Wilderness Crone

Medium fey, neutral

Armor Class 17 (natural armor)
Hit Points 105 (14d8 + 42)
Speed 30 ft.

STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA
16 (+3) 10 (+0) 17 (+3) 15 (+2) 18 (+4) 8 (–1)

Saving Throws Con +6, Wis +7
Skills Medicine +7, Nature +8, Stealth +3
Damage Resistances piercing
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 14
Languages Common, Sylvan
Challenge 6 (2,300 XP)
Proficiency Bonus +3

SPECIAL TRAITS

  • Beast Passivism. No beast with an Intelligence of 3 or less can willingly attack the crone. They can be forced to do so through magical means.
  • Speak with Beasts and Plants. The crone can communicate with Beasts and Plants as if they shared a language.

ACTIONS

  • Multiattack. The wilderness crone makes three Staff attacks.
  • Wild Staff. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 10 (2d6 + 3) bludgeoning damage plus 4 (1d8) force damage.
  • Needle Breath (Recharge 5–6). The crone exhales pine needles in a 30-foot cone. Each creature in the area must make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw, taking 28 (8d6) piercing damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.
  • Spellcasting. The crone casts one of the following spells, requiring no material components and using Wisdom as the spellcasting ability (spell save DC 15):

REACTIONS

  • Transmigratory Strike. When the crone kills a Humanoid, she can immediately restore it to life as a Beast with a challenge rating no higher the Humanoid’s CR or level. This reaction otherwise works like the reincarnate spell.

ABOUT

An elderly woman with gnarled, bark-like skin and a cloak of pine branches stands beneath the boughs at the forest’s edge.

Wilderness crones are not hags or evil, but they are often mistaken for both. They are protective of their forests, but if approached respectfully, they can be amicable and welcoming.

Wisdom of the Woods. Many seek wilderness crones for their knowledge and magic, but crones have no use for gold. They share their knowledge or power only after petitioners complete a task to protect or expand the forest.

Solitary and Reclusive. Wilderness crones live alone in remote forests. While they befriend beasts and plants and tolerate most fey, they are highly suspicious of intruders. They frighten away woodcutters, hunters, or others they believe will harm their home and its inhabitants. If intruders don’t flee, the crones resort to direct confrontation.

Wild Crones. Wilderness crones mirror their environments, leading to variations. The most common wilderness crone inhabits temperate forests and is known as a “pine crone.”

Variants

Wilderness crones vary, depending on their home. To create a wilderness crone of a specific environment, use the statistics presented here, except as described below. Their CR is unchanged.

Arctic. Often called “snow crones,” crones of the boreal forests have icy skin and resistance to cold damage. A snow crone’s Needle Breath is a barrage of ice shards that deals both cold and piercing damage.

Underground. Dubbed “stone crones,” crones tending fungal forests underground have stony skin and resistance to poison damage. A stone crone’s Needle Breath is a cloud of spores that deals poison damage.

Volcanic. Known as “cinder crones,” crones seeding the soil of volcanic regions have red and orange skin and resistance to fire damage. A cinder crone’s Needle Breath is a roar of flames that deals fire damage.

Section 15: Copyright Notice

Tome of Beasts 3 © 2022 Open Design LLC; Authors: Eytan Bernstein, Celeste Conowitch, Benjamin L. Eastman, Robert Fairbanks, Scott Gable, Basheer Ghouse, Richard Green, Jeremy Hochhalter, Jeff Lee, Christopher Lockey, Sarah Madsen, Ben Mcfarland, Jonathan Miley, Kelly Pawlik, Sebastian Rombach, Chelsea Steverson, Brian Suskind, Mike Welham

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