| Mod | Save | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| STR | 20 | +5 | +10 |
| DEX | 16 | +3 | +3 |
| CON | 16 | +3 | +8 |
| Mod | Save | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| INT | 12 | +1 | +1 |
| WIS | 18 | +4 | +9 |
| CHA | 16 | +3 | +3 |
Depth-Bound Undead. The drownwarden does not require air and is immune to the effects of water pressure and underwater hazards.
Crushing Presence. Creatures of the drownwarden’s choice that start their turn within 10 feet of it must succeed on a DC 18 Strength saving throw or have their speed reduced to 0 until the start of their next turn as crushing pressure overwhelms them.
Silent Hunter. While underwater or in heavy obscurity, the drownwarden has advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks, and creatures have disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks to detect it.
Deathless Momentum. When the drownwarden reduces a creature to 0 hit points, it can immediately move up to half its swim speed and make one attack as a bonus action.
Multiattack. The drownwarden makes three attacks: two with its pressure-forged weapon and one with its grasp.
Pressure-Forged Trident. Melee Weapon Attack: +10 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 19 (2d10 + 5) piercing damage plus 13 (3d8) cold damage.
Grasp of the Drowned. Melee Weapon Attack: +10 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 16 (2d8 + 5) bludgeoning damage, and the target is grappled (escape DC 18). Until this grapple ends, the target is restrained and takes 10 (3d6) necrotic damage at the start of each of its turns.
Crushing Undertow (Recharge 5–6). The drownwarden releases a surge of invisible pressure in a 30-foot cone. Each creature in the area must make a DC 18 Constitution saving throw. On a failure, a creature takes 45 (10d8) bludgeoning damage and is knocked prone (or pushed 10 feet if underwater). On a success, it takes half damage and isn’t knocked prone or pushed.
Drag Below. When a grappled creature fails a saving throw, the drownwarden can pull that creature up to 20 feet in a straight line toward itself and deal 10 (3d6) necrotic damage.
The drownwarden 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.
Silent Glide. The drownwarden moves up to half its swim speed without provoking opportunity attacks.
Pressure Strike. The drownwarden makes one pressure-forged trident attack.
Dead Calm (Costs 2 Actions). Until the start of the drownwarden’s next turn, sound is suppressed in a 20-foot radius around it. Creatures in the area have disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks and concentration checks.
Description
Abyssal drownwardens are humanoid undead clad in corroded armor fused with barnacles, abyssal stone, and hardened salt. Their bodies are bloated yet dense, compressed by impossible depths. Pale-blue bioluminescent cracks glow faintly along their joints and eye sockets.
Their movements are slow—but unavoidable—like a tide that does not retreat.
No bubbles rise from their mouths.
No water stirs when they pass.
Lore
In the deepest reaches of the Elemental Plane of Water, where pressure crushes even elementals into formless mass, some creatures do not decompose.
They are claimed.
Abyssal drownwardens are formed when powerful warriors, explorers, or planar guardians perish in these depths and are bound by ancient oceanic death-spirits. They serve as sentinels, jailers, and executioners of drowned ruins and forgotten gates.
They do not hate the living.
They simply believe all things belong below eventually.
In-World Saying
“The ocean doesn’t scream.
It closes.”
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