Black Stranglers
| Statistic | Value |
|---|---|
| Climate/Terrain | Any |
| Frequency | Very rare |
| Organization | Group of victims |
| Activity Cycle | Any |
| Diet | None |
| Intelligence | Average (8-10) |
| Treasure | F |
| Alignment | Chaotic Evil |
| No. of Appearing | 2-5 |
| Armor Class | 4 |
| Move | 12 |
| Hit Dice | 5+3 |
| THAC0 | 12 |
| No. of Attacks | 1 |
| Damage/Attack | 1d6 (4 rounds till death) |
| Special Attacks | Strangle |
| Special Defenses | Invisible in darkness |
| Magic Resistance | Nil |
| Size | M (4-7') |
| Moral | Fanatic (17-18) |
| XP Value | 350 |
Description
The strangler are black humanoids, usually of human size. They are a region of darkness with sharply defined features, looking like a caricature from the side with a pointy noise. They have a dull red glow emanating from their eyes and mouth.
Combat
Stranglers rely on misdirection. If need be one of their number will engage or distract a party from one side while the others sneak up from behind. If they successfully sneak up behind they get one roll to hit (with normal bonuses if they apply) with their sole weapon, a length of metallic looking chain. Victims who are "hit" successfully will begin to take a 1d6 each round and in any case will die at the end of the fourth round. They may attack the Strangler at -2 until that time. Stranglers who fail to hit will try to distract other party members from the stranglers who were successful. If all miss and they cannot get behind anyone, they will withdraw.
Habitat
Black stranglers are victims of a curse and are a form of undead. The victims of a strangler rise as a strangler after a period of days. When they rise, their chain will form at that time as well. The chains are related and cursed. Possessing any one of them will attract all other members of a given strangler pack. Possessing the chains will also lead the owner into strangling people in time in a fashion similar to the manner that the bite of a werewolf results in the victim becoming a werewolf. The chains are valuable for they are almost unbreakable. Removing the curse on any of the chains will remove the curse on all of the chains from a given pack, however doing so releases a strangler who is invisible, and immune to normal (non-silver, non-magical) weapons and who has armor class of 2 and 8 hit dice.
Ecology
Black Stranglers are undead and have no place in nature.