Three Heads. The revenant has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks.
Magic Resistance. The cretaceous revenant has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
Semi Corporeal Fossil. The cretaceous revenant has disadvantage on saves against spells that target stone.
Magical Weapons. The revenants weapon attacks are magical.
Siege Monster. The cretaceous revenant deals double damage to objects and structures.
Multiattack. The revenant can make one gore, bite, and tail attack.
Gore. Melee Weapon Attack: +18 to hit, reach 20 ft., one target. Hit: 28 (4d8 + 10) piercing damage plus 12 (3d8) fire damage.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +18 to hit, reach 20 ft., one target. Hit: 34 (4d12 + 10) piercing damage plus 12 (3d8) necrotic damage. The revenant regains hit points equal to the amount of necrotic damage dealt and creatures dropped to 0 hit points by the necrotic damage die and rise as ghosts in 1d4 rounds. Ghosts created this way will reappear next to the cretaceous revenant 24 hours after they are slain, only by destroying the revenant can they be permanently put to rest.
Tail. Melee Weapon Attack: +18 to hit, reach 20 ft., one target. Hit: 24 (4d6 + 10) bludgeoning damage plus 12 (3d8) cold damage. If the target is a creature, it must succeed on a DC 23 strength saving throw or be knocked prone.
Extinction Breath (Recharge 5-6). The revenant's three heads each breath out a 60-foot long, 5-foot-wide blast of energy. Each creature in a line must make a DC 23 Dexterity saving throw, taking half damage on a successful save. The triceratops head's breath deals 20 (5d8) fire damage, the tyrannosaurus head's breath deals 20 (5d8) thunder damage, and the ankylosaurus head's breath deals 20 (5d8) cold damage. Each head can aim their breath independently.
The revenant 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 revenant regains spent legendary actions at the start of its turn.
Flock of the Dead. The revenant summons 1d6 undead pteranodons at a point it can see within 60ft. These pteranodons have the incorporeal movement trait (see the ghost stat block) and their bite attacks deal cold damage rather than piercing damage.
Attack. The revenant makes a tail attack.
World Breaking Tremors (Costs 3 Actions). The revenant casts the Earthquake spell (DC 23).
Description
When necromancers raise the dead, they tend to go in one of two directions: raising many weaker undead such as raising humanoid skeletons and zombies or a few powerful undead such as zombified purple worms and dracoliches. There is however one truly blasphemous undead that can both level castles by itself and raise a howling legion of the damned to its service, the cretaceous revenant. These undead appear to be the fused, semi solid, fossilized skeletons of many dinosaurs although ankylosaurus, triceratops, and tyrannosaurus prominently feature in the things three heads, armored back, and clubbed tail. Notably cretaceous revenants are far larger than a "normal" hybrid of these creatures would ever be, glutted and enhanced by enormous amounts of necromantic power. To create such an abomination the necromancer or lich in question must first collect thousands of fossils, not all need to be of the three core species but at least three must be, and then bring the monster to twisted life in a ritual that not only blasphemes against the gods of life but time as well. Cretaceous revenants are time lost monsters, most undead are at most thousands of years old but they are millions of years old and keenly feel a sense of isolation, rage, and longing for their true home. When a revenant inevitably breaks free it kills its creator and goes on a rampage in an attempt to recreate its lost home. This however is a fool's errand since even with their combined intellect the revenant is only on par with a troglodyte. In its doomed crusade the cretaceous revenant will raise an army of ghosts, zombies, and skeletons all while leveling civilizations with the same destructive power that ended its original life millions of years ago. In places truly claimed by such a monster all that remains is desecrated earth, half remembered apparitions of plant life, shambling undead animals, and poisoned water.
Lair and Lair Actions
When a cretaceous revenant is unleashed upon the world, they rarely stay on one place for long. The undead monsters drive to tear down what has sprung up in its absence is too great to allow it to settle down as a normal creature would however, they can be magically bound to a location such as a warded wasteland (that the revenant likely created), isolated island, or deep canyon. Such contained cretaceous revenants continually try to break their bounds but do gain certain powers due to the land's continual desecration and temporal distortion.
Lair Actions
On initiative count 20 (losing initiative ties), the cretaceous revenant takes a lair action to cause one of the following effects: the revenant can’t use the same effect two rounds in a row:
- The revenant raises the corpse of a creature it can see within 120ft of itself as a skeleton. Skeletons created this way fossilize within seconds granting them neutrality to bludgeoning damage but vulnerability to spells and effects that target stone such as Shatter and Flesh to Stone (Stone to Flesh).
- The revenant opens a one way, 10-by-10, transparent portal to its prehistoric true home. The portal lasts for one round and in that round one of the following effects can happen on a roll of 1d4. One a roll of one a wild deinonychus walks through the portal, the dinosaur has no allegiance to the revenant and is very confused. On a roll of two a flock of beautiful but harmless insects or small birds flies through, creatures that see the flock must succeed on a DC 10 Wisdom saving throw or be distracted (stunned) for one round. On a roll of three a giant rat walks through the portal, it has no allegiance to the revenant and is very confused. On a roll of four the immediate effects of the mass extinction that killed the revenant's component creatures are visible (burning forests, boiling reefs, and an ash choked sky), this sends the monster into a rage allowing it to make a gore or tail attack.
Regional Effects
The region containing a cretaceous revenant's lair is both desecrated and temporally imbalanced, which creates the following effects.
- Water within 10 miles of the revenant's lair is filled with prehistoric microorganisms and pathogens. Living creatures that are not immune to disease and poison that drink this water must make a DC 12 Constitution saving throw at disadvantage, becoming poisoned for 1d4 days on a failed save.
- Spectral versions of prehistoric plants "grow" often within 10 miles of the lair.
- Mundane animals that die within 10 miles of the lair have a 25% chance of rising as zombies within the next 24 hours unless they are consumed or burned. Creatures killed by the revenant's bite are exempt from this (they rise as ghosts).
If the cretaceous revenant dies, these effects fade over the course of 1d6 days.
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