Lamia

A lamia has a lovely woman's head, arms and torso atop the body of a lion, goat, deer or similar beast, colored to match, which makes it fast and strong. It wears nothing, may smell of perfumed flowers to draw victims, carries daggers for carving its meals, and speaks common.

Each day a lamia can use suggestion, illusion (as the wand), mirror image and charm person once apiece, at 9th level of ability, mainly to lure people in and hold them until it feeds. Favorite guises for itself are a damsel in distress, a beautiful but tough ranger, or a young elf woman; alternatively it hides and projects a lost child or peasants attacked by a beast, then strikes from behind.

Each touch costs a victim 1 Wisdom permanently, and below 3 he obeys the lamia gladly, often by attacking his friends while it thins their ranks. It drains every victim it can and may add charm to tighten its grip.

Solitary and evil, lamias lair in ruined cities or caves in deserts and wastelands, eating anyone who strays near and hunting game when food is short. They seldom range beyond 10 miles from home.

These legendary predators of travelers also guard hidden places and powerful objects, and they seem devoted to spreading chaos and evil around them.

Nobles are the rulers of lamias and their desolate realms. Their lower halves are giant snakes, their upper halves male or female, and two nobles mating are said to produce ordinary female lamias. Males carry short swords and know 1d6 levels of wizard spells; females fight only with magic and know 2d4 levels. All have the four innate lamia spells and the Wisdom-draining touch.

Nobles can take human shape to infiltrate society and do evil, and they speak every human and demihuman language. Disguised, only characters above 6th level can recognize them, with a chance of 5% per level past 6th, cumulative; priests and paladins add 15% (35% for a 10th-level priest). Nobles are prone to sudden, senseless violence.