Monstrous Compendium

Volume One: Spelljammer Creatures

Asteroid Spider

An asteroid spider is a menace native to Wildspace and the Astral Sea. A full-grown specimen has a body 30 feet in diameter and legs that are at least 30 feet long. When it wraps its legs tightly around its body and closes its eyes, the asteroid spider resembles nothing so much as a giant, lifeless rock in space—hence its name.

An asteroid spider has its own gravity plane and air envelope, as well as multiple spinnerets with which it can create web strands. Its living brain functions like a spelljamming helm, allowing the spider to travel through Wildspace without a ship. It often haunts asteroid belts, lurking among normal asteroids until a spelljamming ship comes close enough to be detected. The spider then snares the ship before using web strands to catch crew members and reel them toward its snapping jaws.

Clockwork Horror

Clockwork horrors are ruthless insectile automatons—eldritch machines encased in adamantine or some other precious metal. They roam Wildspace in commandeered spelljamming ships, gathering the precious metals and crystals they need to build more of their kind. Clockwork horrors have no goal beyond replication and will stop at nothing to create new clockwork horrors. The time it takes for a clockwork horror to build another of its kind, assuming it has the requisite materials, is approximately ten days.

The body of a clockwork horror is about two feet in diameter, but the legs give it an overall diameter of four feet. Embedded in the front of its head is a crystal that enables the clockwork horror to see.

Clockwork horrors communicate with each other by means of clicks, whirs, and similar mechanical sounds that imitate the Thri-kreen language perfectly, leading some to speculate the first clockwork horror was the brainchild of a thri-kreen artificer. A horror can also emit light from its crystal eye, issuing dot-and-dash messages to other creatures that can see the light. Creatures besides clockwork horrors can learn this blinking light code, which is called Ziklight.

When another creature gets in its way, a clockwork horror attacks that creature with its razor-sharp mandibles and two tiny rotating saws mounted at the tips of its forelimbs. A horror can also discharge bolts of lightning from a short lightning rod embedded in its body.

When a clockwork horror dies, the magic that created it consumes it over a period of 1 minute. Its metallic body and crystal eye degrade rapidly until nothing is left but a small heap of glittering dust.

Eldritch Lich

From beyond the stars, a Great Old One whispers promises of reality-defying knowledge and world-bending power. When a wizard or a warlock hears that whisper and listens too intently, they might set foot on the twisting path toward becoming an eldritch lich.

Like other liches, eldritch liches are spellcasters who have cheated death, but an eldritch lich does so by allowing a Great Old One to implant a Far Realm parasite in the lich. That parasite bestows undeath upon the spellcaster and causes strange tentacles to sprout from the body. The parasite’s mouth is visible on the lich’s torso, and the parasite guards the lich against destruction, reviving the lich a few days after death. Canny foes can sabotage an eldritch lich’s revival by slaying the lich in a magic circle, thereby forcing the lich to return in a distorted form, robbed of most of its power.

An eldritch lich constantly hears bizarre whispers from the Far Realm, to which the lich nods and mutters. Occasionally, the lich uses its telepathy to share those whispers with the minds around it.

Fractine

A fractine is a bizarre, two-dimensional creature that flies through Wildspace and the Astral Sea, folding and refolding like a piece of origami. When it encounters another creature, it flattens into a plane that resembles a trapezoidal mirror between 9 and 13 feet tall.

Astral explorers who have encountered fractines attest that the creatures are intelligent and often allow themselves to be used as scrying sensors, their reflective surfaces substituting for the mirror needed to cast certain divination spells. While being used in this way, the fractine siphons magical energy from the spellcaster—not enough to cause harm, but enough to make the caster take notice.

A fractine needs light and magical energy to survive. It can draw sustenance from a nearby light source, spellcaster, magic item, or magical effect without causing harm to anyone

or anything. A fractine that doesn’t consume light or magical energy for ten days begins to flicker. A day later, it folds in on itself and self-destructs, leaving no trace of itself behind. The destruction of a fractine is accompanied by a loud sound reminiscent of shattering glass.

A fractine attacks by falling on its targets, dealing damage as it passes through them. A fractine can also imprison a creature inside a demiplane contained within its two-dimensional form, the prisoner’s distorted reflection visible in the fractine’s glassy surface.

Bludgeoning, piercing, slashing, and thunder damage can cause a fractine to break into two smaller fractines, each one autonomous and capable of imprisoning creatures. When a fractine dies, it folds in on itself and disappears, releasing any creature trapped inside it.

Gadabout

Gadabouts are gentle, winged creatures that can be used as personal conveyances for short-distance travel across the airless void of Wildspace. A gadabout wraps its branches around a Humanoid creature, spreads its butterfly wings, and allows its wearer to fly through space in a continuously refreshed air envelope. The gadabout’s leaves even provide a nourishing syrup that its wearer can consume in the absence of other food and water. One Humanoid can survive on these leaves for up to sixty days.

Gadabouts require sunlight and water to survive. A healthy specimen can live for 25 years. Although its preferred mode of travel is flight, a gadabout can creep slowly along the ground as well.

Elves are the only Humanoids to date who know how to grow gadabouts. Since gadabouts don’t generate seeds, each one is a valuable commodity. Mercane and dohwar merchants who come into possession of a healthy gadabout might sell it for 2,500 gp or more.

Goon Balloon

A goon balloon looks like a 5-foot-diameter beach ball with clawed feet. Unblinking eyes on the outer surface of its spherical air sac enable the creature to see in all directions at once. These eyes can produce kaleidoscopic light that tears at the minds of the goon balloon’s foes.

A goon balloon speaks by pumping air through a hidden orifice on its underside. When the goon balloon dies, the air in its sac transforms into a noxious gas that bursts from the corpse, potentially poisoning other creatures nearby.

Although they can seem playful and harmless, goon balloons are quite mean-spirited. They like to observe the suffering of other creatures and orchestrate that suffering, given half a chance.

Nightmare Beast

Nightmare beasts are enormous quadrupeds that stand 20 feet tall, or 40 feet tall when rearing on their hind legs.

A nightmare beast’s legs end in claws, enabling it to climb well despite its size. Its skin is thick and tough, and its teeth are long and sharp. A pair of long, curved tusks jut from the sides of the beast’s mouth, and its large red eyes glow in the dark. The creature smashes through structures and fortifications with ease, and it doesn’t hesitate to rend foes with its claws and gore them with its tusks, but its most devastating attack is its magical ability to disintegrate foes with its terrible gaze.

Powerful spellcasters create nightmare beasts to serve as living siege engines. A single beast can lay waste to entire cities and armies.

Puppeteer Parasite

A puppeteer parasite looks like a rubbery amoeba the size of a dinner plate. Its dorsal surface is soft and glossy, while its ventral surface is lined with bony hooks. The parasite uses its hooks to attach to a wall or ceiling until suitable prey passes nearby.

A parasite that comes in physical contact with a Humanoid uses its hooks to latch onto it. The parasite can then drain life energy from that creature or use it as transportation. The parasite can also impose its will on a nearby creature, forcing the creature to comply with its wishes. Puppeteer parasites like to use Humanoid thralls as bodyguards and transports.

Star Lancer

Drifting in the Astral Sea are the petrified husks of dead gods, their colossal bodies riddled with natural tunnels and caverns. While exploring the innards of one of these dead gods, githyanki xenomancers found a vast cavern containing scores of winged creatures they had never encountered before. The cavern’s denizens used telepathy to question the githyanki interlopers, who promptly suggested an alliance. The winged creatures quickly developed a fondness for the githyanki.

The githyanki refer to the winged creatures as star lancers (“vah’k’rel” in the Gith tongue) and came to realize star lancers are reincarnations of the dead god’s most ardent worshipers. When a star lancer dies, its soul instantly returns to the Great Cavern that forms the hollow heart of the dead god. There, the soul becomes housed in the body of a new, fully grown star lancer that rises magically from the cavern floor. As long as the dead god and its Great Cavern remain intact, the number of star lancers in the multiverse is finite and never-changing.

A star lancer resembles a shark, albeit one that has four wings and a long tail. Its head bears a sharp protuberance that the creature uses to impale enemies.

Githyanki are fond of using star lancers as mounts, riding them across the Astral Sea in small flocks. A star lancer has the innate ability to turn itself and its rider invisible, making it ideal for stealth missions and ambushes.

Yggdrasti

Thought to be cast-off splinters of Yggdrasil, the World Tree, yggdrasti look like gigantic, dead trees covered with barnacles. They fly through Wildspace and the Astral Sea with their topmost branches leading the way and their withered roots trailing behind them. Each one has its own gravity plane and air envelope.

Creatures sometimes try to hitch a ride on an yggdrasti to take advantage of its air envelope. A typical yggdrasti specimen has cavities inside its trunk in which Medium or smaller creatures can lurk.

Yggdrasti attack any settlements or spelljamming ships they come across without provocation. By using a speak with plants spell or similar magic, someone might be able to convince an yggdrasti to break off its attack, but the monster’s innate hatred of other living things is extremely difficult for it to suppress.

Yggdrasti sometimes make landfall and disguise themselves as ordinary trees, burying their roots in the ground to pull off the deception. They can uproot themselves at any time and use their roots to shamble awkwardly across the ground, but flying is their preferred mode of travel.

Monstrous Compendium

Volume Two: Dragonlance Creatures

Dream Eater

Originating from the dream-warped elven realm of Silvanesti, dream eaters are violent manifestations of nightmares and subconscious terrors. The true appearance of a dream eater is obscured, as the dream eater twists its hazy form into surreal illusions of its foes’ greatest fears. However, all dream eaters share one thing: a gaping, always-smiling mouth, which it reveals before engulfing its prey in a phantasmagorical nightmare.

The key to defeating a dream eater lies not in brute force but in the ability to pierce its illusions and wrest others from its terrors. As such, bards and other persuasive adventurers find themselves uniquely poised to confront a hungering dream eater.

Ember

Also known as Pyros, Ember is an imperious and ruthless red dragon who serves the Dragon Queen Takhisis. In his service to the Dragon Queen, Ember has taken on many roles at her behest—including that of a black-robed human member of the Mages of High Sorcery—but he is best known as the adviser of Dragon Highlord Verminaard, leader of the Red Dragon Army.

Empowered by Takhisis herself, Ember’s innate fire can sear those nearby, and his breath weapon is a molten storm of ash and flame. In combat, Ember wears a set of magic plate armor that bolsters his already-impressive might, allowing him to annihilate entire cohorts with terrifying ease.

Forest Master

Said to be older than the trees themselves, the Forest Master is a wise and powerful unicorn who rules over the creatures of Darken Wood in Krynn. The ancient being’s body is wreathed in protective briars, and moonlight dances around the unicorn’s horn. Those who threaten the Forest Master’s lands find themselves beguiled by magical mist and nigh-impregnable thorny thickets, but those who gain the Forest Master’s favor are blessed with healing and protected as they traverse the woods.

Foresworn

Foresworn are the spirits of fallen Solamnic knights who attend to their duty long after death. Armed with spectral armor and weaponry, a foresworn maintains the martial prowess it had in life and can call on magic and its fallen brethren for aid.

Like revenants, foresworn fixate on a singular purpose, and they refuse to abandon their undead state until the duty they had in life is fulfilled. For example, a foresworn might be pledged to protect a family’s bloodline from harm or guard a dangerous artifact against thieves. If a foresworn is destroyed before it can complete its duty, it returns within a few days, its strength and purpose renewed.

Irda

The Dragon Queen created the irda long ago. While most irda embraced their wicked creator’s teachings, some of them adopted the philosophies of other deities. Those irda who don’t serve the Dragon Queen live in hidden communities across Krynn, avoiding the eyes of their creator and her minions.

Distantly related to oni, ogres, and other giant folk, irda have shimmering skin that ranges through shades of indigo and sea green. Their innate magic provides them with limited shape-shifting abilities and the power to create illusions.

Irda Veil Keeper

Masters of their innate illusory powers, irda veil keepers protect their companions by weaving magical mirages that disorient foes. Rumors say that the most skilled irda veil keepers can keep entire enclaves hidden, guarding a community’s inhabitants from the outside world for centuries.

Nevermind Gnomes

Mount Nevermind is a hollow, dormant volcano on the island of Sancrist in Krynn. Within the mountain, a vibrant community of rock gnome tinkerers and other inventors relentlessly study various scientific pursuits to create mechanical marvels.

Nevermind Gnome Mastermind

The gnome masterminds of Mount Nevermind temper their creativity with years of experience. While they still create wild inventions on a whim, these masterminds also wield at least one more stable clockwork invention—typically something that affords the mastermind more movement, extends their reach with extra appendages, or both.

Thanoi Hunter

Thanoi are walrus-like beings who dwell in the frozen wastelands of Krynn. They sport thick, ivory tusks, which they use both to defend themselves and to poke breathing holes in sea ice as they swim.

Often at odds with the monstrous creatures that live in the frozen wastes, thanoi are adept hunters. In addition to their tusks, they use harpoons on long ropes that they can quickly reel back. Groups of thanoi hunters work together to take down monsters far larger than themselves, including remorhazes and white dragons.

Traag Draconian

In their experimentation with corrupting dragon eggs, the Dragon Armies created traag draconians, the precursor to what would become baaz draconian foot soldiers. Unlike their draconian brethren, traag draconians are little more than bloodthirsty engines of carnage. Few commanders have successfully used a traag draconian’s reckless violence to their advantage in battle; for most, a traag draconian is as much of a danger to its allies as it is to its enemies. Even magic cannot tame a traag draconian’s thirst for violence.

A traag draconian’s vestigial wings lack the strength to support its hulking body in true flight, and they only minimally help to slow a falling traag’s descent. Its metallic scales are coated in a sickly patina. In battle, the draconian can charge its body with vicious fire, burning all in its wake. When a traag draconian dies, its body explodes in a thick, disgusting sludge.

Verminaard

Dragon Highlord Verminaard leads the Red Dragon Army—the largest and most powerful of the Dragon Queen’s forces—with fanatic zeal and ruthless might. Though prophesied to banish evil forces from the lands of Krynn, Verminaard was tempted by Takhisis and her promises of glory. Corrupted by the Dragon Queen, Verminaard rose to become one of her champions, claiming command of the fiercest among the Dragon Armies.

Verminaard’s extreme devotion to Takhisis allows him to channel her unholy power on the battlefield, bolstering those under his command while raining cursed fire on his foes. His towering silhouette is often wreathed in the fire of Ember, his red dragon companion and adviser.

Nightbringer

Weapon (Mace), Legendary (Requires Attunement)

This heavy mace has a dark oaken handle and a head of blackened steel trimmed with gold. In combat, the mace’s head is wreathed in inky black energy.

You gain a +3 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with this weapon. When you hit with an attack roll using it, the target takes an additional 4d4 radiant damage.

If you have an evil alignment, you also gain the following benefits when attuned to Nightbringer:

Blessing of the Dragon Queen. You are immune to the charmed and frightened conditions, and you gain immunity to one of the following damage types (choose when you attune to the weapon): acid, cold, fire, lightning, or poison.

Eyes of Midnight. You have darkvision with a range of 60 feet. If you already have darkvision, its range increases by 60 feet.

Midnight Shroud. The weapon has 6 charges. When you hit a creature with an attack using this weapon, you can expend one charge to force the creature to make a DC 20 Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, the creature is blinded until the start of your next turn. The weapon regains 1d6 expended charges daily at dawn.

Monstrous Compendium

Volume Three: Minecraft Creatures

Blaze

Blazes are elemental beings that congregate at Nether fortresses. They float a short distance above the ground, and each one is orbited by three sets of glowing rods. When a blaze is destroyed, it sometimes leaves one of these rods behind. Blaze rods are a source of great energy that, when carefully crushed into powder, can be used to brew potions and craft other magic items.

A blaze attacks by launching three fireballs from its fiery core. This fire ignites creatures and flammable objects. If necessary, a blaze levitates into the air to better see and more easily target its enemies.

Creeper

A creeper is a green, armless creature that emerges in darkness and silently prowls the Overworld on its four short legs. Its peculiar face bears no clue of its motives, but its destructiveness makes it one of the greatest threats to both life and property in the Overworld.

A creeper quietly shuffles toward Humanoid prey. When it gets close enough, it halts and begins to hiss like a burning fuse. Unless the creeper is defeated or its target gets far enough away that the creeper defuses itself, the creeper explodes a few short moments later, leaving a crater where it once stood.

Creepers have an uncanny ability to appear when least expected, and few places are safe from their explosive nature. Yet creepers have one strange weakness: they fear cats and do all they can to avoid them.

If a creeper is struck by lightning, rather than being harmed, it becomes charged with electrical power. In this charged state, the creeper gains a bluish aura and can explode with even greater power.

Ender Dragon

The mighty Ender Dragon is one of a kind—a vast, flying creature with void-black scales and purple eyes. It soars above the central island of the End. No one can say whether it is a guardian or a prisoner of the End, but either way, the Ender Dragon challenges anyone who enters its domain.

The Ender Dragon buffets enemies with great wings, engulfs foes with its gaseous breath weapon, and delivers crushing bites with its powerful jaws. Its hide is strong enough to deflect all but the deadliest weapons.

Enderman

Endermen are tall, black, bipedal creatures with long, thin limbs and piercing, purple eyes. Violet particles flicker in and out of existence around them. Endermen are unnerving and enigmatic, acting in a manner that is all but impossible to interpret.

Endermen seem particularly drawn to the End, where they gather in large groups. They are uncommon visitors to other dimensions, although they appear more often in pairs in such peculiar places as the warped forests of the Nether. They shun sunlight and are hurt by water, including rain. When an Enderman becomes the target of a ranged weapon or takes damage, it teleports to a safer location nearby and makes a distinctive “voop” sound at its destination.

Endermen have no known predators. When a Humanoid looks directly at an Enderman, the Enderman becomes enraged, opens its mouth horrifyingly wide, and rushes to attack with its long arms. A defeated Enderman implodes and sometimes leaves behind an Ender pearl, which, when thrown, teleports the thrower to the place it lands.

Wolf of the Overworld

Running through the forests of the Overworld on four legs, this gray-furred hunter is at home in the cold of the taiga.

Wolves hunt in packs, roaming their territories and chasing sheep, rabbits, and foxes. Wild wolves are typically indifferent to Humanoids, neither running from nor attacking them, but a pack of wolves becomes hostile toward any creature that hurts one of the pack’s members. Wolves can be tamed by adventurers who feed and look after them. Tamed wolves follow their masters everywhere they go.

Wolves instinctively regard animated skeletons as enemies and attack them without hesitation. Even tamed wolves, which obediently hold themselves back from attacking their natural prey, freely charge at skeletons unless they are commanded to sit.

Monstrous Compendium

Volume Four: Eldraine Creatures

About Eldraine

Eldraine is a storybook world of quests and castles, knights and wizards, wicked warlocks and fantastical creatures. Once, valiant knights would venture from five royal courts to fulfill noble quests—but the invasion of the horrific Phyrexians from another world changed all that and left the kingdom in ruins.

The realm and the wilds of Eldraine were introduced to players of Magic: The Gathering with 2019’s Throne of Eldraine set. The new Wilds of Eldraine set presents the world in the wake of the Phyrexian invasion, leaving behind the knights and castles and delving deep into the strange and mysterious wilds. Here, giants lumber through the clouds, faeries make mischief, and witches cackle over bubbling cauldrons.

The Wilds

Past the courts, across the stream, into the woods—there lie the wilds, the most magical, strange, and dangerous lands in all Eldraine. In contrast to the order and structure of the realm, the wilds are unpredictable and not united under any one system of government.

The lands of the wilds are just as untamed and diverse as the creatures that live there. Magic runs rampant, manifesting in strange and often beautiful ways. It can be alluring, empowering, and restorative. It can also be repellent, enervating, and destructive.

Countless species of sapient creatures dwell in the wilds, including humans. In addition to those described in this collection, many creatures from the Monster Manual and other sources live in the wilds of Eldraine:

Humans. Whether driven by desperation or a desire to live outside the courts, humans have always existed in the wilds. These humans include resilient and resourceful hunters, foresters, and artisans, and they often pick up some of the eccentricities of their more fantastical neighbors. In addition to the nonplayer character stat blocks found in the Monster Manual and other sources, see the Knight of Eldraine in this collection.

Elves. Scions of a once-mighty empire, the elves of Eldraine have found new purpose in their role as guardians of nature. Most elves move through the woods in small bands of hunters, gatherers, and druids, though some still reside within crumbling forts and overgrown castles that dot the wilds. In addition to the nonplayer character stat blocks found in the Monster Manual and other sources, see the Redtooth werefox in this collection.

Dwarves. The dwarves of Eldraine include miners, blacksmiths, and other artisans who value hard work and independence. These artisans take pride in creating intricate jewelry and sturdy weapons from the minerals they mine, and they value the dignity of work.

Merfolk. In the wilds, merfolk are known as covetous keepers of arcane magic, knowledge, and artifacts. They are said to hoard precious magic items, tomes, and other secrets in lochs, ponds, and wishing wells across Eldraine.

Fauns. Prior to the Phyrexian invasion, fauns (use the satyr stat block) were reclusive creatures living in tight family units deep in the forest. Seeing their homeland under attack inspired them to leave the woods and join the rest of Eldraine in its defense. Since the end of the invasion, the fauns have taken charge of the Tanglespan, a great chasm between the realm and the wilds. They map out the crisscrossing pathways spanning the chasm, fight off the trolls who lurk beneath the bridges in hope of feasting on travelers, and guide travelers across the chasm in exchange for a modest toll.

Giants. Giants are the rare creatures equally at home in the realm or the wilds. In Garenbrig and Embereth, fire giants and stone giants served as mighty knights and strong laborers. In the wilds, hill giants have always been hostile to the rulers of the realm, even when elves governed the land. Cloud giants and storm giants live far above the wilds on islands made of magical cloud. (See the tempest hart entry in this collection for more on Stormkeld and its giant inhabitants.) Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants includes many additional giant stat blocks as well as descriptions of other creatures that might be found in Stormkeld, such as giant geese and giant oxen.

Redcaps. Redcaps (use the redcap stat block in Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse or the goblin stat block) are mischievous agents of chaos. They fight without any sense of honor or fair play; they specialize in sneak attacks and ambushes and often raid villages across the Boundary Lands before retreating deeper into the wilds.

Ogres. Ogres are smaller and meaner than other giants, with vicious tempers and a propensity for violence. In addition to the ogre stat blocks in the Monster Manual and Monsters of the Multiverse, see the ogre chitterlord in this collection.

Archon of Boundaries

The archons of Eldraine are enigmatic beings who fly over the perimeter where the realm meets the wilds, marking the boundary between safety (for the people of the realm) and danger. The sight of an archon overhead is a clear signal that one is entering the wilds.

An archon appears as a hooded, spectral rider mounted on a winged elk with glowing antlers and gleaming eyes. Despite this appearance, rider and mount are a single creature that can’t be separated. Tales say that archons are ascended spirits of paladins fused with the celestial spirits of their steeds, returned from the celestial realms to watch over the boundary of the wilds and protect those who dare to cross it.

Sometimes knights of the realm get the idea that they can expand the borders of their land and keep the wilds at bay simply by driving archons deeper into the wilds. Such efforts are futile; not only are archons difficult to kill, but they don’t create the boundaries, merely mark them.

Beanstalk Wurm

Wurms are enormous creatures that resemble limbless, wingless dragons, though they lack a dragon’s breath weapons and keen intelligence. On the world of Eldraine, many wurms have adapted to life among the world’s skyscraping beanstalks. These beanstalk wurms sport leafy growths, sustaining themselves on a mixture of natural photosynthesis and a carnivorous diet.

Cloud-dwelling giants often use beanstalk wurms as a first line of defense against those who would ascend massive beanstalks—also known as Everstalks—to intrude on their lofty palaces. Beanstalk wurms lie coiled along the length of an Everstalk with their eyes closed and their stomach flattened against the stalk, appearing to be just another enormous vine until a tasty intruder attempts to climb them.

Deathless Rider

Legends told in the courts of Eldraine suggest that the deathless riders serve a warlock-queen, known simply as the Shadow Queen, who rules from a castle called Dynnistan. It isn’t known whether these legends are based on any true experience or are simply the result of imagination trying to account for a terrifying and unexplained phenomenon.

In either case, deathless riders are undeniably real. They are undead knights, once human, who ride undead steeds through the remotest parts of the wilds. They are sometimes called lich-knights or fell horsemen.

In stark contrast to the knights of Eldraine, the deathless riders are without virtue of any kind. They are few in number—unless many more lurk in the dark heart of the forest than anyone is aware. But when mortal knights meet them in the wilds, the encounter rarely ends well for the living. The deathless riders fight with superhuman strength, heedless of wounds and relentless in their assault.

A typical deathless rider’s mount is a warhorse skeleton, though some lich-knights ride equine spirits like nightmares.

Dunbarrow Witch

In the misty marsh of Dunbarrow, the witches of the Eldraine wilds scheme. They crave power by any means, and they aren’t above cheating, sacrificing, or allying with whatever they believe will get them closer to that power.

Much of a Dunbarrow witch’s magic is performed at cauldrons and delivered as a poison or potion. The most aggressive witch spells take the form of shattering mirrors.

Faeries

The faeries of Eldraine are winged, elfin creatures similar to sprites or pixies. Unpredictable, unreliable, and amoral, they lurk in the wilds and harass travelers they perceive as intruders.

Faerie Pathlighter

Faerie pathlighters pry into human lives, sometimes to help (like a classic fairy godparent) and sometimes to harm. In the wilds of Eldraine, faerie pathlighters often serve as protectors for the lost, the glow of their guiding lanterns leading weary travelers to respite.

A faerie pathlighter is about the size of a human and has an almost angelic appearance. Their large, white wings become more translucent toward the edges. Motes of magical light drift around their heads, and a faint white aura surrounds their bodies.

Faerie Pest

Faerie pests love to cause annoyance, fear, and pain. They are perhaps the most mercurial of the faeries and are happy to follow anyone who promises the opportunity to menace someone new. Jodie Muir

A faerie pest could be mistaken for a human toddler except for the black-feathered wings sprouting from the faerie’s shoulders. When engaged in combat, faerie pests wield thought-manipulating magic alongside sharp blades coated in stinging poison.

Gingerbrute

Gingerbread cookies baked in the wilds of Eldraine—or made from ingredients grown there—have a habit of developing a life of their own. Known as gingerbrutes, these cookie Constructs are notoriously difficult to pin down. Vincent Proce

When an unfortunate baker accidentally creates a gingerbrute, the cookie causes mayhem throughout the kitchen before running to the wilds where its ingredients originated. Many witches of Dunbarrow craft gingerbrutes

intentionally, whipping them into shape (sometimes with actual whipped cream) as soldiers to defend their wicked cauldrons.

The same magic that animates a gingerbrute also makes it extra scrumptious. Those who have eaten a gingerbrute report feeling a burst of energy like a long-lasting sugar rush.

Goose Mother

Astonishingly aggressive geese populate the marshes of Eldraine. Legends tell that these geese descend from a monstrous many-headed bird that dwells deep within the wilds. Though the knights of Eldraine consider its existence a myth, the folk of the wilds know that the Goose Mother is real. Jesper Ejsing

Centuries ago, an enterprising witch created a frothy stew composed of hydra’s blood and goose feathers. It is from this noxious slurry that the Goose Mother was born. Within days, the Goose Mother grew to prodigious size, and the witch grew fearful. One night, while the Goose Mother slept, the witch took to its neck with a cleaver, but to her horror, two more heads sprouted in place of the first. Enraged, the Goose Mother devoured the witch and rampaged deep into the wilds where it lives to this day.

The Goose Mother lays one golden egg every hour, precisely on the hour. Sometimes these eggs hatch into clutches of young geese that grow up to terrorize the marshes of Eldraine. Other times, the eggs contain trinkets or valuables.

The fae folk of Eldraine’s wilds have developed a symbiotic relationship with the Goose Mother, often bringing it fresh meat in exchange for the treasures inside its golden eggs.

If you have Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants, you can use the Goose Egg Trinket table to determine the contents of one of the Goose Mother’s eggs that isn’t destined to hatch into a goose or a giant goose (also described in that book).

High Fae

Ageless and inhuman, high fae are the oldest creatures in Eldraine, embodying the natural splendor and danger of the wilderness. High fae have no regard for mortal values of honor and law, but they nonetheless operate under inviolable rules of their own: gifts must always be repaid, promises must be honored, and outright lies must never be spoken (though misdirection and riddles are always welcome). To amuse themselves over the long centuries of their lives, high fae frequently engage in deceptions and other complex games of wits against one another.

Most high fae remain secluded deep within the wilds of Eldraine. They draw power from motes of light found throughout the wilds, and they use their innate illusory magic to power and embellish their various weapons.

The high fae are ruled by Talion, the Kindly Lord. Talion is as strange, ancient, and fickle as the wilds of Eldraine, and the Kindly Lord demands fealty and respect from followers. Despite having an austere demeanor, the Kindly Lord is also known for following mysterious whims, journeying to the farthest reaches of Eldraine out of an insatiable curiosity.

High Fae Kindguard

High fae kindguards have spent centuries perfecting their martial prowess, moving with a speed and grace others can only imagine. Their tall stature, large wings, elaborate horns, and massive weapons give them a truly intimidating silhouette.

The most trusted high fae kindguards are in direct service to Talion, the Kindly Lord. Nine times nine have these high \columnbreak

fae sworn a binding oath to protect the Kindly Lord, each time pricking their hand on a hawthorn branch to seal the promise.

High Fae Mage

High fae mages are some of the mightiest magic users among the faeries of Eldraine. These skilled spellcasters have mastered the arcane art of dealmaking among the fae, magically negotiating themselves advantages in battle.

Like many high fae, these mages draw power from the latent energy found throughout the wilds of Eldraine. However, high fae mages also form strong bonds with the elemental powers of Eldraine, allowing the mages to call on forces like the eastern wind or the fiery hearth.

High Fae Noble

High fae nobles regard themselves as the natural and obvious superiors of all in Eldraine. Many have been given dominion over a small aspect of the natural world; there are dukes and duchesses for each of the seasons, and noble archivists track every promise made and broken within the borders of Eldraine.

High fae nobles use their illusions and innate magic to impress their peers and express their capricious natures. Many adorn themselves with auras of magic that dazzle others, while uttering mocking phrases that magically stun and ridicule their opponents. High fae nobles will spend countless years in mind-bendingly complicated games of political calculus, their alliances ever-shifting as they jockey for favors and status in the Kindly Lord’s court.

Knight of Eldraine

The realm of Eldraine once consisted of five knightly courts: Ardenvale, Embereth, Garenbrig, Locthwain, and Vantress. In ancient times, the courts were established around five relics of tremendous magical power and unknown origin. Each relic is a magical embodiment of one of the five virtues the knights of the realm hold as standards of excellence.

The recent invasion of nightmarish creatures called Phyrexians devastated the courts, with much of the surviving populace fleeing into the wilds. A young prince, Will Kenrith, does his best to reunite the shattered realm, but a return to its former glory seems far off.

Even in the shattered remnants of the realm, knighthood is among the highest honors one can receive. Knights of the realm, who are all addressed with the honorific “Syr,” are revered as champions, heroes, and paragons of virtue. They have many responsibilities, from protecting townsfolk to embarking on adventures in the wilds. Knights are often equipped with fine armor and weapons, and they ride noble steeds of various species—including griffons in Ardenvale, giant owls in Vantress, and giant ravens (use the giant vulture stat block) in Locthwain. Some knights also wield powerful magic drawn from the relics of their respective courts.

In the wake of the Phyrexian invasion, whole orders of knights have journeyed deep into the wilds, searching for a magical remedy to restore the kingdom to its former glory, or seeking to help travelers and remote communities beset by troubles.

Achieving knighthood in one of the courts requires a quest that proves one’s excellence in that court’s virtue. In some courts, the final step to becoming a knight involves being judged by that court’s relic. Each court believes the virtue associated with its own relic is paramount, though not in lieu of the others. A knight of Embereth admires courage above all else but still looks down on the disloyal or ignorant, even though loyalty and knowledge are virtues championed by other courts.

Knights of Eldraine channel their devotion to the virtues of the realm into magical power that infuses their attacks. Most knights deal extra radiant damage with these attacks, but some knights might deal damage of a different type, such as fire (for knights of Embereth) or necrotic (for knights of Locthwain).

Nightmare Haunt

Nightmare haunts are terrors from the minds of Eldraine’s sleeping citizens, made tangible by the planeswalker Ashiok. These creatures can hurt the body and also attack the minds of dreamers afflicted by the Wicked Slumber.

Nightmare haunts appear as horrifying shadow creatures with forms evocative of their victims’ deepest fears. Due to the collective trauma experienced by the people of Eldraine during the Phyrexian invasion, many nightmare haunts take the shape of those terrifying invaders, having multiple limbs and inhuman visages. Smoky purplish energy wafts from their forms, suggesting their connection to the Wicked Slumber.

Ogre Chitterlord

When ogres first moved into the wilds of Eldraine, they encountered all manner of unfamiliar creatures: spellcasting witches, tricksy faeries, and talking beasts. Over generations, these ogres adapted to their new environs, passing down a spellcasting tradition of their own to help their kin wreak havoc in the wilds and beyond.

An ogre chitterlord exercises control over the rats that infest Dunbarrow and countless other regions in the wilds of Eldraine. When ogres venture from the wilds to raid nearby settlements, an ogre chitterlord often leads the way, calling rats from the alleys and sewers to harry townsfolk from within the city while the ogres lay siege to the outer walls. Should their rodent allies fail them, chitterlords can also turn the tide of any battle with their prodigious strength and druidic magic.

Redtooth Werefox

By day, the elves of Redtooth Keep are agile and adept rangers, expertly patrolling the lands around one of the last elven citadels in Eldraine. But at night, terrifying howls echo from the keep’s halls as its inhabitants transform into ruthless werefoxes.

Unlike other forms of lycanthropy, the werefox curse isn’t contagious and is limited to the elves of Redtooth Keep. Legends say that long ago, the garrison at Redtooth Keep

turned away a group of travelers seeking shelter. Before departing, one of the travelers was revealed to be a powerful witch and cursed the elves, declaring that their bodies would forever transform to match their hearts’ selfish and bestial natures.

Sewer King

Sewer kings are hulking, monstrous rats empowered by fiendish blood. This unholy influence gives sewer kings their enormous size, supernatural strength, wicked cunning, and ability to speak.

Deep in the bowels of towns and cities, sewer kings reign over underground vermin, dreaming of the day when rats will overthrow surface dwellers. Rancid saliva drips from a sewer king’s maw, and swarms of vermin skitter at the monstrous rat’s beck and call.

Snapping Hydra

A rare variety of hydra native to the wilds of Eldraine, snapping hydras resemble giant, many-headed turtles. Snapping hydras dwell at the bottom of the wild’s largest lakes or along shorelines where the wilds meet the ocean. These creatures are aptly named; their bites are known to snap giants’ arms cleanly in half. Nicholas Gregory

Snapping hydras have naturally long life spans and strong instincts of self-preservation. When a snapping hydra feels a battle’s odds tipping out of its favor, the hydra lets out a raspy screech and retracts into its shell. In the wilds of Eldraine, it’s never long before a hungry or curious creature arrives to investigate, leaping into battle with the hydra’s foes while the hydra makes an opportune exit.

Specter of Night

Like dark mirrors of Eldraine’s archons (see “Archon of Boundaries”), specters appear as shrouded figures mounted on horrific flying beasts. It is easy to look at a specter and imagine the rider in command of the mount, but the truth is the opposite; the flying horror is an Undead monster that

scours the wilds for a knightly corpse. On finding one, the horror binds its essence to the dead body, giving the corpse the semblance of life as a rider. The two function as a single creature, more powerful for their unnatural union.

Humans of Eldraine view specters as heralds of death. Specters are said to utter a keening wail, mournful beyond all other sounds and audible only to those who are about to die.

Sweettooth Horror

No one is certain of the true origin of Sweettooth Village. This eerie, abandoned town constructed of gingerbread and frosting lies deep in the wilds of Eldraine. Some say the fiendish candy monsters that prowl its butterscotch-lined streets were once servants of a powerful witch, and the entire place was a trap created to lure hungry travelers. But if the sugary horrors of Sweettooth Village were ever under someone’s control, that time has long since passed.

Tempest Hart

Storm giants live high above Eldraine in a cloudy landscape known as Stormkeld. Massive cottages, keeps, and towers dot this magical realm, scattered between expanses of cloudy wilderness marked by tangles of giant beanstalks and raging storms. Various enormous creatures dwell in these wilds, with the tempest hart being among the most majestic.

A colossal elk with antlers made of living lightning, a tempest hart has a long mane of fine hair that waves as if tossed by a strong wind. Its patterned hide resembles the twisting beanstalks that also coil around its legs, shoulders, and haunches.

Storm giant hunters consider tempest harts to be the worthiest prey, desirable for their meat and the raw lightning of their antlers. However, these creatures wield mighty elemental power to defend themselves.

Treefolk

The wise and ancient treefolk thrive in the depths of Eldraine’s forested wilds. Though many treefolk rival members of the high fae in age, they rarely interfere with the goings-on of the faerie court. Instead, treefolk serve as guardians and shepherds of their wild groves, dispensing wisdom and blessings to travelers who wander under their branches.

Dragons of Eldraine

The dragons of Eldraine, are much like those of other D&D worlds. You can use any dragon stat block for a dragon of Eldraine. On Magic cards, there are red dragons (Opportunistic Dragon, Decadent Dragon, and Realm-Scorcher Hellkite), bronze dragons (Loch Dragon), and moonstone dragons (Shimmer Dragon and Archive Dragon). Moonstone dragons are described in Fizban’s Treasury of Dragons.

Witchkite

While many dragons of Eldraine hoard wealth and material goods, witchkites prefer hoarding forbidden and dangerous magical secrets. The arcane nature of a witchkite’s hoard seeps into the dragon’s core, granting it spellcasting abilities and twisting its fiery breath into malevolent motes of magical flame.

Witchstalker

Twice the size of their ordinary kin, witchstalkers are giant wolves drawn to sources of magic by their supernatural sense of smell. As a result, the moors and forests of Dunbarrow make for good hunting grounds. The greater the source of

magic, the more witchstalkers are drawn to the area. To their dismay, witches have drawn as many as a dozen witchstalkers.

Witchstalkers resemble monstrous wolves with enormous jaws and ridged spines. By feeding on spellcasters and other sources of magic, witchstalkers developed their own magical abilities, including a supernatural howl and the ability to teleport next to unsuspecting prey.

Misplaced Monsters

Volume One

Coral

Coral lives in the ocean and in the clouds. Cookies are her favorite snack. She has the power to bolster other creatures, and she can bestow upon animals the ability to speak for a short time. When she is upset, her rainbow tail lights up. If she smacks her tail on the ground, magical force spreads outward to engulf an enemy, potentially turning it to dust. When Coral has the hiccups, bubbles shoot from her horn. These bubbles transform into tasty cookies, bursts of glitter, and protective clouds of stinky gas.

Dandylion

Dandylions are herbivorous farmers who cultivate beautiful gardens of flowers and fields of crops in the Feywild. If treated with respect, dandylions are glad to share their wealth of knowledge about farming with those who show interest in the subject. They give great gardening advice, and their fruits and vegetables are healthy and delicious. Some of their crops also have magical properties, making them valuable as potion ingredients and spell components. Dandylions protect their farms ferociously, and anyone who tramples on or steals from a dandylion’s bounty is likely to incur the creature’s fury. The surest way to entice a dandylion to give up some of its beloved produce or flowers is to flatter it.

A dandylion has soft green fur woven with small leaves. A small, fluffy seed head at the end of the dandylion’s tail contains seed pods. These seed pods enrich soil, giving rise to healthy plants and bountiful harvests. Often, dandylions weave necklaces with petals from their flower gardens and brag about the fertility of their soil. Dandylions love to boast about the fullness of their sunny yellow manes.

Rain

Rain lives in happy meadows atop clouds, away from all the evil of the world. She loves cupcakes and readily accepts them as gifts. She has fiery wings and a tiny halo around the tip of her horn. When confronted by bullies or evildoers, she can emit rainbow-colored positive energy from her haloed horn. Rain uses her rainbows to heal friendly creatures and punish evildoers, transforming the latter into glittering flowers.

Scrapper

Scrappers are tall, broad-shouldered automatons usually found in scrap yards. Sparks erupt from the loose wires that protrude from their hulking frames. Their quasi-mechanical

minds are shielded with lead, protecting them from psychic damage.

A scrapper feeds on scrap metal and uses its electrified wires to grapple and reel in foes. It zaps enemies it can’t reach with an energy beam fired from an extended eye.

Seth the Shapeshifting Dragon

Seth the Shapeshifting Dragon is a vegetarian who likes to hide in the brush near waterfalls, rivers, and lakes. Invisible while immersed in water, Seth is capable of great bursts of speed, and his breath weapon is a blast of frigid water.

Sheldon the Blueberry Dragon

Sheldon is a friendly, good-natured dragon who collects and eats blueberries. When he’s not attending parties, he lives in Wildspace. His body magically produces air, allowing him to thrive in a vacuum and create powerful gusts of wind. Sheldon uses the wind to knock down foes and propel himself farther than his wings can take him on their own.

Dossiers

Vecna

On countless worlds, his name evokes tales of terror and cruelty. Vecna the Undying King. Vecna the Whispered One. Vecna the Lord of the Rotted Tower. Over more than a hundred thousand years, incandescent hatred carried him from the humblest of origins to a conqueror’s throne, then to the realms that lie beyond life and death, and finally to godhood. Many have suffered his terrible wrath, but few can recount how a lowly scribe left an aeon-deep scar on the multiverse before ascending beyond the material altogether. Only a few fragments of Vecna’s story have ever been unearthed.

It is said that Vecna was born into a lowly caste on the world of Oerth, son of a hedge witch and a father he never knew. An order of wizards exiled Vecna’s mother into the wastes for practicing the forbidden art of necromancy. The order bound her orphaned son into servitude and employed him as first a bootblack, then a scribe. Vecna spent the better part of his childhood secretly educating himself in his masters’ arts, stealing into their library of magical treatises each night after midnight. It was during these intense study sessions that he first heard a soothing voice in his head, a whisper from another world that promised him revenge if he would only yield to the hatred that was festering in his heart. Once Vecna learned all he could from his masters and their books, he massacred them. On that very night, the voice urged him to record his every foul thought and dream, and he started to pen his Book of Vile Darkness.

According to legend, Vecna went on to forge a kingdom in the world of Greyhawk. He ruled for several centuries from an obsidian tower that rose from the bottom of the black waters of the Nyr Dyv to stretch far above its surface. During this era, at the urging of the voice, Vecna conquered vast realms and swept great cities beneath earth and rock. Generations later, when his physical form finally started to succumb to the ravages of time, Vecna’s festering hatred would not permit him to perish. He called upon the forbidden arts of necromancy to transform himself into a lich, a frightful being beyond the reach of death.

At some point, Vecna grew bored with his kingdom on Oerth and started visiting his evil on other worlds, still driven by the mysterious voice and his unquenchable hatred for all things true and pure. For a time, he is said to have inhabited a palace known as the Citadel of Cavitius, located in a vast field of ash somewhere near the border between the Planes of Earth and Fire.

Eventually, a fallen paladin known as Kas the Bloody-Handed rose through the ranks of Vecna’s vile minions to become the archlich’s personal guard and regent over many of the kingdoms and cults Vecna established across the multiverse. As a symbol of Kas’s authority, Vecna forged him a terrifying weapon, the blade now known as the Sword of Kas. Later, Kas turned on Vecna and used the sword to sever the archlich’s hand and put out his eye. No one knows why Kas betrayed Vecna. Some believe the mysterious voice that spoke to Vecna for eons grew to fear the archlich and began whispering to Kas instead.

After their clash, Kas and Vecna disappeared for ages. The former later emerged as the ruler of the wasteland domain of Tovag in the Shadowfell. The latter spent several centuries hopping from world to world, questing for his severed hand and eye. More recently, Vecna decamped to the Outer Planes, where he grew so powerful that he became a god. He has many ardent worshipers, all hungry for a taste of his immense power.

The accompanying stat block depicts Vecna in his archlich form prior to Kas’s betrayal. Because Vecna is said to have mastered magic allowing him to travel through time, he can appear in this form even on worlds where his severed hand and eye are already known artifacts.

Book of Vile Darkness

Wondrous Item, artifact (requires attunement)

The contents of this foul manuscript of ineffable wickedness are the meat and drink of those in evil’s thrall. No mortal was meant to know the secrets it contains, knowledge so horrid that to even glimpse the scrawled pages invites madness.

Most believe the lich-god Vecna authored the Book of Vile Darkness. He recorded in its pages every diseased idea, every unhinged thought, and every example of blackest magic he came across or devised. Vecna covered every vile topic he could, making the book a gruesome catalog of all mortal wrongs.

Other practitioners of evil have held the book and added their own input to its catalog of vile knowledge. Their additions are clear, for the writers of later works stitched whatever they were writing into the tome or, in some cases, made notations and additions to existing text. There are places where pages are missing, torn, or covered so completely with ink, blood, and scratches that the original text can’t be divined.

Nature can’t abide the book’s presence. Ordinary plants wither in its presence, animals are unwilling to approach it, and the book gradually destroys whatever it touches. Even stone cracks and turns to powder if the book rests on it long enough.

A creature attuned to the book must spend 80 hours reading and studying it to digest its contents and reap its benefits. The creature can then freely modify the book’s contents, provided that those modifications advance evil and expand the lore already contained within.

Whenever a non-evil creature attunes to the Book of Vile Darkness, that creature must make a DC 17 Charisma saving throw. On a failed save, the creature’s alignment changes to neutral evil.

The Book of Vile Darkness remains with you only as long as you strive to work evil in the world. If you fail to perform at least one evil act within the span of 10 days, or if you willingly perform a good act, the book disappears. If you die while attuned to the book, an entity of great evil claims your soul. You can’t be restored to life by any means while your soul remains imprisoned.

Random Properties. The Book of Vile Darkness has the following random properties:

• 3 minor beneficial properties
• 1 major beneficial property
• 3 minor detrimental properties
• 2 major detrimental properties

Adjusted Ability Scores. After you spend the requisite amount of time reading and studying the book, one ability score of your choice increases by 2, to a maximum of 24. Another ability score of your choice decreases by 2, to a minimum of 3. The book can’t adjust your ability scores again.

Mark of Darkness. After you spend the requisite amount of time reading and studying the book, you acquire a physical disfigurement as a hideous sign of your devotion to vile darkness. An evil rune might appear on your face, your eyes might become glossy black, or horns might sprout from your forehead. Or you might become wizened and hideous, lose all facial features, gain a forked tongue, or some other feature the DM chooses. The mark of darkness grants you advantage on Charisma (Persuasion) checks made to interact with evil creatures and Charisma (Intimidation) checks made to interact with non-evil creatures.

Command Evil. While you are attuned to the book and holding it, you can use an action to cast the dominate monster spell on an evil target (save DC 18). You can’t use this property again until the next dawn.

Dark Lore. You can reference the Book of Vile Darkness whenever you make an Intelligence check to recall information about some aspect of evil, such as lore about demons. When you do so, double your proficiency bonus on that check.

Dark Speech. While you carry the Book of Vile Darkness and are attuned to it, you can use an action to recite words from its pages in a foul language known as Dark Speech. Each time you do so, you take 1d12 psychic damage, and each non-evil creature within 15 feet of you takes 3d6 psychic damage.

Destroying the Book. The Book of Vile Darkness allows pages to be torn from it, but any evil lore contained on those pages finds its way back into the book eventually, usually when a new author adds pages to the tome.

If a solar tears the book in two, the book is destroyed for 1d100 years, after which it reforms in some dark corner of the multiverse.

A creature attuned to the book for one hundred years can unearth a phrase hidden in the original text that, when translated to Celestial and spoken aloud, destroys both the speaker and the book in a blinding flash of radiance. However, as long as evil exists in the multiverse, the book reforms 1d10 × 100 years later.

If all evil in the multiverse is wiped out, the book turns to dust and is forever destroyed.

Crown of Lies

Wondrous Item, artifact (requires attunement)

After betraying and nearly destroying the lich Vecna, the warrior Kas found himself trapped in the Shadowfell, imprisoned in a Domain of Dread called Tovag. There, he languished as a vampire. In time, the Dark Powers of the Domain of Dread lured Kas to a hidden forge, where he found the Crown of Lies. Once Kas vowed to deliver Vecna into the Dark Powers’ clutches and donned the crown, the Dark Powers released Kas. From there, Kas set out to ruin his former master. Should Kas fail, the Dark Powers will reclaim him.

The crown is made of burnished and entwined metal rods. To attune to it, you must place it on your head and speak a true desire of your heart. You know how to attune to the crown when you touch it.

Random Properties. The Crown of Lies has the following random properties (see the Dungeon Master’s Guide for options):

• 1 minor beneficial property
• 1 major beneficial property
• 1 minor detrimental property

Perfect Disguise. While attuned to the crown, you can use an action to transform yourself to look and feel like any creature you’ve seen at least once and whose size is no more than one size smaller or larger than yours.

The new form mimics the chosen creature’s appearance exactly, including its voice. Your size and speed are replaced by the chosen creature’s. You otherwise retain your own game statistics. While in this new form, the crown melds into your person and is undetectable.

Your new form lasts until you die, your attunement to the crown ends, or you use another action to transform into a different creature or your true form. Interactions with you while you are transformed by the crown reveal no illusory magic, nor do they reveal anything other than details about the creature you’re disguised as. You count as the chosen creature for the purposes of spells, traps, and other defenses that wouldn’t target the chosen creature.

While in your disguised form, any lies you tell always seem to be true, no matter what magical or mundane methods are used to try to detect your falsehoods. You are the recipient of sending spells addressed to you and the creature you are disguised as, and scrying and similar spells that target the creature you are disguised as actually target you. The only way to reveal your true nature while transformed by the crown is with a wish spell.

While wearing this crown in your true form, you can choose for the crown to be visible if you wish.

Destroying the Crown. If a creature wearing the crown is killed by the creature it is disguised as, the crown disintegrates and is destroyed.

Eye and Hand of Vecna

Wondrous Item, artifacts (requires attunement)

Seldom is the name of Vecna spoken except in a hushed voice. Vecna was, in his time, one of the mightiest of all wizards. Through dark magic and conquest, he forged a terrible empire. For all his power, Vecna couldn’t escape his own mortality. He began to fear death and take steps to prevent his end from ever coming about.

Orcus, the demon prince of undeath, taught Vecna a ritual that would allow him to live on as a lich. Beyond death, he became the greatest of all liches. Even though his body gradually withered and decayed, Vecna continued to expand his evil dominion. So formidable and hideous was his temper that his subjects feared to speak his name. He was the Whispered One, the Master of the Spider Throne, the Undying King, and the Lord of the Rotted Tower.

Some say that Vecna’s lieutenant Kas coveted the Spider Throne for himself, or that the sword his lord made for him seduced him into rebellion. Whatever the reason, Kas brought the Undying King’s rule to an end in a terrible battle that left Vecna’s tower a heap of ash. Of Vecna, all that remained were one hand and one eye, grisly artifacts that still seek to work the Whispered One’s will in the world.

The Eye of Vecna and the Hand of Vecna might be found together or separately. The eye looks like a bloodshot organ torn free from the socket. The hand is a mummified and shriveled left extremity.

To attune to the eye, you must gouge out your own eye and press the artifact into the empty socket. The eye grafts itself to your head and remains there until you die. Once in place, the eye transforms into a golden eye with a slit for a pupil, much like that of a cat. If the eye is ever removed, you die.

To attune to the hand, you must lop off your left hand at the wrist and the press the artifact against the stump. The hand grafts itself to your arm and becomes a functioning appendage. If the hand is ever removed, you die.

Random Properties. The Eye of Vecna and the Hand of Vecna each have the following random properties:

• 1 minor beneficial property
• 1 major beneficial property
• 1 minor detrimental property

Properties of the Eye. Your alignment changes to neutral evil, and you gain the following benefits:

• You have truesight.
• You can use an action to see as if you were wearing a ring of X-ray vision. You can end this effect as a bonus action.
• The eye has 8 charges. You can use an action and expend 1 or more charges to cast one of the following spells (save DC 18) from it: clairvoyance (2 charges), crown of madness (1 charge), disintegrate (4 charges), dominate monster (5 charges), or eyebite (4 charges). The eye regains 1d4 + 4 expended charges daily at dawn. Each time you cast a spell from the eye, there is a 5 percent chance that Vecna tears your soul from your body, devours it, and then takes control of the body like a puppet. If that happens, you become an NPC under the DM’s control.

Properties of the Hand. Your alignment changes to neutral evil, and you gain the following benefits:

• Your Strength score becomes 20, unless it is already 20 or higher.
• Any melee spell attack you make with the hand, and any melee weapon attack made with a weapon held by it, deals an extra 2d8 cold damage on a hit.
• The hand has 8 charges. You can use an action and expend 1 or more charges to cast one of the following spells (save DC 18) from it: finger of death (5 charges), sleep (1 charge), slow (2 charges), or teleport (3 charges). The hand regains 1d4 + 4 expended charges daily at dawn. Each time you cast a spell from the hand, it casts the suggestion spell on you (save DC 18), demanding that you commit an evil act. The hand might have a specific act in mind or leave it up to you.

Properties of the Eye and Hand. If you are attuned to both the hand and eye, you gain the following additional benefits:

• You are immune to disease and poison.
• Using the eye’s X-ray vision never causes you to suffer exhaustion.
• You experience premonitions of danger and, unless you are incapacitated, can’t be surprised. -If you start your turn with at least 1 hit point, you regain 1d10 hit points.
• If a creature has a skeleton, you can attempt to turn its bones to jelly with a touch of the Hand of Vecna. You can do so by using an action to make a melee attack against a creature you can reach, using your choice of your melee attack bonus for weapons or spells. On a hit, the target must succeed on a DC 18 Constitution saving throw or drop to 0 hit points.
• You can use an action to cast wish. This property can’t be used again until 30 days have passed.

Destroying the Eye and Hand. If the Eye of Vecna and the Hand of Vecna are both attached to the same creature, and that creature is slain by the Sword of Kas, both the eye and the hand burst into flame, turn to ash, and are destroyed forever. Any other attempt to destroy the eye or hand seems to work, but the artifact reappears in one of Vecna’s many hidden vaults, where it waits to be rediscovered.

Sword of Kas

Weapon (longsword), artifact (requires attunement)

When Vecna grew in power, he appointed an evil and ruthless lieutenant, Kas the Bloody Handed, to act as his bodyguard and right hand. This despicable villain served as advisor, warlord, and assassin. His successes earned him Vecna’s admiration and a reward: a sword with as dark a pedigree as the man who would wield it.

For a long time, Kas faithfully served the lich, but as Kas’s power grew, so did his hubris. His sword urged him to supplant Vecna, so that they could rule the lich’s empire in Vecna’s stead. Legend says Vecna’s destruction came at Kas’s hand, but Vecna also wrought his rebellious lieutenant’s doom, leaving only Kas’s sword behind. The world was made brighter thereby.

The Sword of Kas is a magic, sentient longsword that grants a +3 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with it. It scores a critical hit on a roll of 19 or 20, and deals an extra 2d10 slashing damage to undead.

If the sword isn’t bathed in blood within 1 minute of being drawn from its scabbard, its wielder must make a DC 15 Charisma saving throw. On a successful save, the wielder take 3d6 psychic damage. On a failed save, the wielder is dominated by the sword, as if by the dominate monster spell, and the sword demands that it be bathed in blood. The spell effect ends when the sword’s demand is met.

Random Properties. The Sword of Kas has the following random properties:

• 1 minor beneficial property
• 1 major beneficial property
• 1 minor detrimental property
• 1 major detrimental property

Spirit of Kas. While the sword is on your person, you add a d10 to your initiative at the start of every combat. In addition, when you use an action to attack with the sword, you can transfer some or all of its attack bonus to your Armor Class instead. The adjusted bonuses remain in effect until the start of your next turn.

Spells. While the sword is on your person, you can use an action to cast one of the following spells (save DC 18) from it: call lightning, divine word, or finger of death. Once you use the sword to cast a spell, you can’t cast that spell again from it until the next dawn.

Sentience. The Sword of Kas is a sentient chaotic evil weapon with an Intelligence of 15, a Wisdom of 13, and a Charisma of 16. It has hearing and darkvision out to a range of 120 feet.

The weapon communicates telepathically with its wielder and can speak, read, and understand Common.

Personality. The sword’s purpose is to bring ruin to Vecna. Killing Vecna’s worshipers, destroying the lich’s works, and foiling his machinations all help to fulfill this goal.

The Sword of Kas also seeks to destroy anyone corrupted by the Eye and Hand of Vecna. The sword’s obsession with those artifacts eventually becomes a fixation for its wielder.

Destroying the Sword. A creature attuned to both the Eye of Vecna and the Hand of Vecna can use the wish property of those combined artifacts to unmake the Sword of Kas. The creature must cast the wish spell and make a Charisma check contested by the Charisma check of the sword. The sword must be within 30 feet of the creature, or the spell fails. If the sword wins the contest, nothing happens, and the wish spell is wasted. If the sword loses the contest, it is destroyed.

Proficiency with a longsword allows you to add your proficiency bonus to the attack roll for any attack you make with it.

Tome of the Stilled Tongue

Wondrous Item, legendary (requires attunement by a wizard)

This thick leather-bound volume has a desiccated tongue pinned to the front cover. Five of these tomes exist, and it's unknown which one is the original. The grisly cover decoration on the first tome of the stilled tongue once belonged to a treacherous former servant of the lich-god Vecna, keeper of secrets. The tongues pinned to the covers of the four copies came from other spellcasters who crossed Vecna. The first few pages of each tome are filled with indecipherable scrawls. The remaining pages are blank and pristine.

If you can attune to this item, you can use it as a spellbook and an arcane focus. In addition, while holding the tome, you can use a bonus action to cast a spell you have written in this tome, without expending a spell slot or using any verbal or somatic components. Once used, this property of the tome can't be used again until the next dawn.

While attuned to the book, you can remove the tongue from the book's cover. If you do so, all spells written in the book are permanently erased.

Vecna watches anyone using this tome. He can also write cryptic messages in the book. These messages appear at midnight and fade away after they are read.

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