Thunder Children

Known also as lightning kin, night rattlers or storm children, thunder children are spiteful creatures that come out to 'play' in violent storms, above all at night, and their games are deadly. They look like thin, glossy black humanoids with spindly limbs and stunted wings. Their faces are human apart from little horns at the temples and pointed ears, and their pupilless eyes flicker like lightning.

Their own tongue is all booms, howls and crackles, but many know common too, and they are superb mimics of everyday noises such as creaking doors and heavy footsteps.

The simplest threat is their fanged bite, which deals 2d8 and forces a save vs. spell to avoid 10 extra points of electrical damage. Each can cast darkness 15' radius, fog cloud, gust of wind and chain lightning (which lances from its eyes) as a 7th-level wizard, each spell seven times a day, though only one can be active at a time. They can sense fear within 120 feet and can turn gaseous, resembling a small black thundercloud.

Their cleverest attack is psychological. During storms they loosen doors and windows, slam shutters, toss small objects around outside and generally make the storm more frightening, because fear is their food. Each round a thunder child works to scare someone, that person must save vs. paralyzation or be gripped by terror and lose 1 point of Wisdom to the creature. A victim reduced to 0 Wisdom dies of fright unless he saves vs. death magic. Survivors regain 1 point every 12 hours.

They have a 70% chance each to hide in shadows and move without a sound, are immune to fear, and have 120-foot infravision that pierces even magical darkness.

Their homes are small caves hollowed into storm clouds, magically firmed up much as a cloud giant's cloud is made to bear a castle. They keep no treasure, having no interest in it. They have no leaders and work together only when it suits them, though a lone one may sometimes enjoy tormenting a victim privately.

Sexless, they breed by soaring into thunderclouds and letting lightning strike them. On a successful save vs. magic, a new thunder child at half strength appears at the very instant the bolt's thunder sounds; if not, the parent dies. The newcomer matures in six months, and any lair has a 10% chance of holding 1d4+1 young.

Gloomy places such as old graveyards, mildewed mansions and dark clifftop castles above the sea are their favorite haunts, and any spot that frightens humans, demihumans or humanoids suits them. Those that drift into the misty dread realm find it a paradise.

Their mischief has earned them many enemies, among them pegasi, storm and cloud giants, air elementals and djinn. Cloud and storm giants call them 'thunder bats' and regard them much as people regard rats in the walls. Their blood is rumored to help in brewing potions of gaseous form, and perhaps potions of weather control (like the 7th-level priest spell), though the latter may be only theoretical.