One of the most endearing and beloved staples of horror movies is the slasher. In general, slashers — like Friday the 13th‘s Jason Voorhees and Halloween‘s Michael Myers — use bladed weapons and a sense of dread to eviscerate their victims both physically and psychologically. Now, Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft — the newest Dungeons & Dragons book — gives Dungeon Masters an easy way to bring slashers to their campaigns.
In the “Monsters of Ravenloft” section of Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft, readers will find the Relentless Killer. There’s a guide to creating both the Relentless Killer’s origins and methods, which will help DMs figure out just what sort of slasher they want. The Relentless Killer is also subdivided into two separate categories and stat blocks: The Relentless Slasher and the Relentless Juggernaut.
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The Relentless Slasher is, essentially, the kind of slasher that appears from the shadows and then takes down their victim. This is further supported by the Vanishing Strike Legendary Action, which allows the fiend to “teleport up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space it can see” after making an attack. Overall, the Relentless Slasher doesn’t have a particularly high number of hit points, but they’re more than capable of delivering swift, deadly attacks.
The Relentless Juggernaut, in comparison, is much beefier and relies on being basically unstoppable. Thanks to a larger number of hit points and the ability to regenerate quite a bit of health at the start of its turn, the Relentless Juggernaut has a higher challenge rating than the Relentless Slasher. Plus, the Relentless Juggernauts attacks do a ton of damage and could prove lethal for even the toughest parties.
The sort of terror that DMs can bring to their Dungeons & Dragons sessions are pretty unique depending on which stat block a DM chooses to use. A Relentless Slasher is likely better, for example, when a DM wants to create a sense of suspense and fear that a powerful foe could be lurking around any corner, waiting to get their next kill. However, the Relentless Juggernaut is seemingly better for creating a foe from which players will constantly have to flee until such a time as they can devise a way to take the killer down. As always with Dungeons & Dragons, just which one a DM chooses to use should match what will work best to give players the best time possible.
Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft, the latest Dungeons and Dragons book, is available now online and at bookstores.
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