Zeitgeist

Medium humanoid, chaotic neutral

Armor Class 14 (16 in Darting Form)
Hit Points 82 (11d8 + 33)
Speed 20 ft. in Sluggish Form, 40 ft. in Darting Form

STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA
17 (+3) 18 (+4) 16 (+3) 12 (+1) 10 (+0) 6 (-2)

Damage Immunities psychic
Condition Immunities exhaustion, frightened
Senses passive Perception 10
Languages Common
Challenge 6 (2,300 XP)

SPECIAL TRAITS

  • Darting Escape (Darting Form Only). The zeitgeist can take the Dash or Disengage action as a bonus action on each of its turns.
  • Timewarped Body. At the start of each of the zeitgeist’s turns, roll a die. On an even roll, its body stretches and speeds up as it takes on a darting form. On an odd roll, its body becomes more solid and slows down as it takes on a sluggish form. Its statistics are the same in each form, except as noted here.
  • Darting Form. While in a Darting form, the zeitgeist’s Armor Class increases by 2, and its speed is 40 feet.
  • Sluggish Form. While in a Sluggish form, the zeitgeist has resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage from nonmagical attacks, and its speed is 20 feet.

ACTIONS

  • Multiattack. In its darting form, the zeitgeist makes three darting rend attacks. In its sluggish form, the zeitgeist makes two sluggish slam attacks.
  • Darting Rend (Darting Form Only). Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d4 + 4) slashing damage plus 7 (2d6) force damage.
  • Sluggish Slam (Sluggish Form Only). Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 feet., one target. Hit: 12 (2d8 + 3) bludgeoning damage plus 7 (2d6) force damage. If the zeitgeist scores a critical hit, the target is also knocked prone.
  • Tormented Scream (Recharge 5-6). The zeitgeist cries out, releasing some of its internal torment in a 30-foot cone. Each creature in that area must make a DC 15 Intelligence saving throw, taking 21 (6d6) psychic damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.

REACTIONS

  • Rewind (Recharge 4-6). When the zeitgeist takes damage or when it starts its turn afflicted with a condition, it can rewind time around it, preventing the damage or undoing the condition. It can use this reaction even while paralyzed or stunned.

ABOUT

The mumbling humanoid alternates between bursts of speed and inactivity as it struggles to focus on the reality around it.

Caught in a chronological maelstrom, zeitgeists struggle to interact with whatever reality presents itself in that moment.

Zeitgeists are humanoids who were warped by some misuse or accident of time magic. They are “ghosts” of time, flittering from plane to plane, timeline to timeline, unable to anchor themselves with any sort of stability for long.

Fast and Slow. Warped by time magic, a zeitgeist finds itself alternating between speeding around its foes and being barely able to keep up with them. This alternating is random and outside of the zeitgeist’s control, often pulling it forward in the middle of a conversation or slowing it when attempting to escape an enemy.

Unstable Body and Mind. The constant instability of being pulled between planes and timelines leaves zeitgeists unable to focus, at best, and deranged, at worst. If a moment of clarity pierces its madness, a zeitgeist might attempt a quick conversation or simply remain motionless, enjoying the temporary reprieve from its tortured existence.

Still Living. Though named “ghosts,” zeitgeists aren’t dead; rather, something mysterious about their situation sustains them. Similar to a ghost, a zeitgeist might be tied to a particular location, albeit at different points in time. The location might be the site of the magical mishap that created it, a place steeped in planar or time magic, or a place stable enough in time to help the zeitgeist anchor itself and its sanity.

Timewarped Nature. A zeitgeist doesn’t require air, food, drink, or sleep.

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