Spat from a dead, but a hungry star, voidcallers begin life as a nebulous black cloud feeding on the ambient misery all sentient things produce. Those that survive this larval stage develop a physical body over time, but can always revert back to their primordial state. The uninformed mistake voidcallers for some manner of undead, which is not surprising given their vampiric nature nor their bat-like humanoid appearance.Long, thick horns curl from the sides of their angular heads with upturned noises and a jaw that unhinges all the way back to just below those horns. Instead of fangs, though, voidcallers sport a lamprey-like hole still capable of producing speech. Their leathery wings connect flanks to underarms, and their concave abdomen tapers off into a pair of gangly, but powerful tail of rubbery flesh. Most often, voidcallers are encountered wearing humanoid disguises. Feindish souls, they build and command nefarious organizations including cults, criminal enterprises, necromancer schools, and slaver rings. Most seed rumors of their 'undead' state, preferring for would-be heroes to come woefully ill-prepared when dealing with them.

Voidcaller

Medium aberration (shapechanger), lawful evil

Armor Class 16 (natural armor)

Hit Points 52 (8d8 + 16)

Speed 30ft

Fly 50ft

Str 16 Dex 18 Con 18 Int 15 Wis 16 Cha 18

Saving Throws Wis +8, Cha +9

Skills Arcana +7, Deception +9, Perception +8, Persuasion +9

Damage Resistances necrotic; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks

Damage Immunities cold

Condition Immunities exhaustion

Senses blindsight 30 ft., darkvision 120 ft., passive Perception 18

Languages Common, Deep Speech

Challenge 13 (10,000 XP)

Flyby.

The voidcaller doesn't provoke opportunity attacks when it flies out of an enemy's reach.

Innate Spellcasting (3/Day).

The voidcaller can innately cast Darkness (spell save DC 17), requiring no material components. Its innate spellcasting ability is Charisma.

Shapechanger.

If the voidcaller is not in direct sunlight, it can use its action to polymorph into a medium humanoid or a Medium cloud of darkness, or back into its true form.

While in darkness form, the voidcaller can't take any actions, speak, or manipulate objects. It is weightless, has a flying speed of 20 feet, can hover, and can enter a hostile creature's space and stop there. In addition, if darkness can pass through a space, the mist can do so without squeezing, and it can't pass through water. It has advantage on Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution saving throws, and it is immune to all nonmagical damage. It also counts as magical darkness.

Regeneration.

The voidcaller regains 20 hit points at the start of its turn if it has at least 1 hit point and isn't in sunlight. If the voidcaller takes radiant damage, this trait doesn't function at the start of the voidcaller's next turn.

Void Born.

The voidcaller does not need to breathe

Actions

Multiattack (Voidcaller Form Only).

The voidcaller makes two attacks, only one of which can be a Life Drain attack.

Claws (Voidcaller Form Only).

Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: 8 (1d8 + 4) bludgeoning damage. Instead of dealing damage, the voidcaller can grapple the target (escape DC 18).

Bite (Voidcaller Form Only).

Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: 11 (2d6 + 4) piercing damage.

Life Drain (Voidcaller Form Only).

Melee Spell Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5 ft., one grappled creature. Hit: 9 (2d8) necrotic damage. The target must succeed on a DC 17 Constitution saving throw or its hit point maximum is reduced by an amount equal to the damage taken. This reduction lasts until the creature finishes a long rest. The target dies if this effect reduces its hit point maximum to 0. If a creature dies due to this attack it rises in 1d4 rounds as a ghast under the voidcallers' control.

Reactions

Kiss of the Void.

After the voidcaller hits and deals damage with its bite attack, it may use its reaction to infect its victim with the Kiss of the Void. The creature must suceed on a DC 17 Wisdom save or gain the Sunlight Sensitivity ability similar to a Specter. In addition, the voidcaller has Advantage on all Charisma-based skill checks against the creature. After each long rest, an accursed creature must make a DC 17 Constitution save or have their maximum hit points reduced by 1 roll of their Hit Dice. If a creature is reduced to 0 hit points this way, it dies and rises 24 hours later as an allip under the voidcaller's control.

The Kiss of the Void can be removed by Remove Curse or similar magical effects.