| Mod | Save | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| STR | 22 | +6 | +6 |
| DEX | 18 | +4 | +4 |
| CON | 20 | +5 | +19 |
| Mod | Save | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| INT | 16 | +3 | +3 |
| WIS | 18 | +4 | +17 |
| CHA | 16 | +3 | +15 |
Head Death Effects
Triggered every 40 HP lost (at 240, 200, 160, 120, 80, 40 HP). One head is destroyed. Corpse Eruption. Head explodes. All within 10 ft. must make DC 16 DEX save or take 4d6 necrotic and be blinded (1 round).
Echoing Wail. One random creature has disadvantage on that ability score's saves (1 minute, WIS save ends each round).
Traits & Mechanics
The Mawcoil begins with 7 distinct heads, each tied to an ability score (Str, Dex, Con, Int, Wis, Cha, Death). It can use up to 3 head actions per round, each from a different head.
For every 40 hit points lost, one head is destroyed (see "Head Death Effects").
When reduced to 1 head and 40 HP, it enters a Mythic Phase.
Multihead Assault (3 Actions). The Mawcoil uses up to 3 different head abilities per round (no repeats). See "Head Abilities" below.
Head Abilities
Strength - Crater Slam. +10 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 21 (4d6+6) bludgeoning. DC 18 STR save or prone and speed halved.
Dexterity - Serrated Lunge. +11 to hit, reach 15 ft., one target. Hit: 17 (3d8+4) slashing. DC 17 DEX save or grappled and pulled 10 ft.
Constitution - Rot-Stained Bite. +9 to hit, 10 ft., one target. Hit: 14 (3d6+4) necrotic. DC 18 CON save or contract Wasting Shadow Plague.
Intelligence - Psychic Dissection. DC 17 INT save or take 6d6 psychic, lose concentration, no spells next turn.
Wisdom - Soul Mirror Gaze. DC 18 WIS save or blinded and frightened (1 round). Carrion Hydra: Mawcoil of Velluthra
Charisma - Mocking Dirge. DC 17 CHA save or charmed (1 round), can't target Mawcoil.
Death - Devour Essence (Recharge 5-6). 30 ft. aura. DC 18 CON save. 8d6 necrotic on fail. Kills grow a new head.
Death Toll - Carrion Hydra: Mawcoil of Velluthra - Can teleport through shadows to within 5ft of a recently deceased target, within 100ft.
Many Eyes, many limbs - If Carrion Hydra: Mawcoil of Velluthra makes an opportunity attack, it can make 2 attacks as a part of that reaction.
Legendary Action Uses: 3 (4 in Lair). Immediately after another creature’s turn, the beholder can expend a use to take one of the following actions. The beholder regains all expended uses at the start of each of its turns.
Chomp. The beholder makes two Bite attacks.
Glare. The beholder uses Eye Rays.
Mythic Phase Triggered at 40 HP and 1 head. - Gains 80 temp HP - Regains all 7 head abilities (1 per turn) -
Gains Voice Cascade (Recharge 5-6) Voice Cascade. 60 ft. DC 18 CHA save. Fail: 6d6 psychic and stunned (1 round)
Description
Forged in the early days of the Raven Queen’s domain, the Mawcoil was not of her making, but something that crept into her realm from the Void Beyond. It cannot be reasoned with. It remembers the faces it eats. Some Ravenites believe it is a punishment, a natural predator to overzealous mortals who try to escape death.
Whispers claim it once had a name — Velluthra — and that it was once a city of necromancers swallowed whole.
The Mawcoil was not born, nor summoned, nor created. It coalesced—an unnatural fusion of pain, undeath, and memory—from the broken vestiges of souls lost in the deepest pits of the Shadowfell. It is said to have first formed near the shattered ruin of Velluthra, a forgotten city of heretics who once sought to feed souls to the Shadow itself, believing the Raven Queen could be unseated by nourishing her realm with ceaseless death.
When Velluthra fell in a deluge of necrotic fire, the souls of its citizens did not pass on. Their flesh, bone, and regrets congealed in a tangled tangle of meat and memory. At the center pulsed a nexus of divine failure—a tear in the veil of death where even the Raven Queen would not look. From that flesh-thicket, the Mawcoil crawled into being, dragging a trail of screaming silence behind it.
Unlike most undead, the Mawcoil does not lose its minds—it gains them. With every creature it consumes, the memories, dreams, and personality fragments of that victim become part of its intelligence. Some souls whisper in the wind around it. Others press their faces against the seams of its rotting body, begging for release—or more horrifyingly, for purpose.
It speaks rarely, but when it does, its voice is a chorus of dozens—conflicted, contradictory, crying out for love and vengeance in the same breath. To face the Mawcoil is to be hunted not by a beast, but by an echoing choir of forgotten lives, seeking to add you to their song.
Lair and Lair Actions
Beholder Lairs
Beholders lurk in cavern complexes they’ve carved using their eye rays deep in the Underdark or in lairs created for them by their servants.
The region containing a beholder’s lair is twisted by its presence, creating the following effects:
Scopophobia. Creatures within 1 mile of the lair feel as if they’re being watched. Any creature (excluding the beholder and its allies) that finishes a Short Rest while within 1 mile of the lair must succeed on a DC 13 Wisdom saving throw or gain no benefit from that rest.
Warping Terrain. Minor warps in reality occur near the lair; any creature (excluding the beholder) within 1 mile of the lair that makes a D20 Test and rolls a 1 has the Prone condition.
If the beholder dies or moves its lair elsewhere, these effects end immediately.
Comments