Netherghast (3.5e Monster)

''The sound of sobbing alerts you to the presence of a bloated white tumor floating above you. Its cancerous form has elongated useless arms hanging from its underside, and its front possesses a face clamped shut in pain. As it turns toward you its mouth and eyes open, revealing a blazing furnace of hellfire and a scream of agony.''

Within some of the lower planes reserved for the suffering of the souls of the damned, there is the netherghast, a pitiful yet dangerous creature formed out of the mutilated and reshaped souls of those cursed to inhabit here. Their bodies are filled with a constant stream noxious reactive gas which allows them to float, and which bursts into flames the moment they open their eyes or mouth. As a result most keep their eyes and mouth shut, whimpering in pain from wisps of gas which seep from their body. Driven mad with suffering they blame their troubles on any being in range, spitting the same fumes which torment them as an explosive volley against others.

Netherghasts are intelligent enough to speak, but most only moan in pain and they are by and large too hateful of non-netherghasts to bother. They understand Abyssal and Infernal, 10 ft. in diameter and lighter than air.

Combat
Netherghasts really only have one form of attack, the hellfire bomb, but they are capable of using tactics with their limited arsenal. They can stalk their prey, blast away protective surfaces, collapse in ceilings, or occasionally work with other netherghasts to pursue the same target. They have shown disturbing patience, entrapping difficult targets and moaning them to death while hidden away.

Entropic Ward :  Netherghasts are constantly under the effect of entropic shield. It can be dispelled, but the netherghast can resume it as a free action on its turn.

Hellfire Bomb :  The netherghast can spit a bolt of explosive pus as a standard action. This is a ranged touch attack with a range increment of 120 ft, and deals 1d6 per HD, plus the netherghasts Con modifier in hellfire damage. Hellfire ignores fire resistance and fire immunity. It also explodes, dealing the same amount of damage in a 20 ft. radius burst in normal fire damage, with a DC 22 Reflex save for half. Targets hit by the touch attack only take the initial hellfire damage and not the subsequent fire explosion. The saving throw is Constitution based.

The hellfire bomb is very effective against objects. Objects or hardness 10 or less struck by a hellfire bomb take full damage unless immune to fire. Objects of hardness 11 and higher take normal fire damage. Netherghasts are aware of the potency of their explosions and often use it to blast away stone and collapse caverns.

Moaning : Netherghasts constant moaning unnerves the minds of others over long periods of time. Those exposed to the baleful cries of a netherghast over an hour or more must make a DC 19 Will save each hour or take 1d6 points of Wisdom damage that cannot be healed as long as they can hear the moaning, save negates. The terrible cries seem to spread up to 1000 ft away without losing its effect, and can pass through 10 feet of any material before it is muffled to the point of harmlessness. The saving throw is Wisdom based.

Self Blinding : Netherghasts default to keeping their eyes shut as when they open their mouth and eyes the burning starts again. Unless attacking with a hellfire bomb, a netherghast is usually blind when encountered. Even when blind, they do not take the penalty to AC, they do not lose their Dex bonus, they do not move at half speed, nor do they take penalties on any checks other than those that rely on vision (such as reading or Spot checks). Creatures do have total concealment, mitigated by their blindsight. They only open their eyes briefly when making attacks with their hellfire bomb. They are treated as always averting their eyes against gaze attacks.