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)