Eye for the Arcane. As a bonus action, the archon can target a creature it can see within 120 feet of it and determine which spells the creature has cast in the last 24 hours.
Magical Attacks. The pooka's attacks count as magical for the sake of determining damage resistances or immunities.
Innate Spellcasting. The pooka’s innate spellcasting ability is Wisdom (spell save DC 18, +10 to hit with spell attacks). The pooka can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components:
At will: animal friendship, etherealness, misty step, comprehend languages, tongues
5/day each: darkness, entangle, fear, haste, suggestion, polymorph, true sight, Tasha's hideous laughter, mind spike, Nystul's magic aura, phantasmal force,
3/day each: bestow curse, counterspell, gaseous form, confusion, geas,
1/day each: true polymorph, shapechange, foresight, monster bond, modify memory, telepathic bond
Magic Resistance. The pooka has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
Unsettling Aura. Any creature of the pooka’s choice, that starts its turn within 30 feet of the pooka and can see or hear it must succeed on a DC 17 Wisdom saving throw or become frightened of its allies. A frightened target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success. If a target’s saving throw is successful or the effect ends for it, the target is immune to this aura for the next 24 hours.
Shapechanger. The pooka can use its action to polymorph into a Huge humanoid, or back into its true form. In the new form its strength becomes 25, dexterity becomes 16, and it gains a slam attack (+ 12 to hit, 4d10 + 8 bludgeoning damage). Any equipment it is wearing or carrying isn’t transformed.
Multiattack. The pookamakes two claw attacks and one bite attack, or it may cast a spell it knows.
Claw Attack. Melee Weapon Attack: +10 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 18 (3d6 + 5) slashing damage plus 18 (4d8) force damage.
Bite Attack. Melee Weapon Attack: +10 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 18 (3d6 + 5) slashing damage plus 18 (2d8) poison damage.
The archon 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 archon regains spent legendary actions at the start of its turn.
Rejoin Mount. If the pooka isn’t mounted, it magically teleports to its steed and mounts it as long as the pooka and its steed are on the same plane of existence.
Spite (Costs 2 Actions). The pooka makes a claw or bite attack, and then its mount can use its reaction to make a melee weapon attack.
Arcane Shout (Costs 3 Actions). (In its huge form only) The pooka targets a creature it can see within 60 feet of it. The target must succeed on a DC 20 Charisma saving throw or be magically teleported to a demiplane filled with nightmarish illusions (taking 12d8 psycic damage) until the end of the pooka’s next turn, whereupon the target reappears in a space chosen by the pooka within 60 feet of it.
Description
The pooka may be regarded as being either menacing or beneficial.
Old people used to say that the Pookas were very common once, and were wicked-minded, black-looking, cruel things...that would come in the form of wild colts, with chains hanging about them, and that their mischeif caused much harm to unwary travellers. Also, little bad boys and girls were warned not to eat overripe blackberries, because this was a sign that the pooka has entered them.
Encounters with the pooka tend to occur in rural, isolated places, far from settlements or homes.
Some folk tales specify a protective measure for encountering a pooka. It is said that the rider may be able to take control of the pooka by wearing sharp spurs, using those to prevent being taken or to steer the creature if already on its back.
The protective power of the "sharp things," as they are always referred to by the pooka in the tales, may stem from the folk belief that "cold iron" has the ability to ward off the supernatural, and may not have any real effect.
In contrast, the pooka is helpful to farmers in other tales, a farmer's child may notice the invisible presence of the pooka brushing by, and call out to it, offering a gift. The pooka then would often appear in the guise of a young bull, and tell them to come to a secluded place. From that time onward, the pooka may come secretly at night and perform useful tasks or secure the aid of other beings to aid in simple chores.
There are stories of some pookas being blood-thirsty and vampire-like creatures. Other stories even say some are man-eating beings, hunting down, killing, and eating their victims.
According to legend, the pooka is a deft shapeshifter, capable of assuming a variety of terrifying or pleasing forms. It can take a human form, but will often have animal features, such as ears or a tail. As an animal, the pooka will most commonly appear as a horse, cat, rabbit, raven, fox, wolf, goat, or dog. No matter what shape the pooka takes, its fur is almost always dark. It most commonly takes the form of a sleek black horse with a flowing mane and luminescent golden eyes, or a monkey like creature with feathers and fairy wings.
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