🐉 Monster Spotlight: The Cornfield Stalker 🌾

Behind the Die by Charlie Stayton 

Among rustling stalks under the pale harvest moon, travelers sometimes whisper of a shape that shouldn’t be moving. A scarecrow that doesn’t sway with the wind, but stalks with deliberate, patient steps. This is no mere farm guardian—it is the Cornfield Stalker, a construct infused with the restless spirits of harvesters who died in toil, famine, or betrayal.

Where fields once promised bounty, the Stalker walks as a curse, punishing the living for what the dead were denied.

Origins & Lore

The Cornfield Stalker is usually born when multiple restless spirits cling to a single farmland, unable to move on after tragedy—whether from starvation, overwork, or betrayal by a cruel landowner. A local hedge witch or curse-bearing artifact may bind these spirits into a scarecrow frame, animating a creature that wanders the rows of corn, seeking vengeance against intruders and owners alike.

When it strikes, it does so with the relentlessness of hunger. Its body creaks with wicker and straw, but its eyes burn with spectral light. Farmers whisper that you’ll hear the sigh of the harvest wind just before it finds you.

Using the Cornfield Stalker in Your Game

The Cornfield Stalker thrives in adventures set around rural villages, harvest festivals, or cursed farmlands. Some ideas:

• The Vanishing Reapers. Entire harvest crews vanish during the season, their tools left in the fields. Only scattered footprints remain, leading into rows of corn that seem to close in behind them.

• The Blood-Tithe. A cursed village must offer a yearly sacrifice to the scarecrow in the fields, or their crops rot overnight. The PCs arrive just as the “chosen” victim is being bound.

• Spirit of the Wronged. A local farmer swears the Stalker is his late father, betrayed and murdered by greedy neighbors. Can the party uncover the truth and put the spirit to rest?

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Stat Block

Cornfield Stalker

Medium Construct, Neutral Evil

Armor Class: 14 (natural armor)
Hit Points: 93 (11d8+44)
Speed: 30 ft.

STR 16 (+3)
DEX 12 (+1)
CON 18 (+4)
INT 6 (-2)
WIS 12 (+1)
CHA 9 (-1)

Saving Throws: Con +6, Wis +3
Damage Resistances: cold, lightning; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks
Damage Immunities: poison
Condition Immunities: charmed, exhaustion, frightened, poisoned
Senses: darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 11
Languages: understands Common but cannot speak
Challenge: 6 (2,300 XP)

Animated Harvest. The Cornfield Stalker is bound to farmland. While standing among crops, it is lightly obscured and can Hide as a bonus action.

Reaper’s Curse. Any creature reduced to 0 hit points by the Stalker’s attacks causes corn and crops within 30 feet to wither instantly.

Magic Resistance. The Stalker has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.

Actions

Multiattack. The Cornfield Stalker makes two attacks with its scythe or clawed hands.

Scythe Slash. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 13 (2d8+3) slashing damage.

Harvest Winds (Recharge 5–6). The Stalker summons a howling wind through the fields. Each creature of its choice within 20 ft. must make a DC 14 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone and take 14 (4d6) bludgeoning damage as flying debris pelts them.

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Final Thoughts

The Cornfield Stalker is perfect for autumn-themed sessions, harvest festival one-shots, or any campaign where rural horror fits the tone. It blurs the line between construct and ghost, offering both eerie roleplay opportunities and a dangerous mid-level combatant.

If your players hear the whisper of dry stalks when the wind is still—it may already be too late. 🌑🌾