Large beast, unaligned

Armor Class 14 (natural armor)
Hit Points 52 (7d10 + 14)
Speed 40 ft.

Senses blindsight 60 ft., passive Perception 9
Languages –
Challenge 2 (450 XP)

Special Traits

• Keen Smell. The giant ant has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on smell.

Actions

• Multiattack. The giant ant makes one bite attack and one sting attack.
• Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d8 + 2) bludgeoning damage and the target is grappled (escape DC 12). Until this grapple ends, the target is restrained and the giant ant can’t bite a different target.
• Sting. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d8 + 2) piercing damage plus 22 (4d10) poison damage, or half as much poison damage with a successful DC 12 Constitution saving throw.

About

Several pony-sized ants swarm around an ant the size of a draft horse, clacking their serrated mandibles and threatening with their stingers. Giant ants look much like a normal ant with six legs, a waspish segmented body, and large antenna. Their hides are covered in thick chitin, and they have large, serrated mandibles flanking their mouths and stingers on their tails. These stingers are the size of a shortsword, and they’re capable of stabbing and poisoning a human to death.

Colony Defenders. Giant ants form colonies under the control of a queen much like their normal-sized cousins. Sterile females form castes with the workers building the nest and caring for larvae. Queens and male drones rarely leave the colony. Soldiers defend the colony and forage for food.

Carry Prey Home. Giant ants are both predators and scavengers, working in organized groups to bring down large prey and carry it back to the nest. Giant ants tend to ignore animals away from the colony when not foraging for food, but they quickly move to overwhelm prey when hungry or threatened. A giant ant stands nearly four feet tall and weighs 400 pounds, while a giant ant queen is over five feet tall and weighs 900 pounds. Giant ants communicate with each other primarily with pheromones but also use sound and touch.

Giant Ant, Queen

Large beast, unaligned

Armor Class 15 (natural armor)
Hit Points 85 (10d10 + 30)
Speed 40 ft.

Senses blindsight 60 ft., passive Perception 10
Languages –
Challenge 4 (1,100 XP)

Special Traits

• Keen Smell. The giant ant queen has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on smell.
• Queen’s Scent. Giant ants defending a queen gain advantage on all attack rolls.

Actions

• Multiattack. The giant ant queen makes two bite attacks and one sting attack.
• Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d8 + 3) bludgeoning damage and the target is grappled (escape DC 13). Until this grapple ends, the target is restrained, and the giant ant can’t bite a different target.
• Sting. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d8 + 3) piercing damage plus 22 (4d10) poison damage, or half as much poison damage with a successful DC 14 Constitution saving throw.

Giant Bee (5e Creature)

The drow were once denizens of Upperworld, sharing the realm with their elven brethren without consequence.

Thousands of years have passed since those mythical times, and the drow have fallen far from their original state. The drow live far beneath the surface of known lands, deep in the Underworld, in large cities dedicated to Naraneus, the Queen of Venom.

Drow societies are matriarchal, and females hold almost every position of power within a city, their priesthoods always led by women of potent ability and foresight. Cold, cunning and manipulative, the drow live to obtain power over those around them.

Their entire race is inherently evil but there are rare occasions—when the moon is full and Naraneus’ attentions are devoted elsewhere—that a good-aligned dark elf is born. Children born during these periods are generally sacrificed to Naranaeus without a second thought, but mothers with a strong parenting instinct who are unwilling to make the sacrifice give birth in secret, sneaking away and passing the child to an upperworlder or asking an underworlder of another race to care for the newborn. They may follow their offspring, secretly assisting from afar to see that their child grows and adapts to life amongst the other races.

Any drow of a good alignment will have been raised by one of the good-aligned races of the Underworld, or— rarely—by humanoids of Upperworld. Evil drow PCs hail from the subterranean metropolises of the Underworld, and a rare few are connected to Hivaka or Leahcim, the lone good and neutral drow deities.

Physical Description

Drow are tall and slender like their elven counterparts, with graceful and pleasant features that belie their evil nature. Their hair color can range from brunette to gray or white. They are quick in both body and mind, their slightly enlarged and pointed ears keen to hear the slightest scuffle in the Underworld.

Society

The drow are matriarchal and exist entirely to do the whim of the Matron Mother of their home settlement.

Women are valued far more highly than men; most of the latter are little better than smart dogs—fit to serve as guards but easily worth a few gold pieces as a youth.

They are uniformly slavers, and even the lesser houses of nobility can count dozens of indentured servants to their estate. While they all answer to the Matron Mother of the first house, all drow vie for power and prestige; they will (and many times have) slaughter their own parents without a second thought if it means the acquisition of greater influence.

Relations

Cunning to the last, dark elves are sly, subtle and resourceful individuals. They rarely expose themselves until they’ve assumed a considerable upper hand, and by then, few who’ve survived what follows managed to escape to tell of it. Ruthless, efficient and capable of mindless savagery the drow are, at best, extremely dangerous allies (to both those they profess to aid and their perceived enemies).

Alignment and Religion

Drow are of the Evil alignment, be they chaotic, neutral or lawful. Most of the former are quickly beaten into submitting to the latter or sacrificed to appease Naraneus, who only truly blesses a few of her female subjects and even fewer of her male devotees.

Adventurers

Dark elven adventurers can be of many different mindsets, but most are dissatisfied with drow life for one reason or another. Women born into lower castes seethe with jealousy for their high born peers, and males from any house literally live at the whim of their female counterparts, a dangerous proposition that they would be keen to escape should the opportunity to safely do so arise.

Females may be of any role, although they specifically seem to excel as clerics. Men are rarely clerics (and if so, only have one or two levels of the class) and chiefly master the art of mundane combat, with perhaps some dabbling in the graceful arts of the rogue or, in the event they’ve a talent for it, pursuing the arcane workings of the wizard.

Names

Male Names: Diun, Gal, Gylor, Ieot, Quanot, Slior

Female Names: Aranreae, Haermadia, Lilith, Maethon, Maeronea, Slienaia

Age Some dark elves enjoy lifespans that far surpass their peers. These wizened wizards, elder priests, devious warlocks and treasured oracles see their longevity extended by hundreds of years either by their deity or through deftly sustained arcane magics.

Female Drow

Raised to rule, dark elven women have deft tongues and cunning wits but lack the grace and natural instincts of their ancestral counterparts on the surface. Female drow receive skill proficiency in their choice of two of either Wisdom (Insight), Charisma (Deception), Charisma (Intimidation) or Charisma (Persuasion).

Male Drow

Dark elven society subjugates males, reducing their roles into defenders of their settlements and little else. They are trained from birth to hone their keen senses, agility and ability to remain unseen and unheard, but their lack of social commitments leave them less able to maneuver in conversation as their female counterparts. Male drow receive skill proficiency in their choice of two of either Strength (Athletics), Dexterity (Acrobatics), Dexterity (Stealth), or Charisma (Deception).

Drow Traits

Drow use the standard race traits for drow.

Large giant, chaotic evil

Armor Class 11 (hide armor)
Hit Points 59 (7d10 + 21)
Speed 40 ft.

Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 8
Languages Common, Giant
Challenge 2 (450 XP)

Actions

• Greatclub: Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 13 (2d8 + 4) bludgeoning damage.
• Javelin: Melee or Ranged Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft. or range 30/120 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6 + 4) piercing damage.

Appearance

This creature’s python-thick apish arms and stumpy legs conspire to drag its dirty knuckles through the wet grass and mud. The stooped giant blinks its dim eyes and an excess of soupy drool spills over its bulbous lips. Its misshapen features resemble a man’s face rendered in watercolor, then distorted by a careless splash. It snarls as it charges, a sound the offspring of bear and man might make, showing flat black teeth well suited for grinding bones to paste.

Giant Spider

Vulture

Medium beast, unaligned

Armor Class 10
Hit Points 5 (1d8 + 1)
Speed 10 ft., fly 50 ft.

Skills Perception +3
Senses passive Perception 13
Languages --
Challenge 0 (10 XP)

Keen Sight and Smell. The vulture has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight or smell.
Pack Tactics. The vulture has advantage on an attack roll against a creature if at least one of the vulture's allies is within 5 feet of the creature and the ally isn't incapacitated.

Actions

Beak. Melee Weapon Attack: +2 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 2 (1d4) piercing damage.

Stirge

Tiny beast, unaligned

Armor Class 14 (Natural Armor)

Hit Points 2 (1d4)

Speed 10 ft., fly 40 ft.

STR

4 (-3)

DEX

16 (+3)

CON

11 (+0)

INT

2 (-4)

WIS

8 (-1)

CHA

6 (-2)

Senses Darkvision 60 ft., Passive Perception 9

Languages --

Challenge 1/8 (25 XP)

Actions

Blood Drain. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: 5 (1d4 + 3) piercing damage, and the stirge attaches to the target. While attached, the stirge doesn't attack. Instead, at the start of each of the stirge's turns, the target loses 5 (1d4 + 3) hit points due to blood loss.

The stirge can detach itself by spending 5 feet of its movement. It does so after it drains 10 hit points of blood from the target or the target dies. A creature, including the target, can use its action to detach the stirge.

Tiny dragon, neutral good

Armor Class 13 (natural armor)
Hit Points 7 (2d4 + 2)
Speed 15 ft., fly 60 ft.

Skills Perception +3, Stealth +4
Senses blindsight 10 ft., darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 13
Languages understands Common and Draconic but can’t speak
Challenge 1/4 (50 XP)

Special Traits

• Keen Senses: The pseudodragon has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight, hearing, or smell.
• Magic Resistance: The pseudodragon has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
• Limited Telepathy: The pseudodragon can magically communicate simple ideas, emotions, and images telepathically with any creature within 100 feet of it that can understand a language.

Actions

• Bite: Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 4 (1d4 + 2) piercing damage.
• Sting: Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: 4 (1d4 + 2) piercing damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 11 Constitution saving throw or become poisoned for 1 hour. If the saving throw fails by 5 or more, the target falls unconscious for the same duration, or until it takes damage or another creature uses an action to shake it awake.

Water Mephit CR 3

XP 800
N Small outsider (water)
Init +6; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +6

DEFENSE

AC 17, touch 14, flat-footed 14 (+2 Dex, +1 dodge, +3 natural, +1 size)
hp 19 (3d10+3); fast healing 2 (works only while underwater)
Fort +2, Ref +5, Will +3
DR 5/magic

OFFENSE

Speed 30 ft., swim 30 ft.
Melee 2 claws +5 (1d3+1)
Special Attacks breath weapon (15-foot cone, effect based on type, Reflex DC 13 for half)
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 6th)

1/day—summon (level 2, 1 mephit of the same type 25%), acid arrow 1/hour, stinking cloud 1/day (DC 15)

STATISTICS

Str 13, Dex 15, Con 12, Int 6, Wis 11, Cha 14
Base Atk +3; CMB +3; CMD 15
Feats Dodge, Improved Initiative
Skills Bluff +8, Fly +10, Perception +6, Stealth +12
Languages Common, one appropriate elemental language (Aquan, Auran, Ignan, or Terran)

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Breath Weapon (Su)

Each type of mephit can unleash a particular breath weapon every 4 rounds as a standard action. The DC is Constitution-based and includes a +1 racial bonus.

The breath weapon of a water mephit is a cone of acid that deals 1d8 acid damage.

ECOLOGY

Environment any (elemental planes)
Organization solitary, pair, gang (3–6), mob (7–12)
Treasure standard

Water mephits are commonly found on the Plane of Water. These mephits are constant jokesters.

Assassin Vine

Large plant, unaligned

Armor Class 13 (natural armor)
Hit Points 85 (10d10 + 30)
Speed 5 ft.

Damage Resistances cold, fire
Damage Immunities lightning
Senses blindsight 30 ft., passive Perception 11
Languages —
Challenge 4 (1,100 XP)

Actions

• Multiattack. The assassin vine can make two melee attacks: two slams or one slam and one constrict.
• Slam. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 14 (2d8 + 5) bludgeoning damage. The target is grappled (escape DC 15) if the assassin vine isn’t already grappling a creature. The grappled target is restrained until the grapple ends.
• Constrict. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature grappled by the assassin vine. Hit: 18 (3d8 + 5) bludgeoning damage.

About

The assassin vine is a carnivorous plant that collects its own grisly fertilizer by grabbing and crushing animals and depositing the carcasses near its roots. These remarkable plants can see minute movements in the earth and air and detect changes in light and heat through their broad leaves, giving them exceptional awareness of the area around them. Possessing no intelligence or agenda, they lash out at whatever living things pass nearby, regardless of the target’s size, sentience, or potential deadliness. A mature plant consists of a main vine, about 20 feet long; smaller vines up to 5 feet long branch off from the main vine about every 6 inches. These small vines bear clusters of leaves, and in late summer they produce bunches of small fruits that resemble wild blackberries. The fruit is tough and has a hearty and typically bitter flavor, although some say the berries change in taste depending on what victims composted a given plant’s roots. The most murderous assassin vines supposedly produce the sweetest berries.

An assassin vine can move about, but usually stays put unless it needs to seek prey in a new vicinity. The plants use simple tactics, lying still until prey comes within reach and then attacking. Once an assassin vine is engaged, it pursues prey (albeit slowly) in order to catch and compost the creature. The plants prove tenacious, as long as their quarry remains within sight. Once a creature moves beyond the plant’s ability to perceive it, the unthinking vine falls still and lies in wait for the next passerby.

Assassin vines lurk within dense forests and swamps, but some might encroach upon poorly tended fields and vineyards. The vine’s seeds might be spread far by birds swift enough to pluck them and escape. Tales often tell of assassin vines appearing in flower beds or infiltrating greenhouses, murderous surprises planted by rivals and enemies or arbitrary doom dropped by unsuspecting wing.

Snake, Black Viper

Large beast, unaligned

Armor Class 14 (natural armor)
Hit Points 38 (4d10 + 16)
Speed 30 ft., climb 10 ft., swim 30 ft.

Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 11
Languages –
Challenge 1 (100 XP)

Actions

• Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +3to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 10 (2d8 + 1) piercing damage, and the target must make a successful DC 14 Constitution saving throw or become poisoned. While poisoned this way, the target is blind and takes 7 (2d6) poison damage at the start of each of its turns. The target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself with a success.

Appearance

Greenish liquid drips from the dagger-length fangs of this 20-foot-long monstrosity. They show little fear.

About

Human Hunters. This giant venomous snake is known as one of the most lethal serpents, and one of the few that will attack an adult human. One bite from the black viper can kill a healthy human in seconds, and its tough hide makes it difficult to dispatch quickly.

Jungle Bred. A black viper grows quickly in its jungle home, and some even venture into the savanna to terrorize antelopes and young giraffes.

A full-grown black viper is up to 30 feet long and weighs up to 400 pounds.

Famous but Rare Venom. A dose of its viscous green venom is known to fetch as much as 2,500 gp on the black market, but it is rarely available.

Wind Weasel

In the autumnal deep forest, the wind stirs fallen leaves into swirling patterns—but some are not what they seem. The whipping winds tear at the skin of hapless travelers before resolving into fierce, weasel-like creatures with long, sickle-shaped claws.

Medium fey (shapechanger), chaotic neutral

Armor Class 13
Hit Points 52 (8d8 + 16)
Speed 40 ft.

Saving Throws Dexterity +5
Skills Perception +3, Stealth +5
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 13
Languages Sylvan, Umbral
Challenge 2 (450 XP)

Special Traits

• Air Form (Whirlwind Form Only). The wind weasel can enter a hostile creature’s space and stop there. It can move through a space as narrow as 1 inch wide without squeezing.
• Flyby (Whirlwind Form Only). The wind weasel doesn’t provoke an opportunity attack when it flies out of an enemy’s reach.
• Hidden In The Wind (Whirlwind Form Only). Until it attacks or uses Whirling Leaves, the wind weasel is indistinguishable from a natural dust devil unless a creature succeeds on a DC 15 Intelligence (Investigation) check.
• Shapechanger. The wind weasel can use its action to polymorph into a whirlwind. It can revert back to its true form as a bonus action. It statistics are the same in each form. Any equipment it is wearing or carrying isn’t transformed. It reverts to its true form if it dies. While a whirlwind, it has a flying speed of 60 feet, immunity to the grappled, petrified, restrained, and prone conditions, and resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage from nonmagical attacks. The wind weasel can’t make bite or claw attacks while in whirlwind form.
• Windy Speed (Whirlwind Form Only). When the wind weasel is subjected to the slow spell, it doesn’t suffer the effects of the spell but instead is forced into its true form and incapacitated until the end of its next turn.

Actions

• Multiattack. The wind weasel makes three attacks: one with its bite and two with its scythe claws.
• Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d4 + 3) piercing damage.
• Scythe Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 8 (1d10 + 3) slashing damage.
• Whirling Leaves (Whirlwind Form Only). Each creature in the wind weasel’s space must make a DC 13 Dexterity saving throw, taking 21 (6d6) slashing damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.

About

Claws to Rip Flesh. Appearing as human-sized upright mustelids, these white and blue, furry fey of the deep forest are jealous of mortal intruders and can exact a heavy price from the incautious explorer. The claws on each front foot are extended like curved blades that inflict deep, scything wounds.

Wind Riders. Wind weasels have an affinity for the element of air. By running in a tight circle, a wind weasel can generate—and become one with—a swirling vortex of abrasive wind. The weasel uses the whirlwind to surprise and slash at its foes—or to flee if the fight proves unequal.

Seasonally Affected. During spring and summer, wind weasels are largely passive and spend most of their time in wind form, drifting lazily around the woodlands. As the leaves and temperatures fall, a wind weasel’s mood becomes more vicious, and it actively seeks prey. Though largely beings of the wilds, wind weasels are known to associate with shadow fey and may sometimes be found as guards on the fringes of fey courts or deep woodland groves.

Dire Weasel

Large beast, unaligned

Armor Class 12
Hit Points 39 (6d10 + 6)
Speed 40 ft.

Saving Throws Constitution +2
Skills Perception +3, Stealth +6
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 13
Languages —
Challenge 2 (450 XP)

Special Traits

• Keen Hearing and Smell. The dire weasel has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on hearing or smell.
• Weasel Musk. Any creature that starts its turn within 5 feet of the dire weasel must succeed on a DC 11 Constitution saving throw or be poisoned until the start of its next turn. On a successful saving throw, the creature is immune to the dire weasel’s Weasel Musk for 24 hours. Mongoose, weasels, and similar beasts are immune to this trait.

Actions

• Multiattack. The dire weasel makes one attack with its Bite and one attack with its Claws.
• Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 8 (2d4 + 3) piercing damage.
• Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d4 + 3) slashing damage.