Spectral Lyrist (CR 4)
Medium Undead (Incorporeal)
Alignment: Always chaotic evil
Initiative: +6 (+2 Dex, +4 Improved Initiative); Senses: darkvision 60 ft., Listen +13, and Spot +13
Languages: Common and one other local language
AC: 20 (+2 Dex, +5 natural, +3 deflection), touch 15, flat-footed 18
Hit Dice: 6d12 (39 hp)
Fort +2, Ref +4, Will +7
Speed: Fly 60 ft. (good)
Space: 5 ft./5 ft.
Base Attack +3; Grapple -
Attack: Incorporeal touch +5 melee (1d6 Cha drain)
Special Attacks/Actions: Bardic music, Charisma drain
Abilities: Str -, Dex 15, Con -, Int 13, Wis 14, Cha 17
Special Qualities: Alter appearance, incorporeal traits, inescapable craving, undead traits
Feats: Ability Focus (Charisma drain); Alertness; Improved Initiative
Skills: Bluff +12, Diplomacy +5, Disguise +12 (+14 when acting in character), Intimidate +5, Listen +13, Perform (sing) +12, and Spot +13
Advancement: 7-12 HD (Medium)
Climate/Terrain: Any
Organization: Solitary
Treasure/Possessions: None
Source:
Libris Mortis
Alter Appearance (Su): As a free action once per round, a spectral lyrist can alter its appearance. It can appear as any humanoid creature of Medium size, and it gains a +10 bonus on Disguise checks when it uses this ability. Unless the disguise is pierced by a successful Spot check, onlookers don't even notice the lyrist's incorporeal nature until an attack passes harmlessly through the creature.
Bardic Music (Su): A spectral lyrist has the bardic music abilities of fascinate and suggestion. These function identically to the bard class features of the same name. A spectral lyrist can use these abilities a total of six times per day.
Charisma Drain (Su): Living creatures hit by a spectral lyrist's touch attack must make a DC 18 Fortitude save or take 1d6 points of Charisma drain. The save DC is Charisma-based. When a spectral lyrist drains a victim's Charisma, it gains 5 temporary hit points and 1 temporary Charisma point, no matter how many points it drains. Temporary hit points and ability points gained in this way last for 1 up to hour.
Inescapable Craving: A spectral lyrist has an inescapable craving for Charisma, which it satisfies by using its Charisma drain attack.
A spectral lyrist uses its ability to bluff and change its appearance to present itself as a friendly creature, putting victims at ease until it can use its fascinate and suggestion abilities. Once victims are close enough, it uses its touch attack to drain their Charisma.
In life, a spectral lyrist used its powers of performance and persuasion to further the cause of evil and strife, whether by urging listeners to commit violence or simply luring the innocent to their deaths. Cursed to forever walk the earth, it blames those still alive for its undead state and seeks to commit even greater evils against them.
A spectral lyrist can appear as any Medium humanoid, and it doesn't share the insubstantial or diaphanous appearance of other incorporeal creatures when so disguised. A lyrist is weightless, regardless of appearance.
Spectral lyrists speak Common, plus one other language common to humanoids in its environment, such as Dwarven, Elven, Goblin, or Orc.
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.