Choker

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

Choker (CR 2)

Small Aberration
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Initiative: +6
Senses: Darkvision 60 feet; Perception +1

Speed: 20 feet, Climb 10 feet
Space: 5 feet

Defense

Armor Class: 17, touch 13, flat-footed 15 (+2 Dex, +4 natural, +1 size)
Hit Points: 16 (3d8+3)
Saving Throws: Fort +2, Ref +3, Will +4

Offense

Melee: 2 tentacles +6 (1d4+3 plus Grab)
Reach: 10 feet

Special Attacks: Constrict (1d4+3), Grab (Large), Strangle

Statistics

Str	Dex	Con	Int	Wis	Cha
16 (+3)	14 (+2)	13 (+1)	4 (-3)	13 (+1)	7 (-2)

Base Attack Bonus: +2
CMB +4 (+8 Grapple)
CMD 16

Feats: Improved Initiative, Skill Focus (Stealth)

Skills: Climb +16, Stealth +13

Languages: Undercommon

Special Qualities: quickness

Special Abilities

Grab (Ex)

A choker can use its grab attack against a foe of up to Large size.

Strangle (Ex)

Chokers have 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.

Quickness (Su)

A choker is supernaturally quick. It can take an extra move action during its turn each round.

Ecology

Environment: Any Underground
Organization: solitary, pair, or clutch (3-8)
Treasure: standard


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 briefly 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 difficult-to-reach 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.