New 3.5 monster- Berbelang. Advice needed!

The Berbelang is a folkloric creature of Filipino origin. They are said to be human-like, with the eyes and claws of cats, and sometimes wings. They stalk travellers through the jungle paths at night. If you encounter one, the only way to survive is to carry a dagger soaked with lime juice, and use it to slash wildly behind you- they are tricky beasts, and never where they seem to be.

They've always been a favourite of mine, and I wanted to use them in an upcoming one-shot- level 10, low optimization, a vaguely horror/investigation type game. If the players trust the wrong people, they get led into a swamp full of these things. three or four would jump them at once, more if they've drawn too much attention to themselves.

Therefore, I want something stealthy, that packs a punch when it attacks with surprise, and is difficult to land a blow on.

So, advice- is Sudden Strike and poison excessive? I like poison to get the players' attention, since it damages them in a more serious way than HP damage. Still not sure if it's needed here.

Also, something I've not included in the stat-block below- how best to replicate the "never where you expect them to be" ability? A straight 50% miss chance? Maybe Greater Invisibility, with a permanent illusion of being five feet in the wrong direction? That might either make a memorable fight, or just make my players hate me. This would also give them their bonus damage on every attack, unless the players have True Seeing.
Either option will hopefully mean the players will panic and spam their area spells, making the later fights of the adventure a little tighter.


Berbelang
medium aberration
Hit dice: 8d8 (52HP)
AC: 18/22 (+5 dodge, +3 natural, +4 mobility)
Initiative+7
2 claws+9 (d6+3 plus 2d6 sudden strike plus poison)
Str 16 Dex 18 Con 16 Int 8 Wis 12 Cha 14
Fort+5 Ref+5 Will+7
Feats: Improved initiative, Dodge, mobility
Skills:
Tumble +8
Move Silently +15
Hide +15
Jump +14
Disguise+6
Alignment: Usually Chaotic Evil
Challenge Rating: 8

Poison: DC 17 (d3 Dex/d3 Dex)

Sudden strike:+2d6 damage against a flat-footed enemy

Light As Air: The Berbelang may walk unimpeded over marshy or broken ground, and jump double the usual height and distance with a successful jump check.

Skills: The Berbelang gets a +4 bonus on Jump and Tumble checks, and Disguise checks to pass as human.

These nocturnal predators work in small groups to stalk and devour isolated creatures, lost in their marsh and jungle lairs. They eat any living thing, but they value the thrill of hunting intelligent creatures above all else.
The Berbelang is around five feet tall, and weighs no more than eighty pounds. Their skin is a dark, purplish colour, and their eyes are bright amber.

Give them a Version of Shadow Conjuration. They create a copy of themselves thats only (X%) real, and so long as the copy exists, they have greater invisibillity.

That look good? Plus, nice horror monster:smallbiggrin:

Hm- good thinking. Give the players a will save to see through the illusion when they first fail to hit one. That'll give me my requisite quota of evil laughs, while still giving the players some idea of what's going on. Plus, once the illusion's broken, the sudden strike damage goes away, giving the players a concrete advantage, if they survive the first onslaught.

Ya, plus Shadow Comjurations may be illusions, but they are at least partialy real, so first will save, then they got to kill the shadow. Then the sneaker:smallbiggrin:

But anyway, lets assume the shadow copy is 50% real. So, they would deal half damage and have half hp, intill they're disbelived, then they deal half that (25% base damage), only a 50% chance of abillities working on targets, that kinda thing.

And should be fun:smallamused:

WotC made the bergalang for 1st and 2nd edition but never made one for 3rd. Over on EnWorld, you can find the converted berbalang stats: http://creaturecatalog.enworld.org/c.../berbalang.htm.

It might give you some ideas.

Debby