#foulspawn mangler
“Star Spawn Mangler” © Wizards of the Coast, by Christopher Burdett. Accessed at the artist’s blog here
[Hey! New art! Getting Christopher Burdett to illustrate some of the starspawn for Monsters of the Multiverse was a good idea. He’s so good at textures. Previous editions of this monster used daggers, but I think switching to claws was a good idea. Makes the seer and its staff feel special, as opposed to, “yeah, some use weapons, and some don’t”.]
Foulspawn Mangler
CR 8 CE Aberration
This creature is vaguely humanoid, with an elongated torso. It has six clawed arms, and multiple smaller appendages like the legs of a centipede that twitch and thrash along its sides. Its face is twisted, with a pointed skull and misshapen features.
Foulspawn manglers are fast and stealthy killers. Their epithet derives from their habit of playing with their victims, leaving completely mutilated corpses in their wake. They are more treasure oriented than other foulspawn, and make sure to look for shiny or otherwise interesting objects on the creatures they murder. They refer to themselves as hadremoi in the Aklo language. Manglers grow and shed arms the way some creatures grow and shed teeth—the largest pair of arms sits the closest to the head, and over time falls off and the next set grows larger. A set of appendages near the hips becomes the next set of arms, and the cycle continued.
Foulspawn manglers are mobile combatants, skittering down walls or out of cracks and crevices to ambush prey. When attacking from ambush, a foulspawn mangler can damage the psyche as well as the flesh, and those that escape a hadremoi attack suffer from nightmares and delusions for days afterwards. They stay moving throughout the combat, and can even make full attacks on the move, although doing so tires them out. Foulspawn manglers have a sense of self-preservation, and will flee from a losing fight, although they maintain a grudge and may track down creatures who best them for a rematch under more favorable circumstances.
Foulspawn Mangler CR 8
XP 4,800
CE Medium aberration (foulspawn)
Init+4;Sensesdarkvision 60 ft., Perception +9
Defense
AC22, touch 15, flat-footed 17 (+4 Dex, +1 dodge, +7 natural)
hp90 (12d8+36)
Fort+6,Ref+8,Will+9
DR10/magic;Immunecharm, confusion and insanity effects, fear; Resistcold 10
Defensive Abilities evasion
Offense
Speed40 ft., climb 30 ft.
Melee6 claws +13 (1d6+2)
Special Attacks deadly dance, psychic sneak attack
Spell-like Abilities CL 8th, concentration +10
3/day—expeditious retreat, invisibility, mind thrust II (DC 14)
1/day—confusion(DC 16), dimension door
Statistics
Str15,Dex18,Con15,Int11,Wis6,Cha14
Base Atk +9;CMB+11;CMD26
FeatsAcrobatic Steps,Dodge, Mobility, Nimble Moves, Toughness, Weapon Finesse
SkillsAcrobatics +15 (+19 when jumping), Climb +21, Escape Artist +15, Perception +9, Stealth +15, Survival +9
LanguagesAklo, telepathy 60 ft.
SQfast stealth,madness, no breath
Ecology
Environmentany land or underground
Organizationsolitary, pair, team (3-4) or envoy (1-4 plus 1-8 mixed foulspawn)
Treasurestandard
Special Abilities
Deadly Dance (Ex) As a full round action, a foulspawn mangler can make its full complement of claw attacks and make a five foot step between each attack. When it does so, it does not provoke attacks of opportunity for moving. The foulspawn mangler is staggered for 1 round after using this ability.
Fast Stealth (Ex) A foulspawn mangler can move at full speed while using Stealth without penalty.
Madness (Ex)Foulspawn use their Charisma modifier on Will saves instead of their Wisdom modifier, and are immune to insanity and confusion effects. Only a miracleorwish can remove a foulspawn’s madness. If this occurs, the foulspawn gains 6 points of Wisdom and loses 6 points of Charisma.
Psychic Sneak Attack (Su) Whenever a foulspawn mangler hits a flat-footed opponent, or is flanking an opponent, that creature must succeed a DC 18 Will save or take 1d6 points of Wisdom damage. A creature can only take this damage once a round from a single foulspawn mangler. This is a mind-influencing confusion effect and the save DC is Charisma based.
