Men-shen

A men-shen is a greater spirit that guards a place or person from intruders and evil spirits. He looks like an oversized, grim-faced human with golden skin and black, blue or red eyes. Some are bald, some have long flowing hair, and some wear a single flower-braided topknot reaching the middle of the back. He dresses as an army general, uniform spotless and medals gleaming, and bears a large red sword. He speaks the languages of every people of the eastern lands and the tongue of the celestial court of heaven.

Once assigned to protect someone or something, or having agreed to any service, a men-shen fulfills the duty to the death.

He is very hard to fight. Continual ESP covers 30 feet around him, so nothing nearby can surprise him. He flies, turns invisible at will and fights unseen as with improved invisibility, may go astral whenever he likes, and can polymorph self two times daily, often into an oni or similar terror. His fierce face acts as an apparition spell, giving him +1 on surprise and sending creatures of 1 Hit Die or less running for 1-3 rounds unless they save vs. spell. Fear, charm and all hold spells fail on him, and damaging spells inflict half damage or none.

His sword grants +4 to attack and damage, serves no one else, and turns to dust if he is destroyed. He must visit the heavenly realms daily to keep it potent; each day away costs 1 point of its attack bonus, though the damage bonus stays.

Two generals who served a good emperor were the first men-shen. When an evil dragon's nightly visits made the emperor ill, they guarded his door night after night without sleeping. Worried for them, he had their portraits painted on the doorposts, and so complete had their vigilance been that the paintings alone held the dragon off.

People still paint men-shen by their doors against evil spirits, and any such image has a 5% chance of housing an astral men-shen, usually unknown to the household. The heavenly emperor sometimes assigns them tasks, but mortals summon them more often. The generals judge each plea and send one men-shen or a pair if it is worthy, usually to guard tombs, shrines or vaults, while pleas to meddle in mortal affairs, such as striking at enemies, are generally ignored. A guardian usually keeps watch from dusk to dawn and spends the day at court.

Men-shen neither eat nor drink. Simply attending the celestial court is enough to restore and refresh them.