Planar Bestiary
Born in the glooms of Hades, a gloom strider is a fiend without hope. Evolved from lesser fiends over centuries, a gloom strider is unused to celestial objects, be they moon or sun or even seasons. Bleached of all color and passion, a gloom strider seeks to leech the same from others that still have them.
A gloom strider mocks the humanoid form, in that they have two legs and something that might be a head, or at least an approximation thereof. Armless, the creature betrays what may have previously been a wormlike form before some ordeal or punishment forced them into their current shape—a shape given to constant pain, as they always writhe and shake.
Because pain is one of the few sensations a gloom strider recalls, they don't strive to ease their own suffering.
Motive: Destroy hope, spread misery, warp flesh
Environment: Anywhere dark in the multiverse, alone or in the company of fiends
Health: 15
Damage Inflicted: Moderate wound (5 points)
Armor: 2
Movement: Short; short when climbing
Modifications: Deception as level 7
Combat: The gloom strider psychically lashes out at up to two targets in immediate range. These hope.crushing attacks inflict 5 points of Intellect damage (ignores Armor) on a failed Intellect defense task. Affected targets are also stunned, losing their next turn.
Once every few rounds, the gloom strider can attempt to warp the flesh of a target in short range that fails an Intellect defense task. An affected target takes 8 points of damage and descends one step on the damage track as their flesh warps. A creature that descends three steps on the damage track due to the gloom strider's attack isn't dead; instead, their body is so warped that they now somewhat resemble the gloom strider. The warped victim is also unconscious until they ascend at least one step on the track. Returning to their normal form requires magic that can remove curses or other powerful magic.
Once each day the gloom strider can teleport to any location on the current plane that they can see or know about. When they do, either they leave behind a patch of darkness or create a patch where they appear. The darkness has an immediate radius and lasts for up to ten minutes.
A gloom strider is immune to cold, fire, and poison attacks.
Interaction: A gloom strider desires to drain hopes and aspirations from others in the same way hope was taken from them. Misery loves company, though instead of love, a gloom strider only feels their own pain more. They can speak a variety of common languages, or contact their victims telepathically.
Use: Patients at the village temple have come down with an unknown disease or curse; each day their flesh is warped more and more, causing their spirits to plunge.
GM Intrusion: The magical attack or effect a character attempts against the gloom strider fails in a surge of supernatural gloom and hopelessness.