before battle drives creatures reason

Planar Ally

Spells Player’s Handbook

exchange for payment, but it isn’t obliged to do so. The requested task could range from simple (fly us across the chasm, or help us fight a battle) to complex (spy on our enemies, or protect us during

or magic items to an allied temple, while a Fiend might demand a living sacrifice or a gift of treasure. Some creatures might exchange their service for a quest undertaken by you. A task that can be

Noggle Wild Mage

Monsters Lorwyn: First Light

. Such wild mages exist on the peripheries of noggle society as pariahs and vagabonds. Their innate magic becomes strongest when they are most desperate, such as in the heat of battle. Noggles Noggles

are bipedal, donkey-like Fey that delight in thievery and mischief. They enjoy stealing from other creatures not out of necessity, but out of principle. This principle can be summarized by a common

Sammaster (Dracolich Form)

Monsters Forgotten Realms: Adventures in Faerûn

Legendary Resistance (3/Day). If Sammaster fails a saving throw, he can choose to succeed instead. Life Suppression. Creatures within 60 feet of Sammaster can’t regain Hit Points. Magic

rule Faerûn. His Cult of the Dragon devotes itself to helping evil dragons become dracoliches to bring this evil new age to fruition. Sammaster was killed in battle, but had prepared contingencies

Sammaster (Lich Form)

Monsters Forgotten Realms: Adventures in Faerûn

Legendary Resistance (3/Day). If Sammaster fails a saving throw, he can choose to succeed instead. Life Suppression. Creatures within 60 feet of Sammaster can’t regain Hit Points. Magic

. His Cult of the Dragon devotes itself to helping evil dragons become dracoliches to bring this evil new age to fruition. Sammaster was killed in battle, but had prepared contingencies for his demise

Howler

Monsters Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse

around the battlefield in a search for safety. Fiends especially prize howlers for this reason, because for a few crucial moments in a battle, their howls can neutralize an enemy.Cold, Fire, Lightning; Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing from Nonmagical Attacks

enough to stand up against them. These nightmare creatures are native to Pandemonium, but they can be found on most of the Lower Planes, where they are trained as war hounds. Howlers can be domesticated

Norker

Monsters Mordenkainen's Fiendish Folio Volume 1

and his followers the initial, unwilling recruits into his crusade. Today, hobgoblins chafe at the suggestion that creatures as lazy and untamed as norkers could claim such an honor. For that reason

alone, hobgoblin warlords are loath to use these creatures, preferring to keep them around as disposable labor in mines and quarries. Nasty, Brutish, and Short. Even goblins bully and harass norkers

Norker War Leader

Monsters Mordenkainen's Fiendish Folio Volume 1

norkers could claim such an honor. For that reason alone, hobgoblin warlords are loath to use these creatures, preferring to keep them around as disposable labor in mines and quarries. Nasty, Brutish

","rollDamageType":"slashing"} slashing damage. Fight On, You Slugs. The norker war leader picks up to three allied goblinoids within 60 feet that can see it. The chosen creatures can each use their reactions to

Battle Standard of Infernal Power

Magic Items Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus

This hell-forged battle standard is made of infernal iron and fitted with a small, unopenable cage containing a quasit. The trapped quasit is incapacitated, and its cage has AC 19, 10 hit points, and

you hold the banner, your weapon attacks and those of all allied creatures within 300 feet of you count as magical for the purposes of overcoming damage immunities and resistances.

Ogre Howdah

Monsters Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse

Howdah. The ogre carries a compact fort on its back. Up to four Small creatures can ride in the fort without squeezing. To make a melee attack against a target within 5 feet of the ogre, they must

use spears or weapons with reach. Creatures in the fort have three-quarters cover against attacks and effects from outside it. If the ogre dies, creatures in the fort are placed in unoccupied spaces

Sahuagin Priestess Legacy

Monsters Monster Manual (2014)

the sahuagin hunting horn — a call to raid and battle. Coastal settlers refer to sahuagin as “sea devils,” for sahuagin have no compassion in them, slaughtering the crews of ships and decimating coastal

villages. Devils of the Deep. Sahuagin are a predatory, piscine race that ventures from the ocean's black depths to hunt the creatures of the shallows and shore. Though they dwell in the deepest

Fensir Skirmisher

Monsters Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants

Ysgard: creatures slain on that plane return to life the next dawn. Thus, the giants’ incursion became a part of the eternal battle that rages across the plane. The trolls, whose fundamental

in the eternal battle. The transformation that created fensirs left them with an odd quirk to their regenerative powers: their regeneration doesn’t function in sunlight, and in fact, sunlight can turn these creatures to stone.

B'rohg

Monsters Spelljammer: Adventures in Space

heads. They wear simple garb and like to hurl heavy rocks. A b’rohg can wield a weapon with each of its four arms, but it prefers to pound enemies with its fists and rip smaller creatures apart with

its bare hands. B’rohgs communicate with one another using grunts and basic hand signals; they have no spoken or written language. They prefer to be left alone and for that reason don’t

Minotaur Legacy

Monsters Basic Rules (2014)

"} piercing damage.Their fur stained with the blood of fallen foes, minotaurs are massive, bull-headed humanoids whose roar is a savage battle cry that all civilized creatures fear.

Sahuagin Baron Legacy

Monsters Monster Manual (2014)

it. This is the sound of the sahuagin hunting horn — a call to raid and battle. Coastal settlers refer to sahuagin as “sea devils,” for sahuagin have no compassion in them

, slaughtering the crews of ships and decimating coastal villages. Devils of the Deep. Sahuagin are a predatory, piscine race that ventures from the ocean’s black depths to hunt the creatures of the

Velomachus Lorehold

Monsters Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos

"} slashing damage. If the target is a Huge or smaller creature, it is knocked prone. Battle Tide Breath (Recharge 5–6);{"diceNotation":"1d6","rollType":"recharge","rollAction":"Battle Tide Breath

":"damage","rollAction":"Battle Tide Breath","rollDamageType":"force"} force damage and 45 (7d12);{"diceNotation":"7d12","rollType":"damage","rollAction":"Battle Tide Breath","rollDamageType":"thunder

Cadaver Collector Legacy

Monsters Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes

. Cadaver collectors respond to a summons from a mortal only when they are called to the scene of a great battle — either where one is in progress, where one is imminent, or where one once took place

that accumulate on the construct's shell aren't just grisly battle trophies. A cadaver collector can summon the spirits of these cadavers to join battle with its enemies and to paralyze more

Lizardfolk Legacy

Species Volo's Guide to Monsters

basic principles than those of warm-blooded creatures. Their dismal swamp homes might lie hundreds of miles from the nearest human settlement, but the gap between their way of thinking and that of the

other humanoids. Like most reptiles, their feelings largely revolve around fear, aggression, and pleasure. Lizardfolk experience most feelings as detached descriptions of creatures and situations

Baaz Draconian

Monsters Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen

a cloak or robe, and baaz draconians disguise themselves to spy for the Dragon Armies. The sight of dragons drives baaz draconians into a deadly furor. When baaz draconians die, their bodies turn to

stone and unleash clouds of petrifying gas that turn their corpses and any nearby creatures into stone. Draconians Draconians are bipedal monsters born from metallic dragon eggs that have been

Space Swine

Monsters Spelljammer: Adventures in Space

","rollAction":"Bite","rollDamageType":"piercing"} piercing damage.Space swine are a species of winged boar bred by dohwar;dohwars for a variety of uses. They can serve as mounts for Small creatures, and they

also make fine trackers and capable beasts of burden. Space swine that are trained for battle are typically outfitted with half-plate barding and are referred to as death squealers. A fully grown

Berbalang Legacy

Monsters Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes

these creatures, thus preserving the information they gain. Spectral Spy. The pursuit of knowledge drives everything berbalangs do. Although they mostly learn their secrets from the dead, they aren&rsquo

gathering secrets, both from the gods they inhabit and from the bones of dead creatures, they call forth the spirits of the dead and force them to divulge what they learned in life. Speakers of the Dead

Berbalang

Monsters Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse

to these creatures, thus preserving the information they gain. Pursuit of knowledge drives everything berbalangs do. Although they mostly learn their secrets from the dead, they aren’t above

Astral Plane. Obsessed with gathering secrets, both from the gods they inhabit and from the bones of dead creatures, they call forth the spirits of the dead and force them to divulge what they learned in

Fensir Devourer

Monsters Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants

Ysgard: creatures slain on that plane return to life the next dawn. Thus, the giants’ incursion became a part of the eternal battle that rages across the plane. The trolls, whose fundamental

use in the eternal battle. The transformation that created fensirs left them with an odd quirk to their regenerative powers: their regeneration doesn’t function in sunlight, and in fact, sunlight can turn these creatures to stone.

Orcsplitter

Magic Items Princes of the Apocalypse

defend dwarves and to serve as a symbol of dwarven resolve. It hates the traditional foes of dwarves — giants, goblins, and, most of all, orcs — and silently urges its possessor to meet such creatures in battle.

knows little more than the desire to face orcs in battle and serve a courageous, just wielder. It disdains cowards and any form of duplicity, deception, or disloyalty. The weapon’s purpose is to

Gray Render

Monsters Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse

its master.A curious impulse drives the gray render. Despite its hulking form and terrible appetite, it wants most of all to bond with an intelligent creature and, once bonded, to give its life to

willingly harms its master, but outside battle, it might cause considerable difficulties. It might follow its master despite being told to stay put, destroy its master’s house, burrow holes through a

Mercenary Veteran

Backgrounds Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide

possibilities.) Now you’re looking for something else, perhaps greater reward for the risks you take, or the freedom to choose your own activities. For whatever reason, you’re leaving

behind the life of a soldier for hire, but your skills are undeniably suited for battle, so now you fight on in a different way. MERCENARIES OF THE NORTH Countless mercenary companies

Caradoc

Monsters Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen

must succeed on a DC 15 Charisma saving throw or vanish and reappear in an unoccupied space within the keep. Incorporeal Movement. Caradoc can move through other creatures and objects as if they were

’s swiftly pulled back if caught beyond its walls without a host. Personality Trait. “I might be dead, but there’s no reason I can’t live it up a little.” Ideal. &ldquo

Yeenoghu Legacy

Monsters Out of the Abyss

5 or more, the target falls prone. Savage (Costs 2 Actions). Yeenoghu makes a bite attack against each creature within 10 feet of him.The Beast of Butchery appears as a great battle-scarred gnoll

, hunched over, and filing their teeth down to points. Yeenoghu wants nothing more than slaughter and senseless destruction. The gnoll;gnolls are his instruments, and he drives them to ever-greater

Harmonium Captain

Monsters Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse

", "rollAction":"Dictate"}. The captain verbally commands up to three creatures it can see within 60 feet of itself. This magical command must be to undertake an action or to refrain from taking actions (for

patrols throughout Sigil. They bolster their subordinates in battle and bring the authority of the Harmonium crashing down on suspects with their commands.

Goblin Legacy

Species Volo's Guide to Monsters

appreciation for the finer things! — Volo Goblins occupy an uneasy place in a dangerous world, and they react by lashing out at any creatures they believe they can bully. Cunning in battle and

was conquered by Maglubiyet, after all, and now when the Mighty One calls for it, even their souls are forfeit. It is this realization that drives them to dominate other creatures whenever they can

Frost Giant (variant)

Monsters Storm King's Thunder

the net (AC 12) destroys the net and frees the target.Frost giants are creatures of ice and snow, with hair and beards of pale white or light blue, and flesh as blue as glacial ice. They respect only

brute strength and skill in battle. Some adult frost giants are skilled hunters who construct and hurl nets weighted down with fragments of metal or bone.Cold

Planar Ally Legacy

Spells Basic Rules (2014)

service in exchange for payment, but it isn't obliged to do so. The requested task could range from simple (fly us across the chasm, or help us fight a battle) to complex (spy on our enemies, or

donation of gold or magic items to an allied temple, while a fiend might demand a living sacrifice or a gift of treasure. Some creatures might exchange their service for a quest undertaken by you. As a

Khargra

Monsters Mordenkainen's Fiendish Folio Volume 1

metal with ease, organic matter and gems are repugnant to them. If a khargra eats such morsels for whatever reason, they remain lodged in its gullet for a few days of indigestion before the offending

material is coughed up. Reluctant Predators. Khargras find living flesh disgusting, and they attack creatures only when driven by hunger and a lack of safer options. After securing a meal of whatever

Stone Giant Dreamwalker

Monsters Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse

themselves become lost in the dream. Other stone giants are banished to the surface as punishment. Regardless of the reason they ended up on the surface, if they don’t take shelter under stone

surroundings, and this delirium leaches out into the world around them, affecting other creatures that get too close. Believing that they’re living in a dream and that their actions have no real

Steel Predator

Monsters Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse

predator locates its prey by sight and smell. Once battle is joined, the predator ignores every other threat to attack its target, unless other creatures prevent it from reaching the target. In that

can be used in another steel predator. Battle damage can cause this instinct to fail, however, in which case the steel predator lingers in the area, hunting and killing other creatures that resemble

Kobold Legacy

Species Volo's Guide to Monsters

Kobolds are a lot less cute when they learn how to cast fireballs. — Volo Kobolds are often dismissed as cowardly, foolish, and weak, but these little reptilian creatures actually have a

a perfect world, the creatures would be left alone to dig their tunnels and raise the next generation of kobolds, all the while seeking the magic that will free their imprisoned god (see the &ldquo

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