Baba Yaga’s Horsemen

Medium fey, lawful neutral

Armor Class 20 (plate, shield)
Hit Points 171 (18d8 + 90)
Speed 30 ft.

STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA
22 (+6) 11 (+0) 21 (+5) 16 (+3) 18 (+4) 18 (+4)

Saving Throws Dex +4, Wis +8
Skills Arcana +7, Athletics +10, History +7, Perception +8
Damage Resistances bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks
Damage Immunities lightning, poison
Condition Immunities exhaustion, paralyzed, poisoned
Senses passive Perception 18
Languages Celestial, Common, Infernal, telepathy 120 ft.
Challenge 11 (7,200 XP)
Proficiency Bonus +4

SPECIAL TRAITS

  • Enchanted Weapons. The horseman’s weapon attacks are magical. When the horseman hits with any weapon, the weapon deals an extra 2d8 damage of a type depending on the horseman: cold (black night), fire (red sun), radiant (bright day).
  • Magic Resistance. The horseman has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
  • Peerless Rider. Any attacks directed at the horseman’s mount target the horseman instead, and the horseman confers his damage resistances and immunities and his condition immunities to his mount. In addition, if the horseman and mount are subjected to an effect that allows each to make a saving throw to take only half damage, the mount takes no damage if the horseman succeeds on the saving throw.
  • Timeless Nature. The horseman doesn’t age and doesn’t require food, drink, or sleep. The great witch Baba Yaga is a power to be reckoned with, always plotting with her daughters, the vila, and seeking to gobble up the vile gnomes whose souls she claims are rightfully hers. Baba Yaga rules over great ley line magic and commands the elements and enchantments with ease, but she cannot be everywhere at once.

ACTIONS

  • Multiattack. The horseman makes three Lance, Longsword, or Horseman’s Bolt attacks. The horseman can replace one attack with a use of Spellcasting.
  • Lance. Melee Weapon Attack: +10 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 12 (1d12 + 6) piercing damage plus 9 (2d8) damage of the type defined in Enchanted Weapons. The horseman has disadvantage on this attack roll if the target is within 5 feet of him.
  • Longsword. Melee Weapon Attack: +10 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 10 (1d8 + 6) slashing damage, or 11 (1d10 + 6) slashing damage if used with two hands, plus 9 (2d8) damage of the type defined in Enchanted Weapons.
  • Horseman’s Bolt. Ranged Spell Attack: +8 to hit, range 120 ft., one target. Hit: 22 (4d6 + 4) damage of the type defined in Enchanted Weapons.
  • Spellcasting. The horseman casts one of the following spells, requiring no material components and using Charisma as the spellcasting ability (spell save DC 16):

BONUS ACTIONS

  • Temporal Strike (Recharge 5–6). One creature the horseman can see and that the horseman hit with a Horseman’s Bolt or Longsword attack within the last minute must succeed on a DC 17 Constitution saving throw or age 16 (3d10) years. A creature that ages this way has disadvantage on attack rolls, ability checks, and saving throws that use Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution until the aging is reversed. A creature that ages beyond its lifespan dies immediately. The aging lasts until the creature finishes a long rest, or until it is reversed by a greater restoration spell or similar magic. On a successful saving throw, the creature is immune to the horseman’s Temporal Strike for 24 hours.
  • One Rises, Two Set. The horsemen never co-exist with one another except within the confines of their mistresses’ Dancing Hut and the fenced yard around it. Each one must yield his presence on the Material Plane to his successor in rotation (this varies on other planes, depending on intervals of day and night). Forcing two horsemen to co-exist on the Material Plane places a perilous strain on reality. Bringing all three together could trigger a primal magical event or chronal catastrophe.

ABOUT

Three of her most faithful servants are the White Horseman, the Red Horseman and the Black Horseman—embodied forms of the times of day and a symbol of Baba Yaga’s mastery of time itself. She uses nicknames for them, calling them “My Bright Dawn, my Red Sun, and my Dark Midnight” because they are bound by time (and some believe, because they control dawn, noon, and sunset). She has many servants, but the horsemen, her dancing hut, and the sorcerer Koshchei the Deathless are the greatest.

These mounted knights wield great weapons as swift as dawn, as bright as the blazing sun, and as cold as the grave.

The white horseman is a young rider full of promise, the red rider a man in his prime, and the black rider a scarred and bearded fellow, his eyes dark and his mouth set in a grim frown. They ride with purpose on powerful steeds.

Baba Yaga’s three horsemen are legends in their own right. Bright Day, Red Sun, and Black Night (also known as the White, Red, and Black horsemen) are her faithful emissaries, scouts, and warriors abroad. The three horsemen change over time, but they are typically male, human warriors. Their appearance is distinctive: each horseman dresses in colors and lacquered armor and trappings to suit their name, with their magical horses colored to match. Their roles appear to coincide with their appointed offices, although their precise relationship to Baba Yaga is the source of much speculation.

Varied Origin. They may be serving Grandmother Winter for a time in exchange for a favor or bargain, or they may be cursed to replace a previous horseman they slew. In either case, Baba Yaga is the source of their power. The horsemen are innately connected to the domain of time; each represents part of the day, as measured by the sun.

  • Bright Day is bound to and governs dawn to mid-day, Red Sun from mid-day to sundown, and Black Night rules until daybreak. While Baba Yaga herself is wily and capricious, her three horsemen are bound to cosmological forces that are uniform and constant, which is reflected in their alignment and demeanor. The horsemen make good foes for the long term; their power is great enough that they can ignore considerable danger when serving their mistress. Here are some possible encounters involving them:
  • Red Sun burns down a village while the PCs are sleeping at the inn. If questioned or challenged, he says nothing, but provides a scroll from Baba Yaga ordering the village’s destruction. Red Sun rides off into the dawn.
  • Black Night bears a similar scroll, asking an elvish character to provide Baba Yaga with a pint of blood; if the request is granted, Black Night leaves without incident, but if he is denied,

All three horsemen use the statistics presented here, but each has a few unique characteristics from his brethren, as defined below.

  • Bright Day. This horseman has darkvision out to a range of 60 feet and resistance to cold damage and fire damage.
  • Red Sun. This horseman is immune to being blinded, charmed, and frightened and has immunity to fire damage.
  • Black Night. This horseman has darkvision out to a range of 60 feet and magical darkness doesn’t impede his darkvision. In addition, he has immunity to cold damage.
Section 15: Copyright Notice

Tome of Beasts 1 ©2023 Open Design LLC; Authors: Daniel Kahn, Jeff Lee, and Mike Welham.

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