Keen Hearing. The Cavewights have advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on hearing.
Stone Wise. This trait grants Cavewights a +3 Racial Bonus on Perception checks to notice unusual stonework, such as sliding walls, stonework traps, new construction (even when built to match the old), unsafe stone surfaces, shaky stone ceilings, and the like, and a Cavewight gains a +3 Racial Bonus when using the Investigation skill to find stonework traps.
A Cavewight can also discern depth and density--sensing its approximate depth underground and the relative hardness of rock or stone--as naturally as sensing which way is up. Furthermore, Cavewights can determine the age and type of natural stone unerringly, and are able to repair blemishes or flaws in stone and stone items using Stone touch. (See the Giant Seafarer under Homebrew Races).
Multiattack. The Cavewight makes up to three attacks. If the Slam is successful, the Cavewight will attack with its two claws. If the Cavewight is wielding a weapon, it attacks by weapon type (finesse, versatile...).
Slam. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 15 (2d8 + 4) bludgeoning damage.
Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6 + 4) piercing damage.
Cavewights can take 2 legendary actions using the action below. They can take only one legendary action at a time and only at the end of another creature's turn. Cavewights regains spent legendary actions at the start of their turns.
Push. Cavewights can start a bull rush maneuver without provoking an attack of opportunity. The Cavewight rolls a Strength (Athletics) check, and its opponent rolls a Dexterity (Acrobatics) or Strength (Athletics) check. If the Cavewight's roll is higher (not a draw), he successfully slams the creature and can attack with its claws.
Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6 + 4) piercing damage.
Description
Cavewights are dimly intelligent subterranean creatures skilled in metal and stone working as well as mining. They are weak-willed, and are easily intimidated by powerful creatures into serving them (though they once traded openly with the humans and dwarves). They have long, scrawny limbs, hands as huge and heavy as shovels, plus a thin, hunched torso, and a head shaped like a battering ram."
Cavewights are a hardy race of cave and tunnel dwelling creatures that have come to resemble the rock which surrounds them. Their skin is colored dully, and they have rough complexions, little hair as well as wide, and sometimes sharp, features. When a Cavewight is at rest among stone, it can be difficult to determine where the stone and the Cavewight are separate.
Sadly, Cavewights were at one time human, but over time they become directly associated with earth; now they are more earth than man. Like Dwarves and Giant Seafarers, they are instinctive stoneworkers. Cavewights possess an almost preternatural strength for their size and will fight both with crude weapons--they are known to favor roughly made stone-tipped spears and large bludgeoning axes--and with their own flinty talons. They also have incredibly long-lasting stamina.
Strong and in peculiar ways agile, Cavewights can gain a clinging handhold by sinking its claws into natural stone. It can also grab a partial handhold in rough stone while jumping to vault higher or further. It is common for Cavewights to jump upward 20 feet or more and make lateral leaps of 40 to 60 feet in this manner.
Their tough existence among harsh mountainous regions have caused Cavewights to believe they are much smarter than they actually are. Cavewights depict a certain arrogance that does not befit their level of intellect or cunning, and this often causes them to become the tool of more powerful, intelligent, and evil creatures and beings. Cavewights are easily tricked into lengthy or distant campaigns of war against humans and humanoid races while believing they are pursuing their own ends.
This monster is based on the creature, The Cavewight, from The First, Second, and Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant by Stephen R. Donaldson.
(Other sources. Gap into Mirrorland; Stephen R. Donaldson and the Modern Epic Vision; "THE LAND: The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant OGL"; White Dwarf #16; Wikipedia: "The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant").
Lair and Lair Actions
Living within the bowels of mountains, Cavewights create elaborate and idiosyncratic networks of tunnels and underground dwellings called wightwarrens. It is from these lairs that Cavewights attack, rob, and destroy nearby settlements.
Cavewights have a tendency to believe that all gems belong to them even though they do not have the same connection with gems that they have with rough stone. They do not range far from their wightwarrens without sufficient motivation such as a weakened settlement, a gem laden lair, or adventurers carrying weapons and, possibly, gems.
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