Impalpable Stalker

Impalpable Stalker

DESCRIPTION: Impalpable stalkers are thought to be quasi-elemental Vacuum cousins of the invisible stalkers, who call themselves phades, that inhabit the plane of Air. Like their distant relatives, the impalpable stalkers cannot be seen in their native plane of Vacuum, however they can be seen when summoned to the Prime, where they appear as a surreal shapeless blackness that eclipses objects like a shadow. In the dark however, they are far more difficult to spot, being effectively invisible until they attack.

PHILOSOPHY / SOCIETY: Impalpable stalkers seemingly have no society, as a mortal would understand it at least, and it’s not even known if they have a name for their own species. Some graybeards believe that for most of the time, impalpable stalkers do not even exist, and that they are shaped from raw vacuum and come into being when summoned.

ECOLOGY: Impalpable stalkers called onto a plane with an atmosphere of air will find themselves slowly and inexorably ‘leaking’ air into their nothingness. In fact, some cutters believe that all invisible stalkers start out as impalpable stalkers and the two species are effectively one and the same—or even that impalpable stalkers are just invisible stalkers who’ve been left on the plane of Vacuum for too long.

COMBAT: Impalpable stalkers prefer to operate in the darkness, where they can use their darkness invisibility as an advantage. They will sneak up behind foes, then activate their asphyxiating aura to catch them unawares, prevent speech and therefore discussion of tactics, and spellcasting. They will try to grab any victims who fall unconscious and carry them off into the darkness.

Stats: [ PF 2e ] Homebrew, inspired by Destrain ‡