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Template:Infobox D&D creature
In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy roleplaying game, the cloaker is an monster for players to encounter. It is portrayed as a large manta-like aberration, with a set of black wings that cause it to resemble a cloak when at rest. These wings actually help the cloaker engulf its prey.
A cloaker is usually chaotic neutral and they hunt together in small flocks. Cloakers are clever predators that can emit a subsonic moan that can unnerve, frighten, nauseate, or put foes into a stupor.
The cloaker made its debut in 1981 in the module Secret of the Slavers' Stockade, by Harold Johnson and Tom Moldvay. [1] The creature's description was repinted in the first edition Monster Manual II (1983).[2]
In the adventure Secret of the Slavers' Stockade, a cloaker (or "Tenebra Complexor") first appears as the guardian of a holding room in which the Slave Lords keep their newly acquired slaves to make them docile. The cloaker clings to a wall, hiding among actual cloaks and blankets, resembling a semi-circular cape with a long mace-like tail, and has two claws at the ends of the "cape". Numerous round black, button-like eye spots help complete the illusion; when the cloaker conceals its tail and claws it is hard to distinguish it from a real cloak. A cloaker has no head, but in the middle of its belly is a mouth and two red, glowing eyespots; its rear eyespots make it so that a cloaker has no effective rear to attack. This cloaker will allow characters to enter the room and approach within the range of its moaning ability.
The module notes that the cloaker is a "rare and exotic creature that typically lives far underground", and that "How the slavers managed to obtain the services of this bizarre creature is unknown, but the beast is believed to be intelligent." As part of this encounter, the module also describes the abilities of a cloaker. A cloaker regularly emits a subsonic moaning, which can cause any of several different effects as the monster pleases by varying the moan's intensity. The lowest level, which it uses on the slaves appearing in the encounter, causes nervousness and unease and numbs the minds of those who listen for too long. The slaves have been exposed long enough that they will not react to other characters in any way. The second level of intensity causes fear in characters, the third level causes nausea and retching, and the final intensity can cause a single character to be held motionless.
The scenario describes how a cloaker will fly at a character which it has subdued with its moaning, and envelop its victim in its folds, pinning the victim's arms to his side and biting the victim. Any characters trying to help the victim will be attacked by the cloaker's tail, and any character harming a cloaker wrapped around a victim is likely to harm the victim as well. A cloaker also has the power to manipulate shadows, and can use them to cover a character's face or surround itself with shadow to hide; a cloaker can also create images out of shadows, including doubles of itself to misdirect opponents.
A full description of the monster, including game statistics, appears at the back of the module to complete the creature's depiction. This section notes that a cloaker is chaotic neutral in alignment, and describes a cloaker as "a shadow-dwelling, unearthly creature. They are normally only encountered in deep, dark caverns, far beneath the earth. Though they are highly intelligent, their thought processes are alien to most races and usually only magic-users are able to communicate with them."[1]
A variant called a sea cloaker appeared first in the Lankhmar: City Of Adventure set (1985).
The cloaker first appeared for second edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons in the Forgotten Realms appendix of the Monstrous Compendium series. In this set, the creature receives a detailed description: "When a cloaker is first seen, it is almost impossible to distinguish this monster from a common black cloak. The monster's back as two rows of eye spots running down it that look much like buttons, and the two ivory-colored claws on its upper edge can easily be mistaken for bone clasps. When it unfurls itself and moves to attack, however, its true nature becomes all too obvious. At this point, its white underside is clear and the monster's face is fully visible. This face, with the glow it its two piercing, red eyes and the needle-like fangs that line its mouth, is a truly horrible sight. At this point, the monster also uncurls the whip-like tail at its trailing edge and begins to swish it back and forth in anticipation."[3] The cloaker's entry is reprinted in the Monstrous Manual (1993). This book states that the cloaker is related to another dungeon-dwelling creature known as the trapper. [4]
The sea cloaker is detailed again in the adventure module LNA2 Newhon (1990), Lanhkmar: City of Adventure (1993), and Fritz Leiber's Lankhmar (1996).
The cloaker lord is described as a superior subrace of the cloaker, and first appears in the Forgotten Realms setting boxed set, Menzoberranzan (1992), in the booklet "Book One: The City". A cloaker lord is described as larger more intelligent than a cloaker, with a bat-like form. A cloaker lord has the ability to naturally dominate a lesser cloaker, and in the events depicted in the boxed set, the cloaker lords of Menzoberranzan "have recently come to rule their lesser brethren, drawing normally-solitary cloakers together into loose raiding bands, and forcing other monsters ... into servitude." This entry also mentions that a cloaker lord near death can devour a cloaker, and if it survives a few more days it will split apart, "giving birth" to a new cloaker lord and a number of baby cloakers.[5]