Banshee

Description

(From 5th Edition Monster Manual - 2014):

The woeful banshee is a spiteful creature formed from the spirit of a female elf. Its face is wreathed in a wild tangle of hair, its body clad in wispy rags that flutter and stream around it.

When night falls, unlucky travelers hear the faint cries of the forlorn dead. This woeful spirit is a banshee, a spiteful creature formed from the spirit of a female elf.

Banshees appear as luminous, wispy forms that vaguely recall their mortal features. A banshee’s face is wreathed in a wild tangle of hair, its body clad in wispy rags that flutter and stream around it.

Divine Wrath. Banshees are the undead remnants of elves who, blessed with great beauty, failed to use their gift to bring joy to the world. Instead, they used their beauty to corrupt and control others. Elves afflicted by the banshee’s curse experience no gladness, feeling only distress in the presence of the living. As the curse takes its toll, their minds and bodies decay, until death completes their transformation into undead monsters.

Sorrow Bound. A banshee becomes forever bound to the place of its demise, unable to venture more than five miles from there. It is forced to relive every moment of its life with perfect recall, yet always refuses to accept responsibility for its doom.

Beauty Hoarders. The vanity that inspired the banshee’s cursed creation persists in undeath. These creatures covet beautiful objects: fine jewelry, paintings, statues, and other objects of art. At the same time, a banshee abhors any mirrored surface, for it can’t bear to see the horror of its own existence. A single glimpse of itself is enough to send a banshee into a rage.

Undead Nature. A banshee doesn’t require air, food, drink, or sleep.

(From 3rd Edition Monster Manual II - 2002):

A banshee is the spirit of a strongwilled, selfish individual of a humanoid race. Because of its rage at the loss of its own life, it delights in bringing death to any living creature it encounters. 

This creature appears as a translucent image of the form it held in life. With the passage of time, the banshee’s image tends to become blurred and indistinct, though the creature remains recognizable as a humanoid. 

The very presence of a banshee creates a pall over the landscape. Its ability to stunt the growth of plants combined with its deadly wail eventually reduces the surrounding territory to blasted heath and wasteland. Largely for this reason, many cultures consider a sudden blight upon the land to be an omen of death.

A banshee speaks the languages that it knew in life. 

Combat: Banshees hate all living things with an unholy fury, and they readily attack anyone foolish enough to trespasses within their territories. A banshee typically uses its horrific appearance to drive off less powerful foes, then employs its howling wail one or more times to damage any who remain. Finally, it finishes off the intruders with its Charisma drain in melee. If overmatched, the creature flees into the earth, usually to a gravelike lair that it maintains beneath the surface. 

Charisma Drain (Su): An individual struck by a banshee must make a Fortitude save (DC 26) or permanently lose 1d4 points of Charisma (or 2d4 points on a critical hit). The banshee heals 5 points of damage (10 on a critical hit) whenever it drains Charisma, gaining any excess as temporary hit points. 

Horrific Appearance (Su): Any living creature within 60 feet that views a banshee must make a successful Fortitude save (DC 26) or permanently lose 1d4 points of Strength, 1d4 points of Dexterity, and 1d4 points of Constitution. A creature that successfully saves against this effect cannot be affected by the same banshee’s horrific appearance for 24 hours. 

Wail (Su): During the night, a banshee can loose a deadly wail. This attack can slay up to eighteen living creatures within a 30-foot spread centered on the banshee, or within a 60-foot cone extending from the banshee, at the creature’s option. A successful Fortitude save (DC 26) negates the effect. Once a banshee wails, it must wait 1d4 rounds before it can do so again, and it can wail no more than three times per day. 

Detect Living(Sp): This ability functions like the commune with nature spell, except that it detects only living creatures and the range is one-half mile. The banshee can use detect living up to three times per day. 

Incorporeal Subtype: A banshee can be harmed only by other incorporeal creatures, +1 or better magic weapons, spells, spell-like abilities, and supernatural abilities. The creature has a 50% chance to ignore any damage from a corporeal source, except for force effects or attacks made with ghost touch weapons. A banshee can pass through solid objects, but not force effects, at will. Its attacks ignore natural armor, armor, and shields, but deflection bonuses and force effects work normally against them. A banshee always moves silently and cannot be heard with Listen checks if it doesn’t wish to be. 

Stunt Plants (Su): Once per day, a banshee can stunt all normal plants within a one-half mile radius. This ability otherwise functions like the stunt version of a diminish plants spell (caster level 18th). 

Undead Traits: A banshee is immune to mind-affecting effects, poison, sleep, paralysis, stunning, disease, death effects, necromantic effects, and any effect that requires a Fortitude save unless it also works on objects. It is not subject to critical hits, subdual damage, ability damage, ability drain, energy drain, or death from massive damage. A banshee cannot be raised, and resurrection works only if it is willing. The creature has darkvision (60-foot range).

(From Monstrous Manual - 1993):

The banshee or groaning spirit, is the spirit of an evil female elf — a very rare thing indeed. Banshee hate the living, finding their presence painful, and seek to harm whomever they meet.

Banshees appear as floating, luminous phantasms of their former selves. Their image glows brightly at night, but is transparent in sunlight (60% invisible). Most banshees are old and withered, but a few (10%) who died young retain their former beauty. The hair of a groaning spirit is wild and unkempt. Her dress is usually tattered rags. Her face is a mask of pain and anguish, but hatred and ire burns brightly in her eyes. Banshees frequently cry out in pain — hence their name.

Combat: Banshees are formidable opponents. The mere sight of one causes fear, unless a successful saving throw vs. spell is rolled. Those who fail must flee in terror for 10 rounds and are 50% likely to drop any items they were carrying in their hands.

A banshee’s most dreaded weapon is its wail or keen. Any creature within 30 feet of a groaning spirit when she keens must roll a saving throw vs. death magic. Those who fail die immediately, their faces contorted in horror. Fortunately, groaning spirits can keen just once per day, and then only at night. The touch of a groaning spirit causes 1d8 points of damage.

Banshees are noncorporeal and invulnerable to weapons of less than +1 enchantment. In addition, groaning spirits are highly resistant to magic (50%). They are fully immune to charm, sleep, and hold spells and to cold- and electricity-based attacks. Holy water causes 2d4 points of damage if broken upon them. A dispel evil spell will kill a groaning spirit. A banshee is turned as a special undead.

Banshees can sense the presence of living creatures up to five miles away. Any creature that remains within five miles of a groaning spirit lair is sure to be attacked when night falls. The nature of this attack varies with the victim. Beasts and less threatening characters are killed via a touch. Adventurers or demihumans are attacked by keening. Creatures powerful enough to withstand the groaning spirit’s keen are left alone.

When attacking adventurers, the groaning spirit attacks at night with her wail. If any characters save successfully, she then retreats to her lair. Thereafter, each night, the groaning spirit returns to wail again. This routine is repeated until all of the victims are dead or have left the groaning spirit’s domain, or until the groaning spirit is slain.

Habitat/Society: Banshees loathe all living things and thus make their homes in desolate countryside or ancient ruins. There they hide by day, when they cannot keen, and wander the surrounding countryside by night. The land encircling a groaning spirit’s lair is strewn with the bones of beasts who heard the groaning spirit’s cry. Once a groaning spirit establishes her lair she will remain there.

The treasure of groaning spirits varies considerably and often reflects what they loved in life. Many hoard gold and fine gems. Other groaning spirits, particularly those that haunt their former homes, show finer tastes, preserving great works of art and sculptures, or powerful magical items.

It is nearly impossible to distinguish the cry of a groaning spirit from that of a human or elf woman in pain. Many a knight gallant has mistaken the two sounds, and then paid for the mistake with his life. Banshees are exceptionally intelligent and speak numerous languages, including common, elvish, and other demihuman languages.

Banshees occasionally use their destructive powers to seek revenge against their former adversaries in life.

Ecology: Banshees are a blight wherever they settle. They kill without discretion, and their only pleasure is the misfortune and misery of others. In addition to slaying both man and beast, a groaning spirit’s keen has a powerful effect upon vegetation. Flowers and delicate plants wither and die and trees grow twisted and sickly, while hardier plants, thistles and the like, flourish. After a few years all that remains within five miles of a groaning spirit’s lair is a desolate wilderness of warped trees and thorns mixed with the bones of those creatures that dared to cross into the groaning spirit’s domain.