D n D magical creature advice

[mizushinzui]

Not sure how many people who are familiar with DnD there are on the escapist but I need some help with a little adventure I'm writing.

One of the encounters stars an NPC called 'Cheshire' who's basically an adaptation of the cat of the same name from lewis carol's alice in wonderland.

I know that the whole wonderland thing was done in dungeonland but like I said this is just one encounter with this character.

I was hoping that someone might be able to recomend a powerful magical creature that would be capable of the same sort of thing as the cheshire cat, invisibility, teleportation, levetation and shape shifting (the last one is un-related to the powers of the cheshire cat but it's important for the encounter) I don't really just want to use a god-like spell caster since it wouldn't fit with the rest of the encounters but it needs to look human (hence the shape shifting stuff)

Any help would be reeeeally appreciated

(I know I could just make something up but I'm trying to stick to the monster manual as much as possible)

 

[Aoper]

Easy. A sphinx. They are magical, riddle masters, and make some of the greatest mythical creatures of all time.

 

[mizushinzui]

Could I get away with giving the sphinx the ability to change shape? I was thinking of just creating the creature myself as an NPC using the guide from the 3.5 dungeon masters guide. (still playing 3.5 because my friends don't like 4th edition btw)

Although I may not use the exact model of a sphinx it might be something I can add to the encounter. Like if someone has knowlage of creatures I can tell them it looks and acts similarly to a sphinx.

Thanks for the advice either way

 

[Aoper]

Of course, Sphinx are pretty powerful in the magic field, I wouldn't be surprised if one had all sorts of abilities, including shapeshifting. If you do want to use something with more natural shapeshifting, a doppelganger would work great. You could make on into a powerful sorcerer or something to give it the powers like levitation and such.

 

[moxretroero]

Even if you aren't planning to use a premade creature, they're good to look at both for inspiration and how to keep things balanced in combat. Spells such as shapechanging and teleport have intersting rules that various monsters in the monster manual simplify to make them fun, simple, and/or not incredibly cheap. Page through the monster manaual and any other books with monsters in them that you have for inspiration.

 

[Valanthe]

I know it might be cliched, but Dragons are more than capable of the paltry spell-casting your role requires. And their natural polymorph ability allows them to take on -any- form they wish.

Now normally Dragons don't involve themselves in the world of mortals beyond exploiting them for their own motives (See Half Dragons) but solving problems like that is the fun of DMing.

 

[kcjerith]

I know it might be cliched, but Dragons are more than capable of the paltry spell-casting your role requires. And their natural polymorph ability allows them to take on -any- form they wish.

Now normally Dragons don't involve themselves in the world of mortals beyond exploiting them for their own motives (See Half Dragons) but solving problems like that is the fun of DMing.

Agreed, however any creature that has polymorphism (natural or via spellcasting) would work.

 

[JupiterBase]

Read up on some templates. A Shadow Sphinx or something. Look at game specific material from other wolrds too. Forgotten Realms and Dragonlance maybe Dragonlance specifically has monsters that work better for encounters like this.

 

[Sion_Barzahd]

same sort of thing as the cheshire cat, invisibility, teleportation, levetation and shape-shifting

Well you could always use an illusionist. I mean yeah he wouldn't actually be a cat but it'd tick all the boxes.