Choker

CR 2, CE Small Aberration

Senses: Perception 1, Darkvision 60

Speed: 20 ft., climb 10 ft. Skills: Athletics 5, Stealth 13

Languages: Undercommon

Ability Scores: Str 16 (+4), Dex 14 (+3), Con 13 (+2), Int 4 (+1), Wis 13 (+5), Cha 7 (+2)

INIT: +6 CP: +2 HP: 16 (3d8+3) SA: -- DC: 15

AC: 17 Touch: 13 Flat-footed: 15 [+2 Dodge, +4 Natural, +1 Size]

SR: -- Vulnerable: -- Resistant: -- Bypass: --

Immunity: -- Effect Immunity: --

ACTIONS

Attacks

Melee (Natural) - 2 x tentacles +6 (1d4+3 plus grab). Reach: 10 ft. Constrict - Each time the Choker successfully hits an opponent, it can make a grapple check as a free action to see if it holds its opponent. If successful, the creature is grappled. On any successful grapple check (including this initial one) the target automatically takes bludgeoning damage equal to the damage typically dealt by this attack. Strangle - A Choker has an unerring talent for seizing their victims by the neck. A creature that is grappled by a Choker cannot speak or cast spells with verbal components. Grab - Each time this attack is successful, the Choker can make a grapple check as a free action to see if it holds his opponent. If successful, the opponent is grappled. Grabbing does not provoke an attack of opportunity

DESCRIPTION

Environment: any underground

Organization: None

Treasure: standard

This hunched-over wretch has long, pliable arms like tentacles capped with five wide, spiny claws.

Underground predators that often dwell on the outskirts of subterranean ruins or in the deep shadows of nameless cavern outposts, chokers lurk in the darkness and lash out with their long, rubbery arms to grasp prey as it passes by. They seldom attack multiple enemies at once, stalking their quarry until they can isolate a weaker victim from its pack. Chokers walk with a disturbing, almost comical gait due to their extremely limber legs. Weighing only 35 pounds and standing no taller than a half ling, chokers have no problem skittering across walls and ceilings, often lodging themselves into shadowy corners, tunnel intersections, walls, or staircases. A choker will attempt to grasp creatures of almost any size, but prefers lone prey of its size or smaller. Chokers appear to have little culture of their own, gathering only brief ly to mate before their wanderlust and hunger spurs them again to a solitary existence. Their just-better-than-animalistic intelligence grants them a fascination with the trappings of society even if they do not truly understand it. Accordingly, the grubby lair of a choker (often situated in a diff icult-toreach nook or cranny) usually contains valuable objects such as rings, brooches, cloak clasps, and loose coins gathered from devoured victims. This fascination occasionally compels a choker to abandon its subterranean home for a closer study of the sunlit world's many civilizations. These chokers feel most at home in the darkened narrow alleyways of human cities, squeezing themselves into sewers, forgotten alcoves, barrels, and similar cramped, overlooked spaces. Chokers prefer to keep hidden during the light of day, emerging from their hidey-holes under cover of darkness to hunt for food and cruel pleasure. Favorite tactics include using their long arms to scoop prey off the street from the safety of a nearby rooftop, attacking sleeping families by squeezing through an open chimney, or tapping on a window to bring their curious food within grasping distance.