Detect Life. The banshee can magically sense the presence of creatures up to 5 miles away that aren’t undead or constructs. She knows the general direction they’re in but not their exact locations.
Incorporeal Movement. The banshee can move through other creatures and objects as if they were difficult terrain. She takes 5 (1d10) force damage if she ends her turn inside an object.
Corrupting Touch. Melee Spell Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 12 (3d6 + 2) necrotic damage.
Horrifying Visage. Each non-undead creature within 60 feet of the banshee that can see her must succeed on a DC 13 Wisdom saving throw or be frightened for 1 minute. A frightened target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, with disadvantage if the banshee is within line of sight, 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 the banshee’s Horrifying Visage for the next 24 hours.
Wail (1/Day). The banshee releases a mournful wail, provided that she isn’t in sunlight. This wail has no effect on constructs and undead. All other creatures within 30 feet of her that can hear her must make a DC 13 Constitution saving throw. On a failure, a creature drops to 0 hit points. On a success, a creature takes 10 (3d6) psychic damage.
Description
The woeful banshee is a spiteful creature formed from the spirit of a female elf. Its face is wreathed in a wild tangle of hair, its body clad in wispy rags that flutter and stream around it.
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Posted Mar 21, 2023Don't know about lvl3, one of these just wiped out my LVL 6 party with its wail.
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Posted May 14, 2023People talking about smiting them before they have a turn must have really forgiving DMs because since these things are flying there is zero reason to ever have them start out in a position to be hit by melee characters. We had a near deadly encounter vs three of them at level 6 because there was a circumstance that had given the entire party disadvantage on saving throws, so the whole group had to make three saves at disadvantage or be instant KO'ed. If we hadn't all had inspiration, it would have been a TPK.
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Posted Jul 14, 2023I'm running "Dragon of Icespire Peak" and there's a Banshee in the Axeholm dungeon. My players ended up here early (party of lvl 3s, dungeon is recommended for lvl 5s) and they were having a difficult but not unreasonable time working through the dungeon by securing areas and taking rests. When they got to the Banshee, things really ramped up.
Using guidance from "The Monsters Know What They're Doing" by Keith Ammann (really great combat strat resource I would recommend to any DM), the Banshee began the encounter with a Wail that took out the party's Rouge. Then, she took advantage of her incorporeal movement to fly right in between the remaining players to unleash Horrifying Visage. She managed to frighten the remaining three players, who had to quickly think of a strategy for dealing with her while fleeing or looking away.
After two rounds of combat, the party is in pretty rough shape. They're new players, so I'm going to pull some punches here by having the Banshee fly through the air from player to player and spread the action around, giving everyone a chance to both be targeted by her and get some revenge in. I think if I were playing things by the book, the Banshee could easily TPK the group. With above average intelligence and wisdom, she could easily identify the high-priority targets and pick off the players one-by-one.
Overall, I think this is going to be an excellent encounter that will really drive some fear into the players hearts when approaching significant or unique enemies in the future. The Banshee can be a very scary opponent for low level players!
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Posted Jul 25, 2023Yeah I disagree, even if they both have +2 con wich is generous in many cases they have a 25 percent chance of literally being one shot and a 50 chance of one of them being one shot and one getting a third of his hit points removed instantly
These things are known for tpks for a reason. With the entire party trying to save the chance for an insta wipe is only 4,3 percent with a +2con wizard, a +2con cleric, a +2 con warlock, + 3 con barbarian, if the barbarian only has +2 it's 5percent. Literally the likelihood of a crit. And this is a party where everyone minmaxed.
Branches are cool but if u want to use them understand this is a possibility. And remember how often crits get rolled, you don't get surprised at that either.
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Posted Sep 25, 2023Is it good if i use 2 banshees for 3 lvl 4 and 1 lvl 8 npc as a "Tutorial boss figth"?
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Posted Oct 3, 2023Can you play as one? Like as a race?
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Posted Dec 17, 2023it can tpk all low con characters
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Posted May 31, 2024If you want to make this a tougher fight, think about hiding the banshee inside the ground (or a wall) at the end of her turn. Sure, she will take 1d10 damage, but it's still a lot better than getting steamrolled by 3+ PCs !
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Posted Jul 7, 2024You gotta be careful with that Wail power on 3rd level characters. I'm about to put this up against a trio of 3rd-level elf characters (ranger, paladin, wizard), but I'm planning to have her have used her Wail that day already. Her corrupting touch is bad enough. Think about the fact that they have...a magic bow, a magic sword, and magic missile that will do full damage against her. I estimate 4-5 rounds, enough for her to take one of them down entirely, even assuming she doesn't manage to split them up with Horrifying Visage.