Sheet Ghoul/Sheet Phantom

A sheet phantom is a thin, almost see-through rectangle, a quarter inch thick, 11 to 16 feet wide and 7 to 12 feet long, in shades from snowy white to dingy gray. It has no face, only two glowing green spots for eyes, and those show only in the moment before it strikes a chosen victim.

A sheet ghoul is what the phantom leaves behind when it kills. At a glance it passes for a normal ghoul, but a close look often reveals cobweb-like white strands stuck to its face or a burial shroud in its grip, the remnants of the phantom.

Phantoms creep across walls and ceilings and fall onto prey. On a hit the sheet wraps tight around a single man-sized victim, or a pair no larger than dwarves, who cannot move. No damage occurs that first round; every round after, suffocation deals 1-4. Blows that hit the phantom also hit the person inside for the same amount. The victim can only fight back with a weapon of dagger size or smaller already in hand. Against the phantom's effective Strength of 15, one Bend Bars/Lift Gates attempt per round will break free. A victim who dies inside merges with the sheet over 12 hours and rises as a sheet ghoul. Phantoms are turned as wraiths and are vulnerable to all attacks save sleep, charm, and similar mental magic.

A sheet ghoul claws twice for 1-3 each and bites for 1-6. Its touch does not paralyze, but it can spit a thin stream of acid up to 10 feet for 1d8+1 damage, halved with a save vs. breath weapon. It shares the phantom's immunities to sleep, charm, and similar mind magic, but is otherwise vulnerable to all attacks, and is turned as a spectre.

Phantoms live in buildings with beds, usually abandoned or rarely used ones, and sometimes in a wealthy manor's forgotten guest room. Sheet ghouls favor old castles, mansions, and houses, especially those with a family crypt or graveyard. Ordinary ghouls and ghasts can sense a sheet ghoul instantly, despise it, and often chase it off.

Some scholars think the phantom is an undead lurker above, given the resemblance. Others insist it is a real sheet that soaked up the life force of a wicked person who died in that bed, trapping the evil soul inside.

Sheet ghouls eat both carrion and fresh kills, preferring corpses but happy to take a living meal. Phantoms need no food at all; they merge with victims for no practical reason and kill purely out of malice.