Deathshrieker (CR 15)

Medium Undead (Incorporeal)
Alignment: Always chaotic evil
Initiative: +11 (+7 Dex, +4 Improved Initiative); Senses: darkvision 60 ft., Listen +17, and Spot +17
Languages: Common

AC: 28 (+7 Dex, +5 deflection +6 profane), touch 28, flat-footed 21
Hit Dice: 18d12 plus 18 (135 hp)
Fort +8, Ref +13, Will +15
Speed: Fly 40 ft. (good)
Space: 5 ft./5 ft.
Base Attack +9; Grapple -
Attack: Incorporeal touch +16 melee
Full Attack: Incorporeal touch +16/+11 melee
Damage: Incorporeal touch 1d8 Cha drain
Special Attacks: Death rattle, despair, scream of the dying
Abilities: Str -, Dex 25, Con -, Int 8, Wis 14, Cha 20
Special Qualities: +4 turn resistance, deaths grace, incorporeal traits, silence vulnerability, undead traits
Feats: Ability Focus (scream of the dying); Alertness; Combat Reflexes; Great Fortitude; Improved Initiative; Improved Toughness; Iron Will
Skills: Hide +17, Intimidate +19, Listen +17, Search +12, and Spot +17
Advancement: 19-30 HD (Medium)
Climate/Terrain: Any
Organization: Solitary
Treasure/Possessions: Standard

Source: Monster Manual III

This horrible apparition floats above the ground, its skeletal face twisted in horrible pain while it screams in a terrifying cacophony that sounds like the last shrieks of the dying.

The deathshrieker is an undead spirit that embodies the horrible cries and shrieks of the dying as they utter their last gasps of life. It roams lonely and forgotten battlefields, charnel houses, or sites of terrible plagues, filling the air with its mournful and soul-sapping screams. It relives the final moments of those who have died from slow, agonizing deaths due to violence, disease, or some other tragedy. Typically, the larger the death and despair of an area, the larger the deathshrieker, although relatively small areas that hosted truly despicable acts of violence can bring one into being as well.

Most deathshriekers haunt a single location, although some wander aimlessly on lonely and desolate roads or other forbidding terrain. They are angry, vengeful spirits that endlessly babble the final words of those who have died. They seek to kill living beings just to hear their final scream. The haunt of a deathshrieker is noted for odd, disturbing noises and the occasional whisper of the dead crying out in pain. These noises can persist for years even if the deathshrieker is destroyed.

A deathshrieker is 5 to 6 feet tall and weightless.

Deathshriekers speak Common and one other language, often the racial language of those who died in the most numbers within the area. They rarely speak with intent but instead replay the last words of a hundred souls that have perished, which blur together in a terrifying din.

Combat

A deathshrieker charges headlong into combat, using its despair ability to root creatures in place before striking with their incorporeal touch. A deathshrieker will wait until it can catch as many creatures as possible in the area of its scream of the dying ability. If it is close to being destroyed, a deathshrieker will stay in the thick of combat, using its death rattle ability to cause a retributive strike against the living.

Charisma Drain (Su): An individual struck by a deathshrieker must make a DC 24 Fortitude save or permanently lose 1d4 points of Charisma (2d4 points on a critical hit). The deathshrieker heals 5 points of damage (10 on a critical hit) whenever it drains Charisma, gaining any excess as temporary hit points. The save DC is Charisma-based.

Death Rattle (Su): When a deathshrieker is reduced to 0 hit points, it releases a final, devastating shriek. All living creatures within a 300-foot spread must succeed on a DC 24 Will save or gain 1d4 negative levels. Creatures that cannot hear or are under the effect of a silence spell gain a +4 bonus on the save to resist this effect. The save DC is Charisma-based.

Despair (Su): At the mere sight of a deathshrieker, the viewer must succeed on a DC 24 Will save or be paralyzed with fear for 1d4 rounds. Whether or not the save is successful, that creature cannot be affected again by the same deathshrieker's despair ability for 24 hours. The save DC is Charisma-based.

Scream of the Dying (Su): Once per day, as a full-round action, a deathshrieker can release a soul-numbing scream that lasts for up to 3 rounds. After this first round, a deathshrieker use a standard action to sustain the scream. This attack affects all living creatures within a 30-foot centered on the shrieker, or within a 60-foot cone extending from the deathshrieker, at the creature's option. Once the deathshrieker chooses the shape of this effect, it must maintain that effect for all three rounds. In the case of a cone, it can aim in a single direction during its turn. Creatures caught in this area must make a DC 26 Will save or suffer the effects described below. The save DC is Charisma-based. Creatures that cannot hear or are under the effect of a silence spell gain a +4 bonus on their Will saves. The effects are cumulative and concurrent:

This effect is so loud that normal conversation is impossible. Spellcasters who attempt to cast spells with a verbal component must make a DC 26 Concentration check or the spell is negated.

Death's Grace (Ex): A deahtshrieker gains a +1 profane bonus to AC for every 3 Hit Dice it possesses.

Silence Vulnerability (Ex): Deathshriekers cannot abide silence and are harmed by it. To even enter into the radius of a silence spell, a deathshrieker must make a Will save (DC 12 + caster level). Each round that a deathshrieker remains within the area of a silence spell, it takes 1d10 points of damage (Will save for half).

Deathshriekers In Faerûn

Deathshriekers have plagued Faerûn since the Time of Troubles, a period of great turmoil and suffering that ended with the destruction of many gods. They also haunt the land surrounding the black pit that was once the city of Tilverton and other ruins of dread and despair.