Toughness

Skills Hide +6, Listen +8, Move Silently +6, Spot +8

Environment Any forest

Organization band (10–19), tribe (20–60 plus 1–3 6 HD brothers), colony (61–100 plus 3–5 6 HD brothers and 1 9 HD brother)

Treasure standard

Advancement 4–6 HD (Medium), 7–9 HD (Large)

Create Spawn (Su) A brother of the pine with at least 6 HD can perform the foul ritual that transforms a fresh corpse into a new brother of the pine. Any humanoid body can be turned into a brother, provided the creature has been dead for 24 hours or less. The ritual requires 3 uninterrupted hours to complete; the new brother rises from the dead 6 hours later. Spawn are under the command of the creature that created them and remain enslaved until its death. They do not possess any of the abilities they had in life.

Frightful Presence (Ex) This ability takes effect automatically whenever a brother emits its shrieking wail. Creatures within 30 feet are subject to the effect if they have fewer HD than the brother. A potentially affected creature that succeeds on a DC 12 Will save remains immune to that brother’s frightful presence for 24 hours. On a failure, creatures with 4 or less HD become panicked for 4d6 rounds and those with 5 or more HD become shaken for 4d6 rounds. The save DC is Charisma-based.

Spells (Sp) A brother of the pine casts divine spells as a druid. The caster level is equal to the brother’s undead HD -2.

The brothers of the pine are a foul form of undead created from bloodless bodies by pumping pine sap into their veins. The brothers form a strange and secretive cult that venerates both nature and death. They live in dim woodlands and use their fiendish cunning to lure adventurers to their deaths so as to drain their blood and replace it with sap so increasing their brotherhood.

Combat

In battle these beings emit a shrieking wail which activates their frightful presence ability. The creature’'s favorite weapons are jagged scimitars and throwing darts.