| Hit Dice: | 6d12 (39 hp) |
| Initiative: | +6 |
| Speed: | Fly 60 ft. (12 squares) (good) |
| Armor Class: | 20 (+2 Dexterity, +5 natural, +3 deflection), touch 15, flat-footed 18 |
| Base Attack/Grapple: | +3/— |
| Attack: | Incorporeal touch +5 melee (1d6 Cha drain) |
| Full Attack: | Incorporeal touch +5 melee (1d6 Cha drain) |
| Space/Reach: | 5 ft./5 ft. |
| Special Attacks: | Bardic music, Charisma drain |
| Special Qualities: | Alter appearance, darkvision 60 ft., incorporeal traits, inescapable craving, undead traits |
| Saves: | Fort +2, Ref +4, Will +7 |
| Abilities: | Str —, Dex 15, Con —, Int 13, Wis 14, Cha 17 |
| Skills: | Bluff +12, Diplomacy +5, Disguise +12 (+14 when acting in character), Intimidate +5, Listen +13, Perform (sing) +12, Spot +13 |
| Feats: | Ability Focus (Charisma drain), Alertness, Improved Initiative |
| Environment: | Any |
| Organization: | Solitary |
| Challenge Rating: | 4 |
| Treasure: | None |
| Alignment: | Always chaotic evil |
| Advancement: | 7–12 HD (Medium) ♊ |
| Level Adjustment: | — |
A smiling, brightly clothed figure stands before you.
In life, a spectral lyrist used its powers of performance and persuasion to further the cause of evil and strife, whether by urging listeners to commit violence or simply luring the innocent to their deaths. Cursed to forever walk the earth, it blames those still alive for its undead state and seeks to commit even greater evils against them.
A spectral lyrist can appear as any Medium humanoid, and it doesn’t share the insubstantial or diaphanous appearance of other incorporeal creatures when so disguised. A lyrist is weightless, regardless of appearance.
Spectral lyrists speak Common, plus one other language common to humanoids in its environment, such as Dwarven, Elven, Goblin, or Orc.
A spectral lyrist uses its ability to bluff and change its appearance to present itself as a friendly creature, putting victims at ease until it can use its fascinate and suggestion abilities. Once victims are close enough, it uses its touch attack to drain their Charisma.
Alter Appearance (Su): As a free action once per round, a spectral lyrist can alter its appearance. It can appear as any humanoid creature of Medium size, and it gains a +10 bonus on Disguise checks when it uses this ability. Unless the disguise is pierced by a successful Spot check, onlookers don’t even notice the lyrist’s incorporeal nature until an attack passes harmlessly through the creature.
Bardic Music (Su): A spectral lyrist has the bardic music abilities of fascinate and suggestion. These function identically to the bard class features of the same name. A spectral lyrist can use these abilities a total of six times per day.
Charisma Drain (Su): Living creatures hit by a spectral lyrist’s touch attack must make a DC 18 Fortitude save or take 1d6 points of Charisma drain. The save DC is Charisma-based. When a spectral lyrist drains a victim’s Charisma, it gains 5 temporary hit points and 1 temporary Charisma point, no matter how many points it drains. Temporary hit points and ability points gained in this way last for 1 up to hour.
Inescapable Craving: A spectral lyrist has an inescapable craving (see Undead Metabolism) for Charisma, which it satisfies by using its Charisma drain attack.
Source: Libris Mortis, page 123.