Innate Spellcasting. The lamia’s innate spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 13). It can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components.
At will: disguise self (any humanoid form), major image
3/day each: charm person, mirror image, scrying, suggestion
1/day: geas
Multiattack. The lamia makes two attacks: one with its claws and one with its dagger or Intoxicating Touch.
Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 14 (2d10 + 3) slashing damage.
Dagger. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d4 + 3) piercing damage.
Intoxicating Touch. Melee Spell Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: The target is magically cursed for 1 hour. Until the curse ends, the target has disadvantage on Wisdom saving throws and all ability checks.
never thought people still use latin to talk monsters-SHIT
Haec lamia vulgaris est.
Illae, serpenes lamiae, sunt Lamiae Nobiles.
Neither did I, but it pleases me to no end.
Quare dicebatur in veteri Latina loquendi consuetum? Nondum exstincta erat an velis?
NEERRDDS!
XD
(love it!)
vampire Quid facitis hoc?
Quare dicebatur in veteri Latina loquendi consuetum? Nondum exstincta erat an velis?
To reflavor it more accurately to Greek myth, you could say the claws attack is a whiplike lashing motion from the tail.
Yah, (dropping into modern language again for clarity) all you need to convert this into a “noble” (snake-themed) Lamia, is turn the slashing “Claws” attack into a bludgeoning “Tail” Attack. I’d also add an option to grapple instead of dealing damage, because I think that fits with the general themes of trapping and bewitching.
Aren't lamias supposed to have the bottom half be a snake?
Is there a reason that this monster was given the bottom half of a lion instead of a snake by default? Does that come from somewhere or was it just made up? TBH, I think it makes the monster less cool.
People need to do better research on monsters. A Lamia is already a well established monster having a human torso/head/arms, and a serpents lower body. Not claws or four legs. Medusa was essentially a Lamia, only with the added facets of snake hair and the stone vision. I have no issue with creating any sort of monster, but respect already well established lore. If anyone knows a homebrew for an actual Lamia, let me know. I am trying to get one together for an adventure I'm working on. Good gaming all.
@Dogs_are_awesome -Good catch. Yes and it bothers me too.
Technically she is a gorgon due to being far more snake like than a lamia is normally. I belive in some art she just has normal legs too. But Greek stories are always hard to solidfy sometimes
It seems that during the Renaissance period, people changed the Lamia from the standard woman upper torso/snake lower torso to standard woman upper torso/lion lower torso. So this isn't something new to modern period, it actually goes back to around the 15th/16th century on the change.
Strangely the lamia here is more physically like the Greek Sphinx than either the Egyptian Sphinx or the Greek lamia
People need to read more than the 5e books for the whole context.
Lamias come in two varieties in DnD. Common lamias have the lion-centaur look shown above, noble lamias have the snake tail. Noble Lamias didn't make it into the 5e books for whatever reason. Probably because there was no need for a stronger variant of this monster. If you're desperate for a snake like lamia you can look for a 3e to 5e conversion. Or merge this statblock with a Yuan-Ti abomination, or similar monster.
Also, this isn't greek myth, this is DnD, they can make monsters whatever they want. There is no rule that says you can't modify things when you adapt them into your setting. Such a rule would stem creativity.
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Medusa was a Gorgon in Greek Mythology Gorgons tend to be portrayed somewhat similar to harpies but their arms are independent of their wings, they also do tend to be depicted as scaly and I believe all gorgons have snake heads rather than hair, Medusa had more Lamia like features as a result of the curse Athena bestowed upon her, removing her wings, replacing her legs with a serpentine tail, and making it so whenever a mortal looked her in the eye they turned to stone. But yeah Lamia were essentially the Greek version of a Naga with one large difference being the Lamia were child murdering monsters while the Naga were strong, powerful, and dangerous beings that tended to help mortals
Lamia and Naga are completely different Myths from two completely different Cultures.
Nagas were more "snake-like", More similar to the Yaun'ti where the Lamia were more Half Human/half Snake.
But, as far as incorporating the two into lore, they could be just two different cultures of the same species.
Like the Drow and the Elves.