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Returning 35 results for 'both brutal diffusing cunning reason'.
Monsters
Forgotten Realms: Adventures in Faerûn
. Cultists of Bhaal sometimes form cabals of assassins or mercenaries, but they perform their brutal slaughter for the perverse love of bloodshed and honor to their sinister god rather than for
financial recompense. These cunning serial killers and mass murderers remain a step ahead of investigators, at least until the cultists’ zealous bloodlust overwhelms their senses.
Cultists
The
Monsters
Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse
, after a fashion, but they respond only to brutal training in which they are forced to recognize the trainer as the pack’s undisputed leader. A trained pack then follows its leader without
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
Monsters
Vecna: Eve of Ruin
combine the worst attributes of wolves and spiders, spyder-fiends scuttle about with bloated, spiderlike bodies and gnash with wolflike heads. Spyder-fiends are usually coated with gore, as brutal killing
is their favorite pursuit. They spin durable webs and are ingenious in how they employ their webs against prey.
Spyder-fiends are organized into a hierarchy based on might and cunning, with higher
Monsters
Mordenkainen's Fiendish Folio Volume 1
. Long ago, a green hag gathered a small army of ogres to serve as her enforcers along the desolate coast she had claimed. The hag found the ogres' simple minds and brutal strength useful, but too often
, their lack of cunning foiled her plans. Many tumbled into the sea and drowned, too simpleminded and impatient to learn how to swim. Others smashed caravans and crushed their defenders most effectively
Monsters
Vecna: Eve of Ruin
. Spyder-fiends are usually coated with gore, as brutal killing is their favorite pursuit. They spin durable webs and are ingenious in how they employ their webs against prey.
Spyder-fiends are organized
into a hierarchy based on might and cunning, with higher-ranked spyder-fiends dominating lower ranks. Spyder-fiends of equivalent rank scheme against each other for advancement and eagerly turn against
backgrounds
Forgotten Realms: Heroes of Faerûn
you’re just good at getting the job done by any means necessary. Whatever your reason, you enlisted with the Zhentarim, the most notorious mercenary guild in the Realms. Though the Zhentarim&rsquo
;s leaders insist the organization is more like a family than a shadowy syndicate, few families exhibit as much dishonesty, nepotism, and corruption as this one. You’ve honed your cunning, reflexes, and blade to climb the guild’s ranks.
Monsters
The Book of Many Things
few words. He shares leadership of the guild with Boss Delour and has a knack for planning heists. Guild members consider him a brutal but fair leader. Some perceptive guild members—like Kathra
transformed. He reverts to his humanoid form if he dies.
Cunning Action. Augustus takes the Dash, Disengage, or Hide action.
Monsters
Vecna: Eve of Ruin
brutal killing is their favorite pursuit. They spin durable webs and are ingenious in how they employ their webs against prey.
Spyder-fiends are organized into a hierarchy based on might and cunning
Monsters
Vecna: Eve of Ruin
of wolves and spiders, spyder-fiends scuttle about with bloated, spiderlike bodies and gnash with wolflike heads. Spyder-fiends are usually coated with gore, as brutal killing is their favorite
pursuit. They spin durable webs and are ingenious in how they employ their webs against prey.
Spyder-fiends are organized into a hierarchy based on might and cunning, with higher-ranked spyder-fiends
Monsters
Mordenkainen's Fiendish Folio Volume 1
, chaotic, and temperamental nature they all share. When its diabolical aspect shines through, a forlarren is a cunning, calculating, and brutal enemy. It might use its natural charm to worm its way
Backgrounds
Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide
provided. The following section, discussing possible homelands, includes some suggested reasons that are appropriate for each location.
d6
Reason
d6
Reason
1
Emissary
4
Pilgrim
hundreds of miles of the Great Glacier and the Great Ice Sea. No one from your nation makes the effort to cross such colossal barriers without a convincing reason. You must fear something truly
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Vecna: Eve of Ruin
usually coated with gore, as brutal killing is their favorite pursuit. They spin durable webs and are ingenious in how they employ their webs against prey. Spyder-fiends are organized into a hierarchy
based on might and cunning, with higher-ranked spyder-fiends dominating lower ranks. Spyder-fiends of equivalent rank scheme against each other for advancement and eagerly turn against one another if
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Xanathar's Guide to Everything
using more energy than you need. 2 Brutal. Your attacks rain down like hammer blows, meant to splinter bone or send blood flying. 3 Cunning. You dart in to attack at just the right moment and use small
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Acquisitions Incorporated
and efficiently than Acq Inc. Hostile takeovers, brutal rounds of downsizing, corporate espionage, and highly unethical behavior are just the most obvious of the company’s many tools. With the death of
like to know what the dental plans are like at Dran Enterprises, for a completely separate and unrelated reason.
— Omin Dran
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Monster Manual (2014)
Gnoll Pack Lord The alpha of a gnoll pack is the pack lord, ruling by might and cunning. A pack lord earns the best of a gnoll pack’s spoils, food, valuable trinkets, and magic items. It ornaments
its body with brutal piercings and grotesque trophies, dyeing its fur with demonic sigils, hoping Yeenoghu will make it invulnerable. Gnoll Pack Lord
Medium humanoid (gnoll), chaotic evil
Armor
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft
. Har’Akir’s people say this oasis’s waters are poison, as the oasis was given by the gods to the beasts of the land. Prides of cunning lions hunt nearby, frequently washing their kills here. Sek’s Tears
to die soon, for one reason or another, and seek to cleanse themselves with the White Oasis’s waters before meeting their end.
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Monster Manual (2014)
Helmed Horror This construct possesses intelligence, the ability to reason and adjust its tactics, and an unswerving devotion to its maker that persists even after its maker’s demise. Resembling an
understand the difference between an order’s intent and its exact wording. Unlike many constructs, it seeks to fulfill the former rather than slavishly follow the latter. Tactical Cunning. A helmed horror
Orc
Legacy
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Species
Volo's Guide to Monsters
created the orcs and continues to direct their destiny. He is aided and abetted by the other warrior deities, Bahgtru and Ilneval, who bring strength and cunning to the battlefield. The followers of all
Ruhk
Neega
Bone Crusher
7
Mobad
Baggi
Flesh Ripper
8
Shamog
Shautha
Doom Hammer
9
Mugrub
Ovak
Elf Butcher
10
Bajok
Vola
Spine Snapper
11
Rhorog
Engong
Death Spear
12
Jahrukk
Volen
The Brutal
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dragon Delves
soldier from Adarath, Rubert is well aware of Sablewing and the threat he poses. The dragon is cunning and brutal. Sablewing is known to keep a trio of Darkmantles close by, allowing the dragon to strike
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes
the Lower Planes, because of the many fiends that capture them and train them as war hounds. Howlers can be domesticated, after a fashion, but they respond only to brutal training during which they are
evil mortals who have the power and the savagery to command their loyalty. Brutal Hunters. Howlers rely on speed, numbers, and their mind-numbing howl to corner prey before they tear it apart. The howl
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus
Mad Maggie While Zariel’s attention is focused on the Blood War, power-hungry warlords of the Avernian wastes cobble together heavily armed gangs and lead packs of infernal war machines in brutal
combat, carving out vicious fiefdoms for themselves. Mad Maggie is one such warlord. Mad Maggie is a night hag with the demeanor of a kindly grandmother, but her warm smile masks a cruel cunning. In
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Volo's Guide to Monsters
beholder is nearly unassailable thanks to the combination of its peerless intellect and the brutal effects of its eye rays. Some of the behaviors and motivations that beholders exhibit are analogous to
. Think ye weave cunning schemes and elaborate intrigues with fallback plans and positions? Beholders change, refine, discard, and spin anew scores of such plans, all the time. To the average beholder, human intrigues are the fumblings of babies.
— Elminster
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Monster Manual (2014)
of food often brings them to the surface to hunt. Orcs respect an orog’s strength and cunning, and a lone orog might command an orc war band. Stronger and Smarter. An orog uses its strength to bully
foremost — because they believe that the gods have strength beyond reason, and physical might is all they respect. Servants of Darkness. Mistrusted by orcs, some orogs form independent mercenary war
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica
horrors — a variety of things that lurk in the dark and embody the deepest fears of Ravnica’s people. All are evil creatures with dim reason and preternatural cunning. At least three guilds have been
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Mordenkainen's Fiendish Folio Volume 1
claimed. The hag found the ogres’ simple minds and brutal strength useful, but too often, their lack of cunning foiled her plans. Many tumbled into the sea and drowned, too simpleminded and impatient to
seize it and carry it back to their lairs. If necessary, they resort to violence to claim the metal. Brutal Raiders. Each year, when the warm summer gives way to the chill of autumn, the crab folk look
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Vecna: Eve of Ruin
inquisitors’ zealous and sometimes brutal methods inspire terror in many communities throughout the multiverse. Each Ulmist inquisitor belongs to one of three orders that harness the power of psionics
, strength, or intellect, respectively, to achieve the inquisition’s goals. Members of the Order of Tristian, which is represented by a tome, endeavor to use knowledge and cunning to alter their
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Monsters of the Multiverse
hounds. Howlers can be domesticated, after a fashion, but they respond only to brutal training in which they are forced to recognize the trainer as the pack’s undisputed leader. A trained pack then
in horror and stumble 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
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Monster Manual
assassins kill for a reason, perhaps hiring themselves out to wealthy patrons or slaying for an unscrupulous cause. They use poisons and other deadly tools, and they might carry equipment to help them
) Piercing damage plus 21 (6d6) Poison damage.
Bonus Actions
Cunning Action. The assassin takes the Dash, Disengage, or Hide action.
Awakened Plants Vegetation Given Magical Life
Habitat: Forest
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Eberron: Rising from the Last War
goals — of which there are many — often still prefers to use trickery and cunning rather than the unreliable tools of honesty or brute force. Most Zil gnomes belong to the forest gnome subrace. Their
Zilargo: why you have left, and what ties do you still have to it? Your scheme could provide a good reason for you to leave. Or you could be a sage gathering information for the Library of Korranberg or an
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Volo's Guide to Monsters
touched by Yeenoghu and turns into a flind itself. The death or disappearance of a flind for any other reason causes a war band to descend into brutal infighting. Sometimes a new leader emerges from
behind a war band, making quick work of wounded gnolls and those who can’t keep up the pace. Gnoll Flesh Gnawers All gnolls are ruthless and brutal, but the flesh gnawers in a war band use their
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Baldur’s Gate Gazetteer
turbulent dangers of the sea, but also the rich rewards it can bring. The crimson flags of the ship referenced the brutal life of a pirate, blood spilled on the deck or in the water. The crisscrossing
desire to remain a peaceful power and the clear skies symbolize a prosperous future. But those who know the city’s history see the cunning and violence underpinning the emblem. For many, the contradictory interpretations make the city’s coat of arms all the more fitting.
Mike Schley Map: Sword Coast
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus
the sea, but also the rich rewards it can bring. The crimson flags of the ship referenced the brutal life of a pirate, blood spilled on the deck or in the water. The crisscrossing ropes and canted
peaceful power and the clear skies symbolize a prosperous future. But those who know the city’s history see the cunning and violence underpinning the emblem. For many, the contradictory interpretations make the city’s coat of arms all the more fitting.
Map: Sword Coast
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Mordenkainen's Fiendish Folio Volume 1
diabolical aspect shines through, a forlarren is a cunning, calculating, and brutal enemy. It might use its natural charm to worm its way into earning trust from those it encounters, casting itself as a
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide
priesthood depends on the tenets of that god: the cunning rogues who venerate Mask have little in common with the upright law-keepers of Tyr, and the delightful revelers who revere Lliira are different from
marriages and funerals. Temples are places where worshipers go either to spend personal or family time in a space consecrated to a deity or to seek the aid of the priests for some reason. Small
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->The Book of Many Things
Delour and has a knack for planning heists. Guild members consider him a brutal but fair leader. Some perceptive guild members—like Kathra Bitterwind—have noticed he’s become more reclusive recently
humanoid form if he dies.
Cunning Action. Augustus takes the Dash, Disengage, or Hide action.
Christopher Burdett Boss Delour Delour the wererat is a sly trickster and consummate thief who rules