What appears to be a sudden fog rolls towards you, a feeling of dread sinking into your bones. As the fog forms into a thousand faces, all stuck in the middle of silent screams, you understand why.

Caller In Darkness
CR 9 CE Large undead (incorporeal, psychic) XP 6,400
Init +7 Senses darkvision 60 ft., Perception +16
Aura unnatural (DC 18)

Defense
AC 14, touch 14, flat-footed 11 (–1 size, +3 Dex, +2 deflection)
hp 71 (11d8+22)
Fort +5, Ref +6, Will +9
Defensive Abilities incorporeal Immune undead traits
Weaknesses vulnerability to sunlight Offense
Speed 30 ft.; fly 60 ft. (good)
Melee incorporeal touch +10 (2d6 plus steal essence if lethal) Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft.

Special Attacks steal essence

Psi-like Abilities (ML 7th)

At will—clairvoyant sense
concussion blast (two targets, 3d6)
detect mindspace
ego whip (2d4, DC 16)
mind thrust (7d10, DC 16)

3/day—death urge (DC 16)
psychic crush I (DC 13)
psychic suggestion (three targets, DC 14)

1/day—co-opt concentration (DC 18)

Statistics
Str —, Dex 16, Con —, Int 14, Wis 14, Cha 15
BAB +8; CMB +12; CMD 24

Feats
Blind-Fight, Combat Reflexes, Improved Initiative, Autonomous, Iron Will, Ability Focus (Unnatural Aura) Skills Intimidate +16, Knowledge (Psychics) +16, Perception +16, Sense Motive +16, Spellcraft +16, Stealth +17
Racial modifiers Knowledge (Psychics) is a class skill
Languages Common

Ecology
Environment: underground
Organization: solitary
Treasure: none

Special Abilities
Unnatural Aura (Su): Animals can sense the unnatural presence of a caller in darkness. Any animal within 30 feet must make a DC 18 Will save or become panicked until it is no longer within 30 feet of the caller in darkness. A panicked creature that is cornered begins cowering. The save DC is Charisma- based. The listed DC includes the caller in darkness’ Ability Focus feat.

Vulnerability to Sunlight (Ex): Callers in darkness are utterly powerless in natural sunlight (not merely a daylight spell) and flee from it. A caller caught in sunlight cannot attack and can take only a single move action or standard action each turn, but not both (nor can it take full-round actions).

Steal Essence (Su): Any living, intelligent creature slain by a caller in darkness’s touch attack is mentally absorbed into the monster’s consciousness. (The physical body of the victim remains intact). Stealing a victim’s essence is a free action; it grants the caller 12 temporary hit points, and a permanent new screaming face appears within its cloud.

A caller in darkness can also steal the essence of living, intelligent creatures within 30 feet that are paralyzed, sleeping, or that are helpless due to having a mental ability score reduced to 0 (often by the caller’s ego whip attack). Doing so is a standard action that provokes attacks of opportunity. The victim dies, and the caller gains 12 temporary hit points.

Horrifying in ways that would break the minds of most humans, callers in darkness are thankfully rare. Usually formed upon the death of an innocent who was slowly and painfully tortured until its demise, a caller in the darkness exists with an urge to bring others into its own miserable existence. This is not a method of gaining power. The caller in the darkness is simply incapable of fighting its desire to force others to feel its torment. A mind captured by a caller of darkness is forever trapped within the creature, forced to relive its own personal nightmares for as long as the entity that absorbed it exists. Few things will shake someone as quickly as seeing the face of someone they recognize coming out of the fog, trying to scream.

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