"October! It's already here!" And my favorite time of the year is already over.
Nearly thirty days ago I started writing a blog post (this post) about a monster in my (spooky-ish) Ravnica adventure
Disturbance at Dusk, but never quite got around to finishing it. The monsters featured in the adventure are riffs on an existing creature from
Magic: The Gathering called the
slum reaper. Let's jump in and (finally) talk about them, everything that I wanted to do with them, and about a few aspects of general monster design.
Slum Reaper art for Magic: The Gathering by Karl Kopinski
Visually one of my favorite horrors (read: aberrations) in
Magic, slum reapers channel both Giger and Lovecraft with their hard, glossy, pseudo-insectile legs and upper bodies with a slew of other alien features, including incomprehensible maws, long clawed arms with too many joints and erroneous extra bones, and winding serpentine lower bodies that almost-but-not-quite clash with the rest of their form. In Ravnica lore, the slum reapers, as their name suggests, are creatures sent into slums to reap the "souls of those no one will miss." They are controlled (according to the card's original flavor text) by the Orzhov Syndicate to bolster the guild's army of indentured spirits, but (according to the text in a reprint) are known by some undercity travelers to roam near the territory of the Golgari Swarm. For official lore, as with most
Magic creatures, that's all there is. Of course, for fun, exciting, flavorful
Dungeon's & Dragons adventures, that isn't enough, so I've expanded on those two seeds for my own Ravnica adventures using some very old ideas of my own and a few queues from the art.
- Undercity Abominations. The slum reapers dwell in the darkest, dingiest regions beneath the city, in nasty habitats ranging from ancient catacombs and overgrown churches to rotten sewer tunnels and rubblebelt caves. Their secondary habitats seem to be wherever there is food—and, in Ravnica, the busy streets are the greatest hunting grounds for many predators.
- Uncommon and Unique. Few slum reapers are the same, even in their general form. They all share a similar chitinous skin, have many legs and claws, and typically have small, bony or membranous wings. All other features beyond those, and their behaviors, vary wildly.
- Vermin Eaters. Some of the creatures have been suspected to co-exist with vermin and insects—rats, giant centipedes, and possibly even kraul—but such beliefs are only theory for now. What is known is that they feed on small beasts, insects, and humanoids, and that they have an ingrained, insatiable hunger for the flesh and blood of the sick, injured, and forlorn.
- Born, or Built? The greatest unsolved mystery about the aberrant creatures of Ravnica is their origin, and this is no different for the slum reapers. They have existed for millennia but none know of where they come from or if they mutated and evolved from ancient insects. Few signs point to the same theory, which may suggest that their current form didn't come about naturally. Perhaps their appetites and natural habitats gave rise to mutations that made them fearsome predators of the past, which peaked the curiosity of a fleshwarper or thrull breeder who then captured, bred, dissected, and reconstructed them, releasing their failed experiments back into the underground urban wilds.
In
Disturbance at Dusk, a group of uniquely pale slum reapers appears to harass the citizens and the party, all of them with strange contraptions grafted to their bodies and limbs. These I called "dread reapers," just one of many variants I toyed with while making encounters. For their stat blocks, I referred DMs to the flying horror found in
Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica (p. 203) with a short list of adjustments. What I wanted to do was create an all-new monster stat block, but made the decision to use the flying horror because it seemed like an elegant solution that made writing the adventure easier for me. Now, though, I've come up with a much more interesting "base monster" and a handful of monster "templates" or "plug-ins" to, well, plug-in to the base monster.
While making monsters for other DMs to use who don't normally use monsters the same way that I do, and many who haven't played other editions of D&D and used monsters in them (such as 4e), I've been trying to come up with a better way to present monsters that is still familiar when compared to stat blocks and rules in 5e. My intent with the base monster template here is to present a basic monster stat block that follows the design and language (more or less) of stat blocks in the
Monster Manual and other official sourcebooks and adventures, but that I and DMs-who-aren't-me can combine with more fun sets of traits and actions.
Action Oriented Monsters
I'll take a second to derail my post and point you to a video by Matt Colville about what he calls "Action Oriented Monsters" found
here. The goal of designing monsters in the way seen in the video (particularly "solo" or "boss" monsters) is the same as my goals; to make interesting, memorable encounters that are fun and challenging for players and flexible for DMs. The inspirations for a lot of the design, I presume, are also similar and come from memorable scenes in books and movies and video games, but also the way monsters are presented in 4e. The basic concepts are as follows:
- Give your monster the basic stats you need (AC, HP, movement speed, initiative, and any important ability scores),
- Let yourself be flexible with those stats during gameplay,
- Give it senses (passive Perception, darkvision or other senses if applicable) and a few notable traits or vulnerabilities/resistances (optional),
- Give it an easy-to-remember basic attack (and a multiattack that uses it if applicable),
- Give it an easy-to-remember (and probably weaker) ranged or melee attack (whichever one it doesn't already have),
- And, lastly, give it something unique, such as a more powerful attack it can use once per encounter, a strong spell (or spell-like ability) it can use each round, a reaction, or a special action that lets it move and attack or even summon other monsters or set and activate traps.
For strong, solo monsters, Matt suggests a few other things including one trick I used to use all the time but, for whatever reason, had completely forgot about until I watched his video. That trick is to give it one (or more) special actions that happen on specific rounds in combat. I used to use that all the time for "elite"/solo and boss monsters, and for hazards like weather and traps. Instead of giving a monster a recharge action (an action that, once used, makes the DM roll a d6 to see if it recharges and is used again), these round-based actions remove some of the randomness and reduces the swingy-ness of a fight, making an encounter with that monster more controlled but still exciting and memorable and, if need be, dangerous. For this dread reaper design and the design of a vampire villain (a topic for another day), that was my "Aha! Wait... Why didn't I remember that?" moment.
The terminology I've been using for the actions varies slightly from his; what Matt calls "Villain Actions" in his video are what I call "Elite Actions" (or sometimes "Solo Actions" or "Encounter Powers") referring to solo or elite creatures that are slightly more powerful than the average creature. Legendary Actions I still use the same way as the official 5e rules. Some minions (creatures that die when hit by any attack that deals damage) I also give these actions to, though I make sure they are very minor effects or for much higher challenge rating monsters.
For the sake of not having to write it out every time, here's a reminder for the "Legendary Action" rules: A creature can take a set number of legendary actions, choosing from the options in its stat block. Only one legendary action can be taken at a time and only at the end of another creature's turn. A creature with legendary actions regains spent actions at the start of its turn.
Now, back to my monsters.
The Reaper Comes
For the first half of the puzzle, the base stat block:
Slum Reaper
Medium aberration, lawful evil
AC 15, HP 55 (10d8 + 10), Bloodied 24 (HP/2), Speed 40 ft., Fly 30 ft., INI +3
STR 10 (+0), DEX 18 (+4), CON 12 (+1), INT 2 (-4), WIS 15 (+2), CHA 16 (+3)
Skills: Perception +4, Stealth +6
Damage Vulnerabilities: radiant
Condition Immunities: frightened
Senses: darkvision 120 ft., passive Perception 14
Languages: —
Challenge Rating: 3 (700 XP)
Traits
Keen Senses. The slum reaper has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight, hearing, or smell. Additionally, it gains a +2 bonus to checks made to locate creatures that are suffering from a disease or injury.
Sunlight Sensitivity. While in sunlight, the slum reaper has disadvantage on attack rolls, as well as on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight.
Actions
Multiattack. The slum reaper makes one claw attack and one tail attack.
Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d6 + 3) slashing damage plus 5 (2d4) psychic damage.
Tail. Melee Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 4 (1d8) bludgeoning damage.
Essentially, this is just the stat block for a paired-down, modified flying horror from
GGR that could be used as-is. More than that, it's a foundation to build a better monster on top of, a monster that fits the fantastic art above and (hopefully) the story and tension in whatever adventure you use it in.
In the adventure, I chose to change their attacks to deal lightning damage to highlight their strange grafts, but psychic damage makes more sense for the base aberration. Also note that the frightening screech attack from the flying horror has been removed; instead, I'm going to have extra actions included in the variants below.
Optional Trait:
Death Shriek. When the reaper dies, it lets out a piercing cry
with its last breath. Creatures outside the encounter within 120 feet
and that are smaller than it in size have a 50% chance to flee in fear,
otherwise they slowly approach to investigate.
With this trait,
smaller creature will likely run even farther away from the battle,
while some creatures or larger monsters may come to inspect the site or
feed on its corpse. It's a quirky, flavorful trait, but it can make the world seem more alive and make the death of the monster more impactful. Another monster in
Disturbance at Dusk can mimic the sounds of other creatures, and it might mimic a slum reaper's terrible shrieks to scare aware other predators or attract the party into an ambush.
Now onto the second half (the fun half).
Monster Variants
For each of these variants, everything in the variant is added to the base stat block above, or replaces a stat in it. For example, the base slum reaper's speed is 40 feet, for the screeching horror variant its speed becomes 30 instead; likewise with its damage vulnerabilities. If a variant doesn't list a stat or trait, use whatever is given in the base stat block. In general, I use the AC, HP, Speed, Initiative, ability scores, skills, senses and so forth from the base monster, and its basic attack or multiattack.
For the first variant, I'm just going to recreate the flying horror from
GGR with a few changes.
Notable loot from this and any other variant can include the following: mandibles dotted with distorted yellow and black teeth, long chitinous claws and nails, large leathery wings (for making clothing, light and medium armor, or perhaps a macabre kite), and hollow bones from its grotesquely long limbs (as sturdy as common wood varieties but lighter in weight). Radiant damage, and in this case fire as well, might burn away its wings and weaken some of its limbs and bones, weakening the creature but turning potential crafting materials into ash.
Reaper Frightener
Speed 30 ft., Fly 60 ft.
Damage Vulnerabilities: fire, radiant
Traits
Fear Frenzy. The reaper has advantage on attack rolls against frightened creatures.
Reactions
Psychic Rebuke. When the reaper is hit by a melee attack, it emits a blast of psychic energy, dealing 3 (1d6) psychic damage to each creature within 5 feet of it. Then it can fly up to 20 feet away and does not provoke opportunity attacks during this movement.
Elite Actions
The reaper uses its frightening shriek at the start of rounds one and three.
Frightening Shriek. The reaper shrieks, creating a head-splitting blast of energy that rings out for several hundred feet. Each creature within 60 feet of it that can hear it must succeed on a DC 11 Wisdom saving throw or be frightened of it for 1 minute, and each creature within 20 feet of it must succeed on a DC 15 saving throw instead. A frightened creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success. If a creature's saving throw is successful or the effect ends, the creature is immune to the effect for the next 24 hours.
For its elite action, it uses frightening shriek at the start of the first and third rounds of combat, and the scream more dangerous for characters close to the reaper. To me that's fairly simple (after all, I'm the one who made it), but a lot of people who I help create adventures for have a lot questions about abilities like this. Here are a few that I either asked myself or get asked by others:
- What if the party has a surprise round in which it can't act, like if it's unconscious or paralyzed for whatever reason? In that case, you can just have it use the ability as soon as it's able to, and two rounds after that.
- What if the encounter goes on for more than three rounds? It might not, but if it does then I could have it continue shrieking every three rounds or so. Or, it might stop shrieking if every PC in the encounter has become immune to the effect, or it will deem the shriek an ineffective use of its energy so it stops—either way, I can forget about it and instead focus on other aspects of the encounter and improvising to keep it interesting, or give it one more round of rampaging attacks and end it before it technically reaches zero hit points if it feels like it's dragging on.
- If this monster was the final boss of a lengthy undercity delve or
foray into a crumbling necropolis, I might give it a heftier flyby
reaction, or increase its flying speed further and give it the flyby
trait (it doesn't provoke an opportunity attack when it flies out of an
enemy's reach).
- If this reaper was in a group with other monsters, I might remove it's "elite action" entire or decide to have the shriek only affect creatures within 30 feet with a DC of 13 like the flying horror's original attack. Against a party of ranged characters or, perhaps, if it was at the bottom of the initiative count, I might choose to use its rush to close in 30 extra towards an attacker during the first round.
As with everything in D&D, assess the situation and improvise as needed. This world, unlike Ravnica, doesn't have metaphysical law magic preventing you from doing something that isn't in the stat block,
the important thing is for everyone playing to have fun. As long you the basic idea and stay flexible, I find that the majority of the time everything comes together fairly naturally. And the more you play, improvise, and make or use interesting monsters, the easier it all gets.
It may be worth noting again here that, for me, I am using more long-winded language because I send my monsters to other DMs and also use them in published adventures (or at least I intend to). If you make monsters for your own use, you don't need to be nearly as precise with the language you use for anything, as long as you can understand what it means at a glance during gameplay.
For the second variant, I'll make a monster that fits what I imagined when creating
Disturbance at Dusk, something closer to what I wanted to playtest against a party.
Notable loot from this variant would be the spark blade grafted onto its arm:
Spark Blade. Magic weapon (longsword), rare, 3 lbs. 1d8 slashing damage, versatile (1d10). You gain a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with this magic weapon. This weapon has three charges. You can use an action and expend a charge to cause it to crackle with lightning. The effects lasts for 1 minute or until an attack with this weapon hits a creature. That creature must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or take 7 (2d6) lightning damage and become paralyzed until the end of its next turn.
Dread Reaper
Traits
Spark Rig Graft. The reaper has a magical contraption grafted to its body and arms. The spark rig has the following properties:
If the reaper kills a creature with a soul, the rig absorbs it. All of
the reaper's lightning damage dice are upgraded to a d8 until the end
of its next turn.
When the reaper becomes bloodied, the spark rig becomes damaged, and its spark bolt and charge actions are disabled until the spark rig is repaired. Additionally, roll a d4. On a 1, the graft deals 5 (2d4) lightning damage to the reaper. On a 4, the graft deals 5 (2d4) lightning damage to all creatures within 10 feet of the reaper.
Actions
Multiattack. The reaper makes one spark blade attack and one tail attack.
Spark Blade. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d6 + 3) slashing damage plus 7 (2d6) lightning damage.
Spark Bolt. Each creature in a 60-foot line must make a DC 13 Dexterity saving throw, taking 10 (3d6) lightning on a failed save or half as much on a successful one. The reaper must not be bloodied to do so.
Elite Actions
Beginning on the second round of combat, the reaper uses its charge every other round.
Charge. The reaper's spark rig charges with energy. At the start of the next round, it uses its overload. The reaper must not be bloodied to do so.
Overload. The reaper slams its arms into the ground or slashes in the air, unleashing waves of lightning from its spark rig graft. Each creature in a 20-foot cone must make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw, taking 10 (3d6) lightning damage on a failed save or half as much on a successful one. Additionally on a failed save, a creature must succeed on a DC 13 Constitution saving or be paralyzed for 1 minute. A creature can reapeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.
An attentive or curious PCs can attempt to make an Intelligence (Arcana) check when they first encounter the monster and when it uses its charge. On a 15 or higher, they learn about its spark rig graft trait, and on a 17 or higher learn the effects of the reaper's charge and overload elite actions. On a result of 19 or higher, they also know that the graft is a ramshackle experiment using Izzet technology combined with some kind of spirit-powered contraption.
A reminder for what "bloodied" means: A creature is bloodied when its hit points are equal to or less than half its maximum hit points.
For the dread reaper, being bloodied also means its spark rig graft is damaged and unstable.
The third variant is a slum reaper warped by the negative energies of the Shadowfell.
Notable "loot" from this variant is most likely to include lingering madness and despair effects (
DMG p. 258-260), and lingering injuries from its claws and bites (
DMG p. 272). Such effects may even be "awarded" as soon as a character sees the monster!
Reaper Duskwalker
Large aberration, neutral evilHP 65 (10d10 + 10), Bloodied 32 (HP/2), Speed 40 ft., Climb 40 ft., INI +4
Skills: Perception +6, Stealth +8
Damage Resistances: acid, necrotic, poison, psychic
Challenge Rating: 4 (1,100 XP)
Traits
Mind Sight. Magical darkness doesn't impede the reaper's vision.
Spider Climb. The reaper can climb difficult surfaces, including upside down on ceilings, without needing to make an ability check.
ActionsMultiattack. The reaper makes two claw attacks. If both hit, the target is grappled (escape DC 14) and the reaper makes a bite attack with advantage.
Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d6 + 4) slashing damage plus 7 (2d6) necrotic damage.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 3 (1d6) piercing damage plus 3 (1d6) acid damage. Miss: 3 (1d6) acid damage.
Legendary Actions
The reaper can take 3 legendary actions.
Bite. The reaper makes a bite attack. Additionally on a hit, it regains 3 hit points.
Consuming Shadows. The reaper deals 5 (2d6) necrotic damage to a creature standing in darkness that it can see up to 60 feet away.
Shadow Step (Costs 2 Actions). The reaper fills a 5-foot cube within 5 feet of it with magical darkness which remains for 1 minute, and gains +2 AC while in dim light or darkness until the start of its next turn. A creature with darkvision can't see through this darkness, and nonmagical light can't illuminate it. Additionally, the reaper can teleport up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space that is in dim light or darkness.
Elite Actions
The reaper uses darkness at the end of the first round of combat.
Darkness. The reaper casts the darkness spell which covers a 30-foot-radius sphere.
Sample reaper duskwalker encounter:
The reaper is hiding in the shadows, clinging on a high ceiling, buried under debris or in a giant trapdoor spider lair under the street pavement (the former resident having been eaten), or skulking across rooftops during a "duskfall" (a Plane of Shadow manifest zone that cloaks the area in heavy, asphyxiating mist). As the party passes by, it reaches out to grab a creature and makes two claw attacks. If both claw attacks hit, the target is grappled (escape DC 14) and the reaper makes a bite attack with advantage.
Other Effects
Enraged (Barbarian Rage or basic attacks cleave and hit another adjacent creature), bleeding (Bloodied or steadily losing blood and hit points), infested (by insects), wounded (limping and loses part of its multiattack or deals reduced damage with an attack).
PCs might encounter a slum reaper displaying one of these effects, or they might cause an affliction like enraged or wounded.
