Aswang
A human-seeming predator that changes shape, stalks households and makes distance itself difficult to trust.
The danger is not that every story agrees on what an Aswang is. The danger is that the name covers several things people know to fear.
Aswang is a broad name in Philippine folklore, not one creature with a single fixed anatomy. Different traditions use the term for blood-drinkers, corpse-eaters, animal-transforming predators, harmful witches, viscera-suckers and other feared nocturnal beings. This entry presents one campaign form: a human-seeming shapechanger that hunts by deception, false sound and sudden close-range attack.
By day, this Aswang can pass among ordinary people. At night it adopts animal or hybrid shapes, scouts isolated homes and paths, and attacks only when it believes a victim can be separated from help. Its most distinctive warning is sound behaving wrongly: a noise that seems distant when the creature is close, or close when it is still far away.
Game Statistics
No official D&D or Pathfinder Aswang statblock is used here. All four versions are campaign conversions of the same predatory shapechanger, with the older 3.5e community design retained only as a historical mechanical starting point.
Aswang — 5.5e / 2024
Medium Monstrosity (Shapechanger), Neutral Evil • CR 5
Skills Deception +6, Perception +5, Stealth +10, Survival +5
Senses Darkvision 60 ft.; Passive Perception 15
Languages Common and one regional language
CR 5 (1,800 XP; PB +3)
Traits
False Distance. A creature that cannot see the Aswang has Disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks made to locate it by sound.
Night Stalker. The Aswang has Advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks made in dim light or darkness.
Actions
Multiattack. The Aswang makes two attacks, only one of which can be Proboscis.
Claw. Melee Attack Roll: +7, reach 5 ft. Hit: 8 (1d8 + 4) Slashing damage plus 3 (1d6) Necrotic damage.
Proboscis. Melee Attack Roll: +7, reach 10 ft. Hit: 13 (2d8 + 4) Piercing damage. If the target is Medium or smaller, it has the Grappled condition (escape DC 15). The Aswang can grapple only one creature this way at a time.
Bonus Actions
Blood Drain. One creature Grappled by the Aswang takes 14 (4d6) Necrotic damage, and the Aswang regains Hit Points equal to half the damage dealt.
Change Shape. The Aswang transforms into a Small or Medium beastlike form such as a dog, pig, bat or large bird, or returns to its human-seeming form. Its game statistics remain unchanged except for movement that the form could not physically use. Equipment it carries is absorbed or borne by the new form.
Reaction
Slip into Darkness. When a creature misses the Aswang with an attack while the Aswang is in dim light or darkness, it moves up to half its Speed without provoking Opportunity Attacks.
Aswang — 5e / 2014
Medium monstrosity (shapechanger), neutral evil
Armor Class 16 (natural armor)
Hit Points 127 (15d8 + 60)
Speed 30 ft., climb 30 ft.
Saving Throws Dex +7, Con +7, Wis +5, Cha +6
Skills Deception +6, Perception +5, Stealth +10, Survival +5
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 15
Languages Common and one regional language
Challenge 5 (1,800 XP)
Traits
Shapechanger. The Aswang can use its action to polymorph into a Small or Medium beastlike form such as a dog, pig, bat or large bird, or back into its human-seeming form. Its statistics other than movement are unchanged.
False Distance. A creature that cannot see the Aswang has disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks made to determine its location by sound.
Night Stalker. The Aswang has advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks in dim light or darkness.
Actions
Multiattack. The Aswang makes two attacks, only one of which can be Proboscis.
Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 8 (1d8 + 4) slashing damage plus 3 (1d6) necrotic damage.
Proboscis. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 10 ft., one Medium or smaller creature. Hit: 13 (2d8 + 4) piercing damage, and the target is grappled (escape DC 15).
Blood Drain. One creature grappled by the Aswang takes 14 (4d6) necrotic damage, and the Aswang regains hit points equal to half the damage dealt.
Aswang — Pathfinder 1e
CR 5 XP 1,600
NE Medium outsider (native, shapechanger)
Init +7; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +13
Defense
AC 19, touch 13, flat-footed 16 (+3 Dex, +6 natural)
hp 76 (8d10+32)
Fort +10, Ref +9, Will +8
Offense
Speed 30 ft., climb 20 ft.
Melee 2 claws +11 (1d6+3), bite +6 (1d6+1)
Special Attacks blood drain, proboscis
Statistics
Str 16, Dex 16, Con 18, Int 14, Wis 14, Cha 14
Base Atk +8; CMB +11 (+15 grapple); CMD 24
Feats Improved Initiative, Improved Unarmed Strike, Improved Grapple, Skill Focus (Stealth)
Skills Bluff +13, Disguise +13, Knowledge (local) +10, Perception +13, Sense Motive +10, Stealth +17, Survival +10
Languages Common and one regional language
Special Abilities
Blood Drain (Ex). If the Aswang begins its turn grappling a living creature, it can deal 1d4 Constitution damage instead of making its normal natural attacks that round.
Proboscis (Ex). The Aswang can make a melee touch attack with a 10-foot reach. On a hit, it deals 1d6 piercing damage and may immediately attempt a grapple without provoking an attack of opportunity.
Change Shape (Su). The Aswang can assume a humanoid form or a Small or Medium animal form such as a dog, pig, bat or bird. This functions as alter self or beast shape II as appropriate to the chosen form.
False Distance (Su). The Aswang can distort the apparent distance of sounds it makes. It gains a +6 racial bonus on Stealth checks against creatures relying primarily on hearing, and can use ghost sound at will as a supernatural ability.
Cadaver Double (Su). Once per day, after 10 minutes of work with plant material, the Aswang can create a lifeless duplicate of a Medium humanoid it has killed within the previous day. The double has no abilities and decays into its original materials after 24 hours. A DC 20 Perception check reveals that something is wrong.
Ecology
Environment settlements, forest margins and rural roads
Organization solitary, pair, or small group (2–4)
Treasure standard
Aswang — D&D 3.5e
| Size/Type | Medium Outsider (Native, Shapechanger) |
|---|---|
| Hit Dice | 8d8+32 (68 hp) |
| Initiative | +7 |
| Speed | 30 ft. (6 squares) |
| Armor Class | 19 (+3 Dex, +6 natural), touch 13, flat-footed 16 |
| Base Attack/Grapple | +8/+11 |
| Attack | Claw +11 melee (1d4+3) |
| Full Attack | 2 claws +11 melee (1d4+3) and bite +6 melee (1d4+1) |
| Space/Reach | 5 ft./5 ft. |
| Special Attacks | Blood drain, proboscis |
| Special Qualities | Change shape, darkvision 60 ft., false distance, cadaver double, regional wards |
| Saves | Fort +10, Ref +9, Will +8 |
| Abilities | Str 16, Dex 16, Con 18, Int 14, Wis 14, Cha 14 |
| Skills | Bluff +13, Disguise +13, Hide +14, Knowledge (local) +13, Listen +13, Move Silently +14, Search +13, Sense Motive +13, Spot +13, Survival +13 |
| Feats | Improved Initiative, Improved Unarmed Strike, Improved Grapple |
| Environment | Settlements, forest margins and rural roads |
| Organization | Solitary, pair, or group (2–4) |
| Challenge Rating | 5 |
| Treasure | Standard |
| Alignment | Usually neutral evil or chaotic evil |
| Advancement | By character class |
| Level Adjustment | — |
Special Abilities
Blood Drain (Ex). If the Aswang begins its turn pinning a living creature, it can drain blood, dealing 1d3 points of Constitution damage.
Proboscis (Ex). The Aswang can extend a narrow feeding tongue to 10 feet and make a melee touch attack. On a hit it deals 1d4 piercing damage and may immediately attempt to start a grapple without provoking an attack of opportunity.
Change Shape (Su). The Aswang can assume humanoid or animal forms, most often dogs, pigs, bats or birds. Treat this as alter self or polymorph restricted to plausible humanoid and animal forms.
False Distance (Su). The Aswang can produce ghost sound at will. When it uses its own voice or movement to mislead a listener, it gains a +6 circumstance bonus on Move Silently checks against that listener.
Cadaver Double (Su). Once per day, the Aswang can spend 10 minutes transforming plant matter into a temporary duplicate of a recently killed Medium humanoid. The duplicate is mindless, cannot fight and reverts to plant matter after 24 hours.
Behaviour
An Aswang survives by appearing ordinary. It learns household routines, knows which doors are left unbarred, notices who walks alone after dark and watches how quickly neighbours respond to a cry for help. Violence is usually the end of the hunt, not the beginning.
Animal shapes are tools rather than identities. A dog can follow travellers without causing alarm. A pig can move around farms. A bat or bird can watch roofs and windows. The human-seeming form is the most useful of all because it can ask questions, borrow tools, carry gossip and be invited across a threshold.
Different Aswang do not need identical appetites. One may drink blood, another raid graves, another prey on the sick, and another use harmful magic. The name describes a family of fears more convincingly than it describes a single biological species.
If Violence Starts
It tries to isolate one creature immediately. A doorway, alley, roofline, animal form or false noise is used to break the group apart.
It grapples only when escape remains possible. Blood Drain is powerful, but an Aswang does not willingly pin itself in the middle of several armed opponents.
It changes shape to escape pursuit. A fleeing humanoid becomes a dog in an alley, a pig among livestock or a bird above a roofline. The purpose is confusion, not spectacle.
It abandons a failed hunt. Unless defending a lair or exposed identity, it would rather disappear and try again nights later than die in a fair fight.
Local Wards & Countermeasures
Philippine traditions do not give every Aswang the same weakness. Salt, garlic, ginger, pungent spices, stingray-tail whips and specially prepared coconut oil appear in different regional accounts as protections, tests or deterrents. At the table, choose the protections appropriate to the local tradition rather than making every item a universal supernatural vulnerability.
Habitat & Lairs
An Aswang does not need a remote dungeon. Its most dangerous lair is a normal-looking home within walking distance of potential victims. Rural roads, farms, village edges, graveyards, forest margins and isolated houses give it enough darkness and cover to move between social and predatory roles.
A concealed feeding place may contain discarded clothing, animal remains, stolen personal objects and material prepared for false bodies. The most revealing evidence is often mundane: footprints that become animal tracks, a familiar neighbour seen in two places too quickly, or a household whose lamps are always dark during attacks.
Philippine Folklore Context
The Aswang should not be reduced to a Filipino version of a European vampire or werewolf. Folklorist Maximo D. Ramos treated the “aswang complex” as a cluster of overlapping traditions, including blood-suckers, self-segmenting viscera-suckers, animal-transforming predators, harmful witches and corpse-eating beings. Names, traits and beliefs vary across Tagalog, Bikol, Visayan and other regional contexts.
That variation is preserved here by treating the statblock above as one campaign form rather than a claim that every being called Aswang shares the same body, powers or behaviour.
Watch: The Aswang Phenomenon
This documentary is useful because it treats Aswang as a living body of Philippine folklore rather than reducing the tradition to a single RPG monster. It covers regional forms, historical development and the place of Aswang stories in Philippine society.
The Aswang Phenomenon — documentary produced by High Banks Entertainment and presented by The Aswang Project.
Encounter Ideas
The Wrong Distance
A ticking sound grows louder as the party walks away from it. The creature making it is much closer than anyone thinks.
Two Returns
A missing traveller comes home exhausted. The same traveller’s body is found the next morning several miles away.
The Quiet Neighbour
Livestock disappear from three farms, but only one household never joins the night searches.
The Boiling Oil
A prepared vial reacts during a crowded meal. It proves an Aswang is present but gives no clue which guest triggered it.
Tracks at the Window
Human footprints reach a house. Animal tracks leave it. No one inside admits that a visitor arrived.
The Familiar Face
A trusted guide has been replaced, copied or impersonated. The party must work out when the substitution occurred.
Explore Further
Sources & Licensing
Folklore context: Maximo D. Ramos’s work on the Aswang complex is used through source-based summaries that distinguish regional forms rather than treating Aswang as one universal creature.
5.5e / 2024 and 5e / 2014: original campaign conversions using the mechanics and presentation conventions of those editions.
Pathfinder 1e: original campaign conversion using Pathfinder First Edition statblock conventions.
D&D 3.5e: revised from the older community homebrew formerly reproduced on this page; reorganised and recalculated for a cleaner 3.5e presentation.
Further folklore reading: Maximo Ramos Taxonomical Classifications of the Aswang and What is an Aswang?
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