Nightskitter

This umbral mass unfolds a tangle of spidery legs and horrible mandibles, rising up to a monstrous height to bring its cluster of glowing red eyes to bear.

Nightskitter (CR 12)

Huge Undead (Extraplanar, Nightshade)
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Initiative: +5
Senses: darksense 30 feet, Darkvision 60 feet, Low-Light Vision, Detect Magic; Perception +22
Aura: desecrating aura (30 feet, DC 21)

Speed: 30 feet, Climb 30 feet
Space: 15 feet

Defense

Armor Class: 28, touch 14, flat-footed 22 (+5 Dex, +1 dodge, +14 natural, -2 size)
Hit Points: 157 (15d8+90)
Saving Throws: Fort +11, Ref +14, Will +15
Damage Reduction: 15/good and silver
Immunity: cold, undead traits
Spell Resistance: 23
Weaknesses: light aversion

Offense

Melee: bite +21 (4d8+16/19-20 plus 4d6 cold and poison)
Reach: 15 feet

Special Attacks: channel negative energy 9/day (DC 26, 6d6), umbral Web

Spell-Like Abilities (CL 12th; Concentration +16):

• Constant- Detect Magic, Magic Fang
  
  
• At Will- Deeper Darkness, Unholy Blight (DC 18)
  
  
• 3/day- Contagion (DC 18), Dispel Magic, Greater, Invisibility
  
  
• 1/day- Air Walk, Cone of Cold (DC 19), Haste, Hold Monster (DC 19), Plane Shift (DC 21), summon (level 5, 1 greater shadow)

Statistics

Str	Dex	Con	Int	Wis	Cha
28 (+9)	21 (+5)	-	16 (+3)	19 (+4)	19 (+4)

Base Attack Bonus: +11
CMB +22
CMD 38 (50 vs. Trip)

Feats: Combat Reflexes, Command Undead, Dodge, Improved Critical (bite), Lightning Reflexes, Spring Attack

Skills: Acrobatics +20, Climb +35, Knowledge (arcana) +21, Knowledge (religion) +21, Perception +22, Spellcraft +21 (+29 in dim light and darkness), Stealth +15

• Racial Modifiers: +8 Spellcraft in dim light and darkness

Languages: Abyssal, Common, Infernal; telepathy 100 ft.

Special Abilities

Nightshade Traits

All nightshades radiate a 30-foot desecrate aura (as per the spell), can channel energy, possess true seeing and deathwatch in areas of dim light or darkness, and are effectively sickened in areas of bright light (double penalty in sunlight). Full details on nightshade traits can be found on page 308 of the Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 2.

Poison (Su

) Bite-injury; save Fort DC 23; frequency 1/round for 6 rounds; effect 1d4 Charisma damage and 2d6 cold damage; cure 2 consecutive saves. The save DC is Charisma-based.

Umbral Web (Su

) A nightskitter can weave semisolid webs out of shadowstuff. These webs are not strong enough to bear any but the lightest weight. A nightskitter can use these umbral webs in two different ways, as detailed below. Attacking: Up to eight times per day, a nightskitter can hurl a mass of umbral webs at a target. This is similar to an attack with a net but has a maximum range of 100 feet, with a range increment of 10 feet, and is effective against targets up to one size category larger than the nightskitter. An entangled creature gains 1d4 temporary negative levels while entangled, and can attempt to escape with a successful DC 28 Escape Artist check, or may try to burst the web with a DC 28 Strength check. The negative levels granted by an umbral web vanish as soon as the entangled character escapes from the web. Multiple umbral webs can entangle a single foe-the DCs to escape do not increase, but the temporary negative levels they cause stack. A creature that gains a total number of negative levels equal to its Hit Dice is immediately slain. Warding: By encasing all surfaces of an enclosed area, such as a cavern or a room, with thick layers of umbral webs, a nightskitter can infuse that area with necromantic energy. A chamber warded by umbral webs is treated as if under the effects of an unhallow spell with a deeper darkness spell fixed to the effect. A single nightskitter can maintain one such infused area at a time, to a maximum size of one 20-foot cube per Hit Die possessed by the nightskitter. Maintaining an umbral web ward does not limit its use of these webs to attack.

Ecology

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


Despite their undead status, nightshades possess a complex relationship with Urgathoa, goddess of undeath. At times they serve as summoned allies to her clergy, but they serve mortals only so long as they can be controlled, bribed, or cowed by the threat of deific intervention.

Despite their nature, nightshades only rarely interact with mortal cultists of Abyssal lords or archdaemons of similar mien, such as Nocticula, Orcus, Charon, and Trelmarixian. This fact owes more to the rarity of interactions between nightshades and fiends in general- despite nightshades' own fiendish origins- as they are relatively isolated from the Abyss and Abbadon, and prey on those planes' residents as willingly as on those of the Material Plane.