General Rules: Monsters - Shadow Serpent

Shadow Serpent (from the Freeport Trilogy)
Medium Undead (Incorporeal)

Hit Dice: 3d12 (19 hit points)
Initiative: +6
Speed: fly 40 feet (good)
Armor Class: 13 (+2 Dexterity, +1 deflection); touch 13; flat-footed 11
BAB/Grapple: +1/-
Attack: Incorporeal touch +3 melee (1d6 Strength damage)

Full Attack: Incorporeal touch +3 melee (1d6 Strength damage)

Space/Reach: 5 feet by 5 feet/5 feet
Special Attacks: Strength damage
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 feet, incorporeal traits, +4 turn resistance, undead traits
Saves: Fortitude +1, Reflex +3, Will +4
Abilities: Str -, Int 6, Wis 13, Dex 14, Con -, Cha 13
Skills: Hide +8, Listen +7, Search +4, Spot +7
Feats: Skill Augmentation (Listen and Spot), Improved Initiative
Environment: Any land or underground
Organization: Solitary, gang (2 - 5), or swarm (6 - 11)
Challenge Rating: 3
Treasure: None
Alignment: Any
Advancement: 4 - 9 Hit Dice (Medium)

Shadow serpents look like shadows, but are obviously shaped as serpent people. Unlike most shadows, the shadow serpents do not all harbor hatred for the living, and they lack the ability to create spawn. Although many attack the living on sight, a few have managed to keep some semblance of their corporeal personality and intelligence. These few would rather converse with the living in an attempt to find a way to free their souls fom the curse of undeath.

Combat
Shadow serpents linger in long-forgotten temples where they spent their lives. They use their ability to hide and move through solid objects to their best advantage in combat.

Strength Damage (Su): When a shadow serpent touches a living creature, it deals 1d4 points of temporary Strength damage. Any creature reduced to 0 Strength by a shadow serpent dies.

Incorporeal Traits: Has no physical body. 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. Immune to all nonmagical attack forms. Even when hit by spells or magic weapons, 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). Holy water can affect incorporeal undead, but a hit with holy water has a 50% chance of not affecting it.

Can enter or pass through solid objects, but must remain adjacent to the object’s exterior, and so cannot pass entirely through an object whose space is larger than its own. Can sense the presence of creatures or objects within a square adjacent to its current location, but enemies have total concealment (50% miss chance) from an incorporeal creature that is inside an object. Must emerge to see farther from the object it is in and attack normally.Has total cover while inside an object, 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. Cannot pass through a force effect.

Attacks pass through (ignore) natural armor, armor, and shields, although deflection bonuses and force effects (such as mage armor) work normally against it. Can pass through and operate in water as easily as air. Cannot fall or take falling damage. Cannot make trip or grapple attacks, nor can it be tripped or grappled. Cannot take any physical action that would move or manipulate an opponent or its equipment, not subject to such actions. Has no weight and does not set off traps that are triggered by weight.

Moves silently and cannot be heard with Listen checks if it doesn’t wish to be. Has no Strength score, so its Dexterity modifier applies to both its melee attacks and its ranged attacks. Nonvisual senses, such as scent and blindsight, are either ineffective or only partly effective with regard to it. Has an innate sense of direction and can move at full speed even when it cannot see.

Undead Traits: Immune to all mind-affecting effects (charms, compulsions, phantasms, patterns, and morale effects), immune to poison, sleep effects, paralysis, stunning, disease, and death effects. Not subject to critical hits, nonlethal damage, ability drain, fatigue, or exhaustion effects. Cannot heal damage on its own. Immune to any effect that requires a Fortitude save unless it also works on objects or is harmless. Not a risk of death due to massive damage. Does not eat, breathe, or sleep.

Skills: Shadow serpents have a +2 racial bonus on Listen and Spot checks and a +4 racial bonus on Search checks. A shadow serpent gains a +4 bonus on Hide checks in areas of shadowy illumination; in brightly lit areas it takes a -4 penalty to Hide checks.

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