# Skulking Cyst >[!rimg]+ > ![[Placeholder2.png]] *The horrible creature walking into view is a mass of free-roaming intestines, flaccid organs, and a few odd rib bones. Dragging behind it like a dead weight is a lolling, maggot-ridden humanoid head.* <div class="grid-container"><div class="MON">Skulking Cyst</div> <div class="CR">CR 4 (1,200 XP)</div> <div class="SOU">Libris Mortis pg. 120</div> <div class="SYS">Dungeons & Dragons 3.5</div></div> CE Small Undead **Init** +4 **Senses** blindsight 60 ft., darkvision 60 ft.; **Perception** +11 #### defense **AC** 19, 15 touch, 15 flat-footed (+4 Dex, +4 natural, +1 size) **hp** 30 (4d8+12) **Fort** +4, **Refl** +5, **Will** +6 **Feint** 15, **Demoralize** 16 **Immune** undead traits; **Resist** fire 5 #### offense **Speed** 30 ft., climb 30 ft., swim 30 ft. **Melee** 2 slam +8 (1d3 plus attach) **Space** 5 ft., **Reach** 5 ft. **Special Attacks** attach, blood drain **Spell-Like Abilities** (CL 3th, Concentration +6) > **3/day**— _darkness_ > **1/day**— _necrotic cyst_ #### statistics **Str** 10, **Dex** 19, **Con** —, **Int** 13, **Wis** 14, **Cha** 16 **BAB** +3, **CMB** +2, **CMD** 16, **TA** +4, **RTA** +8 **Feats** [[Alertness]], [[Weapon Finesse]] **Skills** Acrobatics +8, Climb +15, Perception +11, Stealth +21, Swim +12 **Racial Modifiers** +8 Stealth **Languages** Common, Necril (cannot speak) #### special abilities ### Attach (Ex) A skulking cyst that hits with its bite attack locks its sucker onto the target, anchoring it in place. An attached skulking cyst is effectively grappling its prey. The skulking cyst looses its Dexterity bonus to AC, but holds on with great tenacity. A skulking cyst has a +8 racial bonus to maintain its grapple on a foe once it is attached. An attached skulking cyst can be struck with a weapon or grappled itself. If its prey manages to win a grapple check or Escape Artist check against it, the skulking cyst is removed. ### Blood Drain (Ex) If it grapples a foe, a skulking cyst drains blood at the end of its turn, dealing 1d4 points Constitution damage. #### tactics #### ecology **Terrain** Any **Organization** Solitary or concentration (3–9) **Treasure** Standard **Advancement** — A skulking cyst is disgorged from the rotting corpse of a living creature, born of a necrotic cyst that eventually kills its host. A skulking cyst prefers shadows and dark corners, only revealing the horror of its form when it strikes lone victims from hiding. Though often cloaked in the detritus of a previous victim, the skulking cyst’s true “heart” is a 1-foot-diameter spherical sac that contains fluid and semisolid necrotic flesh, which slowly undulates as if in a mockery of breath.