Hulder

Medium-Size Fey
Hit Dice:	5d6+8 (38)
Initiative:	+2 (Dex)
Speed:	40 ft.
Armor Class:	15 (+3 natural, +2 Dex)
Base Attack/Grapple:	0
Attack:	0
Full Attack:	Slam +3 melee
Space/Reach:	5 ft. by 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks:	Charm
Special Qualities:	Damage reduction 10/cold iron, distract, trackless step
Saves:	Fort +2, Ref +3, Will +4
Abilities:	Str 12, Dex 14, Con 13, Int 13, Wis 14, Cha 17
Skills:	Bluff +11, Hide +10, Innuendo +9, Listen +9, Move Silently +10, Sense Motive +9
Feats:	Toughness, Lightning Reflexes
Environment:	Temperate and subarctic woodlands
Organization:	Solitary
Challenge Rating:	4
Treasure:	Half standard
Alignment:	Chaotic Neutral
Advancement:	Special (see below)
Level Adjustment:	0

The hulder is a fey creature, distantly related to dryads and nymphs. Found in colder climates, they are usually more wicked and cunning than their cousins. In appearance they are female humans or elves of great beauty. This beauty is such that they charm any male human or any animal. Their charmed beings are then taken as slaves, forced to serve the hulder in her burrow. If encountered accidentally (a rare occurrence) they are naked. If encountered when prepared, a far more likely scenario, they are usually dressed in clothes of the type local girls wear. They are charming and witty and try to get the young man to follow her home.

They have one feature that can prevent their charming attack; they have a tail. The tail looks remarkably like a cow's tail. Anyone seeing this tail is automatically immune to any charming attempt by this particular hulder.

CombatHulder are ill suited to combat, and are easily defeated by any halfway decent group of adventurers. Damage Reduction: The hulder ignores the first 10 points of damage dealt to her unless the weapon is made of cold forged iron or is enchanted. Silver weapons count as mundane weapons.Charm Person or Mammal (Su): The mere sight of a hulder (naked or clothed) forces any normal animal and male humans, halflings and humanoids make a Will save at DC 15 or be charmed. The charmed being will immediately follow any commands given by the hulder. Dwarves, gnomes and elves are immune to this ability. If the charm doesn't immediately succeed, she can engage in conversation and attempt again after 1 minute. Unless the subject is very suspicious as to why a beautiful woman is alone in the forest and wants to hold a conversation, the second save is at DC 20. If the man is suspicious, the DC is 12. The hulder will usually have some sort of story made up for these cases.Trackless Step (Ex): The hulder never leaves any trace of her passing, be it footsteps (pressure or heat), scent or broken vegetation.Distract (Ex): If someone who is unaffected by the Charm attempts to follow a hulder who's fleeing, s/he will always lose sight of her somehow. Either s/he trips and falls, or sneezes, or a bird flies into his/her face, or s/he meets a bear, etc.If combat occurs, the hulder will immediately try to escape. If forced into combat, the hulder orders her charmed minions to distract the attackers long enough for her to escape. If melee combat is unavoidable, she uses her fists. Note, these stats merely represent a typical hulder. There are tales of hulder that are supernaturally strong, able to use fallen logs as clubs when imperiled. Thankfully, these are rare.Habitat/SocietyHulder live in underground burrows, the size of a small farm, where they keep their charmed slaves. These barrows aren't like the traditional homes of many burrowing animals, instead they are well engineered and planned complexes that are dug into the earth (another fantasy example would the Hobbit Holes from J.R.R. Tolkiens Middle Earth). Because of the mystical nature of the hulderfolk, "above-grounders" find it next to impossible to locate them without magic. Finding one requires a Search check in the appropriate area, DC 30. Slaves in her burrow are incapable of breaking the spell, and will serve their mistress with whole-hearted devotion the rest of their lives. If someone manages to find the burrow and bring the charmed beings out, they can make another save every day to break the spell. If the hulder is slain, all charms immediately end.Hulder live apart from settlements of other beings, but usually no more than a day or so. If the settlement is only one or two small farms, they might live only two or three hours away.

Occasionally a hulder will fall in love with a particularly handsome and willful human (Charisma 16+). In this case they enter human society in an unobtrusive manner, and capture his attention by exhibiting behavior that females of that particular culture use to attract the attention of potential mates. In just about every case (few though they have been), the man falls in love with her, and they perform such marriage rituals as are the norm in the vicinity. The union is a happy one, and she loses her tail. Children of these unions are normal in every way, except for a tendency to be smaller and wilder than most other children in the town. Occasionally (1% chance) this magical blood blossoms into a sorcerer. Such sorcerers will typically have mostly, or only Enchantment spells.In most cases, however, the hulder mates with one of her slaves, and gives birth to live young. These young are invariably hulder. After 30 or 40 years, the young hulder wanders off to dig her own buarrow and start the cycle over again. Contrary to the imaginations and hopes of many males, hulder do not mate for the pleasure of it, nor do they so very often.0EcologyHulder live more or less in tune with nature, stealing the occasional beast or person to serve them. They aren't as closely bound to nature as dryads and nymphs are, but still abhor any severe destruction (some farms or a small town is ok, but large cities or strip mining is not).

Hulder are omnivorous but eat lots of meat, usually from charmed animals. They typically get these animals from the normal animals in the woods, or herds of domesticated animals that locals keep. Hulder rarely get more powerful than this. Some are rumored to be so strong as to be able to arm-wrestle a giant, and others so beautiful that entire towns are enslaved.

Another, more sinister (and better documented) rumor is that a hulder that gets to be more than 300 years old starts turning into a horrible hag-like being with powerful spellcasting abilities.