Incorporeal Form: At the start of the Cobra of Death's turn, it is invisible and immune to all damage. This benefit ends at the start of its next turn or immediately after it makes an attack or uses the Reactive Power Word Kill reaction.
Incorporeal Movement: The Cobra of Death can move through other creatures and objects as if they were difficult terrain. It takes 5 (1d10) force damage if it ends its turn inside an object.
Immutable Form: The Cobra of Death is immune to any spell or effect that would alter its form. It doesn't need to eat, drink, or breathe.
Legendary Resistance (3/Day): If the Cobra of Death fails a saving throw, it can choose to succeed instead.
Rejuvenation: If the Cobra of Death is destroyed, it reforms fully in 1d10 days in a location of its choosing within 1 mile of its destruction.
Multiattack: The Cobra of Death makes two attacks: one with its Fangs and one with its Tail.
- Fangs: Melee Weapon Attack: +22 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 32 (4d10 + 10) piercing damage plus 36 (8d8) psychic damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 30 Constitution saving throw or become poisoned for 1 minute. While poisoned in this way, the target is also charmed by the Cobra of Death.
- Tail: Melee Weapon Attack: +22 to hit, reach 15 ft., one target. Hit: 36 (4d12 + 10) bludgeoning damage plus 18 (4d8) psychic damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 30 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone.
- Psychic Charm (Recharge 5-6): The Cobra of Death targets one creature it can see within 60 feet of it. The target must succeed on a DC 30 Wisdom saving throw or be charmed by the Cobra of Death for 1 minute. While charmed in this way, the Cobra of Death can communicate telepathically with the target and issue commands it will obey to the best of its ability.
Sudden Strike: The Cobra of Death makes one Fangs attack.
Telepathic Shroud: The Cobra of Death projects a disorienting psychic field around itself. Each creature within 15 feet of the Cobra of Death must succeed on a DC 30 Wisdom saving throw or have disadvantage on the next attack roll it makes before the end of its next turn.
Reactive Power Word Kill: When a creature the Cobra of Death can see within 60 feet of it drops to 100 hit points or fewer, the Cobra of Death can utter a word of power as a reaction. If the target hears the word, it dies instantly. The Cobra of Death loses its Incorporeal Form until the start of its next turn if it uses this reaction.
The Cobra of Death can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary action can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature's turn. The Cobra of Death regains spent legendary actions at the start of its turn.
Move: The Cobra of Death moves up to its speed without provoking opportunity attacks.
Burrow: The Cobra of Death burrows up to half its burrow speed.
Hopelessness (Costs 2 Actions): Each creature within 30 feet of the Cobra of Death must make a DC 30 Charisma saving throw. On a failed save, the target is overwhelmed with despair for 1 minute. While affected by despair, the target can't take attack actions or target any creature with harmful abilities, spells, or other magical effects. A creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.
Insanity (Costs 2 Actions): Each creature within 30 feet of the Cobra of Death must make a DC 30 Intelligence saving throw. On a failed save, the target is driven insane for 1 minute. An insane creature can't take actions, can't understand what other creatures say, can't read, and speaks only in gibberish. The DM controls its movement, which is erratic. A creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.
Power Word Kill (Costs 3 Actions): The Cobra of Death utters a word of power that can kill one creature it can see within 60 feet of it that has 100 hit points or fewer. If the target hears the word and has 100 or fewer hit points, it dies instantly.
Description
Lore of the Cobra of Death
Whispers slither through the annals of forgotten lore, tales of a spectral serpent born not of natural means, but of potent psychic anguish and a relentless desire for order. The Cobra of Death is not a creature of flesh and blood, but rather an echo of a powerful entity – some say a fallen psychic overlord, others a collective of minds shattered by a cataclysmic event. Whatever its genesis, it embodies a cold, implacable will, driven by a twisted sense of law and a morbid fascination with the finality of death.
Legends speak of its emergence in places touched by profound psychic trauma – battlefields where minds were broken en masse, sites of horrific psychic rituals, or even the lingering psychic residue of ancient, tyrannical empires. In these locations, where the veil between the material and ethereal planes is thin, the raw psychic energy coalesced, taking the spectral form of a colossal cobra, a creature often associated with swift, silent death.
The Cobra of Death operates under a strange, alien logic. Its lawful neutral alignment manifests as an unwavering adherence to a self-imposed code, though the specifics of this code remain largely unknown and likely incomprehensible to mortal minds. It might guard a specific location with tireless vigilance, enforce bizarre psychic contracts between individuals, or even seek to "correct" perceived imbalances in the natural order through acts of sudden and absolute termination.
Its incorporeal nature makes it a phantom, slipping through walls and unseen until it chooses to strike. The moment of its attack is a fleeting window of vulnerability, a necessary tether to the physical realm to deliver its deadly venom and psychic assaults. Even in death, the Cobra of Death offers no true victory. Its psychic essence is bound to the location of its demise, slowly reforming over days, its purpose undeterred.
Those who have encountered the Cobra of Death speak of a chilling telepathic presence, a cold intellect capable of weaving despair and madness into the minds of its victims. Its psychic charm is not one of affection, but of cold domination, bending wills to serve its inscrutable ends. The legendary actions of hopelessness and insanity are manifestations of its ability to tap into the deepest fears and vulnerabilities of sentient minds, rendering them helpless or broken.
The ultimate terror lies in its Reactive Power Word Kill. It is said that when a creature teeters on the brink of oblivion, the Cobra of Death can utter a single word, a psychic death knell that severs the very thread of life. This ability speaks to its fascination with the precise moment of death, as if it collects souls or marks their passing in some spectral ledger.
The Cobra of Death is not driven by malice or rage, but by a cold, detached purpose. It is a psychic anomaly, a persistent echo of past trauma given terrifying form and power. To face it is to confront not just a deadly creature, but a manifestation of psychic devastation itself, an entity that embodies the chilling intersection of law and death.
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