Venator
Hunter 3d model © Capcom, accessed on the Resident Evil Wiki here
[Commissioned by @arachcobra. The Umbrella Corporation doesn’t know when to quit, does it? There’s a whole host of variant hunters, but they’re mostly worse than the original, or a lateral move at best. More powerful variants only exist in weird corners of continuity, like manga or a light gun game. I include info on two of them as variant monsters below; the gamma hunter is a different beast entirely, with protruding mouthparts and swallow whole, so would get a different statblock. The name “venator” is just Latin for “hunter”. It was either that or use the phonetic Japanese name for these monsters, hanta.]
Venator CR 5 LE Monstrous Humanoid This creature appears to be a hybrid of man and reptile, with a thick armored skin and long, clawed hands. Its face is mostly human, but has mere slits for nostrils, and sharp, triangular teeth. It has a thick neck with bony scutes running along its margins.
A venator is an artificial species, a hybrid of lizard, crocodile and human created through fleshwarping. The human form is most dominant physically, as venators have no snouts and no tails. Their mental capacity is less than that of the average human, but more than an animal—sufficient for taking orders and following directions, but with relatively little risk of initiative or rebellion. Most venators are found within the service of the fleshwarpers who created them, although some have escaped and gone feral.
Venators are trackers first and foremost, able to move at great speed while following a trail. Once they reach their quarry, they leap into combat, charging with their foreclaws. The most sophisticated tactics they are capable of are setting up flanking positions, and using their powerful roars to knock over enemies and hit them when they try to get up. They do not use ranged weapons, but can climb or swim over most obstacles between them and a ranged combatant. Venators almost always fight to the death unless ordered to retreat.
The venator is sometimes called the “alpha venator”, as the base stock has been altered multiple times in an attempt to improve its durability, speed or lethality. Few of these attempts have been successful, but the variants are still found in some dungeons and wizard towers. A beta venator has one elongated arm and greater reflexes, but its vision is impaired by tumors growing over its face and shoulders. Treat a beta venator as a venator with 10 foot reach for one claw, Dodge and Lightning Reflexes as bonus feats, but a 10% miss chance on all attacks. A beta venator is a CR 5 creature. An R venator has jagged claws that deal 1d4 points of bleed on a hit and gains Improved Sunder as a bonus feat, but gains vulnerability to cold. A R venator is a CR 5 creature.
