Gloom Ravens

(See also: Gloom Raven) This spell summons 1d4+l huge ravens from the Demiplane of Shadow to do the caster's bidding. They uniformly have the appearance of dark gray shadows and, unlike other ravens, are completely silent—at least when appearing on the Prime Material Plane. The ravens respond to simple verbal commands. Once summoned, they can be sent up to 1 mile from the caster's present location. If the ravens travel beyond the caster's visual range, the caster can only sense the approximate direction and distance of the ravens and cannot command them to attack unless he or she is a shadow mage (see below).

Gloom ravens can be summoned only outdoors, and it is most advantageous to summon them at dawn or dusk, because the ravens gain an extra hit die when the shadows around them are longest. The summoned ravens enable a shadow mage (and no other type of caster) to see through their eyes for the duration of the spell. Regardless of the number of gloom ravens summoned, the shadow mage can only peer through the eyes of one raven at a time. However, the shadow mage can coordinate the ravens up to 1 mile from his present location and order them to attack targets of his or her choosing within that area.

At the caster's command, gloom ravens can generate 1d3 shadow images of themselves in combat (as per the mirror image spell). Although summoned, gloom ravens do not fight to the death and are subject to Morale cheeky. Ravens that fail their Morale check return to the Demi- plane of Shadow at the end of the round.

Gloom ravens (1d4+l): AC 6; MV 1, fly 27 (A); HD 1 (2 at dusk or dawn); hp 5 hp/die; THAC0 19; #AT 1; Dmg 1-2; SA eye peck (10% likely to attack an opponent's eye, 1-in-10 chance of plucking out an eye with a successful attack); SD never surprised, shadow images; SZ M (4' -6' wingspan); ML 12; INT low (5-7); AL N; XP 175.