Buy me a coffeeYuki-onna
This beautiful but sad-looking woman wears an ornate robe and is surrounded by a whirling mass of snow.
Yuki-onna is a tall, beautiful woman with long hair on snowy night. Her skin is inhumanly pale or even transparent, causing her to blend into the snowy landscape. Despite her inhuman beauty, her eyes can strike terror into mortals. She floats across the snow, leaving no footprints, and she can transform into a cloud of mist or snow if she is threatened.
Behavior
Being associated with winter and snowstorms, is said in some legends to be the spirit of an individual who has perished in the snow and cold. She is at the same time beautiful and serene, yet ruthless in her killing of unsuspecting mortals. Until the 18th century, she was almost uniformly portrayed as evil. Today, however, stories often color her as more human, emphasizing her ghostlike nature and ephemeral beauty.
In many stories, Yuki-onna reveals herself to travelers who find themselves trapped in snowstorms and uses her icy breath to leave them as frost-coated corpses. Other legends say that she leads them astray so they simply die of exposure.
Other times, she manifests holding a child. When a well-intentioned soul takes the “child” from her, he or she is frozen in place. Parents searching for lost children are particularly susceptible to this tactic. Other legends make Yuki-onna much more aggressive. In these stories, she often physically invades people’s homes, blowing in the door with a Gust of wind, to kill them while they sleep (though some legends require her to be invited inside first).
Exactly what Yuki-onna is after varies from tale to tale. Sometimes she is simply satisfied to see her victim’s death. Other times, however, she is more vampiric, draining her victims’ blood or “life force”. She occasionally takes on a succubus-like manner, preying on weak-willed men in order to drain or freeze them through sexual intercourse or a kiss.
Like the snow and winter weather she represents, Yuki-onna has a softer side. She sometimes lets would-be victims go for various reasons. In one popular Yuki-onna legend, for example, she sets a young boy free due to his beauty and age.
She makes him promise to never mention her again, though, and when he relates the story to his wife much later in life, his wife reveals herself to be none other than the snow woman. She reviles him for breaking his promise but spares him yet again, this time out of concern for the children she has born him (but if he dares mistreat their children, she will return with no mercy. Luckily for him, he is already a loving father). In a similar legend, Yuki-onna melts away once her husband discovers her true nature.
Yuki-onna
A yuki-onna is the restless spirit of a woman who froze to death in the snow and was never given a proper burial. She roams the wilderness, constantly searching for intelligent creatures to kill and always appearing surrounded by swirling mists of snow and ice.
Medium undead, lawful evil
Armor Class 17 (natural armor)
Hit Points 104 (16d8+32)
Speed fly 30 ft.
| STR | DEX | CON | INT | WIS | CHA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 (-2) | 18 (+4) | 14 (+2) | 17 (+3) | 21 (+5) | 26 (+8) |
Saving Throws Wis +9, Cha +12
Damage Resistances bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks
Damage Immunities cold, poison
Damage Vulnerabilities fire
Skills Intimidation +12, Stealth +12
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 15
Languages Common
Challenge 10 (5,900 XP)
SPECIAL TRAITS
- Innate Spellcasting. The yuki-onna’s spell casting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 20). It can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components:
- At will: blur
- 3/day: cone of cold
- Snow Dependency. A yuki-onna that is outside of a snowing area and does not have its Snowstorm trait active because of a control weather spell has disadvantage on all attack rolls, saving throws, and ability checks.
- Snowstorm. A yuki-onna is surrounded by whirling blasts of snow, even in areas that wouldn’t allow for such weather, that comprise a 200-foot-radius spread. Within this area, the snowfall and wind gusts cause disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) ability and ranged weapon attacks. A yuki-onna is unaffected by snowstorms or blizzards of any kind. A control weather spell can be used to negate the snowstorm.
ACTIONS
- Multiattack. The yuki-onna makes two cold touch attacks.
- Cold Touch. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 33 (6d10) cold damage. If the target is a creature, it must succeed a DC 16 Constitution saving throw or be restrained for 1 round.
- Child Form. The yuki-onna can take the form of a small child, retaining all of its stats and abilities. When the yukionna uses its cold-touch attack, it automatically reverts to its natural form.
ABOUT
Eternally jaded by her unjust departure to the afterlife, a yuki-onna seeks to impose the same cruel fate upon those who still live, particularly men and those who sympathize or cooperate with them. Many foolish individuals are lured to their deaths by a yukionna’s unparalleled beauty, which remains even as the evil spirit steadily freezes and kills her victims with her powers over frost. A yuki-onna is 5-1/2 feet tall.
The transition from life to undeath corrupts a yuki-onna’s soul, and even a well-intentioned, good-hearted individual who freezes in the snow may become a treacherous yuki-onna. Most yukionnas immediately seek out those who wronged them in life, after which they reside in an area near what was their home, haunting and killing anyone who dares to come near.
Yuki-onnas hardly ever make their presences known in rural areas with larger populations, and they prefer inhabiting the countryside and wilderness. When a yuki-onna is destroyed, her body melts as though ice, leaving only a small pool of water in its stead.
Section 15: Copyright Notice
Asian Monsters (5E) © 2021, Legendary Games; Authors Miguel Colon, Jason Nelson, Andrew Ha, Aurélien Lainé, Dan Dillon, Ismael Alvarez, James-Levi Cooke, Robert J. Grady, Jeff Ibach, Matt Kimmel, and Thurston Hillman
Yuki-onna
| Yuki-onna CR 8 |
| XP 4,800 LE Medium undead (cold, incorporeal) Init +8; Senses Darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +17 Aura snowstorm (200 ft.) |
| DEFENSE |
| AC 21, touch 21, flat-footed 16 (+6 deflection, +4 Dexterity, +1 Dodge) hp 94 (9d8+54) Fort +9, Ref +7, Will +11 Defensive Abilities incorporeal; Immune cold, undead traits Weaknesses vulnerable to fire, snow dependency |
| OFFENSE |
| Speed Fly 30 ft. (perfect) Melee 2 touches +10 (4d6 cold plus chilling touch) Special Attacks chilling touch, fascinating gaze Spell-Like Abilities (CL 10th; Concentration +16) Constant blur 3/day – cone of cold (DC 21), eyebite (comatose and panicked only, DC 22), ice storm |
| STATISTICS |
| Strength -, Dexterity 18, Constitution -, Intelligence 17, Wisdom 21, Charisma 22 Base Atk +6; CMB +10; CMD 27 Feats Combat Casting, Dodge, Improved Initiative, Mobility, Spring Attack Skills Bluff +15, Fly +12, Intimidate +18, Perception +17, Sense Motive +17, Spellcraft +15, Stealth +16, Survival +14 Languages Common |
| SPECIAL ABILITIES |
| Chilling Touch (Su) A yuki-onna’s touch causes 4d6 cold damage. Whenever a creature takes cold damage in this manner, it must make a DC 20 Fortitude save to avoid being staggered by the supernatural cold for 1 round. This duration stacks. The save DC is Charisma-based. Fascinating Gaze (Su) Fascinated for 1d4 rounds, 30 feet, Will DC 20 negates. The save DC is Charisma-based. Snow Dependency (Ex) A yuki-onna is staggered if she is ever in an area without snow while her snowstorm aura is suppressed or otherwise not functioning. Snowstorm (Su) A yuki-onna is surrounded by whirling blasts of snow, even in areas that wouldn’t allow for such weather, that comprise a 200-foot-radius spread. Within this area, the snowfall and wind gusts cause a -4 penalty on Perception checks and ranged attacks. The wind itself blows in a clockwise rotation around the yuki-onna, and functions as severe wind. A yuki-onna is unaffected by snowstorms or blizzards of any kind. Any effect that causes these winds to drop below severe (such as control weather or control winds) cancels the snowstorm effect entirely. |
| ECOLOGY |
| Environment any cold Organization solitary Treasure standard |
__________________________________________
A yuki-onna is the restless spirit of a woman who froze to death in the snow and was never given a proper burial. She roams the wilderness, constantly searching for intelligent creatures to kill and always appearing surrounded by swirling mists of snow and ice. Eternally jaded by her unjust departure to the afterlife, a yuki-onna seeks to impose the same cruel fate upon those who still live, particularly men and those who sympathize or cooperate with them. Many foolish individuals are lured to their deaths by a yuki-onna’s unparalleled beauty, which remains even as the evil spirit steadily freezes and kills her victims with her powers over frost.
The transition from life to undeath corrupts a yuki-onna’s soul, and even a well-intentioned, good-hearted individual who freezes in the snow may become a treacherous yuki-onna. Most yuki-onnas immediately seek out those who wronged them in life, after which they reside in an area near what was their home, haunting and killing anyone who dares to come near. Yuki-onnas hardly ever make their presences known in rural areas with larger populations, and they prefer inhabiting the countryside and wilderness. When a yuki-onna is destroyed, her body melts as though ice, leaving only a small pool of water in its stead. A yuki-onna is 5-1/2 feet tall.
Section 15: Copyright Notice – Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary 3
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary 3, © 2011, Paizo Publishing, LLC; Authors Jesse Benner, Jason Bulmahn, Adam Daigle, James Jacobs, Michael Kenway, Rob McCreary, Patrick Renie, Chris Sims, F. Wesley Schneider, James L. Sutter, and Russ Taylor, based on material by Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, and Skip Williams.