Catoblepas

Family: Catoblepas

Huge fiend, neutral evil

Armor Class 16 (natural armor)
Hit Points 161 (14d12 + 70)
Speed 25 ft.

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
19 (+4)	10 (+0)	20 (+5)	9 (-1)	18 (+4)	12 (+1)

Skills Perception +8
Damage Vulnerabilities fire
Damage Resistances acid, necrotic; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks
Damage Immunities poison
Condition Immunities exhaustion, poisoned
Senses darkvision 120 ft., passive Perception 18
Languages Abyssal, Infernal, telepathy 120 ft.
Challenge 11 (7,200 XP)

SPECIAL TRAITS

• Aura of Pestilence. Whenever a creature starts its turn within 120 feet of the catoblepas, it is exposed to writhing flesh (page 125; save DC 17).
• Magic Resistance. The catoblepas has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
• Magic Weapons. The catoblepas’s weapon attacks are magical.

ACTIONS

• Multiattack. The catoblepas makes three attacks: one to bite and either two with its claws or two with its hooves.
• Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 9 (2d4 + 4) piercing damage and 11 (2d10) poison damage. The target must succeed on a DC 17 Constitution saving throw or become poisoned for 1 minute. At the end of each of the poisoned creature’s turns, it must make another Constitution saving throw, taking 11 (2d10) poison damage on a failed save, or ending the condition on itself on a successful one.
• Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 14 (3d6 + 4) slashing damage and the target is pushed up to 5 feet in the direction of the catoblepas’s choice.
• Hoof. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 13 (2d8 + 4) bludgeoning damage and the target must succeed on a DC 16 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone.
• Poison Breath (Recharge 5-6). The catoblepas breathes poison in a 60-foot cone. Each creature in the area must make a DC 17 Constitution saving throw, taking 44 (8d10) poison damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.

ABOUT

A catoblepas fiend is a physical embodiment of rot. It spreads pestilence wherever it goes, enjoying the process of living mortal flesh eroding over time. To facilitate this, a catoblepas orders weaker fiends to harry, delay, and grapple creatures within range of its Aura of Pestilence while it breathes poison over them all.

When a creature survives the attention of a catoblepas, the fiend redoubles its interest in trapping the creature. If it can, it imprisons the survivor in the hope of tempting it to accept the power of the legion and become a corrupted creature (page 155).

Wasted Lands. The catoblepas slowly crumbles as it moves, dropping bits of flesh and ichor behind it. This toxic residue saturates the regions it passes through with a variety of diseases and poisons that infect mortals. The poisons and diseases described in Ravaged Lands starting on page 122 appear more and more often where the catoblepas has passed until the catoblepas is slain, which allows the land to recover.

Toxic Time Bomb. A catoblepas can rarely keep itself together in the mortal world for the full length of an invasion, as its unnatural form simply isn’t physically stable enough. This is obvious to all who see the fiend, as its flesh visibly peels and its muscles wobble to release plumes of noxious gas that surround it. When it finally falls apart completely, it unleashes a toxic wave that fills the region for miles around with poisons and diseases, quickly killing most plants and wildlife and leaving a persistent stain on the land.

Legions. Catoblepas fiends typically serve as generals of the Acheron, Lethe, Phlegethon, and Tartarus legions.

This monster resembles a squirming rack with a huge gaping mouth below pillars of flesh and protruding bone spines. Its barrel-wide arms splay sideways and its long, hooved legs struggle to heave its ungainly bulk forward.