Wandering Haze

Gargantuan ooze, unaligned

Armor Class 16 (natural armor)
Hit Points 170 (11d20 + 55)
Speed 5 ft., fly 40 ft. (hover)

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
22 (+6)	16 (+3)	20 (+5)	3 (–4)	13 (+1)	3 (–4)

Skills Perception +5, Stealth +7
Damage Resistances cold
Damage Immunities acid
Condition Immunities blinded, charmed, deafened, exhaustion, frightened, prone
Senses blindsight 120 ft. (blind beyond this radius), passive Perception 15
Languages —
Challenge 10 (5,900 XP)
Proficiency Bonus +4

SPECIAL TRAITS

• Acidic Fog. A creature that starts its turn in the wandering haze’s space takes 7 (2d6) acid damage.
• Cloud Form. The wandering haze can move through a space as narrow as 1 inch wide without squeezing, and the haze can enter a hostile creature’s space and vice versa. The wandering haze’s space is heavily obscured.
• False Appearance. While the wandering haze remains motionless, or floats on air currents, it is indistinguishable from an ordinary cloud or fog bank.
• Ooze Nature. The wandering haze doesn’t require sleep.

ACTIONS

• Multiattack. The wandering haze makes three Pseudopod attacks.
• Pseudopod. Melee Weapon Attack: +10 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d4 + 6) bludgeoning damage plus 7 (2d6) acid damage.
• Sheath of Chaos. The wandering haze wraps its cloudy form tighter around those within it. Each creature in the wandering haze’s space must make a DC 17 Wisdom saving throw. On a failure, a creature takes 27 (6d8) psychic damage and is disoriented until the end of its next turn as its mind fills with the gibbering terrors of the chaos that created the wandering haze’s form. On a success, a creature takes half the damage and isn’t disoriented. When a disoriented creature moves, it moves in a random direction.
• Acidic Cloudburst (Recharge 5–6). The wandering haze releases a deluge of acid. Each creature within 10 feet of it must make a DC 17 Dexterity saving throw. On a failure, a creature takes 35 (10d6) acid damage and its speed is halved for 1 minute. On a success, a creature takes half the damage and its speed isn’t reduced. A creature with halved speed can make a DC 17 Constitution saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.

ABOUT

A fluffy white cloud drifts overhead, its shadow meandering across the ground. As it shifts its movement against the prevailing winds, the puff of vapor extends long pseudopods to pummel its prey and drenches nearby targets in burning acidic rain. The first wandering hazes sprang from eldritch contaminations of the void between the planes, corruption leaching from energies of chaos and madness. A pod of these creatures wandered through a rift and adapted to the mortal world by shifting their forms to resemble common clouds.

Mountain Hunter. Wandering hazes lurk in high mountains where the land rises to meet the cloud layer, though some have been encountered in fog banks, storms, or heavy gloom. They hunt any prey they can catch, from rabbits to deer to elk, using their slowing rain to immobilize fleeing creatures.

Psychic Malevolence. The mind of a wandering haze is such a raging torrent of alien sentience that it often drives its prey to disorientation or madness. Fireside stories told in mountain villages often include cautionary tales of poor souls who stumbled down from the highlands, jabbering nonsense about burning rain and hearing screams that won’t stop.