Nightcrawler (CR 18)

Gargantuan Undead (Extraplanar)
Alignment: Always chaotic evil
Initiative: +4 (Improved Initiative); Senses: darkvision 60 ft., tremorsense 60 ft., Listen +33, and Spot +33
Languages: telepathy 100 ft.


AC: 35 (-4 size, +29 natural), touch 6, flat-footed 35
Hit Dice: 25d12+50 (212 hp); DR: 15/silver and magic
Fort +12, Ref +10, Will +23
Speed: 30 ft., burrow 60 ft.
Space: 20 ft./15 ft.
Base Attack +12; Grapple +45
Attack: Bite +29 melee
Full Attack: Bite +29 melee and sting +24 melee
Damage: Bite 4d6+21/19-20, sting 2d8+11/19-20 and poison
Special Attacks/Actions: Desecrating aura, energy drain, spell-like abilities, poison, summon undead, swallow whole
Abilities: Str 48, Dex 10, Con -, Int 20, Wis 20, Cha 18
Special Qualities: Aversion to daylight, cold immunity, SR 31, undead
Feats: Blind-fight; Combat Casting; Great Fortitude; Improved Critical (bite); Improved Critical (sting); Improved Initiative; Iron Will; Power Attack; Quicken Spell-Like Ability (cone of cold)
Skills: Concentration +32, Diplomacy +6, Hide +16, Knowledge (arcana) +33, Listen +33, Move Silently +28, Spellcraft +35, Spot +33, and Survival +5 (+7 following tracks)
Advancement: 26-50 HD (Colossal)
Climate/Terrain: Plane of Shadow
Organization: Solitary or pair
Treasure/Possessions: Standard

Source: Monster Manual

A nightcrawler attacks by burrowing through the ground and emerging to strike. The ground blocks the creature's distinctive chill until it emerges to attack.

Improved Grab (Ex): To use this ability, the nightcrawler must hit with its bite attack. If it gets a hold, it automatically deals bite damage and can try to swallow the opponent.

Swallow Whole (Ex): A nightcrawler can try to swallow a grabbed opponent of Huge or smaller size by making a successful grapple check. Once inside, the opponent takes 2d8+12 points of crushing damage plus 1d8 points of acid damage per round from the nightcrawler's gizzard, and is subject to the creature's energy drain. A swallowed creature can climb out of the gizzard with a successful grapple check. This returns it to the nightcrawler's maw, where another successful grapple check is needed to get free. A swallowed creature can also cut its way out by using claws or a Small or Tiny slashing weapon to deal 35 points of damage to the gizzard (AC 24). Once the creature exits, muscular action closes the hole; another swallowed opponent must cut its own way out.

The nightcrawler's interior can hold two Huge, four Large, eight Medium-size, sixteen Small, or thirty-two Tiny or smaller opponents.

Energy Drain (Su): Living creatures inside a nightcrawler's gizzard receive one negative level each round. The Fortitude save to remove a negative has a DC of 24.

Poison (Ex): Sting, Fortitude save (DC 22); initial and secondary damage 2d6 temporary Strength.

Tremorsense (Ex): A nightcrawler can automatically sense the location of anything within 60 feet that is in contact with the ground.

Undead: Immune to mind-influencing effects, poison, sleep, paralysis, stunning, and disease. Not subject to critical hits, subdual damage, ability damage energy drain, or death from massive damage.

Nightshade Abilities: All nightshades share the following special abilities.

Chill Aura (Su): All nightshades radiate a 60-foot-radius aura of utter cold. While this aura does not damage living things, it spoils any food and drink it touches. In addition, it ruins holy water and magic potions, oils, and ointments unless the items succeed at a Fortitude save (DC 22). Items that successfully save cannot be affected again by the same nightshade's aura for one day.

This bone-numbing cold is so distinctive that anyone exposed to it once instantly recognizes it in the future, so it is difficult for a nightshade to surprise someone who has previously encountered such a beast.

Spell-Like Abilities: At will - cause disease, charm person, cloudkill, confusion, darkness, dispel magic, haste, hold person, and invisibility; once per night - finger of death. These abilities are as the spells cast by a sorcerer whose level equals the nightshade's HD total (save DC 14 + spell level).

Summon Undead (Su): A nightshade can summon undead creatures once every 4 hours: 2-5 shadows, 1-2 wraiths, 1 spectre, or 1 ghost. The undead arrive in 1d10 rounds and serve for 1 hour or until released.

Aversion to Daylight (Ex): Nightshades are creatures of utter darkness. While they loathe all light, if exposed to natural daylight (not merely a daylight spell), they suffer a -4 morale penalty to all attack rolls.

Cold Immunity (Ex): Nightshades suffer no damage from cold.

Resistances (Ex): Nightshades have acid, fire, and electricity resistance 50.

Spell Immunity (Su): Nightshades ignore the effects of spells and spell-like abilities of 6th level or lower, just as if the spellcaster had failed to overcome spell resistance.

Detect Magic (Su): A nightshade can continuously detect magic as the spell cast by a 20th-level sorcerer. It can suppress or resume this ability as a free action.

See Invisibility (Su): A nightshade can continuously see invisibility as the spell cast by a 20th-level sorcerer. It can suppress or resume this ability as a free action.

Telepathy (Su): Nightshades can communicate telepathically with any creature within 100 feet that has a language.

Damage Reduction (Su): All nightshades have damage reduction 25/+3.

Nightshades are powerful undead composed of equal parts darkness and absolute evil. Their chilling malevolence hangs heavily about them, along with the smell of an open grave on a winter's morning.

Nightshades can read and understand all forms of communication; however, they communicate with others by telepathy.

A nightcrawler is a massive behemoth similar to a purple worm though utterly black in color. It measures about 7 feet in diameter and is 100 feet long from its toothy maw to the tip of its stinging tail.

Extraplanar Subtype

A subtype applied to any creature when it is on a plane other than its native plane. A creature that travels the planes can gain or lose this subtype as it goes from plane to plane. This book assumes that encounters with creatures take place on the Material Plane, and every creature whose native plane is not the Material Plane has the extraplanar subtype (but would not have when on its home plane). An extraplanar creatures usually has a home plane mentioned in its description. These home planes are taken from the Great Wheel cosmology of the D&D game (see Chapter 5 of the Dungeon Master's Guide). If your campaign uses a different cosmology, you will need to assign different home planes to extraplanar creatures.

Creatures not labeled as extraplanar are natives of the Material Plane, and they gain the extraplanar subtype if they leave the Material Plane. No creature has the extraplanar subtype when it is on a transitive plane; the transitive planes in the D&D cosmology are the Astral Plane, the Ethereal Plane, and the Plane of Shadow.