Spectral Lurker

A spectral lurker waits in the dark places where only the brave and foolhardy go. Drawn to a dungeon, an abandoned keep, or a cavernous space, a lurker bides its time, hoping for a meal to pass by.

A lurker’s body is roughly ovoid in shape. From it sprout two long tentacles and two eyes on long, prehensile stalks. Below these four appendages sits a large mouth filled with sharp teeth. The coloration of a lurker’s hide is nearly always the faded gray of stone, but its tentacles and mouth give off a faint, white glow.

A spectral lurker is often mistaken for an unusual-looking ghost when spotted at a distance. Those who seek to put the “ghost” to rest are one of the most common sources of food for the creature.

Spectral lurkers speak Undercommon.

Combat

A spectral lurker hides in walls, floors, and ceilings of enclosed spaces⁠—​dungeons, caverns, and so on—waiting for a tasty morsel to pass nearby. When likely prey makes an appearance, it strikes with its tentacles, wrapping a victim up, turning it incorporeal, then dragging it inside a solid surface before releasing it. It repeats these tactics until its prey is dead.

Constrict (Ex): With a successful grapple check, a spectral lurker can constrict a grabbed opponent, dealing 2d6 points of bludgeoning damage.

Dexterity Drain (Su): A creature grappled by a spectral lurker must make a Fortitude save (DC 22) or be drained of 1d6 points of Dexterity. This saving throw must be made each round the opponent remains grappled.

Ghost Touch Attacks (Su): A spectral lurker’s tentacle and bite attacks deal normal damage to corporeal creatures. Essentially, the lurker can consider its mouth and tentacles as corporeal or incorporeal at any given time, whichever is more beneficial to the creature.

Improved Grab (Ex): If a spectral lurker hits an opponent that is at least one size category smaller than itself with a tentacle attack, it deals normal damage and attempts to start a grapple as a free action without provoking an attack of opportunity (grapple bonus +26). If it gets a hold, it can pull the opponent into a solid surface and also constrict in the same round. Thereafter, the lurker has the option to conduct the grapple normally, or simply use its tentacle to hold the opponent (−20 penalty on grapple check, but the spectral lurker is not considered grappled). In either case, each successful grapple check it makes during successive rounds automatically deals tentacle damage and subjects the opponent to the possibility of Dexterity drain.

Incorporealize (Su): A creature grappled and pinned by a spectral lurker’s tentacles must make a Fortitude save (DC 22) or become incorporeal itself. This effect temporarily grants the creature the incorporeal subtype (as long as it remains grappled by the spectral lurker), but doesn’t automatically allow it to escape the lurker’s grapple due to the lurker’s ability to make ghost touch attacks. If a victim becomes corporeal while inside a material object (such as a solid wall), it is shunted of to the nearest open space and takes 1d6 points of damage per 5 feet that it so travels.

Skills: A spectral lurker has a +8 racial bonus on Hide checks when it is hiding in a solid object.

Source: Fiend Folio, page 158. Changes applied as per the D&D^® v.3.5 Accessory Update.