Cloaker

Cloakers were intelligent creatures that dwelt underground and resembled large flying manta rays when active. At rest, they looked like a black cloak, hence their name.

Description
Cloakers were almost indistinguishable from large cloaks when then lay dormant, even appearing to have clasps and buttons. When on the move, they appeared like large, leathery stingrays. They had wings that unfurled as they flew through the underground caves which they called home, or curled around them as they waited quietly for prey. Their tails were long and whiplike. Their heads sat within the "cowl" of their cloak-like bodies, with red eyes and a toothy maw. Bony claws adjacent to the head looked almost like clasps for the cloak.

While their backs and wings were black to assist with camouflage, their bellies were pale. Some had a series of spots that ran in two parallel lines down their backs, which could give the appearance of buttons.

Their bodies were composed largely of muscle and cartilage.

Personality
Their minds and thoughts were so alien that some scholars believed that no one could communicate with them. While this was ultimately untrue, it was the case that they were highly intelligent and had (at least from a human perspective) exceedingly chaotic tendencies. This made it very difficult to predict the motives and actions of a cloaker.

They were highly territorial, and tended to kill anything that entered their lair. The only exception to this was when they could think of a more amusing fate for the interlopers.

Abilities
Cloakers communicated through a subsonic moan, inaudible to most creatures, that could travel up to. They were capable of increasing the intensity of their moans as a defense mechanism, rendering them audible, and causing foes to feel a mixture of fear and nausea. The highest intensity of this subsonic moan was capable of causing an effect akin to hold person on an individual with. However, these sounds could not penetrate dense materials, such as stone.

Some cloakers were known to be capable of manipulating the shadows around them, though a light spell would easily render them blind and incapable of using this ability. Others expressed the ability to conjure up to three illusory duplicates of themselves that copied their movements, but could only do so in an area of darkness.

Combat
Cloakers generally either waited in ambush for their prey, or stalked them from a safe distance. Once an opportune moment presented itself, the cloaker would launch a surprise attack with blinding speed, unfurling its fins and attempting to engulf their prey within them. Once a cloaker had entrapped its prey in this manner, they would use their long whip-like tail to defend itself from any creatures that might try to intervene.

Subspecies

 * Cloaker lord:A larger and more powerful species that had the innate power to dominate normal cloakers.
 * Snow cloaker:A species of white-skinned cloakers that were endemic to the glacial lake Llashloch in the High Ice. Their bodies were adapted to the snow and severe cold of the region, and their population was notably small.

Society
Cloakers preferred not to travel long distances and were generally reclusive creatures, however older ones were known to coerce small groups of humans, goblins, and drow into doing their bidding, with derro and quaggoths being the most common such servants. At times, cloakers were even known to be worshiped by tribes as a sort of god. Cloakers themselves did not venerate any deity.

Cloakers' solitary and chaotic natures were presumed to be why they generally did not pose an organized threat to surface dwellers. However, one or more cloaker lords would sometimes draw together a population of cloakers to form a city, and despite their generally reclusive nature, cloaker communities were surprisingly social, with the creatures forming odd social cliques, castes, and roles for themselves. They appeared to greatly care about popularity, with the most popular cloakers being those which were larger, had darker coloration, or kept the most "pets" in the form of enslaved darkmantles, lurkers, or humanoids.

Diet
Cloakers would and could eat almost anything, although they were known to be able to wait for inexplicably long periods between meals. While they were known to hunt for food, and often preferred to eat rather than converse with intelligent species, it was a matter of debate among scholars whether they actually needed to eat for survival. It was thought that they might not even hunt or eat for pleasure, and instead sought out food for some other reason.

Homelands
Cloakers&mdash;or at least their ancestors&mdash;were believed to have originated in the Plane of Shadow. In Faerûn, many were known to inhabit the Underdark, either alone or in settlements like Cloakerhaven or Rringlor Noroth, though scholars believed that cloakers may have once built and inhabited the ruined Underdark city of Ikemmu. Populations of cloakers were known to exist in and below the Storm Horns and the Thunder Peaks, and had a secret, direct means of travelling between the two mountain ranges.

Other cloakers were known to inhabit the Shadow Swamp, acting as warlords over lesser creatures in the plane of shadow such as the ghirrash and khumat. Beyond that plane, they could be found in the Domains of Dread.

Language
Cloakers had their own language. While it was possible for non-cloakers to understand or even speak this language, it was very complex and involved an extremely high level of organized thought. As such, only mages were known to have managed to learn it, and even then, only with a great deal of study.

Reproduction
Scholars believed that cloakers may have been an asexual species, but there was no definitive proof of this and cloakers had been observed to appear to court others of their kind within cloaker settlements. It was known, however, that a cloaker lord was capable of spawning cloakers as a byproduct of their own asexual reproduction.

Some believed that cloakers were related to creatures known as trappers.

History
In the mid-to-late 14 century DR, the mage and scholar Silin Marilus was a foremost expert on the ecology of cloakers, and had even managed to converse with them.

Appearances

 * Adventures
 * Curse of the Azure Bonds • Dungeon #20, "The Ship Of Night" • Dark and Hidden Ways • Polyhedron #87, "Eye of the Leviathan" • Dungeon #70, "Ssscaly Thingsss" • City of the Spider Queen • Out of the Abyss • Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage
 * Hordes of Dragonspear
 * Comics
 * Dead of Night
 * Video Games
 * Menzoberranzan • Warriors of Waterdeep
 * Organized Play & Licensed Adventures
 * It's All in the Blood • Blood Above, Blood Below • The Tower of Ahghairon
 * Card Games
 * AD&D Trading Cards
 * AD&D Trading Cards