The hunted becomes the hunter
Chakuna is a werepanther and the Darklord of Valachan, a Domain of Dread where the inhabitants are constantly hunted to feed the thirst for blood the land has. In Valachan, few are safe from Chakuna’s hunt other than her fellow members of the Oselo tribe whom she protects having killed the previous darklord in order to protect them. Chakuna though, has now become the thing that she hates most of all; to continue protecting her tribe, she must feed the land with the blood of the hunted to prevent the land turning hostile and killing her tribe.
While not the life she hoped for after killing the previous darklord, Urik von Kharkov, Chakuna does feel justified in the killing of others. She believes that as her and her tribe of lycanthropes are stronger and smarter than others, that they deserve life more than other people and the sacrifices are an unfortunate burden to bear, but one that must be borne by someone.
Information About Chakuna
| Characteristic | Information |
|---|---|
| Name | Chakuna |
| Domain | Valachan |
| Race | Werepanther |
| Alignment | Neutral Evil |
| Home | Pantara Lodge |
| Tribe | Oselo |
Chakuna’s Stat Block
Chakuna is a powerful werepanther, as such, she follows fairly closely to the stats of a weretiger (the most similar lycanthrope to a werepanther in stats according to Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft) from The Monster Manual, but with some enhancements (as a particularly powerful werepanther). The following stat block is not an official release but my own creation as Darklord stat blocks haven’t been officially released by Wizards of the Coast for 5th edition.
- Medium humanoid (human, shapechanger, werepanther), Neutral Evil
- Armour Class: 15 (natural armour)
- Hit Points: 180 (24d8 + 72)
- Speed: 30ft (40ft in panther form)
| Str | Dex | Con | Int | Wis | Cha |
| 18 (+4) | 16 (+3) | 16 (+3) | 10 (+0) | 13 (+1) | 12 (+1) |
Skills: Perception (+5), Stealth (+6)
Condition Immunities: Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing From Nonmagical Attacks Not Made With Silvered Weapons
Senses: Darkvision 60ft., Passive Perception 15
Languages: Common (can’t speak in panther form)
Challenge: 6 (2,300 XP) Proficiency Bonus +3
Shapechanger: Chakuna can use her action to polymorph into a panther-humanoid hybrid or into a panther, or back into her true form, which is humanoid. Her statistics, other than her size, are the same in each form. Any equipment she is wearing or carrying isn’t transformed. She reverts to her true form if she dies.
Keen Hearing and Smell: Chakuna has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on hearing or smell.
Legendary Resistance (2/day): When Mother Lorinda fails a saving throw, she can choose to succeed instead.
Pounce (Panther or Hybrid Form Only): If Chakuna moves at least 15 feet straight toward a creature and then hits it with her claw attack on the same turn, that target must succeed on a DC 14 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone. If the target is prone, Chakuna can make one bite attack against it as a bonus action.
Sneak Attack: Once per turn, Chakuna can deal an extra 2d6 damage to one creature she hits with an attack if she has advantage on the attack roll or if an ally is within 5ft of the enemy she is striking.
ACTIONS
Multiattack (Humanoid or Hybrid Form Only): In humanoid form, Chakuna makes two scimitar attacks or two longbow attacks. In hybrid form, she can attack like a humanoid or make two claw attacks.
Bite (Panther or Hybrid Form Only): Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: (1d10 + 4) piercing damage. If the target is a humanoid, it must succeed on a DC 13 Constitution saving throw or be cursed with werepanther lycanthropy
Claw (Panther or Hybrid Form Only): Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: (1d8 + 4) slashing damage.
Scimitar (Humanoid or Hybrid Form Only): Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: (1d6 + 4) slashing damage.
Longbow (Humanoid or Hybrid Form Only): Ranged Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 150/600 ft., one target. Hit: (1d8 + 3) piercing damage.
Bonus Actions
Cunning Action: Chakuna can use the dash, disengage or hide actions as a bonus action on her turn.
LEGENDARY ACTIONS
Chakuna can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. She can take only one legendary action at a time and only at the end of another creature’s turn. Chakuna regains spent legendary actions at the start of his turn.
Attack: Chakuna makes one attack with one of her attack types (she must be in the form that allows her to make that attack type).
Cunning Action: Chakuna can make a dash, disengage or hide action
Pounce (costs 2 actions): Chakuna can use her pounce attack, including the movement required to perform a pounce attack.
Chakuna’s Personality
Chakuna is the product of her environment; hunted by the previous darklord, her people, the Oselo, were nearly extinct by the time she killed Urik von Kharkov. She’d been hunted for years and so had her people. Chakuna bears the bitterness of those years and harbors an abiding, protectiveness for her tribe at the expense of all others.
She distrusts all others and considers everyone a liar. Survival is at the heart of all she does and she manages this by expecting treachery from everyone. The only being she truly trusts is Yana, her displacer beast companion. She believes that most others are undeserving of survival as they are not neither trustworthy nor smart or powerful enough to survive.
Despite her commitment to end the hunts, Chakuna has come to enjoy the chase and takes great pleasure from hunting her victims.
History of Chakuna
Chakuna is not the original darklord of Valachan. Originally, Valachan was ruled by Urik Von Kharkov, a wicked man that loved to hunt. Kharkov would rule from Castle Pantara, emerging regularly from its tormented walls to hunt in the jungles of Valakhan. To keep himself from growing bored, he would hunt increasingly rare and exotic creatures until, eventually, he began to hunt one of the rarest creatures of all; those afflicted with lycanthropy.
In Valachan, the Oselo tribe, of which Chakuna is a member, are lycanthropes and were hunted nearly to extinction. At this point, Kharkov’s hunts of the Oselo had become a formal tournament. Frustrated with the ever growing death toll of her people, Chakuna volunteered to enter the hunt, vowing to sacrifice whatever was required to kill Kharkov and be rid of him from Valachan. She was able to draw upon the prowess granted by her panther form to do this. She succeeded and kept Kharkov’s head as a trophy (much as any other hunter might keep the head of an impressive hunt).
When Chakuna killed Kharkov, she did so by placing her beating heart, ripped from her own chest, at the centre of the Yaguara Mountain maze and consumed Kharkov’s own heart in order to take his immortality and his grip upon the land. It means that while Chakuna has no heart, she is also connected to the land allowing her to see and hear what transpires all across its boundaries.
Of course, with her ascension as the darklord of Valachan, Chakuna discovered a terrifying secret. In order to maintain control over the aggressive landscape, the land must be fed with the blood of the hunted. If it is not, the land becomes even more hostile and will destroy all that walk it, including Chakuna’s own people of the Oselo tribe. In order to protect her people, Chakuna hunts and sacrifices others to the land in a hunt known as the Trial of Hearts. As far as Chakuna is concerned, her and her people deserve to continue to live as they are stronger, faster and smarter than those she hunts.
This is Chakuna’s curse as darklord, to continue the hunts that she vowed to end in order to keep her people safe.
All Darklords of Ravenloft
| Ankhtepot | Hazlik | Nepenthe |
| Chakuna | House of Lament | Queen Tsien Chiang |
| Count Strahd Von Zarovich | Ivana Boritsi | Ramya Vasavadan |
| Dr Viktra Mordenheim | Ivan Dilisnya | Vecna |
| Duchess Saidra d’Honaire | Jacqueline Renier | Vladeska Drakov |
| God-Brain of Bluetspur | Mother Lorinda | Wilfred Godefroy |
| Harkon Lucas |