Level Up (A5E) A Leveled-Up Bestiary: Volume Two

Ugh, this heat.

We leave the Underland to head to the Dreaming, as our next monster is the vodyanoi, a water-fey. In AD&D, some of you may remember, a vodyanoi was, of all things, an aquatic umber hulk. Kind of a weird choice there, but hey, they started out in the 1e Fiend Folio, so what do you expect?

These vodyanoi are the Slavic fey with the Innsmouth look. They’re also called vodnik or, in German, Hastrman. The stories say that they would steal trespassers who failed to appease them, using them as slaves or wives (bleh), and in some stories, would store the souls of the people they drowned inside of teapots. The more soul-teapots a vodyanoi had, the higher in status they were. Which is kind of a cool idea, and gives you an interesting idea for fey economies. The idea that all sorts of things can be bought and sold in the goblin markets, so why not souls? It fits in well with the traditional (Christian) idea that fey don’t have souls of their own—or even the early D&D (Gygaxian?) idea that elves and orcs didn’t have them either, and thus couldn’t be targeted with a raise dead.

Anyway, vodyanoi also like to play cards during the time when they weren’t admiring their teapot collection, and it’s nice to see a fey with hobbies, yeah? Wikipedia also stated that there are both good and evil vodyanoi in the folklore, although “good” seems more like “benign,” as in they don’t go around drowning and enslaving people. I found one site that said that they hibernated during the winter, when their lake froze over, and woke up in the spring, hungry and grumpy. Do people still say hangry? They hangry.



Vodyanoi
Red Sails: Fell and Forlorn Bestiary, Dragon Magazine #290
Creature by Paul Leach; art by Richard Sardhina

These grumpy, often cruel fey appear as potbellied old men, fish-tailed and naked except where covered by algae and their long, weedy beards. Their features are distinctly frog-like, save for their eyes, which glow like sullen coals. Vodyanoi are bound to the lakes and rivers they live in in much the same way that dryads are bound to their heart tree—except that vodyanoi are far nastier about how they protect their lake.

Overprotective. Whether it’s from a someone who wants to fish in the lake, or someone building a watermill or bridge in their river, vodyanoi demand to be paid for use of their water with an offering of food, alcohol, or tobacco. Those who fail to appease them, who are disrespectful, or who try to dam or disrupt their water incite their anger, and the vodyanoi retaliates by drowning people, flooding banks, and destroying boats and construction. They’ve even been known to kidnap people, bringing them to underwater caves and using them as servants. However, they are unpredictable, and even regular offerings may not stay their wrath.

Drowned Souls. Vodyanoi often have workshops in their lairs, as they are fine potters, glaziers, whitesmiths, and tinsmiths—they are somehow able to have working forges and kilns even while underwater. They keep all manner of things within the containers they make, many of which are strange and magical. The worst thing they keep in these jars is the souls of their unfortunate victims.

Climate/Terrain: subarctic, temperate; freshwater

Legends and Lore
With an Arcana or Nature check, the characters can learn the following:

DC 10. Vodyanoi are fey creatures that are magically bound to a body of fresh water

DC 15. These fey are capable of summoning fish, and often do so to reward people who make frequent offerings to them.

DC 20. Often wrathful, vodyanoi will drown people or flood villages who cross them. They steal a part of a drowned person’s soul and keep it in a jar.

Vodyanoi Encounters
Challenge Rating 3-4 Vodyanoi
Treasure: 600 sp, navigator’s tools, quick canoe paddle

Challenge Rating 5-10 Vodanyoi and 4 sturgeons (use reef shark statistics); vodyanoi and sea hag
Treasure: 100 gp, 2 aquamarines (500 gp each), vial of antitoxin, bag of beans, 1-3 jars containing cantrips or first level spells (treat as spell scrolls, except the jar needs to be opened or smashed, after which it becomes non-magical).

Signs
1. The lake is teaming with fish, but they are rarely caught
2. The wreckage of a small boat or watermill
3. Ripples in the water
4. A pouch of tobacco and well-made clay pipe left on a stone by the lake’s side; an offering for the vodyanoi

Behavior
1. Relaxing on a floating log
2. Determined to keep intruders away from its waters at all cost
3. Tearing apart a bridge
4. Tending to a school of fish, leading them towards a fisherman’s net

Names
Ardalion, Boian, Foka, Rehor, Veles

Vodyanoi
Medium fey; Challenge 3 (750 XP)
AC 13
HP 65 (10d8+20; bloodied 32)
Speed 20 ft., swim 40 ft.

STR 13 (+1) DEX 16 (+3) CON 14 (+2)
INT 12 (+1) WIS 14 (+2) CHA 15 (+2)

Proficiency +2; Maneuver DC 13
Skills Deception +4, Intimidation +4, Nature +3, Perception +4, Stealth +5
Damage Resistances cold
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 14
Languages Aquatic, Sylvan

Amphibious. The vodyanoi breathes air and water

Innate Spellcasting. The vodyanoi’s spellcasting trait is Charisma (spell save DC 12). It can cast the following spells, requiring no material components:
3/day each: disguise self, control water, water breathing

Stealthy Swimmers. The vodanyoi has advantage on Stealth checks made underwater.

Actions
Multiattack. The vodyanoi makes two attacks.

Grab. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d4+3) slashing damage, and the target is grappled (escape DC 13) and restrained while grappled in this way.

Club. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d8+3) bludgeoning damage.

Summon Fish (Recharges After a Short or Long Rest). When in water, the vodyanoi summons a school of fish in a 20-foot radius sphere centered on the vodyanoi. This space is heavily obscured but doesn’t block the vodyanoi’s vision. The fish remain for 1 minute or until the vodyanoi dismisses them as a bonus action.

Combat
Vodyanoi avoid combat, using control water to potentially overwhelm opponents while it flees. When it must fight, it prefers to grab a hold of a target and drag them underwater to drown.

Item: Potted Soul
When a vodyanoi drowns a person, it can perform a 1-minute ritual which allows it to trap a fraction of that person’s soul in a container—they aren’t powerful enough to hold onto an entire soul and the rest of the soul travels to its destination plane as normal (or becomes undead, if it’s inclined to). These containers can be anything—jam-jars, teapots, and empty liquor bottles are common.

The vodyanoi can use an action to open a potted soul that is within reach and release the soul. This takes the form of a shadow with the following changes: the potted soul doesn’t have Sunlight Weakness and a creature slain by the potted soul does not turn into an undead. If anyone other than the vodyanoi opens the jar, the soul is freed instead.

This is another article that will have a single statblock and a bunch of variants to it, since the creatures really vary only by a small number of—albeit quite interesting—differences. There’s another one like this next issue, and a few issues after that. 3e really liked these sort of creatures. Hey, I ain’t complaining; it makes for an easier conversion.

So today’s entry is six very bad doggos called wrath wolves. The article doesn’t actual call them wrath wolves or give them any sort of collective name at all—a slight annoyance, as two of the wolves use the same name as established D&D monsters (mist wolves and sea wolves—those sea lion/werewolf things). Instead, the article is entitled “The Bestiary: Howls of Nature’s Wrath,” so I took the name from that.

The article opens with a bit of fiction. A skald is leading a prayer of thanks to the elk that her people are cooking for dinner—specifically, thanking it for feeding them and not The Wolf Lord. She tells the children of the tribe a story, how the Horned Lord, the father of elk and deer, and the Wolf Lord lived in balance (wolves ate the deer so that the deer wouldn’t eat all the plants), until a time when the Wolf Lord’s hunger was so insatiable that he risked upsetting the balance of nature with all of the hunting he had his wolves do—see, when a living wolf killed a living deer, the Wolf Lord got to eat as well. Fearing for his life, the Horned Lord begged the spirits for help, and the spirits listened, destroying most of the wolves with storms, tidal waves, and lava flows or gobbling them up in clouds and mist. The rest were transformed into horrible monsters that would also hunt without end, and what they killed would feed the spirits instead of the Wolf Lord. And their diets were changed to include sentient beings. The skald’s tale ends, of course, with her tribe being surrounded by these monster-wolves, about to be eaten.

So, you know, thanks, Horned Lord. You certainly made everything so much better.

I like wolves and I have to say that it does bother me a bit that they are so often written as vicious, evil-minded beasts. Not that their “noble savage” depictions are much better. They’re just animals, neither monsters nor beings of pure wild goodness.

Wrath Wolf
The Bestiary, Dragon Magazine #293
Creature by Eric Cagle; art by Derek Tompson

Created from moments of natural disasters, wrath wolves are beasts made of elemental fury. They have the shape and size of dire wolves or worgs, but even a cursory glance will reveal their elemental origins. Whether it’s eyes that crackle with lightning, a body that trails off into mist and vapor, or skin made of plates of stone, it’s clear that these creatures are unnatural beings.

Born In Disaster. It often surprises those who study the elemental planes to learn that wrath wolves are actually native to the Material Plane. They are literally created during the worst type of weather—great storms, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and the like—and they exist only for the duration of those storms. When the weather calms, the aftershocks settle, or the lava cools, the wolf fades away. Then, they only exist in potential, the essence of that wolf hibernating until the next terrible disaster that allows them to come out to hunt and kill again.

Some genies have learned how to create wrath wolves, which they keep as particularly vicious hunting beasts.

Hateful Beasts. Wrath wolves don’t need to eat, but that doesn’t stop them from killing. These creatures hunt and slay with gleeful impunity and leave the mauled carcasses behind for the scavengers. They go after anything, no matter what; they don’t seek glory in the kill, nor do they view it as a sport. Instead, it’s simply in the wolves’ nature to kill. They will hunt anything they see, although they are easily distracted: they will leave off their current prey if another creature threatens or challenges them or if they see an elemental of an opposing element—as much as they hate living creatures, they hate different elementals even more. Fortunately, their short lifespans keep them in check.

Legends and Lore
With an Arcana or Nature check, the characters can learn the following:

DC 10. Wrath wolves are elemental, not natural, creatures.

DC 15. These creatures were created by vengeful nature spirits. They hunt and kill relentlessly, even though they don’t actually need to eat.

DC 20. Wrath wolves are short-lived. They appear during terrible weather, volcanic eruptions, or during earthquakes, then fade away again when things calm down.

Wrath Wolf Encounters
Challenge Rating 5-10 1-2 wrath wolves

Challenge Rating 11-16 3 wrath wolves, 2 wrath wolves and 2d4 mephits

Challenge Rating 17-22 3 wrath wolves and air, earth, fire, or water elemental

Challenge Rating 23-30 3 wrath wolves and div, djinn, efreet, or marid
Treasure: Noble clothes brocaded with mithral threads (2,500 gp), three potions of greater healing, ioun stone of intellect, composite longbow +3 that creates its own magic arrows that inflict force damage

Signs
1-2. An encroaching storm, pre-quake tremors, or a rumbling mountain
3. Terrible howls in the distance
4. Regular animals acting strangely, heralding a natural disaster

Behavior
1-2. Attacks on sight
3. Attacking a dragon or giant; will ignore the party unless approached.
4. Racing ahead of the disaster that spawned them

Wrath Wolf
Large elemental; Challenge 5 (1,100 XP)
AC 16 (natural armor)
HP 85 (9d10+36; bloodied 42)
Speed 60 ft.

STR 16 (+3) DEX 16 (+3) CON 18 (+4)
INT 8 (-1) WIS 14 (+2) CHA 14 (+2)

Proficiency +3; Maneuver DC 15
Saving Throws Dexterity +6
Skills Perception +5, Nature +2, Stealth +6, Survival +5
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 15
Languages Primordial

Elemental Nature. The wrath wolf doesn’t need to breathe, eat, or sleep. When a wrath wolf dies, it dissolves into primordial matter after 1 minute.

Evil. The wrath wolf radiates an aura of evil.

Keen Hearing and Smell. The wrath wolf has advantage on Perception checks that rely on hearing and smell.

Pack Tactics. The wrath wolf has advantage on attack rolls against a creature if at least one of the wolf’s allies is within 5 feet of the creature and is not incapacitated

Actions
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 12 (2d8+3) piercing damage. If the target is a creature, it must make a DC 15 Strength saving throw, falling prone on a failure.

Combat
Wrath wolves start combat with their howl or breath weapon, then fight relentlessly.



Variant: Cloud Wolf
Few creatures looking at a cloud wolf can easily realize how diabolical they are. Their fur is pure white and impossibly fluffy and their eyes are a beautiful sapphire blue. With an innate ability to run in the sky, cloud wolves rarely travel to earth; when they do, they do so purely to create devasting whirlwinds. They are quite belligerent, deliberately picking fights with dragons, giant eagles and other intelligent, aerial prey. They also strongly dislike thunder wolves. Both cloud and thunder wolves appear during storms, so their battles are common, loud, destructive, and fortunately mostly short-lived.

Preferring to stay in the air, cloud wolves attack primarily with their breath weapon; they only bite downed and helpless foes.

Cloud wolves have speed 30 ft., fly 70 ft. and have the following new trait:

Mist Mastery. The wolf's movement and vision is not hindered by cold, snow, wind, or storms or by obscurement caused by fog or clouds.

They also have the following new actions:

Ice Cloud Breath (Recharge 5-6). The wolf exhales freezing clouds in a 15-foot cone. Each creature in that area takes 17 (5d6) cold damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a success.

Whirlwind Howl (1/day). The wolf howls, causing a whirlwind to form 15 feet in front of the wolf. On each of its turns for 1 minute, the wolf can use a bonus action to move the whirlwind up to 30 feet in a straight line. A Large or smaller creature that comes into contact with the whirlwind must succeed on a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw or take 21 (6d6) bludgeoning damage, or half as much on a successful save, and a Medium or smaller creature that fails its save is also picked up and suspended in mid-air by it. While held by the whirlwind, the creature is restrained (escape DC 15) and takes 4 (1d8) ongoing bludgeoning damage until it escapes or the wolf directs the whirlwind to release the target (no action required by it).

*



Variant: Magma Wolf
When volcanoes erupt, magma wolves often swim out of the lava. These wrath wolves look as though they’ve suffered terrible burns; their blackened, furless hide is cracked with glowing lines, and they constantly drool glowing lava. They enjoy the pain their fiery breath causes, and they burn their prey to charcoal before consuming them. Even more than most fire-based elementals, magma wolves hate creatures of coldness—ice-based elementals and arctic-dwellers alike.

Magma wolves are immune to fire damage, a burrow Speed of 20 ft. and swim Speed of 30 ft., its Bite attack inflicts an additional 4 (1d8) fire damage, and it has the following new trait:

Fiery Aura. A creature that ends its turn within 5 feet of the wolf takes 5 (1d10) fire damage. A creature that touches the wolf or hits it with a melee attack while within 5 feet of it takes 5 (1d10) fire damage. The wolf sheds dim light in a 30-foot radius.

Magma Trail. Other creatures have advantage on checks made to track the magma wolf.

Water Weakness. The wolf takes 6 (1d12) cold damage if it enters a body of water or starts its turn in a body of water, or is splashed with at least 5 gallons of water.

It also has the following new action:

Fire Breath (Recharge 5-6). The wolf exhales flames in a 15-foot cone. Each creature in the area must make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw, taking 21 (4d6) fire damage on a failed save or half as much damage on a successful one.

*



Variant: Mist Wolf
As insubstantial as the pea-soup fogs from which they emerge, mist wolves are sadistic beasts that enjoy terrorizing their prey. Their fur is gray-white but blends so well with the fog that it’s all but impossible to see where the wolf ends and the fog begins. Their howls are strangely muted and always seem to come from far away, even when the wolf is close by.

Mist wolves love inflicting panic and horror on their enemies first, thus nearly always attack at night and under the cover of thick fog, making hit-and-run attacks from many sides to confuse its prey as to the wolf’s location.

A mist wolf has resistance to damage from nonmagical weapons and is immune to the grappled, paralyzed, petrified, prone, or restrained conditions. It has the following new traits:

Flow Like Fog. The wolf can walk on water and other non-solid terrain as if it were difficult terrain. It takes no damage from falling.

Foggy Acclimation. The wolf has advantage on Stealth checks made in areas that are obscured by heavy rain, falling snow, or mist. Its vision is not impaired by any of these forms of obscurement.

Incorporeal Movement. The wolf can move through creatures and objects. It takes 5 (1d10) force damage if it ends its turn inside an object.

Mist Mastery. The wolf's movement and vision is not hindered by cold, snow, wind, or storms or by obscurement caused by fog or clouds.

It also has the following new action:

Fog Breath. The wolf exhales fog that fills a 20-foot-diameter sphere. The area is heavily obscured, spreads around corners, and lasts for 1 hour or until it is dispersed by a strong wind.

*



Variant: Sea Wolf
Always dripping with brine, always smelling like wet dog and dead fish, and always wreathed in rotting seaweed, sea wolves are vindictive creatures. They lurk on craggy shorelines where the water is always agitated, hunting both aquatic and land people who dare to cross over to the other side—particularly fishermen and sailors, but also land-dwellers who want to spend a day swimming in the ocean, and folk such as sea elves who wish to explore the land. They also have a particular hatred towards bronze dragons. Their howls sound like the roar of the ocean.

Sea wolves typically attack while in the water, as they move faster when swimming. They only travel onto solid ground when their prey has all been knocked prone by their waves.

Sea wolves have a speed of 30 ft., swim 60 ft., are resistant to cold damage and have the following new traits:

Dripping Wet. Other creatures have advantage on checks made to track the sea wolf.

Watery Camouflage. The sea wolf gains a d4 expertise die on Stealth checks made while underwater.

They also have the following new action:

Rip Tide (Recharge 5-6). The dragon exhales a powerful wave of seawater in a 15-foot-long, 5-foot-wide line. Each creature in that area must succeed on a DC 15 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone and pushed either 15 feet away or towards the wolf (wolf’s choice, but all creatures in the line are pushed or pulled).

*



Variant: Shard Wolf
Shard wolves barely look like regular wolves—they are made of angular planes of basalt, with viciously sharp teeth and glittering eyes made of obsidian. Their howls sound like the crashing of boulders. When earthquakes open up fissures in the earth, shard wolves crawl out, ready to hunt and kill; some casters use earthquake and similar magics to deliberately summon these monsters. They move with slowly, but inexorable, unstoppable until the magma that bubbled up with them has finally cooled—a process that can take months to complete.

Shard wolves stalk their prey for miles before attacking. After using their Quaking Howl, they charge in to trample opponents; their thickly armored hides makes them careless about attacking dangerous foes. Shard wolves and magma wolves often hunt together, as they are born out of the same disasters, although they are weak allies at best.

Shard wolves have AC 18, a speed of 30 ft., burrow 30 ft., tremorsense to 60 ft, and have resistance to nonmagical weapon damage. Their bite inflicts 16 (3d8+3) piercing damage, and they have the following new trait:

Steady Movement. The wolf's speed isn't reduced by difficult natural terrain made out of earth, stone, or sand.

They also have the following new actions:

Quaking Howl (1/day). The wolf howls and causes an earthquake in a 15-foot-radius circle centered on it. The ground in the area becomes difficult terrain and each creature in contact with the ground must make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw or be knocked prone, and any of these creatures that are concentrating on a spell must make a Constitution saving throw or lose concentration.

Additionally, objects and structures in or partially in the area take 21 (6d6) bludgeoning damage. If this causes the object or structure to collapse, any creature on or within the structure must make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw or be knocked prone and take 7 (2d6) bludgeoning damage.

On the start of the wolf’s next turn, a fissure will open up in the earthquake’s area, extending 1d10 × 10 feet deep, 10 feet wide, and 15 feet long. A creature standing where the fissure opens up must make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw or fall in. Objects and structures in the area automatically fall in. The wolf is unaffected and leaps to the nearest solid ground without having to make a check.

Trample. The shard wolf can move up to its speed in a straight line. It can move through the spaces of Medium and smaller creatures. Each of these creatures must make a DC 14 Dexterity saving throw, taking 10 (2d6+3) slashing damage and falling prone on a failure.

*



Variant: Thunder Wolf
Thunder wolves appear only during violent storms; when the storm subsides, they fade away into the clouds. They have dark gray pelts and flashing blue-white eyes, and jagged lines of electricity coruscate over their bodies as they move. They are erratic creatures, moving on in zig-zags and relishing the panic these storms cause; they hunt frightened animals and start forest fires with their blasts of lightning. Perhaps strangely, they are sometimes seen as a good omen, as they hunt behirs, blue dragons, and other monsters of the storm. Their howls sound like crashing thunder.

Thunder wolves try to fly out of reach of their foes for as long as possible before diving into melee.

A thunder wolf has immunity to lighting and thunder damage, has a fly Speed of 30 ft., its Bite attack inflicts an additional 4 (1d8) lightning damage, and it has the following new trait:

Lightning Aura. A creature that touches the wolf or hits it with a melee attack made with a metal weapon or while wearing metal armor while within 5 feet of it takes 5 (1d10) lightning damage. The wolf sheds dim light in a 30-foot radius.

Storm Mastery. The wolf's movement and vision is not hindered by cold, snow, wind, or storms or by obscurement caused by fog or clouds.

It also has the following new actions:

Lightning Breath (Recharge 5-6). The wolf exhales a 30-foot-long, 5-foot-wide line of lightning. Each creature in that area must make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw, taking 22 (4d10) lightning damage on a failed save or half as much damage on a success.

Thunderous Howl (1/day). The wolf howls. Each creature within 120 feet of the wolf that can hear it must make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw. On a failure, the creature is stunned for 1 minute and deafened for 1d4 hours. On a success, the creature is stunned until the end of its next turn and is not deafened. A stunned creature may make a new saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.

Faolyn said:

This is another article that will have a single statblock and a bunch of variants to it, since the creatures really vary only by a small number of—albeit quite interesting—differences. There’s another one like this next issue, and a few issues after that. 3e really liked these sort of creatures. Hey, I ain’t complaining; it makes for an easier conversion.

So today’s entry is six very bad doggos called wrath wolves. The article doesn’t actual call them wrath wolves or give them any sort of collective name at all—a slight annoyance, as two of the wolves use the same name as established D&D monsters (mist wolves and sea wolves—those sea lion/werewolf things). Instead, the article is entitled “The Bestiary: Howls of Nature’s Wrath,” so I took the name from that.

The article opens with a bit of fiction. A skald is leading a prayer of thanks to the elk that her people are cooking for dinner—specifically, thanking it for feeding them and not The Wolf Lord. She tells the children of the tribe a story, how the Horned Lord, the father of elk and deer, and the Wolf Lord lived in balance (wolves ate the deer so that the deer wouldn’t eat all the plants), until a time when the Wolf Lord’s hunger was so insatiable that he risked upsetting the balance of nature with all of the hunting he had his wolves do—see, when a living wolf killed a living deer, the Wolf Lord got to eat as well. Fearing for his life, the Horned Lord begged the spirits for help, and the spirits listened, destroying most of the wolves with storms, tidal waves, and lava flows or gobbling them up in clouds and mist. The rest were transformed into horrible monsters that would also hunt without end, and what they killed would feed the spirits instead of the Wolf Lord. And their diets were changed to include sentient beings. The skald’s tale ends, of course, with her tribe being surrounded by these monster-wolves, about to be eaten.

So, you know, thanks, Horned Lord. You certainly made everything so much better.

I like wolves and I have to say that it does bother me a bit that they are so often written as vicious, evil-minded beasts. Not that their “noble savage” depictions are much better. They’re just animals, neither monsters nor beings of pure wild goodness.

Wrath Wolf
The Bestiary, Dragon Magazine #293
Creature by Eric Cagle; art by Derek Tompson

Created from moments of natural disasters, wrath wolves are beasts made of elemental fury. They have the shape and size of dire wolves or worgs, but even a cursory glance will reveal their elemental origins. Whether it’s eyes that crackle with lightning, a body that trails off into mist and vapor, or skin made of plates of stone, it’s clear that these creatures are unnatural beings.

Born In Disaster. It often surprises those who study the elemental planes to learn that wrath wolves are actually native to the Material Plane. They are literally created during the worst type of weather—great storms, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and the like—and they exist only for the duration of those storms. When the weather calms, the aftershocks settle, or the lava cools, the wolf fades away. Then, they only exist in potential, the essence of that wolf hibernating until the next terrible disaster that allows them to come out to hunt and kill again.

Some genies have learned how to create wrath wolves, which they keep as particularly vicious hunting beasts.

Hateful Beasts. Wrath wolves don’t need to eat, but that doesn’t stop them from killing. These creatures hunt and slay with gleeful impunity and leave the mauled carcasses behind for the scavengers. They go after anything, no matter what; they don’t seek glory in the kill, nor do they view it as a sport. Instead, it’s simply in the wolves’ nature to kill. They will hunt anything they see, although they are easily distracted: they will leave off their current prey if another creature threatens or challenges them or if they see an elemental of an opposing element—as much as they hate living creatures, they hate different elementals even more. Fortunately, their short lifespans keep them in check.

Legends and Lore
With an Arcana or Nature check, the characters can learn the following:

DC 10. Wrath wolves are elemental, not natural, creatures.

DC 15. These creatures were created by vengeful nature spirits. They hunt and kill relentlessly, even though they don’t actually need to eat.

DC 20. Wrath wolves are short-lived. They appear during terrible weather, volcanic eruptions, or during earthquakes, then fade away again when things calm down.

Wrath Wolf Encounters
Challenge Rating 5-10 1-2 wrath wolves

Challenge Rating 11-16 3 wrath wolves, 2 wrath wolves and 2d4 mephits

Challenge Rating 17-22 3 wrath wolves and air, earth, fire, or water elemental

Challenge Rating 23-30 3 wrath wolves and div, djinn, efreet, or marid
Treasure: Noble clothes brocaded with mithral threads (2,500 gp), three potions of greater healing, ioun stone of intellect, composite longbow +3 that creates its own magic arrows that inflict force damage

Signs
1-2. An encroaching storm, pre-quake tremors, or a rumbling mountain
3. Terrible howls in the distance
4. Regular animals acting strangely, heralding a natural disaster

Behavior
1-2. Attacks on sight
3. Attacking a dragon or giant; will ignore the party unless approached.
4. Racing ahead of the disaster that spawned them

Wrath Wolf
Large elemental; Challenge 5 (1,100 XP)
AC 16 (natural armor)
HP 85 (9d10+36; bloodied 42)
Speed 60 ft.

STR 16 (+3) DEX 16 (+3) CON 18 (+4)
INT 8 (-1) WIS 14 (+2) CHA 14 (+2)

Proficiency +3; Maneuver DC 15
Saving Throws Dexterity +6
Skills Perception +5, Nature +2, Stealth +6, Survival +5
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 15
Languages Primordial

Elemental Nature. The wrath wolf doesn’t need to breathe, eat, or sleep. When a wrath wolf dies, it dissolves into primordial matter after 1 minute.

Evil. The wrath wolf radiates an aura of evil.

Keen Hearing and Smell. The wrath wolf has advantage on Perception checks that rely on hearing and smell.

Pack Tactics. The wrath wolf has advantage on attack rolls against a creature if at least one of the wolf’s allies is within 5 feet of the creature and is not incapacitated

Actions
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 12 (2d8+3) piercing damage. If the target is a creature, it must make a DC 15 Strength saving throw, falling prone on a failure.

Combat
Wrath wolves start combat with their howl or breath weapon, then fight relentlessly.

View attachment 371645

Variant: Cloud Wolf
Few creatures looking at a cloud wolf can easily realize how diabolical they are. Their fur is pure white and impossibly fluffy and their eyes are a beautiful sapphire blue. With an innate ability to run in the sky, cloud wolves rarely travel to earth; when they do, they do so purely to create devasting whirlwinds. They are quite belligerent, deliberately picking fights with dragons, giant eagles and other intelligent, aerial prey. They also strongly dislike thunder wolves. Both cloud and thunder wolves appear during storms, so their battles are common, loud, destructive, and fortunately mostly short-lived.

Preferring to stay in the air, cloud wolves attack primarily with their breath weapon; they only bite downed and helpless foes.

Cloud wolves have speed 30 ft., fly 70 ft. and have the following new action:

Ice Cloud Breath (Recharge 5-6). The wolf exhales freezing clouds in a 15-foot cone. Each creature in that area takes 17 (5d6) cold damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a success.

Whirlwind Howl (1/day). The wolf howls, causing a whirlwind to form 15 feet in front of the wolf. On each of its turns for 1 minute, the wolf can use a bonus action to move the whirlwind up to 30 feet in a straight line. A Large or smaller creature that comes into contact with the whirlwind must succeed on a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw or take 21 (6d6) bludgeoning damage, or half as much on a successful save, and a Medium or smaller creature that fails its save is also picked up and suspended in mid-air by it. While held by the whirlwind, the creature is restrained (escape DC 15) and takes 4 (1d8) ongoing bludgeoning damage until it escapes or the wolf directs the whirlwind to release the target (no action required by it).

*

View attachment 371644

Variant: Magma Wolf
When volcanoes erupt, magma wolves often swim out of the lava. These wrath wolves look as though they’ve suffered terrible burns; their blackened, furless hide is cracked with glowing lines, and they constantly drool glowing lava. They enjoy the pain their fiery breath causes, and they burn their prey to charcoal before consuming them. Even more than most fire-based elementals, magma wolves hate creatures of coldness—ice-based elementals and arctic-dwellers alike.

Magma wolves are immune to fire damage, a burrow Speed of 20 ft. and swim Speed of 30 ft., its Bite attack inflicts an additional 4 (1d8) fire damage, and it has the following new trait:

Fiery Aura. A creature that ends its turn within 5 feet of the wolf takes 5 (1d10) fire damage. A creature that touches the wolf or hits it with a melee attack while within 5 feet of it takes 5 (1d10) fire damage. The wolf sheds dim light in a 30-foot radius.

Magma Trail. Other creatures have advantage on checks made to track the magma wolf.

Water Weakness. The wolf takes 6 (1d12) cold damage if it enters a body of water or starts its turn in a body of water, or is splashed with at least 5 gallons of water.

It also has the following new action:

Fire Breath (Recharge 5-6). The wolf exhales flames in a 15-foot cone. Each creature in the area must make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw, taking 21 (4d6) fire damage on a failed save or half as much damage on a successful one.

*

View attachment 371640

Variant: Mist Wolf
As insubstantial as the pea-soup fogs from which they emerge, mist wolves are sadistic beasts that enjoy terrorizing their prey. Their fur is gray-white but blends so well with the fog that it’s all but impossible to see where the wolf ends and the fog begins. Their howls are strangely muted and always seem to come from far away, even when the wolf is close by.

Mist wolves love inflicting panic and horror on their enemies first, thus nearly always attack at night and under the cover of thick fog, making hit-and-run attacks from many sides to confuse its prey as to the wolf’s location.

A mist wolf has resistance to damage from nonmagical weapons and is immune to the grappled, paralyzed, petrified, prone, or restrained conditions. It has the following new traits:

Flow Like Fog. The wolf can walk on water and other non-solid terrain as if it were difficult terrain. It takes no damage from falling.

Foggy Acclimation. The wolf has advantage on Stealth checks made in areas that are obscured by heavy rain, falling snow, or mist. Its vision is not impaired by any of these forms of obscurement.

Incorporeal Movement. The wolf can move through creatures and objects. It takes 5 (1d10) force damage if it ends its turn inside an object.

It also has the following new action:

Fog Breath. The wolf exhales fog that fills a 20-foot-diameter sphere. The area is heavily obscured, spreads around corners, and lasts for 1 hour or until it is dispersed by a strong wind.

*

View attachment 371641

Variant: Sea Wolf
Always dripping with brine, always smelling like wet dog and dead fish, and always wreathed in rotting seaweed, sea wolves are vindictive creatures. They lurk on craggy shorelines where the water is always agitated, hunting both aquatic and land people who dare to cross over to the other side—particularly fishermen and sailors, but also land-dwellers who want to spend a day swimming in the ocean, and folk such as sea elves who wish to explore the land. They also have a particular hatred towards bronze dragons. Their howls sound like the roar of the ocean.

Sea wolves typically attack while in the water, as they move faster when swimming. They only travel onto solid ground when their prey has all been knocked prone by their waves.

Sea wolves have a speed of 30 ft., swim 60 ft., are resistant to cold damage and have the following new traits:

Dripping Wet. Other creatures have advantage on checks made to track the sea wolf.

Watery Camouflage. The sea wolf gains a d4 expertise die on Stealth checks made while underwater.

They also have the following new action:

Rip Tide (Recharge 5-6). The dragon exhales a powerful wave of seawater in a 15-foot-long, 5-foot-wide line. Each creature in that area must succeed on a DC 15 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone and pushed either 15 feet away or towards the wolf (wolf’s choice, but all creatures in the line are pushed or pulled).

*

View attachment 371642

Variant: Shard Wolf
Shard wolves barely look like regular wolves—they are made of angular planes of basalt, with viciously sharp teeth and glittering eyes made of obsidian. Their howls sound like the crashing of boulders. When earthquakes open up fissures in the earth, shard wolves crawl out, ready to hunt and kill; some casters use earthquake and similar magics to deliberately summon these monsters. They move with slowly, but inexorable, unstoppable until the magma that bubbled up with them has finally cooled—a process that can take months to complete.

Shard wolves stalk their prey for miles before attacking. After using their Quaking Howl, they charge in to trample opponents; their thickly armored hides makes them careless about attacking dangerous foes. Shard wolves and magma wolves often hunt together, as they are born out of the same disasters, although they are weak allies at best.

Shard wolves have AC 18, a speed of 30 ft., burrow 30 ft., tremorsense to 60 ft, and have resistance to nonmagical weapon damage. Their bite inflicts 16 (3d8+3) piercing damage, and they have the following new actions:

Quaking Howl (1/day). The wolf howls and causes an earthquake in a 15-foot-radius circle centered on it. The ground in the area becomes difficult terrain and each creature in contact with the ground must make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw or be knocked prone, and any of these creatures that are concentrating on a spell must make a Constitution saving throw or lose concentration.

Additionally, objects and structures in or partially in the area take 21 (6d6) bludgeoning damage. If this causes the object or structure to collapse, any creature on or within the structure must make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw or be knocked prone and take 7 (2d6) bludgeoning damage.

On the start of the wolf’s next turn, a fissure will open up in the earthquake’s area, extending 1d10 × 10 feet deep, 10 feet wide, and 15 feet long. A creature standing where the fissure opens up must make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw or fall in. Objects and structures in the area automatically fall in. The wolf is unaffected and leaps to the nearest solid ground without having to make a check.

Trample. The shard wolf can move up to its speed in a straight line. It can move through the spaces of Medium and smaller creatures. Each of these creatures must make a DC 14 Dexterity saving throw, taking 10 (2d6+3) slashing damage and falling prone on a failure.

*

View attachment 371643

Variant: Thunder Wolf
Thunder wolves appear only during violent storms; when the storm subsides, they fade away into the clouds. They have dark gray pelts and flashing blue-white eyes, and jagged lines of electricity coruscate over their bodies as they move. They are erratic creatures, moving on in zig-zags and relishing the panic these storms cause; they hunt frightened animals and start forest fires with their blasts of lightning. Perhaps strangely, they are sometimes seen as a good omen, as they hunt behirs, blue dragons, and other monsters of the storm. Their howls sound like crashing thunder.

Thunder wolves try to fly out of reach of their foes for as long as possible before diving into melee.

A thunder wolf has immunity to lighting and thunder damage, has a fly Speed of 30 ft., its Bite attack inflicts an additional 4 (1d8) lightning damage, and it has the following new trait:

Lightning Aura. A creature that touches the wolf or hits it with a melee attack made with a metal weapon or while wearing metal armor while within 5 feet of it takes 5 (1d10) lightning damage. The wolf sheds dim light in a 30-foot radius.

It also has the following new actions:

Lightning Breath (Recharge 5-6). The wolf exhales a 30-foot-long, 5-foot-wide line of lightning. Each creature in that area must make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw, taking 22 (4d10) lightning damage on a failed save or half as much damage on a success.

Thunderous Howl (1/day). The wolf howls. Each creature within 120 feet of the wolf that can hear it must make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw. On a failure, the creature is stunned for 1 minute and deafened for 1d4 hours. On a success, the creature is stunned until the end of its next turn and is not deafened. A stunned creature may make a new saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.

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interesting, more elementals. I also feel like mist wolves should have some ability to see through lightly or even heavily obscured areas more easily as otherwise their own fog breath kinda screws with them.

DarkRainbowFiend said:

interesting, more elementals. I also feel like mist wolves should have some ability to see through lightly or even heavily obscured areas more easily as otherwise their own fog breath kinda screws with them.

Click to expand...

Good point! I'll add that in.

Drake
The Bestiary, Dragon Magazine 294
Creatures by Johnathan M. Richards

It’s the return of the greater drakes! That’s the subtitle of the article, actually. The first collection of greater drakes was for 2e and I converted them back here, (but I’ll include the statblock again for simplicity’s sake). They were called greater drakes because of an article for 1e on teensy weensy drakes, which I also converted, but made them into faerie dragon variants.

Anyway, here are more greater drake variants, all with equally unpronounceable names and unusual breath weapons, so you will probably never run out of smallish dragons for your players to ride. Or at least want to—up to you, the Narrator, to let them, of course.

Drake
Large dragon; Challenge 3 (7000 XP)
AC 14 (natural armor)
HP 66 (7d10+28; bloodied 33)
Speed 30 ft., fly 60 ft.

STR 20 (+5) DEX 14 (+2) CON 18 (+4)
INT 3 (-4) WIS 12 (+1) CHA 6 (-2)

Proficiency +2; Maneuver DC 15
Skills Perception +3, Stealth +4
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 13
Languages —

Keen Sight. The drake has advantage on Perception checks that rely on sight.

Actions
Multiattack. The drake makes three attacks: one with its bite and two with its claws.

Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 12 (2d6+5) piercing damage and the target is grappled (escape DC 15). Until this grapple ends, the drake can’t bite another target.

Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 9 (1d8+5) slashing damage, or 14 (2d8+5) slashing damage if the drake started its turn at least 20 feet above the target.

*

Variant: Barauthas
Barauthas are covered in dull black scales that alternate with red and yellow bands—a warning of their toxic nature. Their broad wings are black with red undersides, and their tails and necks are shorter and thicker than those of most other drakes. Their tail is used to store fat, as these drakes live in deserts where prey animals are scarce, and their neck contains two large venom sacs. Their most distinguishing feature, however, are their long, boarlike tusks. Barauthas are difficult to domesticate but are favored among desert-dwelling reptilian people, as they are sturdy and can go for long periods of time without eating and drinking. In battle, they only approach into melee range when their opponent is sufficiently weakened with poison and blindness.

Climate/Terrain: tropical; desert

A barauthas has the following new trait:

Aims For The Eyes. The drake gains a d4 expertise die when using its Venom Spray.

Desert-Dweller. The drake ignores difficult terrain or obscurement caused by sand or gravel, even while flying. Additionally, it ignores the effects of extreme heat.

It also has the following new action:

Venom Spray (Recharge 5-6). Ranged Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, range 40 ft., one target. Hit: 14 (4d6) poison damage, and the target must make a DC 14 Constitution saving throw or be poisoned and blinded for 1 minute. On a success, the creature is poisoned and blinded until the end of its next turn. A creature may make a new Constitution saving throw at the end of each of its turns. On the first success, the creature is no longer poisoned. On the second success, the creature is no longer blinded.

*

Variant: Ermalkankani
Often called the stone drake because of how well its coloration blends into the rocky cliffs in which it makes its home, ermalkankani’s most distinguishing features are their long tail, which ends in a heavy bone club that resembles a small boulder, and their ever-growing, mole-like claws. They make are a favored mount of dwarfs, although they are more often used for their ability to dig than for their ability to fly.

Climate/Terrain: subarctic, temperate; hills, mountains

Ermalkankani is CR 4 (1,100 XP), has 76 (8d10+32; bloodied 38) hit points, its AC is 16, its fly Speed has been reduced to 50 ft. and it has burrow and climb speeds of 10 ft. Its darkvision is increased to 120 feet. It has the following new trait:

Siege Monster. The drake does double damage to objects and structures when using its tail or claws.

Stony Camouflage. The drake has advantage on Stealth checks made to hide in rocky terrain.

It also has the following new actions:

Multiattack. The drake makes four attacks: one with its bite, one with its tail, and two with its claws.

Tail Club. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 16 (2d6+5) bludgeoning damage.

Stone Spit (Recharges After a Short or Long Rest). The drake spits a 30-foot cone of gravel. Creatures within this area must make a DC 14 Dexterity saving throw, taking 13 (3d8) bludgeoning damage on a failed save or half as much on a successful one.

*

Variant: Mardallond
These honey-colored drakes are perhaps the strangest of all of them. Unlike every other species of drake which are carnivorous, mardallonds are omnivorous, and mostly herbivorous, and they feed on grains, grasses, and fruits of any type whenever they can. This leads to their most unusual breath weapon—they spit mead. Or rather, they spit a heavily fermented, extremely pungent, and highly flammable liquid that looks like mead and is entirely safe to consume… and many creatures quite like the taste of it (others insist it’s an acquired taste that they have no interest in acquiring). This “mead” does no damage when used as a breath weapon, but their riders take advantage of its flammable nature by using fire attacks against the victims. Mardallonds are commonly domesticated by halflings, gnomes, and fey creatures, but for their mead, not as mounts.

Climate/Terrain: temperate; forests, grasslands

Spit Brew (Recharge 5-6). The mardallond spits “mead” in a 30-foot-long, 5-foot-wide line. Each creature in that area must make a Dexterity saving throw, becoming drenched on a failure. The liquid lasts for 1 hour before evaporating, although a thorough scrubbing or magical cleaning can remove it before then.

While coated with this liquid, a creature has vulnerability to fire damage and other creatures have advantage on checks made to track it by scent.

*

Variant: Trilligarg
The smallest of the great drakes, these creatures are also called chameleon drakes, for their innate ability to change their color. Their natural coloration is leafy-green, fading to bark-brown on their head and along their back, with delicate pink wings and feet. Trilligargs are also the smoothest of the great drakes, as their scales are tiny and they lack any horns or spines. Their toes end in gecko-like setae, allowing them to climb even the smoothest of surfaces. They can remain perfectly still for even hours or days at a time before bursting forward suddenly to snatch up the small animals it normally eats.

Trilligargs are unusual among drakes in that they have no breath weapons. Instead, their throat bladder contains thousands of retractable, needle-sharp spines. These drake not only uses these spines offensively—it swings its head around like a spiked club—but defensively as well, as creatures that get too close get stuck by the spines.

The trilligarg gains a d6 expertise die on Stealth and the reach on its Bite attack increases to 10 feet, and it has the following new trait:

Camouflage. The drake has advantage on Stealth checks when in a natural environment.

Spiked. A creature that grapples or is grappled by the drake takes 5 (1d10) piercing damage at the beginning of the drake’s turn.

It also has the following new actions:

Multiattack. The drake makes three attacks: one with its bite and two with its claws. Alternatively, it can substitute a Head Bash attack for its Bite attack.

Head Bash. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 9 (1d8+5) piercing damage. If the drake is grappling a creature when it uses this attack, the creature takes 4 (1d8) bludgeoning damage.

*

Variant: Vallochar
Vallochar are often mistaken for young black dragons, as they have similar builds, although the drakes lack the skull-like features and forward-facing horns that the dragons have. Their scales a glossy black, or sometimes a very deep charcoal gray or midnight blue, and some have white mottling on their sides. Whatever their exact coloring, they have an oily sheen, as they secrete a slippery oil. Vallochar are often called web drakes, as they spit a sticky webbing to immobilize their prey, which they do before moving in with bite and claw.

Climate/Terrain: temperate, subtropical; cavern, desert, grassland, hill

The vallochar are immune to the grappled condition and have the following new trait:

Slippery. The drake has advantage on checks made to escape restraints.

It also has the following new action:

Web (Recharge 5-6). Ranged Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, range 20/60 feet., one Large or smaller creature. Hit: The creature is restrained by a web. As an action, a creature can make a DC 15 Strength check, breaking the web on a success. The effect also ends if the web is destroyed. The web is an object with AC 10, 1 hit point, and immunity to all forms of damage except slashing, fire, and force.

Faolyn said:

Drake
The Bestiary, Dragon Magazine 294
Creatures by Johnathan M. Richards

It’s the return of the greater drakes! That’s the subtitle of the article, actually. The first collection of greater drakes was for 2e and I converted them back here, (but I’ll include the statblock again for simplicity’s sake). They were called greater drakes because of an article for 1e on teensy weensy drakes, which I also converted, but made them into faerie dragon variants.

Anyway, here are more greater drake variants, all with equally unpronounceable names and unusual breath weapons, so you will probably never run out of smallish dragons for your players to ride. Or at least want to—up to you, the Narrator, to let them, of course.

Drake
Large dragon; Challenge 3 (7000 XP)
AC 14 (natural armor)
HP 66 (7d10+28; bloodied 33)
Speed 30 ft., fly 60 ft.

STR 20 (+5) DEX 14 (+2) CON 18 (+4)
INT 3 (-4) WIS 12 (+1) CHA 6 (-2)

Proficiency +2; Maneuver DC 15
Skills Perception +3, Stealth +4
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 13
Languages —

Keen Sight. The drake has advantage on Perception checks that rely on sight.

Actions
Multiattack. The drake makes three attacks: one with its bite and two with its claws.

Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 12 (2d6+5) piercing damage and the target is grappled (escape DC 15). Until this grapple ends, the drake can’t bite another target.

Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 9 (1d8+5) slashing damage, or 14 (2d8+5) slashing damage if the drake started its turn at least 20 feet above the target.

*

Variant: Barauthas
Barauthas are covered in dull black scales that alternate with red and yellow bands—a warning of their toxic nature. Their broad wings are black with red undersides, and their tails and necks are shorter and thicker than those of most other drakes. Their tail is used to store fat, as these drakes live in deserts where prey animals are scarce, and their neck contains two large venom sacs. Their most distinguishing feature, however, are their long, boarlike tusks. Barauthas are difficult to domesticate but are favored among desert-dwelling reptilian people, as they are sturdy and can go for long periods of time without eating and drinking. In battle, they only approach into melee range when their opponent is sufficiently weakened with poison and blindness.

Climate/Terrain: tropical; desert

A barauthas has the following new trait:

Aims For The Eyes. The drake gains a d4 expertise die when using its Venom Spray.

Desert-Dweller. The drake ignores difficult terrain or obscurement caused by sand or gravel, even while flying. Additionally, it ignores the effects of extreme heat.

It also has the following new action:

Venom Spray (Recharge 5-6). Ranged Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, range 40 ft., one target. Hit: 14 (4d6) poison damage, and the target must make a DC 14 Constitution saving throw or be poisoned and blinded for 1 minute. On a success, the creature is poisoned and blinded until the end of its next turn. A creature may make a new Constitution saving throw at the end of each of its turns. On the first success, the creature is no longer poisoned. On the second success, the creature is no longer blinded.

*

Variant: Ermalkankani
Often called the stone drake because of how well its coloration blends into the rocky cliffs in which it makes its home, ermalkankani’s most distinguishing features are their long tail, which ends in a heavy bone club that resembles a small boulder, and their ever-growing, mole-like claws. They make are a favored mount of dwarfs, although they are more often used for their ability to dig than for their ability to fly.

Climate/Terrain: subarctic, temperate; hills, mountains

Ermalkankani is CR 4 (1,100 XP), has 76 (8d10+32; bloodied 38) hit points, its AC is 16, its fly Speed has been reduced to 50 ft. and it has burrow and climb speeds of 10 ft. Its darkvision is increased to 120 feet. It has the following new trait:

Siege Monster. The drake does double damage to objects and structures when using its tail or claws.

Stony Camouflage. The drake has advantage on Stealth checks made to hide in rocky terrain.

It also has the following new actions:

Multiattack. The drake makes four attacks: one with its bite, one with its tail, and two with its claws.

Tail Club. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 16 (2d6+5) bludgeoning damage.

Stone Spit (Recharges After a Short or Long Rest). The drake spits a 30-foot cone of gravel. Creatures within this area must make a DC 14 Dexterity saving throw, taking 13 (3d8) bludgeoning damage on a failed save or half as much on a successful one.

*

Variant: Mardallond
These honey-colored drakes are perhaps the strangest of all of them. Unlike every other species of drake which are carnivorous, mardallonds are omnivorous, and mostly herbivorous, and they feed on grains, grasses, and fruits of any type whenever they can. This leads to their most unusual breath weapon—they spit mead. Or rather, they spit a heavily fermented, extremely pungent, and highly flammable liquid that looks like mead and is entirely safe to consume… and many creatures quite like the taste of it (others insist it’s an acquired taste that they have no interest in acquiring). This “mead” does no damage when used as a breath weapon, but their riders take advantage of its flammable nature by using fire attacks against the victims. Mardallonds are commonly domesticated by halflings, gnomes, and fey creatures, but for their mead, not as mounts.

Climate/Terrain: temperate; forests, grasslands

Spit Brew (Recharge 5-6). The mardallond spits “mead” in a 30-foot-long, 5-foot-wide line. Each creature in that area must make a Dexterity saving throw, becoming drenched on a failure. The liquid lasts for 1 hour before evaporating, although a thorough scrubbing or magical cleaning can remove it before then.

While coated with this liquid, a creature has vulnerability to fire damage and other creatures have advantage on checks made to track it by scent.

*

Variant: Trilligarg
The smallest of the great drakes, these creatures are also called chameleon drakes, for their innate ability to change their color. Their natural coloration is leafy-green, fading to bark-brown on their head and along their back, with delicate pink wings and feet. Trilligargs are also the smoothest of the great drakes, as their scales are tiny and they lack any horns or spines. Their toes end in gecko-like setae, allowing them to climb even the smoothest of surfaces. They can remain perfectly still for even hours or days at a time before bursting forward suddenly to snatch up the small animals it normally eats.

Trilligargs are unusual among drakes in that they have no breath weapons. Instead, their throat bladder contains thousands of retractable, needle-sharp spines. These drake not only uses these spines offensively—it swings its head around like a spiked club—but defensively as well, as creatures that get too close get stuck by the spines.

The trilligarg gains a d6 expertise die on Stealth and the reach on its Bite attack increases to 10 feet, and it has the following new trait:

Camouflage. The drake has advantage on Stealth checks when in a natural environment.

Spiked. A creature that grapples or is grappled by the drake takes 5 (1d10) piercing damage at the beginning of the drake’s turn.

It also has the following new actions:

Multiattack. The drake makes three attacks: one with its bite and two with its claws. Alternatively, it can substitute a Head Bash attack for its Bite attack.

Head Bash. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 9 (1d8+5) piercing damage. If the drake is grappling a creature when it uses this attack, the creature takes 4 (1d8) bludgeoning damage.

*

Variant: Vallochar
Vallochar are often mistaken for young black dragons, as they have similar builds, although the drakes lack the skull-like features and forward-facing horns that the dragons have. Their scales a glossy black, or sometimes a very deep charcoal gray or midnight blue, and some have white mottling on their sides. Whatever their exact coloring, they have an oily sheen, as they secrete a slippery oil. Vallochar are often called web drakes, as they spit a sticky webbing to immobilize their prey, which they do before moving in with bite and claw.

Climate/Terrain: temperate, subtropical; cavern, desert, grassland, hill

The vallochar are immune to the grappled condition and have the following new trait:

Slippery. The drake has advantage on checks made to escape restraints.

It also has the following new action:

Web (Recharge 5-6). Ranged Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, range 20/60 feet., one Large or smaller creature. Hit: The creature is restrained by a web. As an action, a creature can make a DC 15 Strength check, breaking the web on a success. The effect also ends if the web is destroyed. The web is an object with AC 10, 1 hit point, and immunity to all forms of damage except slashing, fire, and force.

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The last one can't help but make me think of "Spider-Drake". The Mardallond also feels like it would be THE drake of choice for dwarves everywhere. It would also be cool flavor if Mardallond can just I guess "pour" their mead without spitting it out like a breath weapon so it can function as a living barrel of alchohal. Does make me wonder how long until we stumble upon True Dragons again.

DarkRainbowFiend said:

The last one can't help but make me think of "Spider-Drake". The Mardallond also feels like it would be THE drake of choice for dwarves everywhere. It would also be cool flavor if Mardallond can just I guess "pour" their mead without spitting it out like a breath weapon so it can function as a living barrel of alchohal. Does make me wonder how long until we stumble upon True Dragons again.

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True dragons are going to be a while, unfortunately.