Soulthief
“The Royal Vizier” © Alexandre Chaudret, accessed at his ArtStation here
[This is a case where the art reminded me of a monster I wrote up long ago. The original was Spindlefingers, a unique undead thief I wrote during my trip to Costa Rica, intended to be a greater planar binding target at CR 15 and 18 HD. The new version is made into a species, and has been powered up a bit. I already have a CR 15 rogue undead in the burglestar, which bears some similarities.]
Soulthief CR 17 NE Undead This creature resembles an exaggerated humanoid skeleton, unnaturally tall and lean. Its teeth are too sharp and its fingers too long, each of them tipped with a ruby claw.
A soulthief is an undead monster obsessed with the most ephemeral and valuable of prizes—mortal souls. The first soulthief was an elven rogue who stole ten soul gems from the vaults of the Horsemen themselves. The cursed gems bound themselves to his hands and transformed him into a skeletal horror, now tasked with stealing souls to deliver to the daemons. Although many soulthieves are allied with the forces of Abaddon, not all of them are. Some soulthieves rise spontaneously from the remains of master thieves with a penchant for necromantic dabbling or who steal artifacts infused with negative energy, such as a lich’s phylactery.
Soulthieves are paranoid and distrustful of just about everyone and everything. They are typically mercenary in attitude, acting to steal priceless treasures or assassinate key individuals. Hiring a soulthief is a tricky business—the creatures are apt to betray their employers unless suitably bribed or cowed. Soulthieves make frequent use of magic items, especially ones with the ability to conceal them or help them get into areas they cannot otherwise access.
A soulthief is supernaturally quick, darting in and out of melee combat to make devastating sneak attacks against their foes. They can catch and trap the souls of their victims, and if souls not marked for delivery to a powerful client are frequently eaten in order to further power or heal the soulthief. Against enemies that keep their distance, or masses of foes, most soulthieves prefer to use their channel energy ability to wear opponents down. They work with minions, not partners, and many of them command small armies of undead monsters to serve them as distractions, bodyguards and cannon fodder.
Being incarnated as a soulthief stretches a corpse, and few of these creatures are less than six feet tall.
