Ghost Pepper Leshy

Family: Leshy

Small plant (leshy) Ghost, , neutral evil

Armor Class 16 (natural armor)
HP 99 (18d6 + 36)
Speed 30 ft., fly 30 ft.

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
7 (-2)	11 (+0)	19 (+4)	19 (+4)	15 (+2)	17 (+3)

Skills Arcana +3, Acrobatics +7, Perception +10, Stealth +10, Survival +6
Damage Resistances bludgeoning, piercing and slashing damage from nonmagical attacks; fire, necrotic
Condition Immunities charmed, exhaustion, grappled, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned, prone, restrained
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 17
Languages Common, Druidic, Sylvan
Challenge 5 (700 XP)

SPECIAL TRAITS

• Death Speech. The leshy can innately cast the Speak with Dead spell, requiring no material components and does not need to share a language with the target to understand them.
• Plant Form. Small, faintly ethereal ghost pepper plant.
• Bound by Death. A Ghost Pepper leshy cannot stray far (more than 120 feet) from either the creature who killed it or the location of their death (varies on the individual leshy).
• Undead Burst. When the Ghost Pepper leshy dies, a burst of necrotic energy explodes from their body. Each creature within a 30-foot radius makes a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw, taking 7 (2d6) necrotic damage plus an additional 2 (1d4) fire damage at the start of their subsequent turns on a failure. On success, the creature takes half as much necrotic damage and no fire damage.

ACTIONS

• Multiattack. The Ghost Pepper leshy makes two attacks with either their Peck or Pepper Pod attacks.
• Peck. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6+4) piercing damage.
• Pepper Pod. Ranged Weapon Attack: +7 to hit. Range 30/120 ft., one target. Hit: 9 (2d4+4) bludgeoning damage. On a hit, the target must make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or be set on fire taking 2 (1d4) fire damage at the start of each of their turns.
• Spicy Breath (Recharge 6). The Ghost Pepper leshy breathes fire in a 30- foot cone. Each creature in the cone must make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw or take 14 (4d6) fire damage, or half as much on a successful one. Additionally, any creature that fails this save is set on fire and takes 2 (1d4) fire damage at the start of each of their turns.

ABOUT

Feared and respected for its extreme spiciness, ghost pepper is far more haunting than any simple specter. Measuring over a million Scoville units, this pepper was considered the hottest in the world for several years.

The Ghost Pepper leshy arises following the death of a Pepper leshy, haunting the location or perceived cause of its death. Unlike other ghosts, which seem set on completing some unfinished business, the Ghost Pepper leshy is solely fixated on revenge – a dish best served spicy.

As leshies are primarily nature spirits, it is unclear why the Pepper leshy is one of the few to form ghosts after death. This has led to theories that the Ghost Pepper leshy is an unrelated, malevolent spirit – perhaps even a nature spirit that shunned or failed becoming a leshy.

Rather than arising from the leshy directly, this would suggest the Ghost Pepper leshy is exacting vengeance for a fallen friend, rather than seeking retribution for its own demise.

Capsaicin, the compound that give peppers their spicy flavor, evolved to discourage mammals from eating peppers. Without mammals to compete with, birds become more likely to eat the pepper, and without molars to crush seeds, birds are better at dispersing seeds after consumption.

While a successful evolutionary strategy, humans now breed and consume peppers almost solely for that fiery flavor.