Yurei

Medium undead, neutral evil

Armor Class 18 (natural armor)
Hit Points 110 (17d8 + 34)
Speed 40 ft.

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
19 (+4)	16 (+3)	15 (+2)	13 (+1)	15 (+2)	9 (-1)

Saving Throws Dex +7, Con +6, Wis +6
Skills Perception +6, Insight +6, Stealth +7
Damage Resistances cold, necrotic; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks
Condition Immunities charmed, exhaustion, frightened, paralyzed, poisoned
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 16
Languages Common
Challenge 12 (8,400 XP)

SPECIAL TRAITS

• Face of Death. When a creature that can see the yurei’s face starts its turn within 30 feet of the yurei, the yurei can force it to make a DC 14 Constitution saving throw if the yurei isn’t incapacitated and can see the creature. If the saving throw fails by 5 or more, the creature instantly dies of fright. Otherwise, a creature that fails the save is stunned. The stunned creature must repeat the saving throw at the end of its next turn, dieing on a failure or ending the effect on a success. Unless surprised, a creature can avert its eyes to avoid the saving throw at the start of its turn. If the creature does so, it can’t see the yurei until the start of its next turn, when it can avert its eyes again. If the creature looks at the yurei in the meantime, it must immediately make the save. A creature immune to the frightened condition is immune to this face of death.
• Innate Spellcasting. The yurei’s spellcasting ability is Wisdom (spell save DC 14). It can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components:
  • Constant (self only): spider climb, water walk
  • At will: blink
  • 1/day each: mislead, nightmare

ACTIONS

• Multiattack. The yurei uses painful gaze and then makes two painful grasp attacks.
• Painful Grasp. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 15 ft., one target. Hit: 20 (3d10 + 4) force damage. If the target is a creature, it must make a DC 14 Constitution saving throw or become poisoned for 1 minute.
• Painful Gaze (Recharge 6). The yurei targets one creature it can see within 30 feet of it. The target must succeed on a DC 14 Constitution saving throw against this magic or take 42 (12d6) necrotic damage.
• Choking Suffocation. A yurei targets a creature it can see causing something disgusting (such as a tangled clump of wet hair or a foul-tasting clot of rancid swamp mud) to manifest in the target’s throat. The target must make a DC 14 Constitution saving throw or begin suffocating for the next 1 minute. The creature may repeat this saving throw at the end of each round to end suffocation. As soon as the victim succeeds at its saving throw against choking suffocation, the victim coughs up the disgusting foreign matter in a horrific display and must succeed at a DC 23 Constitution save or become poisoned for 1 minute.
• Weird Insight. The yurei targets one creature it can see within 30 feet of it. The target must contest its Charisma (Deception) check against the yurei’s Wisdom (Insight) check. If the yurei wins, it magically learns one fact or secret about the target. The target automatically wins if it is immune to being charmed.

ABOUT

When a person dies a violent death in the grip of extreme emotion, such as in a blinding rage or in overwhelming sorrow, she may return from the dead as a twisted and horrific undead creature known as a yurei. These restless spirits remain consumed by the emotional torment that pervaded their demise and can feel a measure of peace only while causing other creatures to suffer as they did. To accomplish this, they haunt the people and places they knew in life in search of fresh victims for their painful grasp.

Regardless of whether they received a proper burial, the yurei always appears dressed in the remnants of funereal clothing, their faces partly obscured by long black hair. The restless spirit may seem to be dripping wet or caked with mud or filth, its flesh decayed or nearly skeletal, or otherwise showing distressing signs of neglect. Their bodies may appear contorted or disjointed, reflecting the pain that twists their very existence.

When a yurei uses nightmare, she typically creates dreams wherein the target is placed in the role of her murderer, so it may suffer her vengeance from beyond the grave.