Hell Ghast
| Statistic | Value |
|---|---|
| Climate / Terrain | Any |
| Frequency | Very rare |
| Organisation | Solitary |
| Activity Cycle | Any |
| Diet | Carnivore |
| Intelligence | Genius (17-18) |
| Treasure | U |
| Alignment | Chaotic Evil |
| No. Appearing | 1 |
| Armour Class | 5 |
| Movement | 12 |
| Hit Dice | 10+2 |
| THAC0 | 12 |
| No. Of Attacks | See below |
| Damage / Attack | See below |
| Special Attacks | Scream, spells |
| Special Defences | +1 or better to hit |
| Magic Resistance | 34% |
| Size | M |
| Morale | Elite (13-14) |
| XP Value | 10,000 |
Description
The Hell Ghast in it’s true form appears to be a tall, thin lich-like creature. When not on missions involving infiltration, they usually adorn themselves in black robes and carry thier Staffs of Power with them.
Combat
The Hell Ghast does not normally initiate combat, preferring to lay traps for their enemys (poisoned drinking water, spear traps in lairs). But in combat, they are dangerous foes.
When actually initiating combat, the Hell Ghast drops it’s disguise and takes on it’s true form. A Hell Ghast during infiltration, usually hides on thier possession, an enchanted Dagger+4 which is more often than not poisoned. During missions where subtelty is not rquired, they wield Staffs of Power. A Staff of Power does 1d8 points of damage and hits as a +3 weapon. On command, it can fire a bolt of energy which does 1d10 points of damage on a successful attack roll. The Hell Ghast can target anything within 100 feet.
Hell Ghasts, are utterly immune to charm, sleep, enfeeblement, polymorph, cold, electricity, insanity and death spells. Hell Ghasts are turned as Specials.
As well as thier fighting prowess, Hell Ghasts are noted for thier powerful sorcery. All are assumed to be 12th level necromancers and prefer the school’s subtle spells.
Wail: Finally, a Hell Ghast is able to emit a horrifying wail. This wail is the equivelent of the psionic power Psionic Blast and affects all within earshot range.
Habitat/Society
The Abyssal Lord Vashna, originally bred the Hell Ghast for the wars against the Madari and the Ravier. SInce then, however, he has revealed the creation process to a number of powerful Gods and Sorcerers throughout the multiverse. They are powerful undead creatures who can adopt human form at will. This, coupled with their invulnerability to normal weapons, makes them ideally suited to missions of spying and assassination. They have greatly furthered the Lord’s cause by the subversion of countries in Madras and Katahkis.
They always work alone, not willing to ally themselves with ‘lesser creatures’ and when not completing a mission, they study powerful spells by themselves in thier dark layers dotted throughout the multiverse. Their loyalty to thier creators are, however, very questionable as the Hell Ghast is very intelligent and independant.
Ecology
Hell Ghasts have no place in the ecology at all. The entire creation process is written in the Codex Mallevolus, a Necromancer from Oerth who was eventually slain by his own creation. The tome was lost.
All that is known about the creation process of a Hell Ghast is that they require an entire year to form in a pit. In the pit is a foul liquid of strange chemicals and the decaying bodies of 12th level or greater paladins, one for every Hell Ghast that is needed. This seething mass must be blessed by clerics of evil and finally, after one month, the newly formed Hell Ghasts emerge from the seething liquid...