The Anglerleth
To many sea faring adventurers, an Aboleth encounter is the thing of nightmares. First comes the mental hardships. The discordant whispers offering your wildest desires. Friends turning into foes and the constant looming threat that something is in your head.
Then comes the physical assault. Those that prove resistant to the creatures domination are struck down or pulled under the waves never to be seen again. Entire ships gone in the span of a week. No wrecks, no bodies.
But sometimes the Aboleth is just the tip of the iceberg. There's always a bigger fish, and the Anglerleth is the embodiment of this saying.
Ancient Unknowns. No-one is quite sure what causes an Aboleth to transform into an Anglerleth, but evidence from known Anglerleth show they all have several correlating aspects in common.
- Each Aboleth had not gone through the process of forming a new body more than four times.
- Each Aboleth had gained the knowledge and experiences of a powerful, wise entity. In three cases, the Aboleth consumed Kuo-toa gods shortly after their creation, and in one case an Aboleth transformed after consuming a spellcaster that predated the Spellplague.
- Each Aboleth was worshipped by a cult or following of at least 50 sentient creatures, often enthralling entire villages or port towns but not necessarily through mental enslavement.
Hungering Gods. Once transformed, the Aboleth loses interest in enslaving creatures and being worshipped, and instead gains a strong hunger for more knowledge. This isn't to say the Anglerleth does not still enslave creatures, but simply that after it's transformation it only enslaves creatures for practical purposes and to expand it's perception of the surrounding area to help it seek out further knowledge.
The Anglerleth's primary method for obtaining knowledge is by luring in powerful adventurers. Using it's false Aboleth lure as a front, the Anglerleth spends months and even years creating a temporary lair and filling it with enslaved creatures and treasures. Then, when an adventuring party pass it's test by slaying the creatures inside it's lair and resisting mental temptations, the Anglerleth presents it's lure in the form of a wounded Aboleth to weaken the adventurers and grant them a false sense of confidence before revealing it's true form by pulling the bravest adventurer underwater.
Primeval Entities. The limitless lifespan of the Aboleth combined with godlike knowledge serve a greater threat than it's tentacles and psychic powers combined. Anglerleth are known to create grand plans centuries in advance, often orchestrating the rise of powerful wizards only to consume them at the height of their wisdom.
In rare cases, Anglerleth stuck in places without access to the ocean are known to serve as patrons for desperate warlocks seeking adventure or riches. In exchange for the powers, the Anglerleth only asks that the warlock makes powerful friends on their adventures...and that they invite those powerful friends over for dinner sometimes...
Lair Actions
When fighting inside its lair, the Anglerleth can invoke the ambient magic to take lair actions. On initiative count 20 (losing initiative ties), the Anglerleth takes a lair action to cause one of the following effects:
- The Anglerleth casts phantasmal force (no components required) on any number of creatures it can see within 60 feet of it. While maintaining concentration on this effect, the Anglerleth can’t take other lair actions. If a target succeeds on the saving throw or if the effect ends for it, the target is immune to the Anglerleth’s phantasmal force lair action for the next 24 hours, although such a creature can choose to be affected.
- Pools of water within 90 feet of the Anglerleth surge outward in a grasping tide. Any creature on the ground within 20 feet of such a pool must succeed on a DC 17 Strength saving throw or be pulled up to 20 feet into the water and knocked prone. The Anglerleth can’t use this lair action again until it has used a different one.
- Water in the Anglerleth’s lair magically becomes a conduit for the creature’s rage. The Anglerleth can target any number of creatures it can see in such water within 90 feet of it. A target must succeed on a DC 17 Wisdom saving throw or take 7 (2d6) psychic damage. The Anglerleth can’t use this lair action again until it has used a different one.
Regional Effects
The region containing an Anglerleth’s lair is warped by the creature’s presence, which creates one or more of the following effects:
- Underground surfaces within 1 mile of the Anglerleth’s lair are slimy and wet and are difficult terrain.
- Water sources within 1 mile of the lair are supernaturally fouled. Enemies of the Anglerleth that drink such water vomit it within minutes.
- As an action, the Anglerleth can create an illusory image of a wounded aboleth within 1 mile of the lair. The copy can appear at any location the Anglerleth has seen before or in any location a creature charmed by the Anglerleth can currently see. Once created, the image lasts for as long as the Anglerleth maintains concentration, as if concentrating on a spell. Although the image is intangible, it looks, sounds, and can move like the Anglerleth. The Anglerleth can sense, speak, and use telepathy from the image’s position as if present at that position. If the image takes any damage, it disappears.
If the Anglerleth dies, the first two effects fade over the course of 3d10 days.
The Anglerleth
Gargantuan, Lawful Evil
- Armor Class 19
- Hit Points 199
- Speed 0 ft., fly 10 ft. (hover), swim 60ft.
STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 21 (+5) 9 (-1) 15 (+2) 20 (+5) 18 (+4) 19 (+4)
- Saving Throws Con +7, Int +10, Wis +9
- Skills History +10, Perception +10, Deception +9
- Condition Immunities Prone, Charmed, Frightened
- Senses Darkvision 120ft., passive Perception 20
- Languages Deep Speech, telepathy 120ft.
- Challenge 16 (15,000 XP)
Amphibious. The Anglerleth can breathe air and water.
Mucous Cloud. While underwater, the Anglerleth is surrounded by transformative mucus. A creature that touches the Anglerleth or that hits it with a melee attack while within 5 feet of it must make a DC 17 Constitution saving throw. On a failure, the creature is diseased for 1d4 hours. The diseased creature can breathe only underwater.
Probing Telepathy. If a creature communicates telepathically with the Anglerleth, the Anglerleth learns the creature's greatest fears and desires.
False Appearance. While the Anglerleth remains motionless in dim light or while at least 30ft. underwater, it is indistinguishable from the surrounding terrain.
Heroes Lure. Above it's eyes, the Anglerleth has a long dorsal tentacle that can reach as far as 100 feet from the Anglerleth. Over a span of 30 days, the Anglerleth can grow an appendage with the appearance of a wounded Aboleth from the tip of this tentacle. This false Aboleth functions like a normal Aboleth using the stat block from the Monster Manual, but it cannot move more than 100 feet from the Anglerleth and has half the maximum hitpoints of a real Aboleth. The false Aboleth does not have Lair Actions and can only use one Legendary Action per round.
As an appendage, the Anglerleth shares senses with the false Aboleth and any conditions that effect the Anglerleth also effect the false Aboleth, but not the other way around. In combat, the false Aboleth operates on it's own initiative count and if it is defeated it severs from the dorsal tentacle. Any attacks directed at the dorsal tentacle should be treated as an attack against the false Aboleth.
Actions
Multiattack. The Anglerleth makes three tentacle attacks.
Tentacle. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 10ft., one target. Hit: 15 (3d6 + 5) bludgeoning damage. If the target is a creature, it must succeed on a DC 14 Constitution saving throw or become diseased. The disease has no effect for 1 minute and can be removed by any magic that cures disease. After 1 minute, the diseased creature's skin becomes translucent and slimy, the creature can't regain hit points unless it is underwater, and the disease can be removed only by heal or another disease-curing spell of 6th level or higher. When the creature is outside a body of water, it takes 6 (2d12) acid damage every 10 minutes unless moisture is applied to the skin before 10 minutes have passed.
Tail. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 10ft., one target. Hit: 15 (3d8 + 5) bludgeoning damage.
Enslave. The Anglerleth targets one creature it can see within 30 feet of it. The target must succeed on a DC 17 Wisdom saving throw or be magically charmed by the Anglerleth until the Anglerleth dies or until it is on a different plane of existence from the target. The charmed target is under the Anglerleth's control and can't take reactions, and the Anglerleth and the target can communicate telepathically with each other over any distance.
Whenever the charmed target takes damage, the target can repeat the saving throw. On a success, the effect ends. No more than once every 24 hours, the target can also repeat the saving throw when it is at least 1 mile away from the Anglerleth.
Devour. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 10ft., one grappled creature. Hit 26 (5d8+5) piercing damage. If a creature is killed by this attack, it is eaten whole and if the creature has an Intelligence and/or Wisdom score higher than the Anglerleth, the Anglerleth permanently increases it's Intelligence and/or Wisdom scores to match.
Legendary Actions
The Anglerleth can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary action option can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature's turn. The Anglerleth regains spent legendary actions at the start of its turn.
Puppetry. The Anglerleth's false Aboleth lure makes a tentacle attack against a target within range. If the false Aboleth is destroyed, the Anglerleth loses this legendary action until it is restored.
Tail Swipe. The Anglerleth makes one tail attack.
Psychic Drain (Costs 2 Actions). One creature charmed by the Anglerleth takes 15 (5d6) psychic damage, and the Anglerleth regains hit points equal to the damage the creature takes.