Maurezhi

Maurezhi were tanar'ri demons with many marked similarities to ghouls. What made them particularly more dangerous was that by consuming the flesh of the recently deceased, they could absorb the experience and memories of their victims.

Description
Maurezhi were visibly akin to ordinary ghouls, with an emaciated form and pale, leathery, gray skin. They would stand at 6 feet (2.1 meters)  tall if not for their hunched posture, and when enraged or excited maurezhi were incredibly erratic. Their facial features were more bestial than that of regular ghouls, with maws that sloped into short muzzles filled with serrated fangs, long, pointed ears similar to that of a cat. Their ears were not their only cat-like structures, as their lengthy fingers ended in filth-ridden claws and their powerful legs allowed them to sprint and pounce like a big cat. When not speaking Abyssal or communicating telepathically they made wild grunts, loud shrieks, and wicked howls.

Combat
In its natural form, maurezhi prefer to slay an opponent as quickly as possible so that it can escape to feed. When it assumes the form of creatures it has devoured, it seeks to maintain its disguise as long as possible until it has the perfect chance to strike. However, most maurezhi are simply too stupid to keep up anything but a fairly simple disguise.

Abilities
A maurezhi can assume the form of any creature's corpse that it has consumed and can remain in this form indefinitely.

When a maurezhi consumes the corpse of a living creature with animal intelligence or higher, it gains additional powers. The maurezhi can only gain these additional powers if it begins eating the creature's corpse within 10 minutes of its death. The process takes 30 minutes to complete. If the maurezhi is interrupted before it can complete this process, it can't completely consume the corpse and gain the additional benefits. Feeding in this manner destroys the victim's body and prevents any form of raising or resurrection that requires part of the corpse.

Any creature struck by a maurezhi's claw or bite attacks may be paralyzed for up to ten minutes.

Spell-Like Abilities: blur, chill touch, command undead, darkness, detect good, greater teleport (self plus 50 pounds of objects only), invisibility (self only), scare.

Once per day a maurezhi can attempt to summon 3-12 manes or 2-8 dretches.

Once per day, a maurezhi can automatically summon either 1-6 ghouls or 1-4 ghasts. The undead remain for 1 hour before returning from whence they came.

A maurezhi is under the constant effect of a deathwatch spell.

Advancing a Maurezhi
The maurezhi only advances by consuming the corpses of creatures at least as powerful as itself. A maurezhi advances in power by consuming corpses in this fashion. For every suitable corpse a maurezhi devours, it increases slightly in power, and its Strength, Intelligence, and natural armor also improve. Additionally, the maurezhi gains the memories of the creature it consumed, including the ability to speak any languages the creature knew. It also gains the ability to assume that creature’s shape.

If a maurezhi consumes the corpse of a less powerful creature, it still gains the creature’s memories and the ability to assume its shape, however it gains none of the other benefits.

History
Born from a society of elves, the first maurezrhis were the corrupted creations of the King of Ghouls, Doresain. He created the demons in order to provide leadership to the ghouls and ghasts of the Material Plane.

Appendix

 * Video games
 * Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn