Ammut

Famed as witnesses at the judgment of the dead, ammut eat the souls of the damned. Each is a humanoid mix of crocodile, lioness and hippopotamus: crocodile tail and scaly legs, a hippo's thick neck and paunch, and the head and lean arms of a lioness. Fat and bloated, they become blind to their surroundings while feasting on wicked souls.

An ammut either bites for 2d8 or rakes with both claws for 1d8 each. On a natural 20 with the bite, it can unhinge its jaws to swallow a creature smaller than man-sized, slowly cramming it down with jaws and hands over 1d4 rounds. The victim may fight back with a small thrusting weapon such as a dagger or knife at -4 to hit, dealing double damage.

Once per turn, instead of any other action that round, it can unleash a deafening roar; everyone within 20 feet loses its hearing for 1d10 rounds unless it saves vs. poison.

They fight equally well on land and in water, with no underwater penalties, and keen smell and hearing let them fight normally in darkness. Sunlight and other bright light force a morale check and impose -2 to hit. Continual light only irritates them, with no morale check, but gives -1 to hit inside its area.

They can see and attack beings on the Ethereal Plane, typically hama and other souls bound for the afterlife, and evil is something they sense at will, as detect evil.

Reclusive, they shun the living and dwell in caves, fissures and tunnels beneath desert oases and along underground rivers, often gathering near evil cities and necropolises where their spirit prey abounds. Lazy gluttons, they gorge whenever possible and otherwise dig grottos, tunnels, and passages into tombs and graveyards.

Females rule by inheritance and are obeyed, if grudgingly. Size and strength count as much as wisdom and cunning, so hidden underground revolts and fights over good feeding grounds are common. Females make the males do most of the digging for new hunting and breeding sites.

Their roars carry for miles underground, roused by mating, territorial claims, battle or sheer delight in noise, and nearby villages tell of furious earth spirits and doorways into the realm of the dead. Their oily, decay-tainted flesh leaves them with few underground predators. Having lived below since ancient times, they cannot bear the sun and surface only rarely, at night.

They feed on the souls of the evil and damned. A wicked person's hama, or spirit form, is always a feeble flier such as a parrot or rooster, or flightless like an emu or a clipped bird. Material creatures give them no nourishment; they toy with such kills, tossing and worrying them until another scavenger hauls them off. Still, they will slay evil people to create food.