The following review was originally posted at Roleplayers Chronicle and can be read in its entirety at http://roleplayerschronicle.com/?p=41080.

This is a nine page supplement that contains four pages of actual crunch. In typical Rite Publishing fashion those four pages are overflowing with good and, more importantly, useful information. This supplement opens with the the Headless Horseman Monster Template which adds a plus two Challenge Rating (CR) to any creature it is placed on. Monster Templates: Headless Horseman includes the Headless Horseman fully realized as a Challenge Rating eleven creature. The headless horseman write-up includes statistics for its horse Stygian, which when included with the Horseman along with several other factors actually bumps the Headless Horseman up to a much higher Challenge Rating. Following the stat blocks is a detailed description of the Headless Horseman as well as an extensive lore section. This Monster Template includes two new monstrous feats, Come Back Strong and Strike of Sharpness. The new spell Animate Headless Horseman rounds out the crunch.

While most people might think of the Headless Horseman as just a Halloween monster that only belongs in a Halloween-themed game, Rite has come along and proved them wrong. Sure the tale of the Headless Horseman is classically associated with Halloween and any respectable game played on Halloween should include an encounter with one, there is much more to this type of creature than tangling with an awkward academician. What Steven D. Russell and the folks at Rite Publishing have done with Monster Templates: Headless Horseman is take this well known seasonal tale and turn it into a challenging creature. A creature which has thematically appropriate powers that not only have the potential to own a party of Player Characters if they are not careful, but has the potential of creating an ongoing conflict with a powerful creature that requires “quests” to defeat.

The cover art is solid and seeing a Headless Horseman in broad, bright daylight was a refreshing change. At first I was going to comment that it should have been set at night time, but by achieving cranial rectal separation, I realized it was a smart and unique move. The ethereal pumpkin page borders were unique and wonderful. I would have liked to have seen Rite play with the whole concept of the pumpkin head a bit more and would have loved to seen some “other” suggestions, but I in no way felt cheated on that front. The formatting was up to Rite’s normal high standard, but I was distressed to see a grammatical mistake on the first page. Rite normally catches stuff like this. In their defense they are human and I’m sure they will have it fixed soon. There was the usual mix of original and stock art and as usual it met with mixed success. All of the art was relevant, but still felt disconnected.

An Endzeitgeist.com review

This supplement from Rite Publishing's mastermind and veteran of templates (no-one has done that many great ones for PFRPG so far) Steven D. Russell is 9 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page SRD, 2 pages of advertisement, leaving us with 4 pages of content, so let's take a look, shall we?

As the name implies, we get a template herein to create headless horsemen. The template adds a +2 to the CR of the base creature, and turn the creature into an augmented undead (with d8 as HD) and also DR - 5/good, DR 10/magic + good for CR 10+ and 15/magic, good, slashing for CR 15+, SR 11+HD and...well, if that weren't enough...fast healing equal to their cha-SCORE. Yes, not the modifier, the SCORE. And no, I'm 100% positive this is NOT a glitch - these guys are nigh indestructible! OUCH!

Of course, no template by Rite Publishing would be complete sans an array of defining, unique signature abilities: Headless Horsemen may emit cackle-induced panic. Worse, each attack by the horseman is infused with hellfire, dealing more damage - and should one of these creatures actually be destroyed, they may draw the soul of their slayer to hell. As HORSEmen, these beings also get a cavalier-style mount and they also rejuvenate when not destroyed the "proper" way - for they do have their own weaknesses to offset the deadly powers of the template:

Possession of the Horseman's head allows a creature to control the horseman and also allows for a way to destroy the horseman by annihilating or returning the head. Which is a wise decision, for combat is not a smart option - the horseman, in addition to its impressive ability-array, treats ALL weapons they wield as vorpal.

Following Rite's tradition, we also get a sample creature ready to drop in your campaign, this case a headless horseman gendarme cavalier 10 - both said adversary and his mount get full stats, but that is not where said foe shines - instead, he is depicted in a great in-character monologue that tells us about the driving force of this sworn foe of adventurers, a member of the so-called Hero-Killers - the dread Harn, erstwhile servant of the immortal lich-king Cynmark (or substitute Tar-Baphon in Golarion..) - awesome prose here and complete with lore-DCs!

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are top-notch, I didn't notice any significant glitches. Layout comes with a pumpkin-covered, appropriately helloweenish full-color border and adheres to a 2-column standard. The pdf comes fully bookmarked in spite of its small size - commendable!

I've so far seen various takes on the headless horseman and all failed to impress me in one degree or another - not so this one: Deadly to the extreme, full of nasty tricks, an almost unstoppable juggernaut, these horsemen are glorious adversaries WORTHY of the iconic horror-trope and most definitely rank among the finest horror-critters out there: Exceedingly deadly, while at the same time vulnerable, these beings will make your PCs run (if they're smart!) - and all for a fair price-point. My only gripe is an utter nitpick of epic proportions, namely that I would have loved the Horseman to optionally utilize Hellfire as portrayed in e.g. the Genius Guide to hellfire Magic, but those spells are easily added, aren't they? This far-fetched nitpick is ALL I can muster against this superb template - a purchase well worth the asking price and deserving of 5 stars + seal of approval! There's a reason I call Steven D. Russell the "Master of Templates"...

Endzeitgeist out.

Rite Publishing brings us a template for the headless horseman, and a CR 11 headless horseman to challenge your players.

I firstly have to acknowledge the perfect choice in the scary pumpkin background of this pdf. I like it a great deal. On the template, the vorpal ability is pretty nice and ensures there will be plenty more heads being lopped off. The others are very thematic and related to the fluff, but I don’t want to give them away here.

Concerning the headless horseman of CR 11, he can certainly kill. The hellfire is a nice touch. The vulnerabilities are the AC and the hp weakness of the Sygian mount—making dismounting the headless horseman a very real possibility. A dm may want to improve the horse. It isn’t bad offensively, but a horseman and horse against a party may lack the AC and HP to last long. There is also some lore and description which leads into feats and the spell to create the horseman.

This was a very enjoyable read, allowing the headless horseman to quickly be placed into a mid-level game, or for a player to assume the role of the horseman following their demise.

5/5. It has a central idea and runs with it, fully realising the headless horseman for pathfinder games.