Why? Good question! Alas, I have no answer. I do have the urge to watch the newer movies now, though. I watched part of Tim Burton's Alice but hardly remember it, and wasn't there a sequel?
Mine would end up being a mashup of various jabberwocky from the classic poem and various RPGs with a few twists and quirks. My first notes were partially taken from my skimming over AD&D 2e's Monstrous Compendium Annual Volume Three and the only homebrew stat block I found for 5e, along with my own ideas of the creature and a few great depictions: the original illustration by John Tenniel (of course), a close resemblance to the original (sans coat) made for Pathfinder by Wayne Reynolds (Pathfinder Bestiary 2 and artwork for Pathfinder: Kingmaker), and the creature in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland (2010) and great concept art by Michael Kutsche.
The Jabberwock
Huge monstrosity (dragon? aberration?), neutral, CR 14 (11,500 XP)
A huge carnivore (20 ft tall, 30-40 ft from head to toe, possibly more) that prowls the land, flying and swimming from time to time. Although it is more bird-like in form — aside from its long, serpent-like neck and front claws — it could easily be mistaken for a bluish-black drake but with a short-feathered head crest and winged forearms with reflective lateral red-orange stripes (similar to red-tailed black cockatoo tails).
- Puzzling Predator. The Jabberwock is an oddity among creatures, superficially resembling a dragon with gangly arms and stretched neck, and lives in dense forests or swamps. It's locally debated among "scholars" whether they are the only member of their species or not, most commonfolk correctly believe there is only one.
There is a widespread myth that during eclipses they lay an egg that hatches and grows into either a kind or terrible creature and that the parent and child fight to the death, the victor consuming the other.
Another myth is that the Jabberwock does not need to eat or that, if it does, it only needs to eat during an eclipse. The truth is that it constantly hungers for many kinds of creatures and toys with most of its prey before feasting. - Babbling Beast. The Jabberwock continuously chorps and murbles as it wanders and even while it sleeps. It clearly understands every local tongue and learns new languages almost immediately — despite showing a child-like intelligence and forgetfulness with most other things — but rarely speaks words itself.
Thanks to the distorting effect its chorpling has on those nearby, it is almost impossible to discern and remember what the Jabberwock looks like. - Enemy of Drakes, Lover of Fey. The Jabberwock treats most creatures as prey and hates other predators, especially drakes. However, it is fond of fey and tolerates druids in its wonderland, and if only such creatures are near it, the Jabberwock is playful, gentle, and childlike.
- Casual Cache. The Jabberwock has no urge to work for treasure and doesn't desire a hoard. Nonetheless, it amasses one over time thanks to baubles and jewelry and contraptions brought as friendly gifts or distractions from its hunger. It has developed a keen sense of smell for treasure it prizes most and some it fears: silver, platinum, adamantine, sapphires.
Bad at: remembering things, strategy, flying, not getting its head detached from its body.
Stats: ++STR, +CHA/CON, -INT.
Equipment: scaly, unnatural hide.
Other weapons: teeth and jaws, claws (hands and feet), tail. (Not the wings.)
Taking all of that, I hammered away at a stat block for 5e, loosely balancing it against classic dragons around CR 13-15 and eventually being happy with this iteration:
The Jabberwock
Huge monstrosity, chaotic neutral
AC 17, HP 216 (21d12 + 80), Bloodied 72 (HP/3), Speed 40 ft, Fly 20 ft, Swim 30 ft, INI +5
STR 22 (+6), DEX 16 (+3), CON 20 (+5), INT 7 (-2), WIS 13 (+1), CHA 18 (+4)
Saving Throws: STR +9, DEX +9, CHA +7.
Skills: Athletics +8, Insight +11, Perception +5, Stealth -2.
Damage Resistances: Fire, radiant; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks not made with adamantine weapons.
Damage Immunities: Poison.
Condition Immunities: Charmed, frightened, petrified, poisoned.
Senses: Blindsight 30 ft, Darkvision 60 ft, Passive Perception 12.
Languages: Understands Common, Draconic, Elvish, Sylvan (but doesn't speak).
Challenge Rating: 14 (11,500 XP)
Legendary Resistance (3/day). If the Jabberwock fails a save, it can choose to succeed instead.
Abilities
Amphibious. The Jabberwock can breathe air and water.
Regenerative Resting. While the Jabberwock is asleep it has +2 AC, resistance to damage from magical attacks, and recovers 4d12 HP every hour.
Sinister Smights. Whenever the Jabberwock hits with an attack, that creature and other creatures within 120 ft that can see the attack become Frightened for 1d6 rounds. A creature can make a DC 18 WIS save at the end of each of its turns to reduce the duration by 1 round, and can repeat this save on a success. If a creature critically succeeds, they stop being Frightened and immediately feel the need to fight the Jabberwock for the next 24 hours. When the Frightened effect ends, the creature is immune to the Jabberwock's Sinister Smights for the next 24 hours.
Treasure Sense. The Jabberwock can sense the location of silver, platinum, adamantine, and sapphires within 60 ft.
Triggered Abilities
Bloodied, 72 HP. The Jabberwock immediately regains all of its spent legendary actions and uses one legendary action.
Actions
Multiattack. The Jabberwock makes one gnash attack and two slash attacks.
Gnash. +10 to hit, reach 15 ft, one target. 17 (2d8 + 8) piercing damage.
Slash. +10 to hit, reach 10 ft, one target. 16 (3d10) slashing damage.
Snatch. The Jabberwock spins toward its target and lashes out with one of its claws, slamming it into the ground and grabbing it. +10 to hit, 10 ft, one target. 15 (2d8 + 6) crushing damage. If the target is Large or smaller, it is Grappled (escape DC 16) and Restrained until the grapple ends. The Jabberwock has four clawed appendages but can grapple two targets at a time.
Legendary Actions
The Jabberwock can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary action can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature's turn. The Jabberwock regains spent legendary actions at the start of its turn.
Detect. The Jabberwock makes a Perception check.
Chorple. The Jabberwock lets loose a caucophony of strange noises and nonsense in various languages known to the Jabberwock. 30-ft cone. Each creature in the area takes 27 (6d8) force damage. Additionally, each creature in the area that can hear the Jabberwock has moderate hallucinations, giving it disadvantage on WIS checks while it remains within 60 ft of the Jabberwock, and must make a DC 13 WIS save or become confused (as if under the effects of a confusion spell) for 1d4 rounds.
Snatch Attack. The Jabberwock uses its snatch attack.
Mystical Mirror (Costs 2 actions). The Jabberwock casts a spell that targeted and affected the Jabberwock this round, choosing new targets for the spell. It casts it immediately and does not need to use any components to cast the spell. This action is disabled for 6 sec (1 round) upon waking from sleep or unconsciousness.
More Stuff
Tactics: When the Jabberwock decides to snatch a creature, they may pick a place to bury them such as their horde of treasure or deep water. It prioritizes neutralizing targets wielding adamantine weapons, then targets casting confusion spells.
If the Jabberwock is hurt and bleeding or finds itself outmatched, it has no qualms about fleeing from the area (even its lair) to take a nap. If an opponent is too small and nonthreatening, it may ignore it entirely; it may also ignore creatures it finds boring or try to eat bothersome creatures such as dull or boorish wizards.
The Jabberwock lives with a young and particularly smart gith girl. It lets her ride on its back while they sing a strange duet sang with throat singing and whistling which lulls the two to sleep by the end of their ride. There are no discernible words to the song.
Optional rule: If any creatures stumble upon the pair while they are singing and focus on the song for 1 min, there is a 50/50 chance they will become slightly dizzy and have minor hallucinations or become Charmed for the duration of the song or until they move more than 100 ft away.
Perhaps the girl keeps an adamantine saber somewhere in the lair or a chest in the pile of treasure, or perhaps some of her teeth are made of adamantine. Why? Good question...
The Jabberwock might also understand the following languages (or myriad others) from past experiences with other creatures: Aarakocra, Ancient Halfling (Athasian), Blink Dog, Druidic, Giant, Gith, Mulhorandi. Some of the languages are likely known through encounters with hostile creatures, and the Jabberwock remembers and occasionally "parrots" phrases they heard while it chorples.
Notes:
- Crushing Damage. A physical attack that inflicts crushing damage ignores resistances against bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage.
- Vorpal Weapons. I've never used vorpal weapons in D&D, and outside classic jabberwocky or faerie tales they don't seem to fit very well, so I made them weak to adamantine (by way of damage resistance to non-adamantine weapons) which could easily be replaced with resistance to non-vorpal weapons or the following ability:
Vorpal Sensitivity. Attacks from vorpal weapons made against the Jabberwock have advantage.
Its ability to sense adamantine (treasure sense) could be replaced with vorpal enchantments to keep that bit of fluff, or vorpal weapons could be made with adamantine and/or sapphires. Either way, I like the idea that the Jabberwock can sense such threats and would be able to hunt a potentially beamish slayer.
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