Deathfog

Description

The Deathfog is a glowing, sickly greenish cloud of intelligent, malevolent energy. It thrives on the life force of its victims which it persues mercilessly and with great cunning. Deathfogs are most commonly found on old battlefields, unwholsome swamps inhabited by evil beings, or otherwise cursed lands. They are relatively common on the plane of Ravensloft, especially in the Mists.

Combat

Deathfogs feed on the life forces of living, and preferably intelligent beings. All living creatures of less than 3 hit dice flee from deathfogs on sight. Those with 3 to 6 hit dice suffer the effects of a fear spell. All higher level creatures are free to act as they see fit. Deathfogs are immune to mental attacks and are only hit by magical weapons (see below).

Deathfogs attack by lashing their victims with vaporous pseudopods inflicting 1d6 points of rotting damage and forcing the victim to save vs. paralyzation or lose 1d6 strength points (they return at a rate of 1 per day). The rotting damage must heal naturally at 1/4 the normal rate. If the victim's strength is reduced to less than 3, he is too weak to move. At zero, the victim falls unconscious.

Deathfogs have another, more fearsome form of attack: envelopment. If a deathfog envelopes, that is the only attack it may make that round. Enveloped victims must save vs. death magic or be killed outright, their life forces devoured by the fog. If the save is made, the victim loses one level, 1d6 strength points and sustains 1d6 points of rotting damage.

As the fog has little real substance, the creature must make an envelopment attack each round to keep its victim inside. A typical deathfog tactic is to lash all foes in its vicinity until they are too weak to resist. It can then devour them at its leisure.

A deathfog's sadism knows no bounds. Against weak or helpless victims it can, and usually does, envelope and attack less vigorously, thereby prolonging its victim's agony; often, a death that should be nearly instantanious can take hours. Deathfogs may also release a weakened victim, allowing him to think he has escaped, then hunt him down later, much like a cat plays with a mouse before eating it. To make matters worse, since deathfogs are telepathic, they taunt their victims mercilessly.

As powerful as they may seem, deathfogs are not invulnerable. Fire-based attacks inflict double damage, and they can be harmed by many spells. While most normal weapons are useless against deathfogs, there are exceptions. Flaming oil inflicts double damage, and weapons dipped in burning oil will do normal damage. Against flaming oil, a deathfog has armor class 7, against dipped weapons, it has an armor class of 0. Fire elementals are immune to deathfog attacks, and can destroy them with ease.

Perhaps the deathfog's greatest vulnerability is to sunlight. Spells which produce sunlight, such as the various sunrays, will usually kill it instantly, permanantly stripping 2 hit dice per die inflicted. In normal sunlight, a deathfog looses one hit die per round permanently (see ecology).

Deathfogs have ESP and empathy and are difficult to surprise. Furthermore, if things get too dangerous, they can seep into the ground, into timbers, etc. Deathfogs are extremely good at hiding in this way, and will often ambush potential victims from underground.

Habitat

As was stated before, deathfogs inhabit cursed, evil places. They are solitary creatures and have no real culture.

Ecology

Deathfogs are clouds of congealed malevolent energy. They do not reproduce per se, but rather they condense. They tend to form in places where great acts of evil were committed, or any place else that is sufficiently suffused with evil. They seek to expand their evil realms by feeding on victims in bordering areas.

For every 1,001 levels drained, the deathfog gains one hit die. Victims killed by deathfogs do not become undead because all that remains is dust. Deathfogs by their very nature destroy living things, and have a disasterous effect on the local ecology.