Shadowen (CR 8)

Medium Aberration (Incorporeal)
Alignment: Always neutral evil
Initiative: +3 (Dex); Senses: darkvision 60 ft., Listen +5, and Spot +5


AC: 13 (+3 Dex), touch 13, flat-footed 10
Hit Dice: 4d8 (18 hp); DR: 20/silver
Fort +3, Ref +4, Will +6
Speed: Fly 30 ft. (perfect)
Space: 5 ft./5 ft.
Base Attack +3; Grapple -2
Attack: Incorporeal touch +6 melee
Full Attack: Incorporeal touch +6 melee
Damage: Incorporeal touch 1d6 damage and 1 point of temporary Strength
Special Attacks/Actions: Gaze, hiss, spells, Strength damage 1, malevolence
Abilities: Str -, Dex 16, Con 11, Int 19, Wis 15, Cha 21
Special Qualities: fast healing 5, incorporeal subtype, SR 20
Feats: Great Fortitude; Silent Spell; Still Spell; Weapon Focus (touch)
Skills: Bluff +9, Concentration +7, Diplomacy +9, Hide +6, Intimidate +9, Knowledge (arcana) +7, Listen +5, Search +7, Spellcraft +11, and Spot +5
Advancement: 5-12 HD (Medium-size); or by class
Climate/Terrain: Any
Organization: Solitary, or Pack (4-16)
Treasure/Possessions: Standard according to host body, none in natural form

Source: Dragon #286

Gaze (Su): Effect as a fear spell (10th-level sorcerer) within 30 feet. A Will save (DC 17) negates the effect. Each opponent within range of a gaze attack must attempt a saving throw each round at the beginning of her turn in initiative order. The creature can also actively gaze as an attack action by choosing a target within range, who must then attempt a saving throw.

Spells: A shadowen casts spells as a 10th-level sorcerer.

Hiss (Sp): As a full-round action, a shadowen can hiss. All opponents within 30 ft. must make a Will save (DC 17) or be subjected to a hold person spell as though cast by a 10th-level sorcerer. Note that in unusual conditions, a DM might allow opponents to make a Listen check. If they fail that check, they do not have to save to avoid the attack.

Strength Damage (Su): A successful melee attack causes 1 point of temporary Strength damage, or twice that on a critical hit.

Malevolence (Su): Once per round, a shadowen can merge its body with a corporeal creature. This ability is similar to magic jar as cast by a 10th-level sorcerer, except that it does not require a receptacle. If the attack succeeds, the shadowen's body vanishes into the opponent's body. The target can resist the attack with a successful Will save (DC 20). A creature that successfully saves is immune to that shadowen's malevolence for one day.

Energy Drain (Su): As a standard action, the shadowen can cause a living creature that it controls with its malevolence ability to suffer two negative levels.

Fast Healing (Ex): The creature regains hit points at a rate of 5 per round so long as it has 1. Fast healing does not restore hit points lost from starvation, thirst, or suffocation, and does not allow a creature to regrow or reattach lost body parts.

Incorporeal Subtype: Can be harmed only by other incorporeal creatures, or better magic weapons, spells, spell-like abilities, or supernatural abilities; immune to all non-magical attack forms; 50% chance to ignore any damage from a corporeal source (except for force effects, such as magic missiles, and attacks made with ghost touch weapons); can pass through solid objects (but not force effects) at will; attacks ignore natural armor, armor, and shields (though deflection bonuses and force effects work normally); moves silently (cannot be heard with Listen checks unless desired).

Shadowen are powerful opponents, and the most powerful among them are usually found in strong and influential bodies. No two shadowen attack in the same manner, as the memories and skills of their host body often influence their methods. Most shadowen rely heavily upon their magical abilities, though.

Incorporeal Subtype

Some creatures are incorporeal by nature, while others (such as those that become ghosts) can acquire the incorporeal subtype. An incorporeal creature has no physical body. It can be harmed only by other incorporeal creatures, magic weapons or creatures that strike as magic weapons, and spells, spell-like abilities, or supernatural abilities. It has immunity to all nonmagical attack forms. Even when hit by spells, including touch spells or magic weapons, it has a 50% chance to ignore any damage from a corporeal source (except for positive energy, negative energy, force effects such as magic missile, or attacks made with ghost touch weapons). Non-damaging spell attacks affect incorporeal creatures normally unless they require corporeal targets to function (such as the spell implosion) or they create a corporeal effect that incorporeal creatures would normally ignore (such as a web or wall of stone spell). Although it is not a magical attack, a hit with holy water has a 50% chance of affecting an incorporeal undead creature.

An incorporeal creature's natural weapons affect both in incorporeal and corporeal targets, and pass through (ignore) corporeal natural armor, armor, and shields, although deflection bonuses and force effects (such as mage armor) work normally against it. Attacks made by an incorporeal creature with a nonmagical melee weapon have no effect on corporeal targets, and any melee attack an incorporeal creature makes with a magic weapon against a corporeal target has a 50% miss chance except for attacks it makes with a ghost touch weapon, which are made normally (no miss chance).

Any equipment worn or carried by an incorporeal creature is also incorporeal as long as it remains in the creature's possession. An object that the creature relinquishes loses its incorporeal quality (and the creature loses the ability to manipulate the object). If an incorporeal creature uses a thrown weapon or a ranged weapon, the projectile becomes corporeal as soon as it is fired and can affect a corporeal target normally (no miss chance). Magic items possessed by an incorporeal creature work normally with respect to their effects on the creature or another target. Similarly, spells cast by an incorporeal creature affect corporeal creatures normally.

An incorporeal creature has no natural armor bonus but has a deflection bonus equal to its Charisma bonus (always at least +1, even if the creature's Charisma score does not normally provide a bonus).

An incorporeal creature can enter or pass through solid object but must remain adjacent to the object's exterior, and so cannot pass entirely through an object whose space is larger than its own. It can sense the presence of creatures or objects a square adjacent to its current location, but enemies have total concealment from an incorporeal creature that is inside an object. In order to see clearly and attack normally, a incorporeal creature must emerge. An incorporeal creature inside an object has total cover, but when it attacks a creature outside the object it only has cover, so a creature outside with a readied action could strike at it as it attacks. An incorporeal creature cannot pass through a force effect.

Incorporeal creatures pass through and operate in water as easily as they do in air. Incorporeal creatures cannot fall or take falling damage. Incorporeal creature cannot make trip or grapple attacks against corporeal creatures, nor can they be tripped or grappled by such creatures. In fact, they cannot take any physical action that would move or manipulate a corporeal being or its equipment, nor are they subject to such actions. Incorporeal creatures have no weight and do not set off traps that are triggered by weight.

An incorporeal creature moves silently and cannot be heard with Listen checks if it doesn't wish to be. It has no Strength score, so its Dexterity modifier applies to both its melee attacks and its ranged attacks. Non-visual senses, such as scent and blindsight, are either ineffective or only partly effective with regard to incorporeal creatures. Incorporeal creatures have an innate sense of direction and can move at full speed even when they cannot see.