Amphibious. The aboleth can breathe air and water.
Mucous Cloud. While underwater, the aboleth is surrounded by transformative mucus. A creature that touches the aboleth or that hits it with a melee attack while within 5 feet of it must make a DC 14 Constitution saving throw. On a failure, the creature is diseased for 1d4 hours. The diseased creature can breathe only underwater.
Probing Telepathy. If a creature communicates telepathically with the aboleth, the aboleth learns the creature’s greatest desires if the aboleth can see the creature.
Multiattack. The aboleth makes three tentacle attacks.
Tentacle. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 12 (2d6 + 5) bludgeoning damage. If the target is a creature, it must succeed on a DC 14 Constitution saving throw or become diseased. The disease has no effect for 1 minute and can be removed by any magic that cures disease. After 1 minute, the diseased creature’s skin becomes translucent and slimy, the creature can’t regain hit points unless it is underwater, and the disease can be removed only by heal or another disease-curing spell of 6th level or higher. When the creature is outside a body of water, it takes 6 (1d12) acid damage every 10 minutes unless moisture is applied to the skin before 10 minutes have passed.
Tail. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 10 ft. one target. Hit: 15 (3d6 + 5) bludgeoning damage.
Enslave (3/Day). The aboleth targets one creature it can see within 30 feet of it. The target must succeed on a DC 14 Wisdom saving throw or be magically charmed by the aboleth until the aboleth dies or until it is on a different plane of existence from the target. The charmed target is under the aboleth’s control and can’t take reactions, and the aboleth and the target can communicate telepathically with each other over any distance.
Whenever the charmed target takes damage, the target can repeat the saving throw. On a success, the effect ends. No more than once every 24 hours, the target can also repeat the saving throw when it is at least 1 mile away from the aboleth.
The aboleth 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 aboleth regains spent legendary actions at the start of its turn.
Detect. The aboleth makes a Wisdom (Perception) check.
Tail Swipe. The aboleth makes one tail attack.
Psychic Drain (Costs 2 Actions). One creature charmed by the aboleth takes 10 (3d6) psychic damage, and the aboleth regains hit points equal to the damage the creature takes.
Aboleths lair in subterranean lakes or the rocky depths of the ocean, often surrounded by the ruins of an ancient, fallen aboleth city. An aboleth spends most of its existence underwater, surfacing occasionally to treat with visitors or worshipers.
Lair Actions
When fighting inside its lair, an aboleth can invoke the ambient magic to take lair actions. On initiative count 20 (losing initiative ties), the aboleth takes a lair action to cause one of the following effects:
- The aboleth casts phantasmal force (no components required) on any number of creatures it can see within 60 feet of it. While maintaining concentration on this effect, the aboleth can’t take other lair actions. If a target succeeds on the saving throw or if the effect ends for it, the target is immune to the aboleth’s phantasmal force lair action for the next 24 hours, although such a creature can choose to be affected.
- Pools of water within 90 feet of the aboleth surge outward in a grasping tide. Any creature on the ground within 20 feet of such a pool must succeed on a DC 14 Strength saving throw or be pulled up to 20 feet into the water and knocked prone. The aboleth can’t use this lair action again until it has used a different one.
- Water in the aboleth’s lair magically becomes a conduit for the creature’s rage. The aboleth can target any number of creatures it can see in such water within 90 feet of it. A target must succeed on a DC 14 Wisdom saving throw or take 7 (2d6) psychic damage. The aboleth can’t use this lair action again until it has used a different one.
Regional Effects
The region containing an aboleth’s lair is warped by the creature’s presence, which creates one or more of the following effects:
- Underground surfaces within 1 mile of the aboleth’s lair are slimy and wet and are difficult terrain.
- Water sources within 1 mile of the lair are supernaturally fouled. Enemies of the aboleth that drink such water vomit it within minutes.
- As an action, the aboleth can create an illusory image of itself within 1 mile of the lair. The copy can appear at any location the aboleth has seen before or in any location a creature charmed by the aboleth can currently see. Once created, the image lasts for as long as the aboleth maintains concentration, as if concentrating on a spell. Although the image is intangible, it looks, sounds, and can move like the aboleth. The aboleth can sense, speak, and use telepathy from the image’s position as if present at that position. If the image takes any damage, it disappears.
If the aboleth dies, the first two effects fade over the course of 3d10 days.
The monster entries on DnD Beyond don't include the descriptive paragraph, you will have to check their Monster Manual entry for that. Makes sense though, see a cool monster and wanna know what it's about? Buy the book. See a cool monster and just wanna make it kill things? Feel free!
Just passed one of these on a quest and nobody got touched/hurt (although one team member almost got snatched three times). None of us knew exactly how lucky we got until we ran into a diseased character soaking in a healing tub who had encountered the creature before us lol. Jesus Christ. Got lucky with all our rolls for once.
Good lord. Think about this as an early low-level mastermind villain.
And then think about it in Eberron. A low-level Kalashtar PC could get themselves into a lot of trouble by carelessly using their Telepathic powers.
Oh.....and I just got the Eberron hardcover from Amazon.
fought and killed this beasty during DOTMM - lvl 4 - during awesome fight for my players - although I forgot to use the phantasmal force ;( I almost drowned 2 of my players while they were controlled though haha - made an fun but awkward fight in a tight space.
I just started my campaign and I am so exited to use it as my boss. The whole thing is centered around creature enslaved, such as sailors passing by and sinking their own ships and a bronze dragon wyrmling being savage on the characters in it's maze lair. My characters are only 2nd level, so they've got a lot of work to do!
I need some water legendary like creatures. Building a campaign based off of Ghosts of Saltmarsh. We'll see how this goes!
So waterdeep :)
Well, from the Unearthed Arcana we've been getting lately, I'm assuming a psionics/Aberration book is the next one on the list, so there's a possibility.
If and when the aboleth casts phantasmal force on any number of creatures it can see within 60 feet of it, can the aboleth use what it can sense through its Illusory Image to target enemies within 60 feet of the Illusory Image if that Illusory Image is within its lair?
Probing telepathy, is this a useful general ability or niche?
i cant believe that is highly intelligent
Great videos! The friendly schizophrenic aboleth was awesome!
USUALLY, when I put my party against a single monster I have a rule of thumb of having that monster a couple CR's above their level. With an Aboleth, THIS IS NOT THE CASE! I used an Aboleth against my party the other night and it would've been a tpk, but the party fled and decided that it's better not to try to kill that thing.
this is creepy
Ok, so this creature is crazy. i have thrown about 8 at my lvl 3 group
They must be saving more into and stat blocks of Aboleths for a full sized adventure, right? That's the only reason I can come up with as to why there's so little info on them currently in 5e.
You know, I've been wanting to play Waterdeep: Dragon Heist with my players, but they already know that Xanthar is a Beholder. What if I surprised them with an aboleth Xanthar, instead?
Welp, I requested to craft a Headband of intellect and this is what my DM has told our party we'd need to kill to get the things required to craft the item. wish us luck!
anyone here come to check this out thanks to puffin forests video on youtube
The Lords of Madness 3.5e book is entirely devoted to lovecraftian horrors -- 18 pages for Aboleths, the ORIGINAL aberrations.
Maybe in the next “(Npc name)’s Book of (weird things)”