Angela reached toward the crying infant, softly cooing to calm it. As she tried to reach a hand under it to pick it up, the baby turned. Where a face should have been was a hole, filled with row after row of sharp teeth. It leapt on her, teeth sinking into her exposed neck in a spray of blood. Angela fell backward, her hands batting at the creature in a panic. A gurgled screamed drowned in the blood erupting from her mouth
Alternative names: Tianac, Leech Children
Tiyanak are bestial spirits that possess the corpses of infants and toddlers to prey on living. Tiyanak are opportunistic hunters. They prefer to hide in forests, graveyards, back alleys, and other lonely places, luring victims in by mimicking the cries of a human baby. Victims will believe they are rescuing a lot or abandoned child. When the victim gets close enough, the tiyanak reveals its true face, a hole filled with thousands of fangs, and pounces. Victims are drained of blood. Tiyanak that have recently fed are often bloated like ticks and unable to move.
Tiyanak are revenge-minded. They will haunt those that have escaped or harmed them.
Spells exist to commit an infant’s corpse to possession by a tiyanak. All tiyanak know this spell, which requires killing a child. Some tiyanak hunt babies to create more of their kind.
Cry: enraged tiyanak can issue a horrific scream, a cross between an animal and a human infant. Anyone hearing the scream loses 0/1 Sanity.
Tiyanak, infantile horrors
| char. | roll | average |
| STR | 3D6 x 5 | 50 |
| CON | 3D6 x 5 | 50 |
| SIZ | 10 | 10 |
| DEX | 2D6 x 5 | 35 |
| INT | 3D6 x 5 | 50 |
| POW | 3D6 x 5 | 50 |
Average Hit Points: 6
Average Damage Bonus: -2
Average Build: -2
Average Magic Points: 10
Move: 6/8 flying
ATTACKS
Attacks per round: 1 (claws or suckle)
Tiyanak fight by swiping with their claws as their fly around their opponents or draining their blood with its Suckle attack.
Suckle: the tiyanak latches on to a victim, digging its claws into their skin and biting with its lamprey-like mouth. The victim loses 1D4 hit points and 1D10 STR in blood every subsequent round. It will drink the victim dry unless removed with a Hard STR roll. Removing the tiyanak does 1D4 damage as flesh is torn away in its claws and fangs.
| FightingSuckleDodge | 50% (25/10), damage 1D4 + damage bonus55% (26/11), damage 1D4 + special (see above)25% (12/5) |
Skills
None
Armor: None, but due to being undead creatures all non-magical attacks due minimum damage. Reducing a tiyanak to 0 Hit Points only destroys the infant body it possesses. The spirit will soon find another corpse to inhabit.
Spells: Create Tiyanak.
Sanity Loss: 1/1D6 to encounter a tiyanak.
Bruce is a sociology student and co-host of The Crypt Keepers podcast
