Monster Mondays!!

A blog for homebrew monsters, NPC's and other creations for D&D 5th Edition, featuring themes around horror, sci-fi, adventure, and high fantasy. Posting every Monday (give or take).

[rosdottir]

Gotta show off some of the creatures in Herbarium! I had some AMAZING artists working with me on this project; these are drawn by the incredible Hanghul. And backers can get an early look at the full stat blocks!

[angelsaxis]

This country claims to be democratic but 9 unelected people who's values and opinions formed decades prior, who can get into this position without strong or even any valid credentials, can decide to negatively impact or even destroy millions of lives and they cannot be held accountable for it. They can't be impeached or voted out. It's only the most convoluted combination of election-year voting, voter suppression/lack thereof, and idk fucking cowardice from both sides that got any of them to where they are now. 9 people who are cemented in their beliefs and then use the law and constitution to justify their moral opinions that they insist don't influence their rulings at all. We can't vote then out. We just have to hope they retire or die under the presidency of someone who doesn't want to actively kill everything, and eve then we have to contend with any given republican or spineless Democrat in the Senate.

And even then, we cannot get rid of them. Nine people make decisions for 300+ million, affecting their ability to defend themselves, to live peacefully, to lead healthy and happy and safe lives. Nine people can ruin lives for decades to come.

Nine people. Nine. People.

[thecollectibles]

Ars Goetia Demons by Zhengyi Wang

[ravenkult]

Pale Knight by Timofey Razumov https://www.artstation.com/artwork/ELPvP4

[monstermondays]

Bile Demon (CR 5)

   - Art Credit to Marius Siergiejew

This creature is little more than a floating orb of demonic flesh.  It has a wide and malformed mouth, fiery orange eyes, and a crown of spines and horns atop its head. Droplets of a noxious green acid continuously drool from its mouth to the floor below, leaving smoking puddles even as it eats away at part of the creature’s own face.

Bile Demon Medium Fiend (Demon), Chaotic Evil -------------------------- Armor Class: 15 (natural) Hit Points: 76 (8d8+32) Speed: 0ft, fly 30ft (hover) -------------------------- STR      DEX      CON      INT      WIS      CHA 14(+2)   16(+3)   18(+4)    6(-2)   12(+1)  14(+2) -------------------------- Proficiency Bonus: +3 Skills: Perception +5 Damage Resistances:  Acid, Cold, Fire; Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing from Nonmagical Attacks Damage Immunities: Poison Condition Immunity: Poisoned Senses: Darkvision 120ft, passive Perception 16 Languages: Abyssal Challenge: 5 -------------------------- Magic Resistance:  The bile demon has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects. -------------------------- ACTIONS Multiattack: The bile demon may attack with its Bite twice. Bite (Melee Weapon Attack): +5 to hit, reach 5ft, one target; Damage (1d8+2) piercing damage and (1d8) acid damage. Bile Shot (Ranged Spell Attack): +5 to hit, range 90ft, one target; Damage (4d8) acid damage. On a hit, if the target is a creature, it must roll a DC 13 Dexterity saving throw. On a failure, the target also takes 2d8 acid damage at the start of its next turn.  ------------------------------ More Mouth than Mind: Bile demons, also sometimes called noistromo, are a type of demon native to certain layers of the Abyss where pollution and decay run particularly rampant, such as Molor or the Gaping Maw. True to their namesake, the mouth of a bile demon seems to continuously drool a highly corrosive bile or mucous that it uses to attack prey by vomiting great globs of the stuff at them. Curiously, the bile demon somehow seems able to produce far more acid than what the size of its body would otherwise suggest, leading some mages and demonologists to suspect that the bile demon’s mouth and gullet might actually be some kind of miniature extraplanar space.  Flyers in the Blood War: Bile demons are often used as flyers by powerful demons fighting in the Blood War against the forces of the Nine Hells. In this way, bile demons are often commanded to bomb infernal structures and fortifications using their acidic bile, eventually melting through even baatorian greensteel after two or three aerial passes.  That being said, bile demons have little aptitude for tactics on their own and are not particularly fast, often relying on other faster flying demons to protect them in the air before they’re blown out of the sky by devlish forces. 

[monstermondays]

Amikuk (CR 6)

- Image found on @myth-lord​ (Unable to locate Artist Credits)

This bizarre creature moves with an almost feline-like grace over the icy terrain of its lair. A large circular mouth ringed with teeth dominates an eyeless head, and long black claws tip the ends of four long and rubbery limbs. A thin layer of clear slime coating its form glimmers in the dim light.

Amikuk Medium Aberration (Cold), Chaotic Neutral ----------------- Armor Class: 15 Hit Points: 71 (9d8+18) Speed: 50ft ------------------ STR     DEX     CON     INT      WIS      CHA 12(+1) 18(+4)  14(+2)    4(-3)   14(+2)    6(-2) ------------------ Proficiency Bonus: +3 Saving Throws: Dexterity +8, Constitution +6 Skills: Perception +6, Stealth +8 Damage Immunities: Cold Condition Immunities: Blinded, Grappled Damage Vulnerabilities: Fire Senses: Blindsight 60ft Challenge: 6 ------------------- Fast Climb: An amikuk can climb difficult surfaces, including upside down on ceilings, without needing to make an ability check.

Gelid Slime: An amikuk's body is always coated in a thin layer of icy slime that is also extremely slippery. The slime makes it virtually impossible for another creature to try and grapple an amikuk since the slime always ensures that it is always able to slip free.  This slime also imbues the amikuk's claws and bite with terrible cold, inflicting an extra 1d6 cold damage on a hit. (already included in the attacks).

Keen Senses: An amikuk has advantage on Perception checks that rely on hearing or smell.

Sightless: An amikuk does not possess any eyes. It cannot be affected by spells or other magical effects that rely on sight, such as Hypnotic Pattern and gaze attacks.

Quickness: An amikuk can use Dash or Disengage as a bonus action. It does not provoke Attacks of Opportunity from moving through an enemy creature's threatened space. ------------------- ACTIONS

Multiattack: The amikuk may attack three times when using the Attack Action, once using either its bite or spittle and twice using its claws.

Bite (Melee Weapon Attack): +7 to hit, reach 5ft, one target; Damage (1d8+4) piercing and (1d6) cold

Claws (Melee Weapon Attack): +7 to hit, reach 5ft, one target; Damage (1d6+4) slashing and (1d6) cold

Gelid Spittle (Recharge 5-6): +7 to hit, range 30ft, one target; Damage (2d6) cold, and the target is restrained by thick strands of the amikuk's gelid slime. The target can use its action on each of its turns to attempt a DC 13 Strength check to attempt and break free of the freezing slime, bursting out of it on a success. The slime can also be attacked and destroyed (AC 10; hp 5; vulnerability to fire damage; immunity to bludgeoning, poison, and psychic damage).

------------------- LAIR ACTIONS

Gelid Pool: The gelid slime that covers an amikuk's body possesses a bizarre magical property that causes any body of water it swims through to gradually transmute into more of the same gelid slime. It takes a little over a week for an amikuk's slime to transmute a sizable body of water.   Creatures except the amikuk suffer disadvantage on Athletics checks made to swim through it.  In addition, creatures who enter an amikuk's pool of slime for the first time or begin their turn inside of it must make a Constitution saving throw (DC 13). A creature suffers 4d6 cold damage on a failure and has its movement speed reduced by half, or half as much damage on a success and does not lose any movement speed.  Creatures who remain in the gelid pool for multiple rounds may also start gaining levels of exhaustion due to the gelid pool's extreme cold. 

If an amikuk is inside an area covered by a gelid pool, then it may use its Lair Action at the start of each round to either make a melee attack to attempt to pull an adjacent creature into the gelid pool, or make a ranged attack using its spittle to attempt to pull a creature 20ft closer to the pool.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

No Eyes to See: Amikuks are vicious alien predators that make their lairs in cold climates both above ground and below.  Despite not having any eyes, the senses of an amikuk are very keen and precise, possibly due to some other sense or combination of senses like scent or echolocation. They are able to climb vertical and horizontal surfaces with ease, as well as swim through icy rivers with no negative effect, but their most bizarre physical ability comes in the form of the gelid slime coating their bodies.   Icy and Slimy: The slime of an amikuk is extremely magical in nature and makes it impossible for an amikuk to be caught in another creature's grip due to its slipperiness. This same slime also bestows the amikuk's claws and fangs with an intense elemental cold, as well as a ranged attack that entails spitting a stream of slime at prey to both entangle and rapidly freeze it.  In addition, the slime also has the bizarre property of transmuting small ponds or lakes that the amikuk spends its time swimming through into more of the same slime.  This is likely similar in logic to the hunting tactic behind a spider's web. Ambush Apex: An amikuk will often either lay in wait clinging to a cavern ceiling where it will drop down upon prey and then push it into the slime-water, or it will wait below the slime-water's surface and snatch prey in a fashion not unlike a river crocodile. Either way, the slime-water's frigid temperatures will only aid the amikuk in subduing the prey's movements and attempts to escape.  

[monstermondays]

Bonewheel Skeleton (CR 3)

- Art Credit to Hidetaka Miyazaki (Dark Souls; please correct me if I’m wrong)

This humanoid skeleton appears to have been lashed or nailed to the spokes of a bloodied wagon wheel at the torso. Large iron spikes surround the outer rim of the wheel, each appearing to be caked in dried blood and viscera. The skeleton emits a clattering cackle as it tucks its arms and legs into the middle of the wheel, only to suddenly start rolling forward at a deadly speed.

Bonewheel Skeleton Medium Undead, Neutral Evil ---------------- Armor Class: 13 Hit Points: 40 (5d8+10) Speed: 20ft (50ft while rolling) ---------------- STR     DEX     CON     INT     WIS     CHA  8(-1)   14(+2)  14(+2)    6(-2)   8(-1)    5(-3) ---------------- Proficiency Bonus: +3 Condition Immunities: Exhaustion, Poisoned Senses: Darkvision 60ft, passive Perception 9 Languages: - Challenge: 3 ----------------- Rolling Charge: If a bonewheel skeleton moves at least 20ft in a straight line towards a target, then the target must a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw to leap out of the way. On a failure, the target suffers 5d4 points of slashing damage and is knocked prone. The bonewheel skeleton may continue to use its full movement to roll past its first target and attempt to run over any other targets in line with the first, repeating the process until either it finishes using its full movement speed or until it either decides to stop or turn.

Quickness: A bonewheel skeleton may Dash as a bonus action on each of its turns. ----------------- ACTIONS

Claw (Melee Weapon Attack): +5 to hit, reach 5ft, one target; Damage (1d4+2) slashing.

------------------------------------------------------------------- Deadly Whimsy: It is thought that bonewheel skeletons were the invention of a particularly whimsical necromancer who found amusement in creating animate deathtraps out of the bones of the dead. The only thing that marks a bonewheel skeleton different from a normal skeleton is, obviously, the spiked wagon wheel it has been attached to. The wheel itself seems to be nothing more than an ordinary wagon wheel outfitted with long spikes around the outer edge, all the better for shredding through both armor and flesh as the skeleton bounds forward at breack-neck speeds. 

Run Them Down: The only often heard sign that a group of bonewheel skeletons is near are their clattering and mindless cackles as they race along and close in on their targets. Unsurprisingly, their favorite tactic, if it can even be called one due to their near mindlessness, is cornering prey in long narrow corridors where there is little room to dodge their wheeling charges.

[monstermondays]

Graveyard Angel (CR 5)

- Art Credit to Edward Delandre

With a shudder of the earth, what first appeared to be an ordinary tombstone suddenly bursts upward from the ground to reveal a large stone body caked in mud and gravedirt. It grips a large shovel and advances with lumbering, deliberate footsteps.  The cherubic face of a stone angel peers outward with hollow eyes from beneath the base of its tombstone "head", a mantle of dried and wilted roses adorning its shoulders.

Graveyard Angel Large Construct, Unaligned ----------------- Armor Class: 17 Hit Point: 135 (15d10+45) Speed: 30ft ----------------- STR      DEX      CON     INT      WIS       CHA 18(+4)   15(+2)   16(+3)   3(-1)   11(+0)     1(-5) ----------------- Proficiency Bonus: +3 Damage Resistances: Necrotic Damage Immunities: Poison, Psychic; Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing from nonmagical attacks that aren't Adamantine Condition Immunities: Charmed, Exhaustion, Frightened, Paralyzed, Petrified, Poisoned Senses: Darkvision 60ft, passive Perception 10 Languages: Understands the language of its creator but cannot speak Challenge: 5 ----------------- Aura of Fear:  Any creature hostile to the graveyard angel that starts its turn within 20 feet of it must make a DC 13 Wisdom saving throw, unless the angel is incapacitated. On a failed save, the creature is frightened until the start of its next turn. If a creature's saving throw is successful, the creature is immune to the angel’s Aura of Fear for the next 24 hours.

Brute: A melee weapon deals one extra die of its damage when the graveyard angel hits with it (included in the attack).

False Appearance: While the graveyard angel remains motionless and buried in the ground up to its head, it is indistinguishable from an ordinary tombstone.

Magic Resistance. The graveyard angel has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.

Turning Vulnerability: The graveyard angel counts as an undead for the purpose of a cleric’s or paladin’s Turn Undead feature. It cannot be destroyed by the Destroy Undead feature. ----------------- ACTIONS Multiattack: The graveyard angel makes two melee attacks.

Spade (Melee Weapon Attack): +7 to hit, reach 5ft; one target; Damage (2d8+4) slashing damage.

Slam (Melee Weapon Attack): +7 to hit, reach 5ft; one target; Damage (2d6+4) bludgeoning damage.

Sudden Emergence: While the graveyard angel is partially buried, it can choose to ambush its targets by bursting upward from the ground to attack. When it does, it also bombards its target with a shower of heavy dirt and stone. Each creature within 10 feet of the graveyard angel when it emerges must make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw, taking 3d12 bludgeoning damage on a failure or half as much on a success. Additionally, the ground in that area becomes difficult terrain until cleared. Each 5-foot-square portion of the area requires at least 1 minute to clear by hand.

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Church Golems: Graveyard angels are a type of construct often utilized by churches and wealthy estates to guard the dead and their keepsakes from the depredations of graverobbers. The methods used to construct them are similar to those used in the creation of true golems, but the angel lacks much of a golem’s immunities against hostile magic. That said, graveyard angels can also be constructed in greater numbers owing to their (comparatively) lesser creation costs, making them highly suitable for guarding churchyards and private cemeteries held on wealthy estates.

Guardians of the Dead: Each graveyard angel is programmed to guard an object or area when created, and once set, this command cannot be changed. Typically these areas are graveyards interred with the remains of wealthy nobles in order to prevent would-be-graverobbers and necromancers from defiling the dead.  Graveyard angels are often given specific parameters concerning whom to ignore and whom to attack, but since they have no special form of detection, such restrictions can be overcome with disguises if the parameters are known.

Haunted Stone:  Due to their constant proximity to death and the restless spirits that may be interred among them, it is not uncommon such a construct to inherit some of the more otherworldly aspects of the places they guard. This often manifests as a resistance towards necrotic energies and the ability to emanate an aura of fear away from their guarded territories. However, and strangely enough, this also causes the graveyard angel to become vulnerable to types of divine magic, especially a cleric’s ability to turn the undead. Some might see this as a flaw of the construct’s design, but what cleric of any goodly deity would stoop so low as robbing the dead?

[st-just]

Cosmic Owl by Ryan Bittner

[dailyadventureprompts]

Adventure: Poison in the Vein

“ Yes yes, loss of life, defense of the realm and all that. What we must impress upon you is how important that none of our mineral assets be damaged during your mission. You manage that, and I’ll transmute you a sapphire the size of your fist, in addition to what we already agreed on. Does that sound agreeable to you, sellsword? “ 

Adventure Hooks: 

Word’s gone out that there’s a monster in one of the gem-mines deep within the mountains. Apparently it burst out of the wall , scared off the workforce, and now the tremendously productive work of harvesting rare minerals from the earth has ground to a complete stop. Better yet, the contract was put out by the Dizalla mining cabal, a close-knit and fabulously wealthy sect of geomancers, who need the mine and it’s magical crystals to fuel their magic and line their pockets.  

Competition for the contract will be tough, as the players may need to prove themselves against other, more established adventuring companies who’ve also heard tell of the mine and the plight of its well paying owners. 

While the monster in question may be a Bulette, Xorn,  Greathorn Minotaur, or any other challenging subterranean beast,  its quite clear that the lower levels of this cave are a hair’s bredth from making contact with a dangerous underdark ecosystem, and that any further delving may open the path for something far more dangerous than a simple predator looking for food. 

Unbeknownst to anyone, the Real threat are a mob of Derro. These mad dwarvenkin have slowly been picking their way to the surface under the influence of a sinister psionic presence. Now that they’ve breached the Mine, they’ll scatter out and quickly begin robbing caches of crystals to take back home as offerings to the guiding voice in their heads. Is this a simple incursion from the hollow earth, or the first forays for a widescale invasion? None but the Derro can say, and they’re too mad to give any coherent answer 

Setup: As much as arcanists like to think that their power comes form paper and ink, abstract formulae and the secret words of forgotten sages, they often forget just how much of their power comes from the land itself, and the grueling labor of strongbacked men and women who spend their lives extracting the land’s secret bounties. 

Not so for the Dinzalla Mining Cabal, a circle of mages Who have put themselves in direct supervision of the fanciful crystals and mineral components that fuel their spellcraft. Ownership of the mines ensures a steady supply of reagents, with the sale of the excess going to fund the purchase of other materials while keeping the Cabal at a high standard of living.  Their magic likewise benefits their mining, as geomancy and other divinations can prevent much of the fruitless work of surveying and trying to seek new veins once the old ones are tapped out. 

This efficiency means their mines grow at a rate far faster than those planned by more traditional means, and that expansion puts them at risk of stumbling into the underdark. In this instance, it’s already too late, and who’s to say the scattered Dinzalla digs could not become incursion points for a subterranean invasion? 

[madcat-world]

the Infinite Mindsplitter (1 of 2) - Michal Ivan

[monstermondays]

Nuckelavee (CR 12)

  - Art Credit to Scott Purdy (on deviantART)

A mounted horseman gallops forth, soaked head to toe in gore and waving a blade with wild abandon. Yet as he moves, it becomes clear that horse and rider are joined as one—a humanoid torso sprouting from equine withers—and the gore is a grisly vision of naked muscle and leaking veins.

Nuckelavee Large Fey, Chaotic Evil --------------------- Armor Class: 18 (natural) Hit Points:  160 (16d10+64) Speed: 50ft, swim 50ft. --------------------- STR       DEX      CON      INT     WIS       CHA 18(+4)   16(+3)   18(+4)    8(-1)   14(+2)   14(+2) --------------------- Proficiency: +5 Saving Throws: Strength +9, Dexterity +8, Wisdom +7 Skills: Perception +7, Stealth +8 Condition Immunities: Charmed, Exhaustion, Frightened, Paralyzed Damage Immunities: Poison Damage Resistances: Cold; Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing from nonmagical attacks that aren't cold iron Senses: Darkvision 120ft, Passive Perception 17 Languages: Sylvan, does not speak Challenge: 12 ---------------------- Charge: If the nuckelavee moves at least 20 feet straight toward a target and then hits it with an attack with its longsword on the same turn, the target takes an extra 2d8 slashing damage. If the target is a creature, it must also succeed on a DC 17 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone.

Horrifying Visage: Any creature that starts its turn within 60ft of the nuckelavee and can see it must make a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw or become frightened for 1 minute. A frightened creature cannot take reactions. A creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of its turns, with disadvantage if the nuckelavee is in its line of sight. If the creature succeeds on its saving throw, or the effect ends early for it, it is immune to the nuckelavee's Horrifying Visage for the next 24 hours.

Innate Spellcasting: The nuckelavee may cast the following spells innately without expending material components. Charisma is its spellcasting ability modifier.        - 3/Day: Control Water, Fog Cloud

Regeneration: The nuckelavee regains 10 hit points at the start of its turn, or 20 hit points if it is in contact with water. If the nucklevaee takes fire or radiant damage, this trait doesn't function at the start of the nuckelavee's next turn. The nuckelavee dies only if it starts its turn with 0 hit points and doesn't regenerate.

Two Heads: The nuckelavee has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks and on saving throws against being blinded, deafened, and stunned.

Underwater Camouflage: The nuckelavee has advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks made while underwater. ----------------------- ACTIONS

Multiattack: The nuckelavee attacks twice with its longsword and then attacks once with a back kick.  The nuckelavee also can use two reactions each round to make attacks of opportunity, one with its longsword and one with its back kick.

Longsword (Melee Weapon Attack): +9 to hit, reach 5ft, one target; Damage (1d8+4) slashing damage and (3d6) poison damage.

Back Kick (Melee Weapon Attack): +9 to hit, reach 5ft, one target; Damage (2d8+4) bludgeoning damage and the target is knocked prone unless they succeed on a DC 17 Strength saving throw.

Mortasheen Breath (Recharge 5-6): As an action, the nuckelavee can exhale a 30ft cone of diseased air.  Any creatures within the cone must make a DC 17 Constitution saving throw.  On a failure, they take 12d8 points of poison damage and gain the poisoned condition until they complete a long rest. On a success, they take half as much damage and are not poisoned. A poisoned creature may repeat the saving throw at the end of their turn, ending the condition on a success. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- A Living Irony: The dreaded nuckelavee is a manifestation of pollution and filth, be it the natural decay of a red tide or the intrusive pollution of sewage and other urban waste. A nuckelavee is a living irony—a carrier of disease and a spreader of corruption that unleashes its wrath against other sources that bring corruption into the world. The corruption spread by nuckelavees only serves to further their own sense of self-loathing and overall rage. While nuckelavees might, incidentally, carry out vengeance for the victims of such pollution, defending the denizens of their rivers, swamps, and bogs is not their primary drive, for they revel in inflicting the very corruption they hate and enjoy little more than watching their enemies sicken and die.

Keep It Close: Folktales tell of talismans to carry—fetishes of seaweed garlands, horsehair soaked in brine, or vials of sanctified seawater—or of prayers to recite to ward away nuckelavees or convince them the bearer is innocent. In truth, the protection afforded by such things against the vile plague-bearers is haphazard at best.  Some scholars theorize that it is not the talismans or prayers by themselves that keep the nuckelavee at bay, but the rather the sincere belief that is invested into them by the monster’s would-be-victims. In other words, faith is what keeps such monsters away.  A pity that faith is in such short supply in these dark times.

Despoiler’s Bane: Among the cruelest and most monstrous creations of the fey, nuckelavees ride forth from black waters to wreak bloody vengeance upon those who despoil nature. Horrifying, skinless amalgams of man and horse, these monstrous avengers embody every wound and wickedness suffered by the wilds, their bodies loosing trails of gore and the pounds of their webbed hooves beating an inescapable threnody for all who earn their ire. Once they emerge from their refuges beneath cool waves or rivers, only destruction satisfies their merciless crusades, either that of their victims or their own.

[monstermondays]

The Griselweald Dire Swine (CR 6)

- Art Credit to Jason Kang

Griselweald Dire Swine Large Animal (Beast), Chaotic Evil --------------------------------- Armor Class: 14 (Natural Armor) Hit Points: 160 (10d12+40) Speed: 40ft --------------------------------- STR     DEX      CON      INT      WIS      CHA 18(+4) 12(+1)   18(+4)     2(-4)     8(-1)     5(-3) --------------------------------- Proficiency Bonus: +3 Saving Throws: Strength +8, Constitution +6 Skills: Perception +4, Stealth +5, Survival +4 Damage Immunities: Poison Condition Immunities: Diseased, Exhaustion, Poisoned Senses: passive Perception 13 Challenge: 6 --------------------------------- Aversion to Fire: The dire swine suffers an additional 2d6 points of fire damage whenever it takes fire damage from any source. When subject to fire damage, the dire swine must also make a DC 15 Wisdom check. On a failure, it becomes frightened of the source of the fire damage. On a success, it instead becomes enraged and gains resistance bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage, as well as a +2 bonus to all attack and damage rolls. It remains enraged until the end of combat.

Charge: If the dire swine moves at least 20 feet straight toward a target and then hits it with a tusk attack on the same turn, the target takes an extra 2d6 slashing damage. If the target is a creature, it must succeed on a DC 16 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone.

Disease Cloud: The dire swine is surrounded by a 15ft radius invisible cloud of contagions. Any creature who enters that area for the first time or starts their turn inside of it must make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw. The creature takes 2d6 poison damage on a failure, or half as much on a success. If the creature rolls a 5 or less on their saving throw (or the result is a natural 1), then they also become immediately infected with Mindfire (as per the Contagion spell). A creature who is immune to poison is also immune to any of the dire swine's diseases, and creatures who are resistant to poison have advantage on their saving throw.

Diseased Flesh: A creature that inflicts damage to the dire swine with a melee attack must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw. The creature takes 2d6 poison damage on a failure, or half as much on a success. If the creature rolls a 5 or less on their saving throw (or the result is a natural 1), then they also become immediately infected with Blinding Sickness (as per the Contagion spell). If a creature hits the dire swine with a bite attack, then they must roll their saving throw with disadvantage. A creature who is immune to poison is also immune to any of the dire swine's diseases, and creatures who are resistant to poison have advantage on their saving throw.

Keen Senses: The base creature gains advantage to all Perception and Survival checks that rely on hearing or scent.

Relentless (Recharges after a Short or Long Rest): When the Dire Swine is brought to 0 hit points, it automatically regains up to half of its total hit point maximum.  If the damage that would've reduced it to 0 hit points was fire damage, then this feature does not activate. ----------------------------- ACTIONS

Tusk (Melee Weapon Attack): +7 to hit, reach 5ft, one target; Damage (2d6+4) slashing damage. If the target of the attack is a creature, then they must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw. The target suffers 3d6 poison damage on a failure, or half as much on a successful one.  If the target rolls a 5 or less on their saving throw (or the result is a natural 1), then they also become immediately infected with Filth Fever (as per the Contagion spell). A creature who is immune to poison is also immune to any of the dire swine's diseases, and creatures who are resistant to poison have advantage on their saving throw.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nightmare Given Form: The creature legends call the Griselweald Dire Swine is a hideous abomination that haunts dark and sprawling woodlands such as the Svalich Woods in Barovia or the Black Mire upon the world of Etharis. Some say that it was once an ordinary boar cursed by hag magic or demonic possession.  Others call it a beast borne from the nightmares of local children, a thing bestowed with terrible form and hunger where before there was none.

Whatever the swine truly is, it remains a terrible and dangerous monster that has sent many foolhardy hunters to an early and grisly death.  A death that often leaves their corpses to become conjoined with the tangle of dead flesh and rattling bones that lie twisted within the swine's own greasy hide.

The Eater of Flesh: Little is truly known about the Dire Swine or its habits, but most speculate it to be a voracious scavenger content to consume smaller prey until it finds a more delectable meal.  It vastly prefers the flesh of humanoids above all other meat, living or dead, and it will always pursue it even if already in the middle of consuming another meal, freshly killed or otherwise.  

A Plague That Slithers: In addition to being a voracious carnivore, the swine also seems to carry a plethora of diseases within its entire corporeal form.  It can spread these diseases by goring a potential meal with its tusks, having another creature bite and consume its own putrid flesh, and even through its own fetid breath. Indeed, a perpetual cloud of contagion seems to hang around the Griselweald Dire Swine wherever it goes, blighting the land and anything unfortunate enough to be near it.

[monstermondays]

The Hollow King (CR 18)

- Art Credit to Alex Konstad (on deviantART)

This creature is nearly nothing more than the reanimated remains of a humanoid nervous system. It drifts through the air dragging ragged tendrils of nervous tissue stained red by once-living blood. It’s “head” is just a brain lacking eyes that wears a five-pointed crown formed of strange cartilage.

The Hollow King Medium Undead, Chaotic Evil --------------------------------------------- Armor Class: 17 (natural armor) Hit Points: 128 (16d8+48) Speed: 5ft; fly 30ft (hover) --------------------------------------------- STR      DEX      CON      INT      WIS      CHA  0(-4)    15(+2)   17(+3)    20(+5) 16(+3)  11(+0) ---------------------------------------------- Proficiency Bonus: +5 Saving Throws: CON +8, INT +10, WIS +8, CHA +5 Skills: Arcana +10, History +10, Insight +8 Damage Vulnerabilities: Lightning Damage Resistances: Necrotic, Psychic; Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing from nonmagical attacks Damage Immunities: Poison Condition Immunities: Charmed, Exhaustion, Frightened, Paralyzed, Poisoned Senses: Blindsight 120ft (blind beyond this radius), passive Perception 13 Languages: Abyssal, Common, Deep Speech, Infernal, Undercommon; Telepathy 120ft Challenge: 18 ----------------------------------------------- Legendary Resistance (3/Day): If the Hollow King fails a saving throw, it can choose to succeed instead.

Magic Resistance: The Hollow King has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.

Turn Resistance: The Hollow King has advantage on saving throws against any effect that turns undead. 

Rejuvenation: A destroyed Hollow King gains a new body in 24 hours if its crown has not been destroyed, regaining all its hit points and becoming active again. The new body appears in the same space as the crown with the Hollow King already wearing it.

Innate Spellcasting (Psionics): The Hollow King’s innate spellcasting ability is Intelligence (spell save DC 18). It can innately cast the following spells, requiring no components:

    - At-Will: Detect Thoughts, Levitate, Mage Hand     - 1/Day: Dominate Monster, Plane Shift (self only)

Spellcasting: The Hollow King is a 13th-level spellcaster. Its spellcasting ability is Intelligence (spell save DC 18, +10 to hit with spell attacks). The Hollow King has the following wizard spells prepared:

    - Cantrips: Chill Touch, Mind Sliver, Prestidigitation     - 1st Level (4 Slots): Detect Magic, Magic Missile, Shield, Thunderwave     - 2nd Level (3 Slots): Blindness/Deafness, Crown of Madness, Tasha’s Mind Whip      - 3rd Level (3 Slots): Counterspell, Dispel Magic, Fireball      - 4th Level (3 Slots): Blight, Dimension Door, Phantasmal Killer      - 5th Level (2 Slots): Hold Monster, Synaptic Static      - 6th Level (1 Slot): Chain Lightning, Disintegrate      - 7th Level (1 Slot): Arcane Sword, Reverse Gravity      - 8th Level (1 Slot): Feeblemind      - 9th Level (1 Slot): Psychic Scream

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Psychic Drain (Melee Spell Attack): +10 to hit, reach 5ft, one target; Damage (4d6+5) psychic damage.  If the target is a creature with an Intelligence score of at least 1 and is not a construct, then it must roll a DC 18 Intelligence saving throw or have its Intelligence score reduced by 1d4. The Hollow King regains 10 hit points per point of Intelligence that it drains. 

Mind Blast (Recharge 5-6): The Hollow King magically emits psychic energy in a 60-foot cone.  Each creature in that area must succeed on a DC 18 Intelligence saving throw or take (4d8+4) psychic damage and be stunned for 1 minute. A creature can repeat the saving throws at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on a success. 

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LEGENDARY ACTIONS

The Hollow King can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary action option can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature's turn. The Hollow King regains spent legendary actions at the start of its turn.

- Attack: The Hollow King makes one attack with its Psychic Drain. - Cantrip: The Hollow King casts a cantrip. - Spell (Costs 2 LA): The Hollow King casts a spell of 1st Level or higher. - Psychic Screech (Costs 2 LA): The Hollow King releases a powerful telepathic screech. Each creature within 10 feet of the Hollow King that can hear the telepathic screech must succeed on a DC 16 Wisdom saving throw or be stunned until the end of the Hollow King's next turn.

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Magic and Madness: No one can truly say how the creature known as the Hollow King came to haunt the blighted keep of Icehaupt, located somewhere upon one of the tallest peaks of the Grey Spine mountains upon the world of Etharis. Legends of the Hollow King say that it was once a powerful archmage belonging to one of the Great Houses who had learned everything there was to know about arcane magic, but that he also quickly become disillusioned by the achievement.  He quickly became besieged by an unbearable boredom that threatened to rob the meaning from his long life thus far.

However, it was soon after the archmage’s depression had set in that he began hearing word of a bizarre magic born completely from of the power of the mind rather than the arcane, an almost unheard of art practiced only by the illithids (or mind flayers) who dwelt in the Deep Below far beneath the surface of the world.  This "mind magic" he later learned was called Psionics, and the archmage chose to embark on a quest to learn all that he could of it.  He took with him all of his retainers and servants, mercenaries and adventurers, to ensure the success of his quest.  He was prepared to sacrifice everything for the sake of his quest, both of himself and including everything of the companions he had brought with him.  Not that any of them knew of this, of course. 

Many years passed. The archmage returned at last to the surface of the world, but not in the form that he had departed in.  The teachings he had learned from the illithid masters of the Deep Below had nearly broken his mind with their alien insights and eldritch thoughts, but they had instilled a powerful ambition within the archmage that they had never before felt in all of his long life.  For he now desired to become the first mage, the first _mortal,_ to evolve and reach a higher state of existence!  To shed his disgusting mortal body and become a creature of _pure thought,_ one who was free to explore the planes and the universe unhindered by the limitations of flesh and blood and bone.  And they had been given the means to do so, a parting gift in the form of an immeasurably ancient and profane ritual from the dark masters he had learned _so much_ from.

Unfortunately, the ritual only worked partially as effectively as he desired. Perhaps also exactly as intended by the illthids of the Deep Below.

As the dark energies of the ritual vanished and dissipated, the archmage found himself indeed freed from _most_ of the mortal flesh that he had grown to despise so much while he had been away in the Deep Below. Gone were his skin, his blood and muscles, and even his bones. But yet, the archmage's bloodstained nerves and brain still remained, the sole remnant of a mortal body shed in maddened desire.  This monumental failure drove the archmage, now truly the Hollow King, even more mad than he had been before and he fled psychically wailing into the night sky until he reached the crumbling walls of Icehaupt.  It is said to have remained there ever since, an unholy abomination of loose nerve fibers and a brain quietly hovering through Icehaupt's dark corridors and frozen ramparts, ever searching for and devising ways to complete the ritual and finally set himself free to explore the worlds beyond the stars and planes.   The King’s Vile Crown: The majority of the Hollow King’s presence upon the Material Plane exists as an entity of pure chaotic and malevolent thought. The only thing that keeps it focused enough to keep it from diffusing across the world and losing its psychic “substance” is the crown upon its body’s head, an item formed from the skull and cartilage of the Hollow King’s mortal form.  In that way, the trailing nerve fibers of its corporeal form can be viewed as nothing more than an avatar of its psychic self, with the crown acting as less of a core and more of an anchor.  

There are only two ways to truly destroy the Hollow King and prevent its resurrection.  The first is to obtain its crown and shatter it by means of a special ritual or item, although that is no easy feat. Even touching the crown of the Hollow King carries a tremendous risk of becoming possessed by it. The second is to nullify its malignant intelligence by reducing its Intelligence score to 0 somehow, usually via a powerful spell or curse cast upon it.  --------------------------------------------------------------- Side Note:  The Hollow King is meant to be an insidious and horrifying villain, one best used in campaigns with a strong element of horror. If you’re using Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft, then the Hollow King might make for a suitable Dark Lord ruling (and imprisoned in) its own Realm of Dread.  If you’re using the Curse of Strahd adventure module, consider using the Hollow King as one of the monsters roaming the halls of the Amber Temple, perhaps as a rival of Strahd that reached too far for power and then paid the ultimate price for it.