Back in the day, White Dwarf magazine was the British answer to the Dragon, and its regular "Fiend Factory" column was a source of many monsters for early D&D games. In fact, the first edition Fiend Folio (1981) was largely a collection of monsters submitted to WD. This 3e conversion is part of an ongoing project to resurrect some interesting WD monsters that, for one reason or another, fell by the wayside.

The sraim was initially part of a popular series of articles by Dave Morris titled "Dealing with Demons: Demonology in RuneQuest." The RuneQuest version of the sraim was detailed in WD 45, and Liz Fletcher did an AD&D conversion in "Dungeoneering with Demons," from WD 48. This conversion uses the obyrith subtype from Fiendish Codex I: Hordes of the Abyss, though the OGL qlippoth subtype from Green Ronin's Book of Fiends would also be appropriate for this horrific outsider.

This horror has a giant maggot's body on four spidery legs, with a face that is lumpish and misshapen as if made from putty.

Sraim Demon CR 3

A Sraim

Always CE Medium outsider (chaotic, evil, extraplanar, obyrith)

Init +0; Senses darkvision 60 ft., true seeing; Listen +8, Spot +8

Aura form of madness (60-ft. radius, Will DC 11)

Languages Abyssal; telepathy 100 ft.

AC 13, touch 10, flat-footed 13
(+3 natural)

hp 16 (3 HD); fast healing 5

Immune mind-affecting, poison

Resist acid 10, cold 10, electricity 10, fire 10

Fort +4, Ref +3, Will +3

Spd 30 ft. (6 squares)

Melee bite +3 (1d6)

Ranged spit +4 ranged touch (1d6 acid)

Space 5 ft; Reach 5 ft

Base Atk +3; Grp +3

Atk Options aligned strike (chaotic, evil)

Special Actions spit

Abilities Str 11, Dex 10, Con 13, Int 10, Wis 11, Cha 10

Feats Alertness, Weapon Focus (spit)

Skills Climb +6, Escape Artist +6, Hide +6, Jump +6, Listen +8, Move Silently +6, Search +6, Spot +8

Environment a chaotic evil-aligned plane

Organization solitary

Treasure none

Advancement 4–6 HD (Medium), 7–9 HD (Large)

Form of Madness (Sp) At the end of each of a sraim's turn, creatures within 60 feet of it must attempt a DC 11 Will save. The save DC is Charisma-based. Failure indicates the creature begins hallucinating that it has become transformed into a loathsome, maggot-like shape. The victim takes 1d4 Charisma damage until the insanity is healed by greater restoration, heal, limited wish, miracle, or wish. A creature that makes the save is immune to that particular sraim's form of madness for 24 hours. Blindness is no protection against a sraim's form of madness. This is a mind-affecting ability that does not affect chaotic evil outsiders.

Spit (Ex) A sraim can spit its acidic venom up to 30 feet as a standard action. This is a ranged touch attack with no range increment.

Telepathy (Su) A sraim can communicate telepathically with any other creature within range that has a language.

True Seeing (Su) Sraim have a continuous true seeing ability, as the spell (caster level 9th).