Cloaker (3.5e Monster)

"So I noticed you lost your cloak...what's up with that?"

''The brooch of your cloak suddenly unclasps itself, causing it to suddenly unfurl and, even more surprisingly, to snarl at you with unmistakable menace. Your attempts to escape from the cloak’s folds proves fruitless as it tightens around you, and once your head has been pulled down into the ‘cloth’ you come face to face with a pair of scarlet eyes illuminating a line of needle-like teeth. You thank your lucky stars the rest of the party already succumbed to their injuries; you wouldn’t want anyone telling the story of how you got killed by your own apparel.''

Cloakers are enigmatic beings that are able to slip through even the most vaunted of defenses through very inconspicuous means. Capable of impersonating a traveler’s cloak that possesses magical properties, they swiftly find their way into the hands of adventurers and seek to acquire knowledge and power wherever they go. Their long-term goals are unknown, but as with most intelligent aberrations it likely isn’t anything good. While cloakers do travel with adventurers, they are by no means friendly creatures, only aiding their wearers so long as it suits them and often betraying them to end up in the custody of a stronger owner.

Combat
Cloakers usually try to look innocuous, waiting until an unsuspecting victim has donned them before attacking. So if the fight has actually started, their Plan A has already been scrapped. That said, they are frightening combatants capable of routing even large groups of foes with magical illusions, fear, and deadly sonic attacks. In their natural form, cloakers resemble large manta rays with billowing wings and imposing stingers.

A cloaker may substitute its Dexterity modifier for its Strength modifier at any time for any reason; this is factored into its stat block. All save DC’s for the abilities described below are Charisma-based. In addition, a cloaker is considered constantly under the effect of a displacement spell when it its natural form.

The cloaker may not make a tail attack while being worn.

 (Ex): A cloaker is capable of perfectly imitating a cloak wearable for a creature from Small to Large size. It may cease or resume this imitation as a free action, and when disguised in this fashion it appears to all unaided or magical examination as a magical item known as a ‘cloak of the shadows’. If worn and used in combat, the cloaker allows its wearer to use each of its spell-like abilities once per encounter.

When disguised as a cloak, the cloaker enters a state of suspended animation, ceasing its normal life functions and no longer requiring sustenance, sleep, or breathe until it chooses to leave that form. That said, it remains aware of everything that goes on around it. In this form, the cloaker only takes damage from sources that specifically affect items and uses its own hit point total when taking damage.

When worn, the only offensive action the cloaker may take without detaching itself from its wearer is to make a grapple attempt against the wearer.

 (Ex): A cloaker being worn gains an additional +4 bonus on a grapple check made against its wearer and does not provoke attacks of opportunity for when grappling the wearer. Once the grapple has begun, the cloaker is no longer considered worn. In addition, half of all damage dealt to a grappling cloaker is automatically transferred to the creature it is grappling. This damage exchange is only one-way and cannot be used to transfer damage to the cloaker.

 (Su): As a full-round action useable at will, a cloaker may unleash a baleful moan that operates in the same fashion as the shout spell (DC 16). If it wishes, it may instead create a tone as a swift action that incites fear into the hearts of those who hear it, causing all non-cloakers within 30 feet to be shaken (without a saving throw) during each round that the cloaker spends a swift action to maintain it. Any creature within that is shaken must also make a Will save or be panicked. The cloaker may only use one of these effects each round.

Caster level 5th.