Fireshadow

A fireshadow is built of cold, green flame and always arrives at its full 30-foot height, though it takes whatever shape its summoner chooses: a ghostly dragon, a looming human or a giant skeleton, for instance. A pale green fiery aura surrounds it in every form. It cannot speak, but it shares thoughts with its summoner telepathically.

It strikes three times each round in melee, and anyone within ten feet of its aura who lacks fire resistance takes 1d6 damage per round. Anyone it touches must save vs. spell or start turning into green flame, losing 1d8 hit points per round. A cure spell works normally against this, and each dose of holy water heals 1d6+1 per round, but until every bit of flame is gone the 1d8 loss continues.

A victim who burns away completely can be restored only by a wish. The fireshadow may keep the remains as a lesser fireshadow with the victim's former Hit Dice and no will of its own, obeying every telepathic command, or it may absorb them to recover 1d20 hit points.

Once per turn it can unleash its ray of oblivion, an unseen cone from its mouth, 130 feet in length and 5 feet across. Everything in the area takes 4d4 damage every other round, halved by a save vs. breath weapon, and anyone dropped to 0 hit points or less by the ray is disintegrated.

Fire, mental attacks and nonmagical melee weapons cannot touch it, though magical weapons hurt it normally. Priests cannot turn it. Each hit from a mace of disruption carries a 50% chance of destroying it outright, and otherwise deals double damage plus double any damage bonuses.

One hit from the Dwarven Forgehammer also destroys it. Legend calls this artifact the only hammer able to forge the dragon-slaying lance. Double the size of an ordinary war hammer, it, grants +2 to hit and deals 2d4+2. A wielder needs Strength 12 to lift it, and anyone below 18/50 takes -2 to hit, canceling the bonus. Versus undead and Abyssal beings it works like a mace of disruption, and it turns undead at the level of a 12th-level priest. Possessing a mind of its own (Int 11, Ego 11), it and dominates any holder whose Intelligence plus Wisdom is 21 or less. At its own discretion, operating at 20th level, it can detect evil as a paladin, make its wielder immune to normal and magical fear, protect the wielder from 1st- to 4th-level spells, and, once per day apiece, cast prayer, cast cure serious wounds and lend the might of a fire giant strength potion, and awe all dwarves so they stand stunned until the wielder leaves their sight.

Only an evil cleric of 8th level or higher can call a fireshadow to the Prime Material plane, and even then only with the approval and help of the cleric's deity. Once here it eagerly joins in evil schemes, revels in death and ruin, and serves especially well as an assassin or guardian. At home it keeps no lair, drifting through the skies of the Abyss in search of victims.

A fireshadow can consume any creature it turns to flame, but it prefers intelligent prey. Every 200 years it divides into two identical copies, and at 500 years of age it crumbles to ash.