Ambusher. The wendigo has advantage on attack rolls against any creature it has surprised.
Fire Weakness. If the wendigo takes fire damage, its resistances and immunities to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage are negated. This effect lasts for 1 minute.
Keen Hearing and Sight. The wendigo has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on hearing or sight.
Masks of the Wild. The wendigo can attempt to hide even when it is only lightly obscured by foliage, heavy rain, falling snow, mist, or other natural phenomena.
Regeneration. The wendigo regains 20 hit points at the start of its turn if it has at least 1 hit point. If the wendigo takes fire damage, this trait doesn’t function at the start of the wendigo's next turn.
Frozen Heart. When it drops to 0 hit points, the wendigo doesn't outright die. While it has 0 hit points, the wendigo cannot be destroyed or killed. Instead, if the body of the wendigo is left to the elements, it will continue to regain strength and continue living. While at 0 hitpoints, the wendigo's hitpoint maximum is 0. This number increases by 5 every day until it reaches its original maximum hitpoint count.
To prevent this supernatural revitalization, one must tear the heart from the wendigo's body. Anyone who touches this heart must make a DC 16 Constitution saving throw, taking 22 (5d8) cold damage every round they touch it on a failed save, or half as much on a successful one. The heart must then be placed in the center of an ongoing fire for 24 hours until the heart melts away. Only then may the wendigo spirit be entirely removed.
Alternatively, the spirit may be taken out and destroyed by any Druid or Nature Domain Cleric conducting a ritual. This ritual takes one hour to complete, but has components (listed below).
- One silver dagger worth at least 15 gp.
- A sacred wooden mask for everyone present.
- A drum being played throughout the ritual.
- An ongoing fire no smaller than 1 cubic foot (consumed by ritual).
- 30 gp worth of incense (consumed by ritual).
- One 5th level spell slot from anyone present (consumed by ritual).
Savage Multiattack. The wendigo can make two attacks on its turn; one with its bite and one with its claws. If the wendigo has less than half its maximum hitpoints, it can make four attacks instead; two with its bite and two with its claws.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: 12 (2d6 + 5) piercing damage and the target must succeed on a DC 16 Constitution saving throw or take an additional 13 (3d8) necrotic damage. The target’s hit point maximum is reduced by an amount equal to the necrotic damage taken, and the wendigo regains hit points equal to half that amount. The reduction lasts until the target finishes a long rest. The target dies if this effect reduces its hit point maximum to 0.
Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 10 (2d4+5) slashing damage.
Nimble Escape. The wendigo can take the Disengage or Hide action as a bonus action on each of its turns.
Description
The definition of Wendigo is hard to pin down. In the original legends of Algonquian folklore, it was described as a spirit that possessed humans. This evil spirit would cause its victims to suffer from extreme hunger and a desire to commit cannibalism. Others call the wendigo a possessed humanoid that eats human flesh and has a heart made of ice. This one is the latter.
Lair and Lair Actions
Wendigo's Lair
A wendigo's lair is typically found in the form of a dark cave either in the center of a vast forest or within a rocky mountainside. It prefers to hunt and prowl in the night and eat and sleep during the day. There have been stories, however, that state the wendigo hibernates months and even years at a time. Regardless, it makes its home hidden from the sun.
Lair Actions
On initiative count 20 (losing initiative ties), the wendigo can take a lair action to cause one of the following effects; it can’t use the same effect two rounds in a row.
- The wendigo causes a nearby stalactite to fall from the ceiling of its cave at a point it can see within 60 feet of it. Any creature in the 5 ft. space where the stalactite falls must make a DC 14 Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, the creature takes 14 (4d6) bludgeoning damage and is knocked prone.
- Until the next initiative count 20, a thick fog fills a 15 ft. radius sphere at a point the wendigo chooses within 60 feet of it.
- Until the next initiative count 20, all wendigos within the lair are enraged, causing them to have advantage on melee weapon attack rolls and causing attack rolls to have advantage against them.
Regional Effects
The region containing the wendigo's lair is warped by its magic, creating one or more of the following effects:
- Within 1 mile of the lair, the weather is always either overcast or snowing.
- Predatory beasts within 6 miles of the lair become unusually hungry, often over hunting and eating. In addition, all beasts within this area are unusually quiet.
- If a humanoid spends at least 1 hour within 1 mile of the lair, that creature must succeed on a DC 14 Wisdom saving throw or descend into a madness determined by the Madness of the Wendigo table. A creature that succeeds on this saving throw can’t be affected by this regional effect again for 24 hours.
If the wendigo dies, these effects fade over the course of 1d4 days.
Madness of the Wendigo
If a creature goes mad in the wendigo's lair or within line of sight of it, roll on the Madness of the Wendigo table to determine the nature of the madness, which is a character flaw that lasts until cured. See the Dungeon Master's Guide for more on madness.
Madness of the Wendigo
| d100 | Flaw (lasts until cured) |
|---|---|
| 01–20 | “I keep seeing people looking at me out of the corner of my eye, but when I look, they disappear.” |
| 21–40 | “The people around me look tasty.” |
| 41–60 | “I'm convinced that nobody in the world can understand the pain and hunger I'm currently experiencing.” |
| 61–80 | “I go out of my way to kill as brutally as possible.” |
| 81–00 | “I'm extremely defensive and protective over my possessions.” |
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