AnhanaThis miniature young woman has white skin; long, braided hair festooned with ribbons; and large, slanted eyes of deep violet. She wears flowing, diaphanous clothing and carries a pair of delicate gardening shears.Anhana CR 3Source Pathfinder #116: Fangs of War pg. 82
XP 800
CG Small fey
Init +3; Senses low-light vision; Perception +12DefenseAC 15, touch 15, flat-footed 11 (+3 Dex, +1 dodge, +1 size)
hp 27 (5d6+10)
Fort +3, Ref +7, Will +6
DR 5/cold ironOffenseSpeed 30 ft.
Melee shears +7 (1d8+1/19–20)
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 5th; concentration +9)
Constant—speak with animals
At will—ghost sound
3/day—deep slumber (DC 17), entangle (DC 15), hideous laughter (DC 16)
1/day—thorn bodyStatisticsStr 10, Dex 17, Con 14, Int 13, Wis 14, Cha 19
Base Atk +2; CMB +1; CMD 15
Feats Alertness, Dodge, Weapon Finesse
Skills Diplomacy +12, Fly +13, Perception +12, Perform (sing) +12, Sense Motive +12, Stealth +15, Swim +8
Languages Common, Sylvan; speak with animals
SQ speak with waterEcologyEnvironment any forest
Organization solitary, pair, or sisterhood (3–15)
Treasure standardSpecial AbilitiesShears (Su) An anhana carries a pair of gardening shears about 10 inches long. In the hands of an anhana, these shears deal damage as per a +1 short sword two sizes larger than the anhana. An anhana can use its Weapon Finesse feat with its shears. If an anhana’s shears are lost or destroyed, it can make another pair with a week of work and a few scraps of metal.
Speak with Water (Sp) Once per day, four anhanas who are working together can speak with any body of standing or flowing fresh water at least as large as an anhana. This ability functions like stone tell. Flowing water can generally speak about events happening upstream (even distantly upstream), but not events happening downstream.DescriptionPeaceful and kindly woodland creatures, anhanas tend to forest trees and befriend animals and foresters. Although an anhana has the general appearance of a young halfling woman, her unnatural eyes and erratic demeanor mark her as a fey creature. Anhanas are wise, clever, and helpful. They use their magical shears to tend to the forest, encouraging its growth and development so that nature and civilization can exist in harmony. Anhanas return kindness with generosity, but they use their otherworldly abilities to confound and delay enemies of the forest.
An anhana stands between 2 and 3 feet tall and weighs about 30 pounds.EcologyAnhanas are never children; they step fully formed from mature oak or maple trees in deep forests. Although an anhana forms at her full—if small—size, she is unclothed and her skin is covered with wedges of bark matching the tree that produced her. A newly sprouted anhana has the Hit Dice and abilities presented above, but cannot speak and has only an unformed impulse to aid others and protect the natural world. The anhana’s tree produces a low, celebratory thrumming for a few days after the anhana sprouts. This noise carries far, but is audible only to fey and plant creatures. Mature anhanas recognize the thrumming and seek out the new arrival to welcome her into their sisterhood. Anhanas share clothing and other gifts with their new sister and teach her music, kindness, and woodcraft. Most anhanas absorb their bark-like coverings within a few weeks, but all anhanas can temporarily extend sharp wedges of bark from their skin to deter foes.
A tree that produces an anhana is usually one with a benevolent history or divine connection, such as having shaded a weary saint or growing where a nature goddess once stepped. Hamadryads (Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 4 148) hint that they have the ability to tend a tree with magic so that it sprouts an anhana, but they keep the precise process secret.
All anhanas are friends of the natural world. They speak freely and softly with animals, attempting to befriend even predators. They prune flowers and trees to encourage growth rather than harm or cull the plants. Anhanas in a sisterhood can amplify their understanding of the natural world and communicate with streams and lakes.
Although benevolent in their stewardship of the forest, anhanas understand that nature preys upon itself. An anhana does not mourn a fat rabbit captured by an owl or a creeping vine that kills a host tree. Similarly, an anhana does not begrudge a woodcutter his livelihood, but instructs the woodcutter how to harvest wood with the least impact on the forest.
Anhanas subsist on a diet of nuts and berries. They prefer not to spend all their time gathering sustenance, so they carefully prune and tend berry bushes and nut trees to maximize their yield. Lacking any particular connection to these particular bushes and trees, however, anhanas are likely to wander to some other part of the forest and leave the nuts and berries for another to find and enjoy.
Anhanas can live to be several centuries old. As their physical appearance does not change as they age, it is nearly impossible to distinguish an old anhana and from a young one. If an anhana does not die of disease or misfortune, she eventually feels a calling to return to nature. The anhana—aided by her sisters if possible— journeys to a deep stream or lake, sinks below the surface of the water, and permanently diffuses her essence into the water itself.
Anhanas can sprout in any climate, but they are most common in temperate forests. In boreal forests, anhanas sometimes retain their woody skin (these anhanas have a +2 natural armor bonus, but lack the thorn body spell-like ability). Jungle anhanas are skilled climbers and often live their lives among the canopies of great trees instead of on the ground (these anhanas have a climb speed of 30 feet, but they lack the speak with water spell-like ability).Habitat and SocietyAnhanas are uncommon, but several groups inhabit the Verduran Forest and the Duroth Wood of Iobaria. Those few anhanas that live in the Fangwood are susceptible to the Blight, and most anhanas who sprout there have the blighted fey template (Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Inner Sea Bestiary 6).
Although these kindly fey originate in deep forests, they enjoy helping civilized folk who have good hearts and intentions. Anhanas often loiter near well-traveled paths or on the outskirts of settlements that abut an old forest. They spend their days tending to the forest so that it exists in harmony with people, and can be seen pruning back overgrown thornbushes, explaining directions to lost travelers, and entertaining local foresters with their cheerful songs. Though generally peaceful, they use their abilities to confound and oppose those who would destroy or irreparably harm forests.
Unlike many fey, anhanas are not shy. They eagerly approach strangers on forest paths to say hello and offer assistance. Believing that it is impolite to startle others, they often announce their presence by rustling bushes or using ghost sound to simulate the sound of a tinkling bell or babbling river. Anhanas don’t seem to understand that this “courtesy” is sometimes alarming to others.
Anhanas prefer to congregate in groups of their own kind called sisterhoods. Sisterhoods sometimes occupy a single grove or glen for decades, earning a reputation as kindly forest spirits, while other sisterhoods wander throughout their forests. Sisterhoods dissolve when individual members disagree about whether or where to travel, although the members separate peaceably.
Anhanas have a sixth sense for the emotions of others. They hide from angry or hateful people but are attracted to happy travelers. Anhanas are also drawn to the scared or desperate, such as lost children or starving runaways, and do their best to provide aid. At times, this aid is as simple as sharing a nourishing handful of nuts or giving clear directions back to a main road, but an anhana might also offer more direct assistance, such as confounding a wicked pursuer. Anhanas have little understanding of or regard for the laws of civilization, and they just as eagerly aid a goodhearted fugitive as they would a well-intentioned sheriff.
Anhanas are fundamentally flighty and erratic, despite their goodly nature. They rarely carry through with long-term plans, no matter how sincerely agreed to, and they are prone to wandering away from an area for no reason at all, even if they have carefully tended to it for months or years.
Although most anhanas enjoy being helpful, they have a strong sense of personal space and don’t like being too close to people or animals. They have an irrational phobia of being touched by any creature besides other anhanas, and they almost reflexively activate their thorn body ability if physical contact seems to be imminent.
An anhana can be summoned with a summon nature’s ally IV spell.
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