Breath Stealer
| Statistic | Value |
|---|---|
| Climate/Terrain | Various |
| Frequency | Rare |
| Organization | Solitary |
| Activity Cycle | Any |
| Diet | Carnivore |
| Intelligence | Exceptional |
| Treasure | Nil |
| Alignment | Neutral (Chaotic Evil) |
| No. Appearing | One |
| Armor Class | 6 |
| Movement | 7 |
| Hit Dice | 1-5 HP |
| THAC0 | 20 |
| No. of Attacks | 3 |
| Damage/Attack | 1-2/1-2/1-3 |
| Special Attacks | Rear claw rake 1-2/1-2, See Below |
| Special Defenses | See Below |
| Magic Resistance | Nil, 40% at night |
| Size | S |
| Morale | Average |
| XP Value | <not in the original document> |
Description
This feral beast looks and acts like a normal cat during daylight hours. Although usually black with perhaps a touch of white on their chest, they can be of any size, color, or breed.
Combat
During daylight hours, the breath stealer cannot be differentiated from a normal cat. No means of magic detection will reveal anything other than the fact that the beast is a normal, domesticated cat. During this time, the beast fights exactly as an ordinary cat. It is during darkness, that the breath stealer's true powers manifest themselves. During the night, starting at sunset and ending at sunrise, magic that detects alignment will reveal a chaotic evil aura about the beast. The breath stealer becomes incredibly hard to hit for it gains a parry against every attack that would have hit the beast. There is no limit to the number of parries, but it cannot attack if it parries more than three times in a single round. Despite its agility in combat, its most feared attack is late at night when everyone is asleep. The breath stealer will silently place its face within inches of a sleeping person's face and draw the very life breath from their bodies. The body is left dead and souless, the breath stealer having devoured the very essence of the victim's soul. Within three days the breath stealer will have completely digested the soul and the person will be unressurectable. If the body is ressurected before that time, subtract one third of the victim's levels for every full day that passes. The victim will always lose at least one level. If no one wakes the sleeper, his only chance lies in waking up. The victim will begin to suffocate and this sometimes wakes the victim up in time. The breath stealer requires 5 rounds to draw forth a victim's soul. There is a 5% cumulative chance per round of waking. Because elves do not have souls, a breath stealer cannot kill an elf in this way.
Habitat/Society
The breath stealer leads a strange and mostly solitairy life. It will join up with a household or adventuring party for a time, often acting like a normal cat in all capacities for months. Eventually, it will attack someone during the night, attempting to devour their soul. Some say that the breath stealer is an assassin of the evil gods, others that the beast is sent to punish the unfaithful. Whatever the case, the breath stealer does not seem to be biased by the alignment, race; excepting elves, or gender of its victim's. Many have conducted themselves in such a way as if punishing some specific person, yet others seem to select a victims at random.
Ecology
The breath stealer performs the usual role of a cat. It will eat and drink like a normal cat and so on. The peculiar aspect of this beast makes it a bane to cat lovers everywhere.