Nightgarm

Large monstrosity, chaotic evil

Armor Class 15 (natural armor)
Hit Points 152 (16d10 + 64)
Speed 40 ft.

STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA
20 (+5) 14 (+2) 18 (+4) 10 (+0) 15 (+2) 16 (+3)

Skills Perception +5, Stealth +5
Damage Vulnerabilities radiant; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks made with silvered weapons
Damage Resistances lightning, thunder
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 15
Languages Common, Giant, Goblin, telepathy 60 ft.
Challenge 6 (2,300 XP)
Proficiency Bonus +3

SPECIAL TRAITS

  • Telepathic Bond. The nightgarm ignores the range restriction on its telepathy when communicating with a falseheart it has birthed. The nightgarm and its falseheart don’t need to be on the same plane of existence.

ACTIONS

  • Multiattack. The nightgarm makes one Bite attack and two Claw attacks.
  • Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 16 (2d10 + 5) piercing damage. If the target is a Medium or smaller creature, it must succeed on a DC 15 Strength saving throw or be swallowed. A swallowed creature is blinded and restrained, it has total cover against attacks and other effects outside the nightgarm, and it takes 10 (3d6) acid damage at the start of each of the nightgarm’s turns. The nightgarm can have only one creature swallowed at a time. If the nightgarm takes 20 damage or more on a single turn from the swallowed creature, the nightgarm must succeed on a DC 14 Constitution saving throw at the end of that turn or regurgitate the creature, which falls prone in a space within 5 feet of the nightgarm. If the nightgarm dies, a swallowed creature is no longer restrained by her and can escape from the corpse by using 10 feet of movement, exiting prone.
  • Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 12 (2d6 + 5) slashing damage.
  • Lupine Howl (1/Day). The nightgarm magically calls 2d4 wolves or 2 dire wolves. The wolves arrive in 1d4 rounds, acting as allies of the nightgarm and obeying her telepathic commands. The wolves remain for 1 hour, until the nightgarm dies, or until the nightgarm dismisses them as a bonus action.

ABOUT

This red-furred lupine creature has a too-wide mouth and blood-soaked claws.

Created in a ritual performed over a pregnant worg, nightgarms are always born female and are followers of the Great Wolf.

Wide-Jawed Lupines. Nightgarms resemble red-furred worgs with wide mouths, half-formed fingers, and comfort with bipedal and quadrupedal movement. They can hold items in their front paws, and their jaws can open to swallow especially large creatures.

Mother of Falsehearts. If a nightgarm eats a humanoid corpse whole, it gives birth nine hours later to a duplicate of the victim, known as a falseheart (see the Falseheart Template sidebar). Falsehearts are loyal to the nightgarm that birthed them and retain enough of the victim’s memories and capabilities to integrate into society as the victim.

Falseheart Template

The corpse of any Humanoid can become a falseheart if eaten whole by a nightgarm. When a Humanoid becomes a falseheart, it retains its statistics, except as described below.

Type. The Humanoid’s type changes to Monstrosity.

Alignment. The falseheart’s alignment changes to chaotic evil.

Damage Vulnerabilities. The falseheart is vulnerable to radiant damage.

New Trait: Convincing Copy. A creature very familiar with the Humanoid the falseheart replaced can tell the falseheart is an imitation with a successful DC 20 Wisdom (Insight) check.

New Trait: Keen Smell. The falseheart has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on smell.

New Trait: Mother’s Love. The falseheart is magically bound to the nightgarm that birthed it, following the nightgarm’s telepathic commands.

Section 15: Copyright Notice

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

This is not the complete license attribution - see the full license for this page