Pale Stranger

This nearly skeletal figure wields a pistol in each hand. Its garb is dusty and weathered, and smells of old decay.

Pale Stranger CR 10

XP 9,600

NE Medium undead

Init +9; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +22

Aura fear (10 ft., DC 21)

Defense

AC 25, touch 19, flat-footed 19 (+2 armor, +5 Dex, +1 dodge, +3 luck, +4 natural)

hp 127 (15d8+60)

Fort +9, Ref +10, Will +13

Defensive Abilities channel resistance +4; DR 10/bludgeoning and magic; Immune undead traits; SR 21

Offense

Speed 30 ft.

Ranged +1 pistols +15/+15/+10/+10/+5 (1d8+1/19–20/×4)

Special Attacks pistols, stranger's shot

Statistics

Str 17, Dex 21, Con —, Int 11, Wis 18, Cha 18

Base Atk +11; CMB +14; CMD 33

Feats Deadly Aim, Dodge, Improved Critical (pistol), Improved Initiative, Improved Two-Weapon Fighting, Point-Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Quick DrawB, Two-Weapon Fighting

Skills Acrobatics +10, Climb +11, Intimidate +22, Perception +22, Ride +15, Stealth +13, Swim +8

Languages Common

SQ stranger's luck

Ecology

Environment any

Organization solitary

Treasure standard (leather armor, 2 pistols, other treasure)

Special Abilities

Pistols (Su) A pale stranger fights with two pistols. A pistol has a range increment of 20 feet and deals both bludgeoning and piercing damage. At a range of up to 20 feet, a pale stranger's pistol attacks resolve as touch attacks. While pistols normally consume bullets and black powder when fired, a pale stranger's pistols supernaturally reload the instant it fires them, allowing the undead to make multiple attacks in a round with the weapons. In addition, any pistol a pale stranger wields functions as a +1 pistol. A pale stranger does not provoke attacks of opportunity when it fires a pistol in melee, and treats pistols as light weapons for the purposes of determining penalties from two-weapon fighting.

Stranger's Luck (Su) A pale stranger gains a +3 luck bonus to AC and has no chance of misfire when using firearms.

Stranger's Shot (Ex) As a full-round action, a pale stranger can take careful aim with one of its firearms and take a single, ruinous shot. This single shot always resolves as a touch attack, regardless of the actual range. If the pale stranger threatens a critical hit with this shot, it automatically confirms the critical hit. Regardless of whether the shot is a critical hit or not, it deals +6d6 points of damage.

Sometimes death itself cannot come between a gunslinger and its final revenge. When a gunslinger is slain by a hated enemy, or murdered before it can achieve vengeance against a hated foe, the anger and wrath can animate its remains as a vengeful undead monstrosity. When a pale stranger first rises, it seeks out the source of its anger to finish the job—thereafter, it wanders the desolate parts of the world looking for new victims to vent its unending rage upon.

A pale stranger appears much as it did in life, though desiccated and obviously undead. Rare pale strangers have the ability to hide their undead nature and appear as they did in life using veil as a constant spell-like ability (CL equals their CR). These pale strangers are often more powerful and have class levels in gunslinger or ranger, and often attract large groups of adoring bandits and followers who may or may not realize that their murderous idol is in fact an unliving horror.

A pale stranger stands 6-1/2 feet tall and weighs 130 pounds.