4 monsters for your approval.  The first
3 are courtesy of Greg Deckler, while the Hunchback
comes from a recent mailing of the Dragon's Hoard.
All are (c) their creators.
-------
Breath Stealer
 
 
 
CLIMATE/TERRAIN:    Various
FREQUENCY:          Rare
ORGANIZATION:       Solitary
ACTIVITY CYCLE:     Any
DIET:               Carnivore
INTELLIGENCE:       Exceptional
TREASURE:           Nil
ALIGNMENT:          Nuetral (Chaotic Evil)
 
NO. APPEARING:      One
ARMOR CLASS:        6
MOVEMENT:           7
HIT DICE:           1-5 HP
THAC0:              20
NO. OF ATTACKS:     3
DAMAGE/ATTACK:      1-2/1-2/1-3
SPECIAL ATTACKS:    Rear claw rake 1-2/1-2, See Below
SPECIAL DEFENSES:   See Below
MAGIC RESISTANCE:   Nil, 40% at night
SIZE:               S
MORALE:             Average
XP VALUE:
 
 
This feral beast looks and acts like a normal cat during 
daylight hours.  Although usually black with perhaps a touch
of white on their chest, they can be of any size, color, or
breed.

COMBAT:
   During daylight hours, the breath stealer cannot be 
differentiated from a normal cat.  No means of magic 
detection will reveal anything other than the fact that the 
beast is a normal, domesticated cat.  During this time, the 
beast fights exactly as an ordinary cat.  It is during 
darkness, that the breath stealer's true powers manifest 
themselves.  During the night, starting at sunset and ending 
at sunrise, magic that detects alignment will reveal a 
chaotic evil aura about the beast.  The breath stealer 
becomes incredibly hard to hit for it gains a parry against 
every attack that would have hit the beast.  There is no 
limit to the number of parries, but it cannot attack if it 
parries more than three times in a single round.  Despite its 
agility in combat, its most feared attack is late at night 
when everyone is asleep.  The breath stealer will silently 
place its face within inches of a sleeping person's face and 
draw the very life breath from their bodies.  The body is 
left dead and souless, the breath stealer having devoured the 
very essence of the victim's soul.  Within three days the 
breath stealer will have completely digested the soul and the 
person will be unressurectable.  If the body is ressurected 
before that time, subtract one third of the victim's levels 
for every full day that passes.  The victim will always lose 
at least one level.  If no one wakes the sleeper, his only 
chance lies in waking up.  The victim will begin to suffocate 
and this sometimes wakes the victim up in time.  The breath 
stealer requires 5 rounds to draw forth a victim's soul. 
There is a 5% cumulative chance per round of waking.  Because 
elves do not have souls, a breath stealer cannot kill an elf 
in this way.
 
HABITAT/SOCIETY:
   The breath stealer leads a strange and
mostly solitairy life.  It will join up with a household or
adventuring party for a time, often acting like a normal cat
in all capacities for months.  Eventually, it will attack
someone during the night, attempting to devour their soul.
Some say that the breath stealer is an assassin of the evil
gods, others that the beast is sent to punish the unfaithful.
Whatever the case, the breath stealer does not seem to be
biased by the alignment, race; excepting elves, or gender of
its victim's.  Many have conducted themselves in such a way
as if punishing some specific person, yet others seem to
select a victims at random.

ECOLOGY:
   The breath stealer performs the usual role of a
cat.  It will eat and drink like a normal cat and so on.  The
peculiar aspect of this beast makes it a bane to cat lovers
everywhere.
 
----------
Cold One
 
 
 
CLIMATE/TERRAIN:    Artic
FREQUENCY:          Very Rare
ORGANIZATION:       Solitary
ACTIVITY CYCLE:     Any
DIET:               Nil
INTELLIGENCE:       Nil
TREASURE:           Incidental
ALIGNMENT:          Nuetral
 
NO. APPEARING:      One
ARMOR CLASS:        5
MOVEMENT:           8
HIT DICE:           5
THAC0:              14
NO. OF ATTACKS:     1
DAMAGE/ATTACK:      1-6
SPECIAL ATTACKS:    Paralysis, Frostbite
SPECIAL DEFENSES:   Immune to cold attacks
MAGIC RESISTANCE:   Nil
SIZE:               M (6' tall)
MORALE:             Fearless
XP VALUE:
 
 
The cold one is a human, demi-human, or humanoid that has
frozen to death in the artic wastes and been left unburied.
A cold one looks like a zombie bundled in furs, blankets and
heavy clothing.  Its face and hands are ice blue, its eyes
black, hollow, and sightless and it is covered with snow.
Found only in the arctic and on mountain peaks where there is
a perpetual layer of snow, the cold one is a naturally
occuring undead if there is such a thing.
 
COMBAT:
  Cold ones are usually encountered when they are
seemingly dead, frozen to death on the artic wastes.  They
appear in the same position that they died.  However, if fire
is within within a quarter mile of a dormant cold one, it
will rise up and unerringly seek out its source, its last
wish in life being to keep warm.
     The cold one will head directly to the fire, only
attacking those near the flames, jealously wanting all the
warmth for itself, and those who attempt to block its path.
Its touch does 1d6 points of frost damage and will paralyze
the appendage touched, no save.  The victim must save vs.
magical cold also or immediately suffer the effects of
frostbite on the effected area.  The frostbite will cause one
point of damage per round until treated.
     Cold ones, because of their incredible will and instinct
to get warm and their singular, overpowering objective to
reach the flames, cannot be turned by a cleric.  Because they
are undead, they are immune to fear and mind affecting magic
as well as being immune to cold attacks.
      If the cold one succeeds in entering the flames, it will
raise up its arms and cry out a mournful wail of triumph, the
flames rising up into a bonfire around the cold one.  A round
after entering the flames, the flames will give one last
great flare and explode.  The explosion causes 6d6 points of
damage to all within 30 feet, save for half, and will put out
the fire completely.  There will be no trace of the cold one,
for it is consumed in the explosion.

HABITAT/SOCIETY:
   Cold ones are only found in perpetual
frozen territory.  A cold one thawed out by the sun loses its
undead status and becomes dead forever.  Although almost
always solitary, entire adventuring parties and the like have
been known to freeze to death and all become cold ones.
Also, very unlucky people have been known to build their
fires within the range of several different cold ones.  Why
exactly cold ones occur is a mystery.  Only about one third
of those who die in the cold become cold ones.  Some say it
is the work of an evil deity of winter while others proclaim
that cold ones are the result of a strong will to survive
that lingers even after death.

ECOLOGY:
  Cold ones are undead and have no place in the world
of the living.  Scavengers avoid even dormant cold ones,
sensing the unnaturalness of the beings.


-------- 
Cornstalker
 
 
 
CLIMATE/TERRAIN:   Temperate cultivated lands
FREQUENCY:         Very rare
ORGANIZATION:      Solitary
ACTIVITY CYCLE:    Night
DIET:              Corn
INTELLIGENCE:      Average (8-10)
TREASURE:          Nil
ALIGNMENT:         Neutral
 
NO. APPEARING:     1
ARMOR CLASS:       8 or 0
MOVEMENT:          12 or 8
HIT DICE:          4 (plus 8-15, see below)
THAC0:             17
NO. OF ATTACKS:    2
DAMAGE/ATTACK:     2-8, 2-8, or 2-16, 2-16
SPECIAL ATTACKS:   Nil
SPECIAL DEFENSES:  See below
MAGIC RESISTANCE:  70% or nil
SIZE:              S (3' tall) or L (7'-8' tall)
MORALE:            Elite (13) or Champion (15)
XP VALUE:          2,000
 
 
     The cornstalker is a short, lithe humanoid from an
unknown outer plane.  The cornstalker's body is completely
void of any natural skin, but the uniform matt black of its
muscles and bones gives it the appearance of an outer body
covering.  The cornstalker's wiry arms end in two sickle-like
claws that are actually bony extensions of its ulna and radia
and an opposable thumb similar in appearance to the claws
only smaller.  Its spindly legs each end in a foot consisting
of two large round toes in front and a small talon behind.
The cornstalker's head is sunk down between its shoulders.
Two bony ridges protect its tiny, sunken eyes, and a similar
ridge surrounds the cornstalker's mouth.  Dozens of minute
inward-pointing teeth situated inside are used to strip an
entire corncob in one efficient motion.
     Inhabitants of the prime-material plane rarely, if ever,
see this form of the cornstalker; instead, they know the
cornstalker as a horrible "shambling mound" of cornstalks.
The actual cornstalker is folded up in a fetal position
within a thick hide of cornstalks which closely resembles a
shambling mound.
     Cornstalkers are not violent if approached carefully;
however, they have never been known to converse with anyone
except some witches and even then it is in some strange,
undecipherable tongue.
 
COMBAT:
  Immediately after the cornstalker arrives on the
prime-material plane, it chooses a cornfield and sets about
feeding and magically constructing a protective covering of
cornstalks.  (Use the alternate statistics when in this
form.)  This hide is formed of cornstalks magically bonded
together and the this covering responds to the commands of
the cornstalker.  Initially, this protective hid has 8 Hit
Dice.  One Hit Die is added for each week the cornstalker
spends feeding in the cornfield.  (A cornstalker will rarely
spend two months or more in a cornfield.)  While so
protected, the cornstalker is 90% undetectable by visual
means (including infra-vision) as long as it remains in a
cornfield.  In addition, the cornstalker can collapse its
hide at will, becoming completely undetectable by normal
means even if trod underfoot.
     Although normally passive, the cornstalker is far from
defenseless, and if forced into combat, the cornstalker will
attack with two arm-like appendages formed out of the
cornstalker's protective covering.  Blunt weapons will not
harm the hide and edged weapons do the hide only one-half
damage.  Fire does double damage to the hide as well as
igniting it.  Of course, the fire may also ignite the entire
cornfield.
      The cornstalker itself cannot be harmed by weapons and
most magic while within its protective hide.  It can be
attacked directly once its artificial skin is destroyed.
When the hide has taken sufficient damage, the remaining
layers will collapse to the ground with the cornstalker still
hidden inside.  The cornstalker is 25% likely to plane-travel
back home at this point.  Otherwise, it will erupt from the
heap 2-5 rounds later, fight its tormentors until seriously
wounded, and then plane-travel home.  Outside its protective
hide of cornstalks, the cornstalker is still a formidable
opponent.  It is immune to fire and electricity, takes half
or no damage from cold and has 70% magic resistance.
Additionally, it can only be harmed by magical weapons.  None
of the defenses just mentioned are transferred to the hide,
and the hide should be treated as a separate monster when
determining hit points and overall combat effectiveness.
Only when the hide is destroyed do the statistics and
defenses of the actual cornstalker become relevant.
     Plant control and similar spells have no effect on the
cornstalker or its hide.  A successful dispel magic cast
against the hide of the cornstalker (treat against 15th level
magic) will disrobe the cornstalker, collapsing the magically
bonded corn.  Anti-magic and anti-plant shell have also
proved effective in acquiring a similar effect.
 
HABITAT/SOCIETY:
  Nothing is known about the cornstalker's
home plane or its life there.  Cornstalkers always appear as
solitary creatures when on the prime-material plane.  When
they do appear on this plane, it is always to feed on the
ripe corn of autumn.  The first hint that a cornstalker is
present is usually an eerie glow of blue-white hue and a
brief flurry of whirling cornstalks originating from the
middle of the cornfield.  This is the cornstalker forming its
protective hide of cornstalks.
     Peasants have given the cornstalker an undeserved
reputation as an evil and malignant creature.  Too often, the
oppressed farmer sets off to track down the perpetrator
destroying his crop, only to be slain by the cornstalker
after the farmer attacks it.  Other times, the resting
cornstalker awakens to find its potential meal being
destroyed by harvesting farmers and becomes quite angry.
(Yes, it works both ways.)  In its attempt to simply stop the
destruction of its food, the cornstalker inadvertently
discovers the frailty of the human body.
     Quite a legend has grown up (bad pun intended) around
the cornstalker.  Farmers and sages alike are left to ponder
the aftermath of a cornstalker's visit.  The usual
explanation is that some evil spirit invaded the cornfield in
order to create chaos and mischief, although the exact legend
will vary from culture to culture or even community to
community.  Some sages speculate that cornstalker are the
creations of a powerful Ravenloft lord and were once used to
beleaguer "his" citizens.  These same sages further contend
that one or two cornstalkers escaped that realm and now roam
the outer planes.  Although there is little direct evidence
to corroborate this theory, witches, who garner their powers
from outer planer creatures, seem to have a strange kinship 
with cornstalkers.  The exact nature of this relationship is
unknown -- witches and warlocks are secretive about most
things and this is no exception.
 
ECOLOGY:
  Cornstalkers are not of this world and have no
natural place in it.  They are a bane to corn-farmers but
normally do not interact with and avoid beings of the prime-
material.  The cornstalker will strip about 10-15 cornstalks
a day from normal feeding.
      When a cornstalker departs the prime-material, it leaves
behind its protective hide of corn; the magical bonds keeping
the cornstalks intact for about a week before it looses its
magic and the cornstalks break apart and decompose.  These
magically bonded "carcasses" are of great value to alchemists
and researching mages if they are brought to them fresh and
undamaged.  Such a "carcass" will bring anywhere from 2,000-
4,000 g.p.
     The cornstalker has no known natural enemies -- except
 the occasional irate farmer.

-----------
  HUNCHBACK
        =========

        C/T:    Any/Urban               MOVE:   9
        FREQ:   Very Rare               HD:     2
        ORG:    Solitary                THAC0:  20
        ACT:    Any                     ATT:    1
        DIET:   Omniverous              DAM:    1-4 or by weapon
        INT:    Low - Avg               SA:     Gaze, Curse
        TREAS:  K                       SD:     None
        ALIG:   Neutral                 MR:     Nil
        NUMB:   1                       SZ:     M
        AC:     10                      MOR:    Unsteady
                        XP:  80


        Horribly deformed, these creatures are sometimes caused by a pregnant
woman suffering a terrible shock.  Any pregnant woman who fails a horror check
while has a 5% chance of giving birth to a hunchback.  The creature is terribly
deformed, with one eye almost useless, slacking features, long spindly arms and
a curved back that gives them their distinctive "hunched" appearance.
        Usually abandonned at birth, and widely feared by the community, they
are often raised by churches, or other kindly individuals or institutions.
        Apart from those listed above, they have one other physical deformity:
they are stone deaf.  This causes them to be at +2 on surprise rolls, and
suffer double the normal penalties if blinded in some manner (-8 to hit etc).
However, they are quite agile despite their appearance, with a Climb Walls
ability similar to that of a thief of 95%, and can also employ the abilities of
the Jumping, Tumbling and Tightrope Walking non-weapon proficiencies as a 10th
level character with a DEX of 17.
        Hunchbacks usually avoid contacts with others, living hermit lives in
towers, cellars, dungeons etc.  However, they seem to be strangely attracted to
the Vistani, and will risk their own lives to protect one of the gypsies in
danger.  Similarly, the Vistani do not show the same fear and distrust that the
rest of the population seem to show towards hunchbacks, and are not repulsed
by their looks.  A hunchback will never _curse_ a Vistani.

        COMBAT:  Hunchbacks fight clumsily, but with great strength.  They
occasionally employ crude clubs, or other weapons that they may have found or
been given.
        Once a round, hunchbacks may _gaze_ upon one opponent within 10 feet.
If that opponent meets the gaze of the hunchback, s/he must Save vs. Spells
or be so struck by the sadness and lonelyness in the hunchback's eyes that
they are struck with _fear_ (as the spell) and flee.  Evil characters Save at
+4.
        Anyone who behaves particularly cruelly to a hunchback or to anyone who
the hunchback cares for (a protected Vistani for example) may be subject to a
_curse_ from the creature.  These curses are usually of "Troublesome" strength
(see the section on Curses in the RAVENLOFT Box Set booklet).  This cursing
power is also conveyed by the creature's gaze, and is similar to the Evil Eye
power of a Vistani elder.

        HABITAT/SOCIETY:  Because of their nature, hunchbacks are usually
solitary creatures, spending their lives apart from the general populous who
fear them because of their looks and their possession of the Evil Eye.  They
usually seek to avoid contact with others, fleeing and hiding from those who
invade their normal habitat, but fighting fiercely if cornered or if something
that they value is threatened.  It is difficult to gain the confidence of a
hunchback, but once this has been achieved, they will defend and assist their
friends to the best of their abilities, even at the expense of their own life.

        ECOLOGY:  Because they live apart from others, and scavenge what they
can, these creatures make little impact on the Ecosystem.  A bone from the
foot of a hunchback can be used as an alternative material component for the
"jump" spell.

