Thin Stranger

Medium fiend (demon), chaotic evil

Armor Class 15 (natural armor)
Hit points 110 (13d8 + 52)
Speed 30 ft.

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
18 (+4)	14 (+2)	18 (+4)	19 (+4)	15 (+2)	16 (+3)

Damage Vulnerabilities cold, thunder
Damage Resistances lightning; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks
Damage Immunities fire, necrotic, poison
Condition Immunities poisoned
Skills Arcana +7, History +7, Intimidation +7, Perception +5, Stealth +5
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 15
Languages Common
Challenge 8 (3,900 XP)

Special Traits

• Innate Spellcasting (Psionics). The thin stranger’s innate spellcasting ability is Intelligence (spell save DC 15). It can innately cast the following spells, requiring no components:
• At will: alter self, detect thoughts
• 1/day each: dominate monster, plane shift (requires four sentinel spheres present) Loathsome Limbs Whenever the thin stranger takes at least 15 slashing damage at one time, roll a d20 to determine what else happens to it:

d%	Result
1-10	Nothing else happens.
11-14	One leg is severed from the thin stranger if it has any legs left. A severed leg is unable to attack and has a speed of 5 feet. The thin stranger’s speed is halved if it’s missing a leg. If it loses both legs, it falls prone.
15-18	One arm is severed from the thin stranger if it has any arms left. A severed arm has a speed of 5 feet and can make one unarmed strike attack on its turn, with disadvantage on the attack roll unless the thin stranger can see the arm and its target. Each time the thin stranger loses an arm, it loses an unarmed strike attack. If it has both arms, it can crawl. With only one arm, it can still crawl, but its speed is halved. With no arms or legs, its speed is 0, and it can’t benefit from bonuses to speed.
19-20	The thin stranger is decapitated, but the thin stranger dies only if it can’t regenerate. If it dies, so does the severed head. If its head is severed, the thin stranger loses its bite attack and its body is blinded unless the head can see it. The severed head has a speed of 0 feet and the thin stranger’s Keen Smell trait. It can make a bite attack but only against a target in its space. If the thin stranger finishes a short or long rest without reattaching a severed limb or head, the part regrows. At that point, the severed part dies. Until then, a severed part acts on the thin stranger’s initiative and has its own action and movement. A severed part has AC 13, 10 hit points, and the thin stranger’s Regeneration trait.

• Magic Resistance. The thin stranger has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects. Regeneration. The thin stranger regains 10 hit points at the start of its turn. If the thin stranger takes cold or thunder damage, this trait doesn’t function at the start of the thin stranger’s next turn. The thin stranger dies only if it starts its turn with 0 hit points and doesn’t regenerate

Actions

• Multiattack. The thin stranger makes two unarmed attacks.
• Unarmed Strike. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: 8 (1d8 + 4) bludgeoning damage. Instead of dealing damage, the thin stranger can grapple the target (escape DC 15).
• Extract Brain. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one incapacitated humanoid grappled by the thin stranger. Hit: The target takes 55 (10d10) piercing damage. If this damage reduces the target to 0 hit points, the thin stranger kills the target by extracting its brain. A humanoid slain by this attack rises 24 hours later as a zombie or sentinel sphere under the thin stranger’s control, unless the humanoid is restored to life or its body is destroyed. The thin stranger can have no more than 26 zombies or sentinel spheres in total under its control at one time.

About

A gaunt, nearly skeletal man dressed in black with wide, staring eyes seems to move towards you in slow motion.

Thin strangers are fiends from beyond, looking for brains to fuel their sentinel spheres.