I haven't seen or faced one before, nor can I confidently say that I'm an experienced player or DM, however after reading it. The Attic Whisperer seems like something a DM would throw a few of along side of a stronger more offensive stealthy enemy. They seem like more of a supporter monster than something that would be the actual threat.
Fatigue and Sleep can be a pain, sleep being potentially deadly, but the steal voice could be worse if you can't call for help or notify other party members that some stealthy creepy creatures is about to devour them from behind.
I agree though, doesn't seem like its CR is quite right for what it does.
The way it reads to me is that its more for a BBEG for a first level campaign. A way for your new adventurers to gain a quick level while making a good name for themselves. It says the AW stays dormant until the appearance of a small child, so an npc approaches the group and asks them to help her find her baby, gather info let's them know the child has been spotted a few times around the old dilapidated mansion, throw in some dire rats, a giant spider, a skeleton or three and maybe a bat swarm just to keep them on their toes and by that time your mid cr 2 party ought to be pretty ready to have a difficult fight with the thing that is trying to steal little johnny.
Its not something that will work everytime or even something that could be used in alot of situations but the flavor of it really helps build a story, the party can then continue to try and find out what happened to the original child, how long ago, maybe there's a mother still looking for their own kid and has been for years. Play around with it you'll be able to come up with something.
Its not something very difficult but its powers are strange enough to catch the barbarian in a weird spot by not being able to rage, catch any and all spell casters in a tough spot by not being able to speak (and if they can't speak they can't cast) and the fighter will be taking a neg. 1 to hit against him every turn, and for a two weapon fighter at lowa levels that extra neg. To hit hurts. Maybe he uses his high stealth and the concealment of it being shadowy or low light illumination to keep your party just within his aura of sobs so you take the neg. To hit and damage while fighting some of the other baddies in the mansion.
I set up an orphanage, and put the attic whisperer out back in the "courtyard." It was a bit of a horror adventure, so I never really said what was happening when the party walked by the yard and a small child was crying and looking for its mother. A good character came to see what was wrong with it, picked it up and was bitten.
Nothing outrageously interesting, but it was entertaining when everyone was suddenly caught within the sobbing aura.
I think if I were going to put another in a game, I would probably put some animated objects, too: some dolls or other toys.
Well if you have someone who can be easily lured away from the group, maybe use the AW as a "sleeper cell". The party enters and old *blank*, and come across some rats, spiders, etc... They roll for perception. A player with a higher roll hears something in the distance but can't make out the details. Nothing else comes of this.
As they continue, send the player little notes with information likely to woo them into an isolated area. If they don't take the bait, go to plan B!
If no one beats it's stealth check, the AW cripples the bridge causing one player to fall into A *BLANK*. The Player can make some skill checks or saves, to mitigate the results of the fall, they may be rendered unconscious, the AW steals their voice. If they roll well, the player can beat the fall, encounter the sissy AW, slaughter it and then they have to figure out how to reunite.[/spoiler]
Once this is done, they can come across the BBEG.
Now for the BBEG, if the player managed to beat the AW, the party as a whole can fight the BBEG together, if the player was beaten by the AW/fall, the player is held captive in the BBEG's layer, and the players discover this when they enter the chamber. During the fight, the player can make skill checks, or saves, to break free and join the fight. etc...
Ta Da, a nice tidy compact adventure, using the AW in non-combat, but adventure impacting role :)
I think that much of the advantage of the AW is that not everyone who plays the game knows what it can do unlike say a shadow or orc.
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I used it once, it had a sack of animated hands and amoebas. At first, it cried in a child's voice to lure in the pcs and then they listened to it. It then touched a PC and said "tag you're it!" and ran off. The pcs did not pursue it. What's interesting is that it stole the wizard's voice when he tagged him, so he couldn't cast a lot of his spells. Wizard got mad that his voice was gone and so he went after the thing. When it eventually came to blows, the whisperer unfolded his bag and let out the hands and amoebas. Now the party had to fight him and his hands/amoebas.
Overall it was an extremely fun fight for me to run, it's probably my favorite fight I've run ever. It was one of the few times I've creeped out my players and a couple of them went down a few times due to sleep and hp loss. Man that was a good time!
I actually found this article while researching the little buggers and while I find them delightful both in how creepy they are and the fact that we have a bard who would be forced to do a little more then stand in the back and play his flute. That being said they are pretty high level so I was planning on having them infesting the orphanage of a town they are about to go to. The town has been taken over by devils, using Book of Vile Darkness possession rules who are using it as a base for their new plans against humanity. When they arrived they took over the women at the orphanage and have barricaded the children inside who have started dropping like flies due to the already abysmal conditions there.
In effect they will function as distractions to the party, who are 8th level, and will be attached in some way to several devils in human hosts. Mostly I think they will pester the casters with extra saves and I intend to give them Spring Attack and more then likely Haste to supplement that terrible move speed, but I could definitely agree without some augmentation they are hardly CR 4, 3 maybe. Another thing to make them more potent would be to make them more durable, either through DR or all-out intangibility depending on how you like to flavor text them. If they have more time for attacks they could easily get a player to brick a saving throw.
Having read this series of posts I know want to make a side quest in my next game at lower levels involving a Ravid bound to an orphanage to animate the toys and possessions around the house and entertain a wizards children. The wizard commited suicide for a reason I have time to come up with, and his home was so remote that the Ravid watched the children die as well, turning into AW from the neglect. The session could be quite fun I think, the children strewn about the house in the rooms they've died but coming out to play whenever the Ravid animates something. The Ravid would animate a few objects in the main room as he saw them approach and then make his way upstairs to protect the majority of the children, leaving little encounters behind him. Include an Allip in the wizards study and some vermin monsters in the basement and it could be a very fun encounter, though they'd hardly be the boss again.
All just my two cents, some things aren't properly balanced though, just creepy and thematic :D