Devil, Heartclutch

Family: Devils

Tiny fiend (devil), lawful evil

STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA
6 (-2) 20 (+5) 13 (+1) 9 (-1) 11 (+0) 9 (-1)

Armor Class 15
Hit Points 14 (4d4 + 4)
Speed 20 ft., fly 30 ft.
Saving Throws Dexterity +7
Skills Deception +1, Insight +4, Stealth +7
Damage Resistances acid, cold; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical/non-silver weapons
Damage Immunities fire, poison
Condition Immunities poisoned
Senses darkvision 120 ft., passive Perception 10
Languages Ledean, Infernal
Challenge 2 (450 XP)

Special Traits

  • Innate Spellcasting. The heartclutch devil’s innate spellcasting ability is Wisdom (spell save DC 10). It can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components.

Actions

  • Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 1 piercing damage and the target must make a DC 11 Constitution saving throw or become poisoned for one minute.
  • Sneezing Death (Recharge 5-6). The heartclutch devil forces a creature it can see within 30 feet to make a DC 11 Constitution saving throw. On a failure, at the end of its turn the creature involuntarily sneezes and loses one point of Constitution. If it reaches zero the creature dies. The effect can be removed with lesser restoration, remove curse, a Paladin‘s Lay on Hands, or more powerful magic, and a heartclutch devil can remove it at will. A former victim recovers Constitution naturally at the rate of 1 point every ten minutes. Creatures protected by bless, hallow, or protection from evil and good are immune, as are those who don’t need to breathe or otherwise are incapable of sneezing.
  • Summon Devil (1/day). The heartclutch devil has a 30 percent chance of summoning another heartclutch devil.

Tactics

These devils tend to avoid combat by flying away, especially when faced by overzealous champions of good. If forced into combat, they invoke their sneezing death on one or more opponents and then again attempt to escape. They do love to extract one-sided bargains from those on the verge of succumbing to the Sneezing Death.

Description

A heartclutch devil is easily mistaken for a variety of imp with frail-looking wings and a sadistic sense of humor. Its body looks like wet clay with a smooth slime coating it. Its face is serpentine, long with finely shaped scales. Its eyes are typically black and glossy, but they glow with an eerie light when the heartclutch is excited or amused.

Service with a Smile. Heartclutch are created by greater devils to send messages between their servants, to deliver warnings to those who displease them, and to serve their masters’ favored minions as spies, watchdogs, or even familiars. Like most devils, heartclutch are fond of tormenting the weak, especially those they have subjected to their insidious sneezing death.

Section 15: Copyright Notice

Creature Collection 5e Copyright 2020 Onyx Path Publishing, Inc.