Shadow Demon [Greater Tanar'ri]

Unmistakably fiendish, a shadow demon resembles a gaunt 7-foot gargoyle with leathery wings, ropy muscles, clawed fingers and toes, cold gray eyes and a wide, fang-lined mouth. It speaks by telepathy. Spawned in the Abyss, it grows up on other planes, gaining power by killing and eating humans.

A shadow demon passes through two stages, fledgling and mature, with different abilities, but at either stage it fights with two claws (2d4 each) and a bite (3d4). It can use magic but prefers tooth and claw, especially against a helpless foe, since the victim's added terror means added pleasure for the fiend. Its Strength of 19 adds +7 to damage.

A newborn fledgling has 7 Hit Dice and Armor Class 4. On arriving in another plane, usually the neutral planes or the Prime, it gains 2 hp, and each victim it kills and eats there adds 1 hp and half a step of Armor Class. So a fledgling that has devoured two humans is AC 3 with 7+4 HD. Full growth comes after 18 meals, at 7+20 HD and AC -5.

Immature shadow demons lack the usual tanar'ri spell-like powers and have darkness 15' radius and a once-a-day death gaze instead. A victim of the gaze must save vs. spell or spend the next 10 days turning into a ghast (a demihuman becomes a ghoul instead). Slaying the demon or casting remove curse halts and reverses this, but once the change is complete it can never be undone. Fledglings also have some thieving talent: 55% to detect noise, 50% to hide in shadows, 40% to move silently, and a x2 backstab, and only magical or cold-wrought iron weapons can harm them.

Shadow demons are a curse upon humankind and the only fiends that pass a stage of life away from their home plane. They seem to play no part in the endless war between demons and devils. After their tour of slaughter on the Prime Material Plane they return to the Abyss and live out their immortal lives in one of its fortresses.

Their purpose is a mystery. Perhaps the spilling of innocent human blood feeds the power of the tanar'ri in some way.