Astringent Armor

Medium construct, unaligned

Armor Class 18 (natural armor)
Hit Points 112 (15d8 + 45)
Speed 25 ft.

STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA
20 (+5) 11 (+0) 16 (+3) 1 (-5) 5 (-3) 1 (-5)

Damage Immunities poison, psychic
Condition Immunities blinded, charmed, deafened, exhaustion, frightened, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned
Senses blindsight 60 ft. (blind beyond this radius), passive Perception 7
Languages
Challenge 8 (3,900 XP)
Proficiency Bonus +3

SPECIAL TRAITS

  • Constructed Nature. The armor doesn’t require air, food, drink, or sleep.
  • Damage Transfer. While attached to a creature, the armor takes only half the damage dealt to it (rounded down), and that creature takes the other half.
  • False Appearance. While the armor remains motionless, it is indistinguishable from a normal suit of armor.

ACTIONS

  • Multiattack. The armor makes two slam attacks and can use Attach.
  • Slam. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 14 (2d8 + 5) bludgeoning damage, and the target is grappled (escape DC 15) if it is a Medium or smaller creature. While grappling a creature, the armor can’t make slam attacks against another target.
  • Attach. The armor violently squeezes a creature it is grappling into itself. The creature must make a DC 16 Strength saving throw. On a failure, the creature takes 14 (2d8 + 5) bludgeoning damage, and the armor attaches to the creature. While attached, the armor shares the creature’s space and it moves with the creature when the creature moves. The creature’s speed is halved and it makes attack rolls, Dexterity checks, and Dexterity saving throws with disadvantage. If the grapple ends, the armor is no longer attached and moves to an unoccupied space within 5 feet of the creature.
  • Constrict. A creature grappled by the armor makes a DC 16 Constitution saving throw, taking 28 (8d6) bludgeoning damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.

ABOUT

Suits of astringent armor are dangerous animated constructs found in abandoned dungeons, cursed fortresses, and the strongholds of powerful spellcasters.

Wherever they’re found, these mindless abominations protect their master’s treasures faithfully and often unfailingly.

In its purest form, astringent armor resembles a simple empty suit of plate mail or other armor common to the region. More often than not, though, adventurers stumble upon an astringent armor after it has already claimed at least one victim. Horrifyingly, though they are mindless, suits of astringent armor seem to prefer walking around with their latest victim still crushed inside-at least until they find a fresher body to enshroud and destroy. In such cases, the astringent armor is mistaken for an armor-clad zombie or other undead, a mistake that has put many would-be thieves in an early grave. Closer inspection, however, reveals that the encased body is horribly crushed and mangled, and bits of bone and flesh stick out sickeningly through the joints in the armor’s plates.

In combat, suits of astringent armor singlemindedly grab their victims, then attempt to reassemble themselves around their prey. Once attached, the armor begins shrinking, slowly crushing the unfortunate body trapped within.

Suits of astringent armor most commonly come about via arcane rituals, similar to those used to animate other mundane objects. Sometimes though, they manifest in other ways-such as from a curse placed on an armor-wearing warrior who betrayed the wrong witch, a fiend who possessed a suit of armor but subsequently lost its identity, or simply from raw evil energy seeping into armor from the Negative Energy Plane. In all of these cases, such suits of astringent armor possess just a bit more intellect than most of their kind, as well as a spark of genuine wickedness.

Section 15: Copyright Notice

Battlezoo Bestiary (5E) © 2022, Skyscraper Studios, Inc.; Authors: William Fischer, Stephen Glicker, Paul Hughes, Patrick Renie, Sen.H.H.S., and Mark Seifter.

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