back beings desire continue rites

Book of Vile Darkness

Magic Items Dungeon Master’s Guide

, foul rites that allow one to transform into a death knight or lich, or long-lost spells crafted by beings so evil their names ought never to be spoken aloud. Vile Speech. While the book is on your

damage unless the creature is a Fiend or an Undead. Destroying the Book. The Book of Vile Darkness allows pages to be torn from it, but any evil lore contained on those pages finds its way back into the

Incarnation of Transience

Monsters Lorwyn: First Light

condition. Success: Half damage only.The incarnations of transience represent all that is fleeting or ephemeral. Despite their apparent bulk, these incarnations are actually ephemeral beings with only a

spectral existence in material reality. Each incarnation resembles a saurian behemoth with an axolotl face, a many-frilled tail, and a hulking back covered in bright-orange pustules. In Lorwyn

Reborn

Species Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft

veins making it clear that they’ve been touched by death. Other reborn are marvels of magic or science, being stitched together from disparate beings or bearing mysterious minds in manufactured

sensations or visions of the past to come rushing back. Rather than sleeping, reborn regularly sit and dwell on the past, hoping for some revelation of what came before. Most of the time, these are dark

Frostmourn

Monsters Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants

manner—perhaps poisoned, stabbed in the back, or killed while sleeping—the slain giant can rise as a frostmourn. Driven by its desire for vengeance, the frostmourn can turn the living into

wound that seeps frosty vapor or vibrant, purple veins showing the ravages of poison. It can momentarily dissolve its body into a swirling blizzard to avoid harm, reforming at a distance to continue its assault.Cold, PoisonFire

Kraul Death Priest

Monsters Guildmasters’ Guide to Ravnica

linger at the margins of the undercity but now increasingly making their buzzing voices heard in the subterranean Golgari guildhall. These six-legged, insectile beings are hard-headed and literal-minded

, with little grasp of metaphor or nuance. The death priests occupy the highest roles in kraul society. They lead the buzzing chants of the kraul rites. Their inscrutable clicks and buzzing can summon

Aphemia

Monsters Mythic Odysseys of Theros

bonus action on her subsequent turns to continue singing. She can stop singing at any time. The song ends if Aphemia is incapacitated or dies. Grave Calling Song. Aphemia intones a low, growling

continue singing, and she can mentally command the undead under her control as part of the same bonus action. She can stop singing at any time. The song ends if Aphemia is incapacitated or dies.The

Doppelganger Legacy

Monsters Basic Rules (2014)

Shapechanger. The doppelganger can use its action to polymorph into a Small or Medium humanoid it has seen, or back into its true form. Its statistics, other than its size, are the same in each form

blocks it. While the target is in range, the doppelganger can continue reading its thoughts, as long as the doppelganger's concentration isn't broken (as if concentrating on a spell). While reading the

The Fiend Legacy

Classes Basic Rules (2014)

You have made a pact with a fiend from the lower planes of existence, a being whose aims are evil, even if you strive against those aims. Such beings desire the corruption or destruction of all

Spawn of Kyuss

Monsters Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse

Orcus who plundered corpses from necropolises to create the first spawn of Kyuss. Even centuries after Kyuss’s death, his malign disciples continue performing the horrific rites he perfected

Kolyarut

Monsters Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse

their questions have been satisfied, they report back to their creator, allowing the Kolyarut to impose accurate judgments. Kolyaruts are four-armed beings of magic and machinery. Like maruts, they

judges the needs of planar beings seeking uniquely binding terms and forges ironclad agreements. Those who break these contracts are pursued by marut;maruts (detailed in Mordenkainen Presents

Harpy Matriarch

Monsters Ghosts of Saltmarsh

. The matriarch must take a bonus action on its subsequent turns to continue singing. It can stop singing at any time. The song ends if the matriarch is incapacitated. While charmed by the matriarch, a

that successfully saves is immune to this matriarch's song for the next 24 hours. Visage of Desire (1/Day). The matriarch projects a vision into the minds of creatures within 30 feet of it that aren't

Thanoi Hunter

Monsters Monstrous Compendium Vol. 2: Dragonlance Creatures

beings who dwell in the frozen wastelands of Krynn. They sport thick, ivory tusks, which they use both to defend themselves and to poke breathing holes in sea ice as they swim. Often at odds with the

monstrous creatures that live in the frozen wastes, thanoi are adept hunters. In addition to their tusks, they use harpoons on long ropes that they can quickly reel back. Groups of thanoi hunters work

Abhorrent Overlord

Monsters Mythic Odysseys of Theros

continue to flock around the demon, offering fealty and squabbling for scraps. Some foul souls can't let go of the miserable lives they had. Having been despicable in life, these spirits fester in death

in Theros—the Underworld's a big place with room for all the incarnate wickedness you desire. PoisonCold, Necrotic

Mercane

Monsters Spelljammer: Adventures in Space

portfolios revolve around fair commerce. Standing 12 feet tall, they are lanky blue beings who dress in elegant robes and have elongated heads and long, spindly fingers. Mercanes conduct most of their

unreliable. Once a mercane has been offended by someone, getting back into their good graces is next to impossible.

Turlang

Monsters Storm King's Thunder

takes a bonus action to turn it back into an inanimate tree. The tree then takes root if possible. Spellcasting. Turlang casts one of the following spells, requiring no material spell components and

, pass without trace, speak with animals 1/day each: commune with nature (cast as 1 action), conjure woodland beings, hallucinatory terrain (cast as 1 action)A xenophobic, moss-covered treant named Turlang.Bludgeoning, PiercingFire

House of Cards

Magic Items The Book of Many Things

and transform into a shelter made of cards. The shelter can be shaped however you desire, but it must fit in a 40-foot cube centered on a point within 30 feet of you. The shelter has one door and up

psychic damage. The shelter lasts for 24 hours, until you dismiss it as an action, or until it is reduced to 0 hit points. When the shelter’s duration ends, it transforms back into a deck of cards

Madcap

Monsters Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus

gnome with a hunched back and a sinewy frame springs from the earth. The creature has a pointed leather cap, pants of similar material, heavy iron boots, and a heavy bladed weapon. From the moment it

been. A redcap’s desire to slay is rooted in its will to survive. VARIANT: MADCAPS A madcap is a redcap that soaks its hat in demon ichor instead of blood. Contact with demon ichor makes the

Jiangshi

Monsters Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft

that is Medium or Small or back into its true form. Its statistics, other than its size, are the same in each form. Any equipment it is wearing or carrying is absorbed or borne by the new form (the

their descendants and the communities they knew in life, sowing terror and taking retribution for the slights or neglected burial rites that led to their cursed resurrections. Rigor mortis notoriously

Eater of Hope

Monsters Mythic Odysseys of Theros

them. Twister of Wills. Being obsessed with wealth and dominating lesser beings, eaters of hope hoard treasure for the sole purpose of tempting and manipulating mortals. They revel in using creatures

, feel free to use whatever fiends you wish when telling stories in Theros—the Underworld’s a big place with room for all the incarnate wickedness you desire. PoisonCold, Necrotic

Dwarf Legacy

Species Basic Rules (2014)

“Yer late, elf!” came the rough edge of a familiar voice. Bruenor Battlehammer walked up the back of his dead foe, disregarding the fact that the heavy monster lay on top of his elven

mountains they love, weathering the passage of centuries with stoic endurance and little change. They respect the traditions of their clans, tracing their ancestry back to the founding of their most

Equinal Guardinal

Monsters Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse

powerful, hocked legs carry them over great distances. These good-natured, boisterous Celestials boast their might in contests of strength and rarely back down from a challenge. Tough and courageous

supernatural virtue puts them at odds with the evil beings of the Lower Planes. Guardinals abhor wickedness and strike out against injustice and villainy without hesitation, determined to eradicate forces that threaten beauty and peace.Radiant

The Abbot

Monsters Curse of Strahd

than its own, or back into its true form. It reverts to its true form if it dies. Any equipment it is wearing or carrying is absorbed or borne by the new form (the Abbot's choice). In a new form, the

present since birth. The Abbot became consumed with a prideful, obsessive desire to rid the poor Belviews of their lingering imperfections. The Belview family, however, had strange ideas of what it

Hederan

races

Hederans are living embodiments of alpine trees, sentient beings of bark and leaf whose bodies host moss, holly and fungi. Their outer skin is made of thick bark that toughens with age, and beneath

its body release pollen and a single silver seed forms upon its back. The seed must be planted within a week, or it will wither away, but from it a new hederan sapling will grow. Once planted by their

Star Spawn Seer

Monsters Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse

’s goal is to tap into vast energy sources and perform the dire rites that will extend a bridge between the Material Plane and the squirming chaos of an Elder Evil’s realm. An entity that

even a moment’s contact is enough to break a mortal’s mind. Yet beings do exist that are native to these realms: entities that are ever hungering, searching, warring, and sometimes

Mark of Healing Halfling

Species Eberron: Rising from the Last War

cure. When equipped with dragonshard focus items, the mark can even draw the dead back from the depths of Dolurrh. House Jorasco Leader: Ulara d’Jorasco Headquarters: Vedkyar Enclave (Vedykar

prosperity of the house, so they can continue to help future generations. While the public face of Jorasco is that of the healer, there are rumors that the house engaged in disturbing experiments

Star Spawn Grue

Monsters Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse

’s contact is enough to break a mortal’s mind. Yet beings do exist that are native to these realms: entities that are ever hungering, searching, warring, and sometimes dreaming. These

Elder Evils are far older than most of the mortal peoples and always inimical to such creatures’ minds. However much they might desire to enter and dominate the Material Plane, the Elder Evils are

Returned Sentry

Monsters Mythic Odysseys of Theros

work well together, sharing the unified goals of overcoming their foes and getting back to the task at hand. Returned have escaped the Underworld and dwell among the living once more, but their

, which manifest as separate beings known as eidolons. The experience of escaping the Underworld also causes them to lose their faces, which become expressionless surfaces with empty eye sockets and gaping

Obzedat Ghost

Monsters Guildmasters’ Guide to Ravnica

let go of the fortunes they amassed in life. Addicted to power and prestige, these patriarchs continue to dominate the guild and accumulate even larger fortunes. Mostly Unanimous. The ghosts of the

Obzedat function as a unit, driven by their shared desire to accumulate ever more wealth for the guild. In times of disagreement, the eldest of the council exerts his seniority to bend the council to

Half-Elf Legacy

Species Basic Rules (2014)

Flint squinted into the setting sun. He thought he saw the figure of a man striding up the path. Standing, Flint drew back into the shadow of a tall pine to see better. The man’s walk was

friends and loved ones age while time barely touches them. Others live with the elves, growing restless as they reach adulthood in the timeless elven realms, while their peers continue to live as

Star Spawn Mangler

Monsters Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse

of existence lie realms alien to mortal life. Some are so hostile that even a moment’s contact is enough to break a mortal’s mind. Yet beings do exist that are native to these realms

much they might desire to enter and dominate the Material Plane, the Elder Evils are unable or unwilling to leave their realms. Some are imprisoned in their dimensions by external forces, some are

Unspeakable Horror (Malleable Mass)

Monsters Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft

horrors might continue to haunt the misty netherworld between the Domains of Dread, or they might slink forth into other realms to slake unnameable hungers. Customizing a Horror An unspeakable horror

horror’s form and the interplay between its parts however you desire. The more discordant and unexpected a horror’s parts, the more unsettling it might be. Mist Horrors Some who wander into

Unspeakable Horror

Monsters Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft

into unique, misshapen bodies untethered from the laws of reason or reality. Such unspeakable horrors might continue to haunt the misty netherworld between the Domains of Dread, or they might slink

these tables are meant to be broad, so feel free to describe the details of an unspeakable horror’s form and the interplay between its parts however you desire. The more discordant and

Urchin Legacy

Backgrounds Player’s Handbook (2014)

shaped by lives of desperate poverty, for good and for ill. They tend to be driven either by a commitment to the people with whom they shared life on the street or by a burning desire to find a better

of questions. 3 I like to squeeze into small places where no one else can get to me. 4 I sleep with my back to a wall or tree, with everything I own wrapped in a bundle in my arms. 5

Kenku Legacy

Species Volo's Guide to Monsters

at the burned-out building, a sudden cacophony erupted around us. Birds squawked, cats hissed, and dogs growled. Lidda hustled us back to the city’s safer avenues. Only when we were back within

. Every kenku is born with a desire to take to the air, and those who learn spellcasting do so in hope of mastering spells that will allow them to fly. Rumors of magic items such as flying carpets, brooms

Unspeakable Horror (Aberrant Armor)

Monsters Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft

unique, misshapen bodies untethered from the laws of reason or reality. Such unspeakable horrors might continue to haunt the misty netherworld between the Domains of Dread, or they might slink forth into

tables are meant to be broad, so feel free to describe the details of an unspeakable horror’s form and the interplay between its parts however you desire. The more discordant and unexpected a

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