Nothic

Nothic

CLIMATE/TERRAIN: Subterranean
FREQUENCY: Very Rare
ORGANIZATION: Solitary
ACTIVITY CYCLE: Any
DIET: Carnivore
INTELLIGENCE: High (13)
ALIGNMENT: Neutral evil

N° APPEARING: 1
AC: 5 (15)
MOVEMENT: 12
HIT DICE: 3+3
THAC0 15 (+5)
N° OF ATTACKS: 2 or 1
DAMAGE/ATTACK: claw (1d6) / claw (1d6) or gaze
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Rotting gaze
SPECIAL DEFENSES: See invisible and ethereal
SPECIAL ABILITIES: Darkvision, Weird insight
MAGIC RESISTANCE: None
SIZE: M (1,75 m)
MORALE: Elite (14)
EXPERIENCE: 975

ORIGIN: Miniatures Handbook (D&D 3.5)

Appearance
The nothic is a bloated and misshaped creature with some truly bizarre figures, the most prominent being its big mouth filled with sharp teeth and the large eye that takes up most of its face. It has a hunched over stance, as if they are unable to stretch their back into an upright position, and its members are thin and wiry. The arms extend past the length of its body, dragging along the ground but are surprisingly strong and end up on sharp-clawed hands. A nothic always walks with a strange, uneven gait.

Combat
Despite its sharp, iron-hard claws, a nothic only employs melee attacks as a last resort.

Its preferred attack is the rotting gaze - with a range of 10 meters, this gaze attack immediately causes 2-12 (2d6) hit points of damage, and the victim must also save versus magic or be infected with a rotting disease which is fatal in 1-6 months. For each month the rot progresses, the victim permanently loses 2 points of Charisma. While infected, the victim recovers lost hit points at 10 percent of his normal rate.

The rotting disease can be cured only with a cure disease spell; cure wounds has no effect. A regenerate spell will restore damage but will not otherwise affect the course of the disease. If a victim makes a successful saving throw, he is not infected, but he still suffers 2-12 hit points of damage.

With its weird insight ability the nothic targets any one creature it can see within 15 meters of it. The target must save versus spell. If the save fails, the creature magically learns one fact or secret about the target. The charm resistance of elves and half-elves apply against this attack.

Nothics can see perfectly in natural darkness and can see all invisible and ethereal creatures normally.

Habitat / Society
Most sages agree that Nothics are not native to the prime material plane. Their plane of origin is not known with certainty, but since they seem have a loose grip on reality and are borderline insane, many believe that they may have arrived through portals from the Far Realms or Pandemonium. 

Nothics are always alone and no one knows how these createres reproduce or even if they can form some kind of organized society.

They are normally found living in dark caves preferably close to underground rivers or lakes, but many an adventurer has found a nothic hiding in a lost library or in a forgotten dungeon, while others have been known to break into schools of magic or libraries within large cities, obsessively searching for secrets and answers to long lost questions.

Many nothics seem obsessed in always seeking magic knowledge or finding out secrets, and this includes using their weird insigh ability to see into a person’s mind to draw out information or dark secrets. What the creature does with this knowledge is unknown, but many nothics will trade secrets they learned for magical items or even more secrets.

Ecology
Nothics will eat anything, including carrion, but they seem to prefer a diet of fresh fish.

Some evil wizards have been known to keep a nothic around, either as spies - or for nothing other their own amusement. Even more appealing to their masters is that the creature is loyal to a fault. If their master is attacked, they will launch themselves at the enemy with a fury that is matched only by its insanity.