Bone Weird

In its native state a bone weird has no form at all. On other planes it takes over discarded bones and, when roused, knits them into a menacing serpent, choosing the skull of some fierce beast or brutal humanoid for a head when one is handy. It is highly intelligent, but no one knows whether it can communicate.

At rest it cannot be detected; detect invisibility shows only a faint flicker at the edge of vision. When living beings come within 10 feet it spends two rounds rising into serpent form, then strikes at anything it can reach. Each attack is a 50/50 choice between two tactics.

The first is a slam that deals 1d8 and forces a save vs. paralyzation; failure tumbles the victim into the bone pile, which grinds him for 2d6 automatically every round he stays inside. Climbing out normally takes a Strength check at -2. The second is a 1d8 bite that requires a save vs. death magic. On a failure, the weird rips 1d6 random bones from the victim's body to add to its own, anything from a little finger to a hip, dealing 4d10 damage and demanding a system shock roll to survive.

Mundane weapons do just 1 point per hit, and piercing (Type P) weapons do nothing. Magical weapons deal full damage, except piercing ones, which deal 1 point. Turning and spells that affect undead work only 25% of the time; when they do, treat the weird as a lich. No other spells affect it. Dropping it to 0 hit points merely scatters it, and it reforms at full strength 4 turns later; only driving it to -10 destroys it.

Unlike solitary elemental cousins such as water weirds, bone weirds always turn up in pairs or larger groups. They rarely arrive by accident; most are brought over by a powerful wizard or necromancer.

Any creature that dies in the heap has its life force drained by the weird, and its skeleton swells the pile. With no prey around, a weird can lie dormant for ages without harm, but each one needs enough bones to loosely fill a 5-foot cube (125 cubic feet), or it perishes.