I Can't Believe I Forgot The Penanggalan: Conversion for Call of Cthulhu 5th Edition.

Wait, what?

Image: Dangling internal organs, a female vampire's head against a full moon.
Russ Nicholson, from the 1st edition Fiend Folio.

My thing for flying head monsters can be traced back to Alicia, the Penanggalan in Terror At Trollmarsh (White Dwarf 74). I know why the scenario grabbed me at the time (D&D as CoC and vice versa!), and I think the Penanggalan made such an impact because it's not just a statblock, it also permeates the text and the story.

Bowdlerised in 2nd edition AD&D, it lost its juicy, acidic, dangling guts and got a slimy black tentacle instead.

I offer two versions of the Penanggalan for Call of Cthulhu 5e:

The first is an undead foe from the 1st edition AD&D Fiend Folio, and closer to the SE Asian original, and the second uses the 2nd edition as inspiration for a more Mythos-flavoured version. I don't know if the two could or should exist in the same setting as each other (CoC is crowded enough).

I. Penanggalan, Loathsome Aerial Vampire.

A form of vampire (usually, but not exclusively, coded as female) that can walk by day, indistinguishable from a living human being. 

As darkness falls, it finds a secret place to detach from its body, and flies in search of a nocturnal meal of blood. While believed to favour the blood of infants and pregnant women, it simply prefers any prey that it can successfully and repeatedly subject to its hypnotic pass.

Traditionally, it keeps a vessel of vinegar in which to soak its blood-swollen organs so it can shrink them enough to fit back into its body. There is no reason this could not instead be perfume, hydrogen peroxide, urine or whatever suits your campaign.

Unable to return to its body, or struck by sunlight when detached, the Penanggalan is helpless (though vocal and alternately craven and threatening).

STR 4d6 (av.14)     CON 4d6 (av.14)     SIZ 2d4 (av.5)     INT 2d6+6 (av.13)     POW 2d6+6 (av.13)

DEX 3d6 (av.10.5)

Hit Points 9 - 10                                      Damage Bonus nil     Move 10

Weapons:

• Bite 40%, 1-6 (d6)
• Hypnotise, magic points vs. POW on a single victim, allowing it to feed throughout the night without resistance or memory of the event; the Penanggalan drains 1 STR, 1 CON and d3 POW each night it feeds -it can add the POW to its own total. Resisting a Penanggalan's hypnotic attack renders that person immune to future attempts by the same one.
• Touch 100%, 1-4 (d4); the dangling guts of the Penanggalan glisten and drip with corrosive juices that cause bare flesh to blister and peel. This damage does not respond to medical treatment, and is only recovered by the passing of time.

Armour: none

Skills: Dodge DEX x 4; Human Psychology 60%; Scent Blood 75%; Mutter Terrible Delights and Secrets of the Grave 45%

Spells: if POW is 13 or higher, the Penanggalan knows at least d4 spells. Though this means that the monster was a practising sorcerer or mystic in life, the spells are unlikely to relate to the deities and beings of the Mythos to any great degree.

Sanity Loss: 1/d8 to see a Penanggalan (including when it detaches from its body); 0/d4 to be fed on (though you do not realise it).

II. Penanggalan, Gruesome Agent of the Mi-Go.

Surgically adapted to better serve the Mi-Go, these creatures were once human. Their body is merely an organic vehicle for the head, which retains the original memories and personality. While attached to its carrier body, a Penanggalan appears to be completely human, albeit utterly unresponsive to pain or injury that does not affect the head or face, and that does not age, suffer fatigue or contract disease.

At will, the Penanggalan can detach from its carrier, trailing a three foot long glowing black tentacle or tail, and fly through the air, propelled by some form of anti-gravity effect. Their eyes dimly glow red when they activate their ability to see in total darkness.

A Penanggalan believes itself to be favoured by the Mi-Go, and is often set to lead or watch over unaugmented agents, but is ultimately just another disposable terrestrial minion (although they can be found wherever the Mi-Go choose to take them).

While they can consume and eliminate human food, they do not need it, subsisting on nutritional broths provided by the Mi-Go or mammalian blood in a pinch. Each week without Mi-Go broth, they lose 1 STR, CON, INT and POW; if they feed on blood at least every three days, they can hold off the characteristic loss until they are able to take broth again, but otherwise the loss is permanent.

STR 4d6 (av.14)     CON 4d6 (av.14)     SIZ 2d4 (av.5)     INT 2d6+6 (av.13)     POW 2d6+6 (av.13)

DEX 3d6 (av.10.5)

Hit Points 9 - 10                                      Damage Bonus nil     Move 12

Weapons:

• Bite 40%, 1-6 (d6)
• Black Tentacle 60% (or automatic, if bite is successful), 1-4 (d4); STR vs. STR to grapple and hold, pin, disarm, drag, yank, crush or choke (STR vs. STR each round to escape); the tentacle itself cannot be grasped and held by investigators due to the anti-gravity effect, though it can be dislodged.
• Hypnotise, POW vs. POW or transfixed and suggestible; direct attacks break the state, but automatically succeed.

Armour: 2 points of augmented tissue and anti-gravity field.

Skills: as appropriate for their previous/assumed occupation; Track by Smell 60%; Disdain Unaugmented Humans 75%.

Spells: any spells they knew previously, the Penanggalan retains, and they may learn any the Mi-Go deem necessary to their mission.

Sanity Loss: 0/1d6 to see this type of Penanggalan; 1/1d6 to see it detach from its body.