View source for Cloaker

{{Creature
| image       = [[File:Protective Shardra.jpg|250px|Cloakers on the attack.]]
| name        = Cloaker
| type        = [[Aberration]]
| subtype     = 
| challenge   = 5
| environment = Underground
| alignment   = {{Alignment grid/CN}}
| adjective   = 
| imagesof    = cloakers
| source      = [[Pathfinder Bestiary]]
| page        = 47
}}

'''Cloakers''', or '''fulthrethus''', look like monstrous [[manta ray]]s that have long tails that end in a bony whip. Horns beside their heads end in thumb-like claws and are as black as their oversize skin. Their underside is pale and it contains a fang-filled mouth and two red eyes. Their wings spread farther than a grown man can reach, and they fly quickly at an average quality.<ref name=DDR-15>{{Cite book/Dungeon Denizens Revisited|15}}</ref>

Cloakers were created by [[alghollthu]]s in order to spy on their [[Azlanti]] thralls. Loyal Azlanti leaders were rewarded with cloaker bodyguards and assassins.<ref name=DDR-14>{{Cite book/Dungeon Denizens Revisited|14}}</ref>

When the alghollthus destroyed [[Old Azlant]], they cast out the cloakers, who fled to the [[Darklands]]. Most aquatic cloakers returned to serve the alghollthus, but the remainder informally serve the [[Great Old Ones]].<ref name=DDR-14/>

Cloakers in the Darklands are equally distributed between [[Sekamina]] and [[Orv]]. Cloakers tend to avoid [[Nar-Voth]] due to its proximity to the surface and its many [[humanoid]] settlements.<ref name=DDR-14/>

Cloakers may have tattoos that resemble [[Varisian tattoo]]s, but the source of the cloakers' tattoos is a much different and much older in origin.<ref name=DDR-14/>

== Variants == <!-- Amphibious cloaker; Cloaker priest‎; Cloaker assassin‎; Fungoid cloaker‎; Halfbreed cloaker‎; Shadowbrood cloaker‎; Stinger cloaker‎; Vampiric cloaker‎; Webspinner cloaker all redirect here -->

Many variants of cloaker exist, including individuals specialising in murder, '''cloaker assassins''', and those focusing on serving deities, '''cloaker priests'''. Additionally, separate breeds of cloaker exist, such as:<ref name=DDR-14/>

* '''Amphibious:''' Devolved closer to their original ancestors, amphibious cloakers can breath water as well as air and swim like other cloakers fly. There may be examples so regressed that they can no longer breathe air and have returned to the aquatic service of their creators.<ref name=DDR-13>{{Cite book/Dungeon Denizens Revisited|13}}</ref>

* '''Fungoid:''' Some cloakers can become infected with one or more strains of parasitic [[fungi]] or mold, avoiding the negative side effects due to their alien biology but forming a symbiotic relationship with their new passenger. Fungoid cloakers can be distinguished by the layer of fungal growth on their bodies, which ruins their ability to pose as an article of clothing but allows them to better pose as mounds of refuse. While many fungoid cloakers are bonded to harmless [[mushroom]]s or bioluminescent fungi, others become host to [[russet mold]], [[Violet fungus|violet mold]], [[brown mold]], or [[yellow mold]].<ref name=DDR-13/>

* '''Halfbreed:''' Crossbreeds of cloakers and [[ray]]s. Looked down on by all other cloakers for their slow wits and lack of [[magic]]al abilities, they typically serve as thuggish muscle for their purebred kin and parents. Halfbreed cloakers are sterile with each other but fecund with normal cloakers and rays, in which cases their offspring will always be the species of the other parent.<ref name=DDR-13/>

* '''Shadowbrood:''' Midnight-black cloakers believed to be infused with the power of the [[Plane of Shadow]]. Sometimes mistaken for [[incorporeal]] [[undead]], shadowbrood cloakers have innate magical powers linked to the darkness.<ref name=DDR-13/>

* '''Stinger:''' Cloakers whose tails bear a jagged, venomous stinger.<ref name=DDR-14/>

* '''Vampiric:''' The result of cloakers practicing parthenogenesis, typically as a result of a cloaker becoming isolated and thinking itself the last of its kind. Yellow-gray in coloration, vampiric cloakers attach to other creatures and drink their blood like giant [[leech]]es.<ref name=DDR-14/>

* '''Webspinner:''' The result of [[drow]] [[fleshwarping]] cloakers with [[arachnid]]s and [[ettercap]]s. Webspinner cloakers can spin webs and shoot web nets, and many also have venomous fangs or stingers.<ref name=DDR-14/>

== References ==

{{Refs}}

{{Alghollthu navbox|creation}}

[[Category:Aberrations]]
[[Category:CR 5 creatures]]
[[Category:Chaotic neutral creatures]]
[[Category:Underground terrain creatures]]