Vigilante Essence (3.5e Monster)

Strategies and Tactics
Vigilante Essences are possessed with a desire to do good and right the wrongs wherever they happen. They typically use zone of truth, cure serious wounds, and speak with dead to communicate with victims and suspected criminals in order to root out people and conspiracies that threaten the happiness or safety of the common people. Locate object is primarily used in order to seek out stolen goods.

In combat with a single, weak-looking opponent, the Vigilante Essence may attempt to dispatch them with a single sword swing, but in most other cases the Vigilante Essence prefers to hide a long distance away and snipe at its opponents, hiding again after each shot.

Sample Encounters
If the party is nasty, and the Vigilante Essence finds out about their misdeeds, their first sensation in the encounter with the Vigilante Essence is likely to be an arrow sticking out of one of them. In order to stop the Vigilante Essence from attacking them (other than by killing it), they must surrender and disarm theirselves, or imitate a convincing facsimile of such. Keep in mind that in D&D, a person without weapons holding their hands over their head and shouting "I'm unarmed!" is a threat.

If the party is nice, the Vigilante Essence is likely to accost them while remaining in hiding, suggesting that the party should help it defeat whatever villain it has discovered. Note that the Vigilante Essence only calls upon the help of others when its challenge is definitely beyond its relatively meager fighting abilities.

Ecology
Environment: Although Vigilante Essences hail from Chaotic Good-aligned planes, they are less likely to be found there than anywhere else.

Typical Physical Characteristics: Vigilante Essences range from 5 to 7 feet tall, and resemble ordinary Humanoids (of a variety of races) except for the unique, softly glowing golden tattoo covering most of their chests.

Alignment: Always Chaotic Good.

Society
Vigilante Essences who encounter each other tend to spend an hour or a week telling stories about the plots and villains they have discovered - especially those they failed to defeat - before parting ways.

Typical Treasure
Beyond their armor and weapons, Vigilante Essences typically carry 1d20 platinum pieces, 1d6 potions worth a total of 1000 gp or less, and 1d2-1 minor Wondrous Items.

Creatures As Characters
Vigilante Essences are reasonably sentient and highly independent; as such, they can make perfectly acceptable PCs.

Creatures With Class Levels
Instead of gaining additional hit dice, it is possible for Vigilante Essences to gain class levels.

Advanced Creatures
Vigilante Essences who gain additional hit dice gain new spell-like abilities, as well as 1d6 additional Surprise Attack damage at 7 HD and every 3 HD thereafter.