Perilous Gateways
The Shadow Path: A Portal Network
By James Wyatt

Sample Life Eater

This sample life eater uses a mind flayer as the base creature.

Wiirlan: Male mind flayer Life Eater 7; CR 15; Medium-size aberration; HD 8d8+16 plus 7d6+14; hp 90; Init +5; Spd 30 ft.; AC 18, touch 13, flat-footed 18; Atk +12 melee (1d4+1, 4 tentacles), or +13/+8/+3 melee (1d4+2/x3, +1 punching dagger); or +12/+7/+2 ranged (1d8+1/x3, mighty composite longbow [+1 Str bonus]); SA extract, fatiguing touch, improved grab, mind blast, psionics, sneak attack +2d6, spell-like abilities, wounding sneak attack; SQ darkvision 60 ft., deathwatch, hide in plain sight, poison use, SR 25, telepathy; AL CE; SV Fort +10, Ref +9, Will +15; Str 12, Dex 13, Con 14, Int 17, Wis 17, Cha 19.

Skills and Feats: Bluff +18, Concentration +8, Diplomacy +6, Hide +16, Intimidate +22, Knowledge (religion) +20, Listen +19, Move Silently +15, Spot +19; Alertness, Combat Casting, Dodge, Improved Initiative, Martial Weapon Proficiency (composite longbow), Simple Weapon Proficiency, Weapon Finesse (tentacle).

Extract (Ex): If Wiirlan begins his turn with all four tentacles attached and successfully maintains his hold, he automatically extracts the opponent's brain, causing immediate death.

Fatiguing Touch (Sp): Once per day, Wiirlan can cause a creature to become fatigued by touching that creature. The target receives a Will save (DC 17) to negate the effect. This is a necromantic effect and does not affect undead or constructs. A fatigued creature cannot run or charge and suffers an effective penalty of -2 to Strength and Dexterity. A fatigued creature becomes exhausted by doing something else that would normally cause fatigue. This effect lasts until the victim rests for 8 hours.

Improved Grab (Ex): If Wiirlan hits a Small to Large target with his tentacle attack, he deals normal damage and attempts to start a grapple as a free action without provoking an attack of opportunity (grapple bonus + 12). If he gets a hold, he attaches the tentacles to the opponent's head. He can grab a Huge or larger creature, but only if he can somehow reach the foe's head. After a successful grab, Wiirlan can try to attach his remaining tentacles with a single grapple check. The opponent can escape with a single successful grapple check or Escape Artist check, but Wiirlan gets a +2 circumstance bonus for every tentacle that was attached at the beginning of his turn. After he has attached all four tentacles, he can attempt to extract the opponent's brain in his next turn. At any point, Wiirlan has the option to conduct the grapple normally, or simply use his tentacle to hold the opponent (-20 penalty on grapple check, but Wiirlan is not considered grappled). In either case, each successful grapple check it makes during successive rounds automatically deals tentacle damage.

Mind Blast (Sp): This attack is a cone 60 feet long. Anyone caught in this cone must succeed at a Will save (DC 18) or be stunned for 3d4 rounds. Wiirlan often hunts using this ability and then drags off one or two of his stunned victims to feed upon.

Psionics (Sp): At will -- astral projection, charm monster, detect thoughts, levitate, plane shift, suggestion. Caster level 8th; save DC 14 + spell level.

Spell-like Abilities: 3/day -- chill touch, death knell; 1/day -- enervation. Caster level 7th; save DC 14 + spell level.

Wounding Sneak Attack (Su): Any time Wiirlan delivers a sneak attack, the wound bleeds for 1 point of damage per round thereafter in addition to the normal damage from the attack. Multiple wounding sneak attacks result in cumulative bleeding loss (two wounds for 2 points of damage per round, and so on). The bleeding can be stopped only by a successful Heal check (DC 15) or the application of any cure spell or other healing spell.

Deathwatch (Su): Wiirlan has a supernatural understanding of life and living souls. He is always aware of how near death creatures around him are, as if under the effects of a deathwatch spell (caster level 7th), except that this ability is always in effect.

Hide in Plain Sight (Su): Wiirlan can use the Hide skill even while being observed. As long as he is within 10 feet of some sort of shadow, he can hide himself from view in the open without anything to actually hide behind. He cannot, however, hide in his own shadow.

Poison Use (Ex): Wiirlan is trained in the use of poison and never risks accidentally poisoning himself when applying poison to a blade.

Telepathy (Su): Wiirlan can communicate telepathically with any creature within 100 feet that has a language.

Possessions: Bracers of armor +2, cloak of resistance +1, ring of protection +2, +1 punching dagger, mighty composite longbow (+1 Str bonus), 50 arrows, arrow of monstrous humanoid slaying, arrow of undead slaying, 10 doses of shadow essence poison, 3 doses of lich dust poison.

Greedy for knowledge like most other mind flayers in the City of Loretakers, Wiirlan stumbled into the worship of Baphomet quite by accident while perusing the Undervaults beneath Oryndoll. Sifting through knowledge culled from ancient dwarf brains, Wiirlan discovered that a small clan of dwarves had actually lived in the Thrall Caverns of Oryndoll before the mind flayers built their great city. Probing further, he learned of the existence of the secret caverns and their location, and transported himself there in search of additional knowledge.

Wiirlan found himself standing before a gigantic, dwarf-carved statue of Baphomet, and without fully knowing why, he prostrated himself on the ground before it. Then the statue spoke to him, and Wiirlan has served the demon lord faithfully for three decades since that day. He founded a cell of life eaters in the city, bringing others to the worship of his new patron, and continues to lead their day-to-day activities.

Wiirlan maintains infrequent contact with life eaters in other Underdark cities and nurtures those contacts not just for the cause of Baphomet but also to slake his thirst for knowledge. He grows increasingly paranoid that the Elder Brain of Oryndoll knows of his worship of Baphomet and disapproves, and believes he is being watched whenever he moves about in the city. He spends most of his time now in the secret caverns, since he is too paranoid to venture far from his private sanctum.

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