This disembodied female torso flaps through the air on batlike wings, her fanged face a hateful mask.

Horrid undead, manananggals walk among the living by day and prey upon them at night. These creatures delight in spreading fear and distrust. By day, they tend to stay inside because of their light sensitivity. They mask this odd behavior by either living just outside villages as reclusive hermits or by obtaining roles within the community that explain away or justify their eccentricities.

Manananggals pass themselves off as normal people, usually posing as mad old women, midwives, hedge witches, or mystics. This allows the undead creatures to select their prey from within the community. Manananggals particularly enjoy feeding upon pregnant women, targeting them in their sleep so the undead may feast on the blood of both mothers and the children they carry. These foul creatures drain blood via their long, black, hollow tongues. Manananggals despise the scent of garlic and strong spices like cloves and anise.

As they fly through the night, manananggals make a ticking or clicking sound, leading some villagers to call the creatures “tik-tiks.” Once separated, a manananggal's mobile torso has a 6-foot wingspan.

Special Abilities

Separate (Su) During the day, a manananggal looks like a living Human Woman. She does not detect as undead during the day, but is still an undead creature. At night, her upper torso rips away (this is a full round action that occurs at sunset), leaving her lower torso behind. Her lower torso is helpless, but her upper torso gains its fly speed and natural attacks at this time. The upper and lower portions share the same pool of hit points (despite any intervening distance), and if the helpless lower portion is damaged, the manananggal is immediately aware of the attack. Since manananggals can be destroyed by damage to their lower bodies, they prefer to hide their lower torsos when separated. A manananggal must return to its lower torso and reattach to it (a full-round action) within the hour before sunrise—each round a manananggal remains separated after sunrise, it takes 1d6 points of damage until it rejoins its lower torso or it crumbles into dust.

Vulnerable to Light Blades (Ex): Light blades (such as daggers, kamas, kukris, rapiers, short swords, sickles, and starknives) deal double the weapon's base damage on a successful hit against a manananggal.