General Rules: Monsters - Dead Eater

Dead Eater (adapted from Vigil Watch: Warrens of the Ratmen)
Medium Monstrous Humanoid

Hit Dice: 2d8+4 (13 hit points)
Initiative: +6
Speed: 30 feet, burrow 5 feet
Armor Class: 15 (+2 Dexterity, +3 natural); touch 12, flat-footed 13
BAB/Grapple: +2/+3

Attack: Bite +3 melee (1d6+1, bludgeoning, piercing and slashing, 20 x2)

Full Attack: Bite +3 melee (1d6+1, bludgeoning, piercing and slashing, 20 x2) and 2 claws -2 melee (1d4, slashing, 20 x2)

Space/Reach: 5 feet by 5 feet/5 feet
Special Attacks: Burrowing attack, disease
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 feet, disease immunity, light sensitivity
Saves: Fortitude +4, Reflex +4, Will +1
Abilities: Str 12, Int 8, Wis 12, Dex 15, Con 15, Cha 6
Skills: Hide +7, Listen +1, Move Silently +7, Search +1, Spot +7
Feats: Improved Initiative
Environment: Any land or underground

Organization: Gang (2 - 5) or pack (8 - 12)

Challenge Rating: 1
Treasure: Standard
Alignment: Always chaotic evil
Advancement: 3 HD (Medium)
Level Adjustment: -

Dead eaters resemble ghouls in both appearance and habits, but they are very much alive and unaffected by clerical turning and other anti-undead measures. They are emaciated, foul-smelling creatures covered with matted hair, their mouths bristling with jagged teeth, their fingernails elongated into dirt-caked claws. Their sunken eyes gleam with the spark of madness.

Dead eaters like to burrow, using their clawed hands to dig elaborate networks of trenches and tunnels in and around their warren. They can often be found hiding or sleeping in these trenches and use them for concealment when the nest is attacked and they wish to ambush invaders.

Combat
Individual dead eaters are cowardly creatures who flee from noises and bright lights. In pack, however, they grow bolder and often combine forces to waylay travelers who are sometimes dragged back to the nest to serve as the main course at a feast.

Though possessed of only minimal intelligence, the dead eaters sometimes display a sort of low cunning. Two or three dead eaters will attack a party and then flee after a round or two of combat, leading pursuers into an ambush as the remainder of their pack emerges from their buried hiding places and assaults their foes with burrowing attacks.

Burrowing Attack (Ex): Dead eaters often conceal themselves beneath a few inches of dirt. A dead eater concealed in this fashion is difficult to see, requiring a DC 25 Spot check. If a foe moves within 5 feet of the concealed dead eater, it may make a grapple attack with a +3 circumstance bonus. if the grapple succeeds, the dead eater may automatically inflict bite damage (and a risk of causing disease) upon its victim until the grapple is broken.

Disease (Ex): Corpse blisters - bite; Fortitude save DC 13; incubation period 1d4 days; damage 1d4 temporary Constitution and 1d4 temporary Strength. Dead eaters also sometimes carry the favored disease of their chosen nest such as slimy doom or scarlet shaking pox.

Disease Immunity (Ex): Dead eaters are immune to all forms of disease.

Light Sensitivity (Ex): Dead eaters suffer a -1 penalty to attack rolls in bright sunlight or within the radius of a daylight spell.

Skills: Dead eaters receive a +4 racial bonus to Hide, Move Silently, and Spot checks.

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