Scarecrow [Ravenloft]

This scarecrow is animated by an evil presence, usually the vengeful ghost of a farmer, and is found mostly in farming country. Since each body was built by a different person, looks vary with the maker's skill and taste. Typically it is a set of old clothes stuffed with straw, leaves or similar filling and propped on a wooden frame, topped by a hollowed gourd or melon carved into a frightening face. When the spirit is inside, the face glows as if a candle burned within.

It speaks whatever languages its spirit knew in life, in a weird, haunting voice. Anyone who knew the dead person has a 10% chance of recognizing that soul by the voice alone.

Revenge is its only purpose. It tends to avoid strangers, often fleeing from them, but when it finds someone it blames for a wrong done in life, it attacks fast and savagely and will not retreat until one of them is dead.

Its flailing arms are weak, dealing just 1d4 damage, though it sometimes takes up a farm tool such as a pitchfork or scythe and deals that weapon's damage. The true threat is the curse: anyone it strikes must save vs. death magic or be marked with a magical scent that draws biting, stinging insects from miles around. The round after the failed save, the swarm deals 1d4 damage, then 2d4 the following round, 3d4 after that, and so on, and the victim suffers -1 on attack rolls for each die of insect damage that round. Five rounds into the curse, for example, the victim takes 5d4 damage and attacks at -5. Only remove curse ends it.

Cold-based spells do not affect it, and lightning or electrical spells deal half damage. Normal fire harms it fully, while magical fire gains +1 to hit and +1 per die of damage. Nonmagical weapons can strike it but inflict only 1 point per hit; magical weapons deal half damage unless they use fire, such as a flame tongue, in which case they gain +1 to hit and +1 per damage die. Although much like undead, it cannot be turned, and it is immune to sleep, charm, hold and similar mind-affecting magic.

The spirit is usually that of a local who believed his neighbors wronged him and could never get justice while alive. His grievance holds him in the world after death and turns him into a potent force for evil, riding a common field scarecrow.

Though built of organic material, these animated constructs show no sign of playing any role in the natural world around them.