Gremlin, Nuno

Family: Gremlins

Tiny fey (gremlin), neutral evil

Armor Class 12
Hit Points 2 (1d4)
Speed 20 ft., burrow 10 ft.

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
6 (-2)	15 (+2)	10 (+0)	13 (+1)	14 (+2)	15 (+2)

Skills Perception +3, Stealth +6
Senses tremorsense 30 ft., passive Perception 13
Languages Deep Speech, Sylvan, Terran
Challenge 0 (10 XP)

SPECIAL TRAITS

• Ant Affinity. Ants will never attack a nuno. The nuno can communicate in a rudimentary way with ants and ask them to perform simple tasks.
• Wax Locator. Any creature cursed by a nuno can spend 1 minute pouring molten wax into a spoon and then into a container of water, causing the wax to run in the direction of the nuno. This allows the accursed creature to find the nuno no matter where it hides and attempt to put an end to the curse.

ACTIONS

• Slam. Melee Weapon Attack: +0 to hit, reach 0 ft., one target. Hit: 1 bludgeoning damage.
• Nuno’s Curse. The nuno touches a non-construct, non-undead creature within 5 feet. The creature must make a DC 12 Wisdom throw. A creature that harms the nuno, damages the nuno’s home, or steals the nuno’s belongings must also save against the curse with disadvantage. On a failed save, the creature becomes cursed and takes 2 (1d4) necrotic damage. A creature that succeeds at its save is immune to that nuno’s curse for 24 hours. A creature under the effects of the nuno’s curse experiences horrific swelling and hair growth in a location the nuno touched or that was associated with harming the nuno (for instance, a creature’s foot if that creature kicked over the nuno’s anthill). This swelling disadvantage on Dexterity ability checks and causes the affected area to occasionally ooze or expel black pus. The curse is particularly hard to remove with remove curse; the caster must succeed at a DC 12 ability check using their spellcasting ability or the spell is ineffective. A nuno can remove its curse as an action, and when a nuno dies, all its active curses end immediately.

ABOUT

Nunos are fungus gremlins that live in anthills. Even young nunos appear as wizened old men, and the creatures are solitary hermits, living among ants in anthills and burrows in tropical regions. Though nunos are as spiteful as any other gremlins, they tend to keep to themselves and reserve their enmity for those who bother them—especially those who dare to harm a nuno’s anthill home.

Accursed. Due to the relative difficulty of removing a nuno’s curse via magic, the best options for a creature cursed by a nuno are to slay the nuno or parley with the creature. Since the curse could have triggered while the nuno wasn’t present, both approaches are made easier by the nuno’s wax locator ability.

Conversational. Though inherently grumpy, nunos are easily bribed with offerings of fruit or valuable objects and can at times be swayed by a particularly well-constructed argument. They can also usually be persuaded by humanoids and fey they find beautiful, though a nuno’s predilections are unpredictable at best, and they tend to loathe conventional beauty.