Darkmantle

Darkmantle
Characteristics
Type Magical beast
Image Wizards.com image
Stats Open Game License stats

In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy roleplaying game, a darkmantle is a strange magical beast which lives in caves.

Publication history

The darkmantle first appeared in the third edition Monster Manual (2000),[1] and in the 3.5 revised Monster Manual (2003). The creature was expanded upon in Dragon #275 (September 2000).[2]

The darkmantle appeared in the fourth edition Monster Manual 2 (2009).

Description

A darkmantle resembles something akin to a dark brown colored squid, roughly 4 feet long, with webs of membrane between the tentacles. Its part is shelled, and it has a muscular "foot" on the top of it. Though darkmantles have eyes, they "see" by using echolocation, much the way a bat does. Using a mixture of telekinetic ability and the flapping of its webbed tentacles, it can perform low level flying.

Habitat and society

The darkmantle attacks by attaching itself to the ceiling of a cave and disguising itself as a stalactite. It waits until someone is underneath, and then drops down, wrapping its tentacles around the head of the victim. It smothers them, and then proceeds to eat them from a mouth located under its head. Darkmantles also have an offensive/defensive ability in the ability to suck the light out of an area.

Darkmantles cannot speak.

They are neutral in alignment.

References

  1. Williams, Skip, Jonathan Tweet, and Monte Cook. Monster Manual (Wizards of the Coast, 2000)
  2. Richards, Johnathan M. "The Ecology of the Darkmantle." Dragon #275 (Paizo Publishing, 2000)