Wintergrim

Small fey, chaotic good

Armor Class 13 (hide armor)
Hit Points 26 (4d6 + 12)
Speed 30 ft.

STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA
19 (+4) 12 (+1) 17 (+3) 12 (+1) 16 (+3) 11 (+0)

Skills Insight +5, Nature +3, Persuasion +2, Survival +5
Damage Resistances cold
Condition Immunities charmed
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 13
Languages Common, Sylvan
Challenge 1/2 (100 XP)

SPECIAL TRAITS

  • Unique Rules. If a creature breaks one of the wintergrim’s rules of conduct, it becomes enraged. The wintergrim has advantage on Charisma (Intimidation) checks and attack rolls against the offending creature. An offending creature that succeeds on a DC 14 Charisma (Persuasion) check can calm the enraged wintergrim. If the offending creature has damaged the wintergrim in the last hour, it has disadvantage on this check. A creature that succeeds on a DC 12 Intelligence (Investigation) or Wisdom (Insight) check can determine the wintergrim’s rules before enraging it.
  • Innate Spellcasting. The wintergrim’s innate spellcasting ability is Wisdom (spell save DC 13). It can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components.

ACTIONS

  • Fist. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d4 + 4) bludgeoning damage.
  • Handaxe. Melee or Ranged Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft. or range 20/60 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d6 + 4) slashing damage, or 8 (1d8 + 4) slashing damage if used with two hands to make a melee attack.

ABOUT

This squat creature is covered in furs, making it almost as wide as it is tall. A large nose pokes through the furs, and its gentle eyes shine.

Spirit of Hospitality. Wintergrims are solitary fey who build their homes in remote locations.

When they are alone, they spend much of their time traversing the territory surrounding their homes, watchful for creatures in dire straits or in need of shelter. Wintergrims offer assistance and lodging to travelers they encounter and jump to the rescue for those in immediate peril. They readily share the furs in which they bundle themselves and are often laden with warm soups and beverages they share with visitors suffering from the elements.

Inscrutable Rules. A wintergrim’s hospitality has limits, as each wintergrim has a unique set of behaviors it holds taboo within the confines of its home. Breaking its rules is so abhorrent to a wintergrim, it dares not even discuss the things it forbids. The rules range from the seemingly innocuous-such as leaving one’s boots on when entering a wintergrim’s home-to common societal norms-such as not attacking or killing another guest. Discovering a wintergrim’s proscribed behavior is difficult, since the wintergrim ignores transgressions outside its home, perhaps giving a cryptic warning that it wouldn’t tolerate the same in its domicile. Mere discussion about its rules may also provoke the fey.

Whatever the case, wintergrims demand rulebreakers leave their premises at once, resorting to pummeling those who fail to comply.

Competent Woodsfolk. As loners with occasional guests, wintergrims are necessarily self-sustaining. They are omnivorous, and they grow gardens, set traps, and hunt for their food. Though they are inured to cold temperatures, they enjoy having a house in which they can reside and share their hospitality. They are adept with the axes they wield to chop down trees for their homes and fires, but they are careful not to overharvest wood. Other than when they hunt, they rarely use their axes as weapons. They prefer to punch their opponents in the hope they can drive their foes away, resorting to their axes only in desperate situations.

Section 15: Copyright Notice

Tome of Beasts 2. © 2020 Open Design LLC; Authors Wolfgang Baur, Celeste Conowitch, Darrin Drader, James Introcaso, Philip Larwood, Jeff Lee, Kelly Pawlik, Brian Suskind, Mike Welham.

This is not the complete license attribution - see the full license for this page