Nightcrawler

Gargantuan undead, chaotic evil

Armor Class 19 (natural armor)
Hit Points 188 (13d20 + 52)
Speed 30 ft., burrow 30 ft.

STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA
18 (+4) 14 (+2) 18 (+4) 24 (+7) 15 (+2) 20 (+5)

Saving Throws Dexterity +8, Constitution +10, Wisdom +8, Charisma +11
Skills Arcana +13, Athletics +10, Insight +8, Nature +13, Religion +13
Damage Immunities cold, necrotic, poison; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical weapons
Condition Immunities charmed, exhaustion, frightened, paralyzed, poisoned
Senses darkvision 120 ft., tremorsense 120 ft., passive Perception 12
Languages Abyssal, Common, Infernal; telepathy 100 ft.
Challenge 18 (20,000 XP)

Special Traits

  • Desecrating Aura. Undead within 30 feet of the nightcrawler, including the nightcrawler itself, have advantage on saving throws against turn undead.
  • Innate Spellcasting. The nightcrawler’s innate spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC19, +11 to hit with spell attacks). It can cast the following spells without components:
  • Light Aversion. If a nightcrawler begins its turn in an area of bright light, it must make a DC18 Constitution saving throw or be poisoned until the start of its next turn. It makes the saving throw with disadvantage if it is in an area of bright light that counts as sunlight.

Actions

  • Multiattack. The nightcrawler can make one attack with its Bite and one attack with its Sting.
  • Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +10 to hit, reach 15ft., one creature. Hit: 17 (3d8 + 4) piercing damage, and the target must make a DC19 Dexterity saving throw or be grappled (escape DC19). If the target is a Large or smaller creature and is grappled by the nightcrawler’s pincers, that creature is swallowed, and the grapple ends. While swallowed, the creature is blinded and restrained, it has total cover against attacks and other effects outside the nightcrawler, and at the start of each of the nightcrawler’s turns, the swallowed creature takes 17 (5d6) cold damage and 17 (5d6) necrotic damage, and it must make a DC19 Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, its maximum hit points are reduced by the amount of necrotic damage it took. If the nightcrawler takes 50 damage or more on a single turn from a creature inside it, the nightcrawler must succeed on a DC25 Constitution saving throw at the end of that turn or regurgitate all swallowed creatures, which fall prone in a space within 10 feet of the nightcrawler. If the nightcrawler dies, a swallowed creature is no longer restrained by it and can escape from the corpse using 20 feet of movement, exiting prone.
  • Sting. Melee Weapon Attack: +10 to hit, reach 15ft., one creature. Hit: 13 (2d8 + 4) piercing damage, and the target must make a DC19 Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, the target is poisoned for 1 minute; on a successful save, there is no further effect. At the beginning of each of its turns while it remains poisoned, it takes 17 (5d6) necrotic damage and has its maximum hit points reduced by half the amount of necrotic damage it took that turn. At the end of its turn, it can repeat the saving throw, ending the effect on a success.
  • Summon (1/day). As an action, the nightcrawler can summon 1d6 greater shadows. These summoned creatures cannot summon or create further thralls or undead, and disappear after being dropped to 0 hit points, or after 1 minute. These greater shadows use the statistics of a shadow, save that they have a Challenge Rating of 3 (700 XP), their hit points are 38 (7d8 + 7), their Strength Drain ability has a +5 to hit and deals 16 (4d6 + 2) necrotic damage in addition to their normal reduction to the target’s Strength score.
Section 15: Copyright Notice

Rappan Athuk © 2018, Frog God Games, LLC; Authors Bill Webb, Clark Peterson, Skeeter Green, Tom Knauss, Lance Hawvermale, WDB Kenower, Casey Christofferson, and Greg Raglund; based on the original creation of Bill Webb.