Wendigo

The first recordings of the wendigo were by the natives of North America. Various legends told of an evil spirit or perhaps demonic entity that was able to possess humans. Those who had previously been driven to commit cannibalism as a desperate act of self-preservation during a harsh winter could be affected by the evil entity. This malevolent spirit is driven by its insatiable hunger for human flesh, so any human possessed by it would slip into a savage state like some mindless, flesh-craving zombie.

Wendigos are quite hideous in appearance. They exhibit spinal disfiguration, giving them a hunchback-like appearance. Their teeth become sharper and disfigured; their sight changes, causing them to have vision that is largely influenced by movement. Their limbs become much longer, giving them the ability to climb up walls and to make small jumps to and from different spots in the blink of an eye. Their skin is also taut against their bodies; pulled tightly around their lengthy frames - their skin is much like a glossy, stretched armor.

During a Wendigo's metamorphosis, their bodies, as mentioned, grow and lengthen. They typically end up between 7 and 8 feet tall. While their skin is being stretched, their bodies also perform different forms of skin torture, in order to strengthen their outer skin-like coating. This makes the Wendigo immune to almost all danger, including bullets and other various weapons. Their only weaknesses are fire, acid, & radiant damage.

They also lose their hair and eventually lose their masculine and feminine characteristics, becoming skeletal in appearance. It's interesting to note that Wendigos will retain any tattoo or alterations to their skin.

They are known to have some set behavior patterns. They often track their prey for up to several hours. It seems they like to hunt prey alone rather than in packs. They are shown to have great predatory skills. They do not appear to lose their humanity completely as they can use some human-like tricks to lure their prey.

Wendigos see movement, and mobile persons are highlighted in their vision. They are generally unable to track those who remain still. Their main way of communication is by screeching, and they can use their vocalizations to scare prey into moving, leading to a gruesome kill. It's interesting to note, however, that they have the ability to mimic the voice of someone they hear. Wendigos may also attack each other, possibly as a way to reduce competition for food, or perhaps because they are simply sadistic killers.

Despite their frail appearance, Wendigos are immensely strong, capable of crushing a human skull with their bare hands and lifting over 750 lbs. They seem to favor brutal, deliberate methods of killing their prey, such as gouging out the eyes of their victims or impaling them on hooks rather than simply slashing them with their claws, indicating that Wendigos are sadistic, rather than merely animal killers.

Wendigos live in cold forests and often mountainous regions where it gets far below freezing. Most often their lairs are built within abandoned mines or cave systems within the mountain. The lair is littered with the bones of previous victims and the fly-ridden carcasses of fresh kills. They often have repurposed and makeshift hooks intended for hanging the bodies of their victims on.

Lair Actions

On initiative count 20 (losing initiative ties), the wendigo takes a lair action to cause one of the following effects; the wendigo can’t use the same effect two rounds in a row:

• The temperature plunges and all creatures must make a DC 17 Constitution save or take 4d8 cold damage and have their movement halved until the end of their next turn.
• Whispers carry on the wind and seep into the minds of everyone present. Each creature must make a DC 17 Wisdom saving throw or become mad with hunger. Should a creature fail their save,  they move up to their movement speed to the nearest creature they can see and make one melee weapon attack against them.

Regional Effects

The region containing a wendigo’s lair is warped by the wendigo's magic, which creates one or more of the following effects:

• The temperature grows colder the closer one gets to its lair.
• People who go hiking or camping in this region often go missing, never to be heard from again.
• Animals are extremely skittish and generally steer clear of the wendigo's hunting grounds.

If the wendigo dies, things return to normal over 1d10 days.