Ephemeral

Medium Undead (Incorporeal)

Hit Dice: 5d12 (32 hp)

Initiative: +7 (+3 Dex, +4 Improved Initiative)

Speed: Fly 50 ft. (perfect) (10 squares)

Armor Class: 18 (+3 Dex, +5 deflection), touch 18, flat-footed 15

Base Attack/Grapple: +2 / —

Attack: Incorporeal touch +5 melee (1d4 Intelligence drain)

Full Attack: Incorporeal touch +5 melee (1d4 Intelligence drain)

Space/Reach: 5 ft. / 5 ft.

Special Attacks: Create Ephemeral, Intelligence Drain, Possession

Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 ft., Fast Healing 2, Incorporeal Traits, Undead Traits

Saves: Fort +1, Ref +4, Will +5

Abilities: Str —, Dex 17, Con —, Int 11, Wis 13, Cha 20

Skills: Hide +11, Intimidate +13, Listen +5, Search +4, Spot +9

Feats: Blind-Fight, Improved Initiative

Environment: Phlogiston

Organization: Solitary or pack (3-8)

Challenge Rating: 5

Treasure: Standard

Alignment: Always neutral evil

Advancement: 6-15 HD (Medium)

Level Adjustment: —

This entity appears as a dusty gray humanoid with a diaphanous and faintly luminous body.

Ephemerals are believed to be the spirits of humanoids who have died in the plogiston. Their only goal seems to be to acquire a body and reenter a crystal sphere so that their spirits can continue on to the afterlife.

Ephemerals are attracted to strong magical energy, and tend to go after active spelljamming helms.

Combat

Ephemerals are unable to cause physical harm. They make full use of their incorporeal nature, moving through ship walls, ceilings, and floors as they attack.

Intelligence Drain (Su): An ephemeral causes 1d4 points of Intelligence drain each time it hits with its incorporeal touch attack, unless the opponent succeeds a Fort save against DC 17. The DC is Charisma-based. On each such successful drain, the ephemeral gains 5 temporary hit points.

Possession (Su): Once per round, and ephemeral can merge its body with a corporeal creature. This ability is similar to a magic jar spell (caster level 10th), except that it does not require a receptacle. To use this ability, the ephemeral must try to move try to move into the space of a target that's been drained of Intelligence; moving into the target's space to use the possession ability does not provoke attacks of opportunity. The target can resist the attack with a successful Will save (DC 17). A creature that successfully saves is immune to that same ephemeral's possession for 24 hours, and the ephemeral cannot enter the target's space. If the save fails, the ephemeral vanishes into the target's body.

If the host is killed, the ephemeral is forced to leave the body. Magic that counters the magic jar spell is also effective against ephemeral occupation.

Create Ephemeral (Su): Any humanoid reduced to 0 Intelligence by an ephemeral, and then not possessed by it or restored to an Intelligence score of 1 or higher, becomes an ephemeral in 2d4 days. The new ephemerals do not possess any of the abilities they had in life.