Shimnus [Greater Spirit]

In its true shape a shimnus is an ogre-sized hag who could pass for human at a distance. Matted, dirt-caked hair hangs loose around a mouth of sharp black teeth, its fingers end in long cracked nails, and it dresses in beggar's rags. Every shimnus ever seen has looked female.

Though neither weak nor cowardly, a shimnus would far rather cheat than fight, often playing a strange old woman to fool its marks. When it does fight, it uses claws or, half the time, magical weapons: usually a hammer of iron (+2, damage 1-8+2) and a massive pair of iron tongs or pincers (+1 to hit, damage 2-16).

Worse is its fiery breath, a 3-foot-wide, 10-foot-long cone dealing five dice of damage. It may breathe as often as it likes, but a round spent breathing allows no other attack. Once a day it can also grow to storm giant size for one turn (10 rounds), gaining +5 to THAC0, +8 damage, and the ability to throw boulders for 2-20 damage as far as 200 yards. Because the giant shape is borrowed, it never gets the full benefit of true storm giant size.

No mind control or hold spell affects it, and only +2 or better weapons can hit it. As an extraplanar being, though, it is vulnerable to magic aimed at such creatures, especially holy word.

The race originally lived on some outer plane and reached the Prime Material by misfortune, then chose to stay. Shimnuses live alone or in pairs at most, in empty wilderness along the edges of human lands. Scholars wonder whether males and females simply look alike, or whether the males never left the home plane.

They enjoy this world's mild climate and easy marks and regard humans as gullible pests to be put up with. Any attempt by these 'little things' to govern them is met with contempt and usually terrible revenge.

Shimnuses eat everything and have fallen hard for human cooking, especially cheese and milk, but they are not known to eat people or other humanoids. Feeding themselves is a constant concern, since they eat enormous amounts at a sitting. They prefer to trick people into feeding them, though some will pay for a good meal with part of their treasure.