While most cloakers have a fairly uniform appearance, there are several varieties, crossbreeds, and inbred mutations that stand out from the norm.
Amphibious: True to their ancient heritage, some cloakers can breathe water as easily as air, and have a swim speed equal to their fly speed. Some may have devolved so much that they cannot breathe air at all, and live only in the crushing depths of the ocean, perhaps once again serving the aboleths.
Assassin: Cloakers sane enough to work with or for others may study advanced techniques of murder, taking levels in ranger, rogue, and assassin.
Fungoid: Some cloakers become infested with one or more kinds of parasitic fungi, perhaps from battling vegepygmies. Usually these don’t bother the cloaker except to increase its appetite to compensate for nutrients stolen by the fungi. These cloakers usually have large patches of mushrooms growing on their backs, making it less likely they’ll be mistaken for a wearable cloak but allowing them to lie flat on the ground and look like a pile of refuse. Some have patches of phosphorescent fungus growing on their underbellies, which they use as lures to attract prey or lead unsuspecting creatures into traps (the glow is blocked if the cloaker clings to a wall or floor). Some achieve a kind of symbiosis with a more dangerous type, such as brown mold, violet mold, or yellow mold. Brown mold fungoids deal 1d6 points of nonlethal cold damage per round to all creatures within 5 feet and take double damage from cold attacks. Violet mold fungoids deal violet fungus poison with every bite and tail lash attack, as well as to any creature striking them with natural weapons or unarmed strikes (CR +1). Yellow mold fungoids release a 10-foot-radius cloud of spores if struck (up to three times per day), with effects equal to yellow mold. Any type of cloaker (assassin, half breed, and so on) may become a fungoid.
Half breed: These cloaker-ray crossbreeds are looked down upon by all cloakers, but their slow wits (Int 8) mean they make excellent thuggish minions for normal cloakers. Half breeds are sterile with regard to their own kind, but can breed with rays or normal cloakers (producing offspring of the same kind as the other parent).
A half breed’s skill modifiers are Perception +4 and Stealth +5. It does not have a cloaker’s normal shadow shift abilities.
Priest: Technically not a separate breed of cloaker but possessing a different derangement, cloaker priests are usually clerics (or more rarely druids).
Shadowbrood: Believed to be cloakers infused with the energy of the Plane of Shadow, these midnight-black cloakers are often mistaken for incorporeal undead. They can use their shadow shift ability to produce effects identical to darkness and dimension door (self only). Once per day they may use maze and shadow walk as spell-like abilities (caster level 8th). (CR +1)
Stinger: Some cloakers have poisonous stingers on the ends of their bony tails; these cloakers make a sting attack instead of a tail slap attack for 1d6+5 plus poison.
Cloaker Poison (Ex) Sting—injury; save Fort DC 16, frequency 1/round for 4 rounds, effect 1d2 Dex, cure 1 save;
Vampiric: The yellow-gray cloakers born of unfertilized eggs thrive on blood and attach themselves to their prey like leeches. Despite the name, most vampiric cloakers are not undead; however, explorers have reported vampiric cloakers that recoil from holy symbols and are damaged by water, so presumably they somehow can become true vampires, though the mechanics for this are unknown. In addition to the normal powers of cloakers, they have the following abilities. (CR +1)
Attach (Ex): If a vampiric cloaker hits with a bite attack,it uses its powerful jaws to latch onto the opponent’s body and automatically deals bite damage each round it remains attached. An attached cloaker loses its Dexterity bonus to Armor Class and has an AC of 16. An attached cloaker can be struck with a weapon or grappled itself. To remove an attached cloaker through grappling, the opponent must achieve a pin against the creature. A vampiric cloaker can and automatically deals bite damage each round it remains attached. An attached cloaker loses its Dexterity bonus to use this ability while it engulfs an opponent.
Blood Drain (Ex): A vampiric cloaker drains blood, dealing 1d4 points of Constitution damage in any round when it begins its turn attached to a victim. Once it has dealt 10 points of Constitution damage, it detaches and flies off to digest the meal. If its victim dies before the cloaker’s appetite has been sated, the cloaker detaches and seeks a new target.
Webspinner: Created by drow fleshwarping using ettercap and spider essence, these cloakers can create sheets of sticky webs like monstrous spiders and shoot web nets like ettercaps up to eight times per day. Many of these have poisonous bites or stingers as well.
Pathfinder Chronicles: Dungeon Denizens Revisited. Copyright 2009,
Paizo Publishing, LLC; Authors: Clinton Boomer, Jason Bulmahn, Joshua J.
Frost, Nicolas Logue, Robert McCreary, Jason Nelson, Richard Pett, Sean
K Reynolds, James L. Sutter, and Greg A. Vaughan.