Fantasy Monster: Dire Snowman

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Dire Snowman

A grotesque silhouette made of snow and ice, wearing a tattered top hat, with a dreadful grin, and sticks for hands.

CR 3; 800 XP

N Medium Construct (cold)

Init +2; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +0

Defense
AC 15, touch 12, flat-footed 13 (+2 Dex, +3 natural)
hp 31 (2d10+20)
Fort +0, Ref +2, Will +0

DR 5/bludgeoning; Immune construct traits

Weakness vulnerable to fire

Offense
Speed 20 ft.; snow-walking

Melee 2 claws or slams +4 (1d4+2 plus 1d4 cold)

Ranged 2 snowballs +4 (1d4+2 plus 1d4 cold)

Statistics
Str 14, Dex 14, Con —, Int —, Wis 11, Cha 1

Base Atk +2; CMB +4; CMD 16 (20 vs. trip)
Skills Perception +0, Stealth +2 (+12 in snow)

Ecology
Environment cold plains, urban
Organization solitary, pair, or squad (3–10)
Treasure incidental

Special Abilities

Snowball (Ex) Dire snowmen can throw practically unlimited number of frozen snowballs with range increment of 20 feet.

Making snowmen is a common pastime among various people in winter. Less common is for those idols of ice and snow to animate and roam the lands. While occasionally, such event might occurs because of deliberate action, more often it will be an accident when restless elemental spirits–or maybe lingering vestiges of a mortal that perished of exposure lost among the snowdrifts binds to a body of snow.

There doesn't seem to be definite creation process of dire snowman that would be written down by mortal artificers, though it seems that some beings with strong connection to winter and snow—particularly fey—are capable of creating them with consistent regularity.

Tales of malicious dire snowmen who stop to craft another dire snowman each time they kill a humanoid being are certainly merely a scary stories invented to prevent children from wandering away during the winter.

Hoarfrost Snowmen (CR 4): Cruel servants of king Hoarfrost are neutral evil, have 4 HD, 42 hp, 17 AC (+2 deflection bonus), Fort +1, Ref +5, Will +1, Int and Cha scores of 10 (or 3d6), Intimidate +4, Perception +4, and Lightning Reflexes and Point-Blank Shot feats. All their attacks have +6 attack bonus.