Nightgarm

Large monstrosity, chaotic evil

Armor Class 15 (natural armor)
Hit Points 114 (12d10 + 48)
Speed 20 ft. (bipedal), 40 ft. (quadrupedal)

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
20 (+5)	14 (+2)	18 (+4)	10 (+0)	15 (+2)	16 (+3)

Skills Perception +5, Stealth +5
Damage Resistances lightning, thunder; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical weapons that aren’t silvered
Damage Vulnerabilities radiant; silvered weapons
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 15
Languages Common, Giant, Goblin, telepathy 200 ft. (with falsemen only)
Challenge 6 (2,300 XP)

Special Traits

• Spawn Falseman. If a nightgarm spends an entire round consuming a humanoid corpse, it immediately becomes pregnant. Nine hours later, it gives birth to a duplicate of the devoured creature. Known as a ‘falseman,’ this duplicate has all the memories and characteristics of the original but serves its mother loyally, somewhat similar to a familiar’s relationship to a wizard. A nightgarm can have up to 14 falsemen under her control at a time. A nightgarm can communicate telepathically with its falsemen at ranges up to 200 feet.
• Distending Maw. Like snakes, nightgarms can open their mouths far wider than other creatures of similar size. This ability grants it a formidable bite and allows it to swallow creatures up to Medium size.
• Superstitious. A nightgarm must stay at least 5 feet away from a brandished holy symbol or a burning sprig of wolf’s bane, and it cannot touch or make melee attacks against a creature holding one of these items. After 1 round, the nightgarm can make a DC 15 Charisma saving throw at the start of each of its turns; if the save succeeds, the nightgarm temporarily overcomes its superstition and these restrictions are lifted until the start of the nightgarm’s next turn.
• Innate Spellcasting. The nightgarm’s innate spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 14). It can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components:
• 3/day: darkness, dissonant whispers, hold person
• 1/day: conjure woodland beings (wolves only), dimension door, scrying (targets falsemen only)

Actions

• Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 27 (4d10 + 5) piercing damage, and a Medium or smaller target must succeed on a DC 15 Strength saving throw or be swallowed whole. A swallowed creature is blinded and restrained and has total cover against attacks and other effects outside the nightgarm. It takes 21 (6d6) acid damage at the start of each of the nightgarm’s turns. A nightgarm can have only one creature swallowed at a time. If the nightgarm takes 25 damage or more on a single turn from the swallowed creature, the nightgarm must succeed on a DC 14 Constitution saving throw at the end of that turn or regurgitate the creature, which falls prone within 5 feet of the nightgarm. If the nightgarm dies, a swallowed creature is no longer restrained by it and can escape from the corpse by using 10 feet of movement, exiting prone.

About

These humanoid creatures work with their lupine mother and their worg and winter wolf brothers and sisters to destroy human and dwarvish settlements. Their howls are songs of vengeance, and their fangs and jaws seem ready to swallow the world.

About

Champions of the Northern Packs. Created in a magical ritual performed over a pregnant worg by her packmates, nightgarms are always female and are always loyal followers of Fenris. They are dedicated to harassing servants of the gods, especially the northern gods of the sky, thunder, or wisdom. Their spawn infiltrate settlements to bring them down- treachery that always ends with a massed attack by wolves.

Carry Off Plunder. Nightgarms resemble enormous wolves, but up close their wide mouths, hate-filled eyes, and half-formed fingers give them away as something different from-and much worse than-worgs. They can wield items in their front paws and can walk on their hind limbs when necessary, though they are far swifter on four legs.

Impossibly Wide Jaws. A nightgarm’s jaws can open to swallow corpses, living creatures, and items larger than themselves, a magical trick that happens in a matter of seconds. One in every thirteen falsemen has the potential to escape their mother’s influence. Roll 1d12 whenever the nightgarm spawns a falseman: On a roll of 1 they give birth to a renegade (the 13th spawn is always a renegade if it hasn’t occurred yet this cycle). One day after its creation (and up to once per day thereafter), the renegade falseman can make a DC 14 Charisma saving throw. If successful, the controlling nightgarm’s influence is broken; the falseman regains its original alignment and the charm effect ends (although not the empathic link). The renegade retains its other characteristics.

Sidebar: Falsemen

Falsemen have all the memories and capabilities of the victim they were created from. They have no magical aura, but every falseman has 1d3 physical signs that differ from the original victim and that can be recognized by someone who knew the victim (with a successful DC 20 Wisdom (Insight) check).

These might be hairy palms, eyebrows that meet in the middle, general hirsuteness, an extra toe, blood that tastes like seawater, hair that grows back within hours when cut, an inability to drink fresh milk, a tendency to write backward, a split tongue, or any other new, odd trait.

The nightgarm sends its spawn back to infiltrate their previous settlements. They pretend to rejoin friends and family and seek to gain positions that will allow them to betray their community, while also luring others out to be devoured by their mother and join the conspiracy. This alone can be a clue that something’s not right: a formerly lazy or drunken farmer who suddenly reforms and runs for mayor is likely to raise suspicions. Once the settlement’s defenses are weakened, the nightgarm arrives with a raiding party of wolves and the slaughter begins.

Medium monstrosity, chaotic evil

Damage Vulnerabilities radiant; silvered weapons

• Keen Sense of Smell. The falseman has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on smell.
• Mother’s Love. All falsemen have an empathic link with their mother, which works similarly to the connection between a wizard and familiar. They obey their mother as though charmed.