Catoblepas
Passive
Active
- Baleful Gaze +8 : 0 (Enervate)
- Breath Weapon +8 : 1d6 (Venom)
- Horn +8 : 4 (First Strike)
- Tail +8 : 4 (Crushing)
- Trample +8 : 1d6 (Knockdown)
Phases
- Berserk +8 (Bloodied):
The monster enters a berserker rage, which lasts for the duration of the scene. If damage would reduce it to 0 HP or less, its HP is reduced to 1 instead and it makes an escalating Mighty check (TN 11) to remain conscious each round. While berserk, it will not stop attacking its foes, even if its life is in danger, and the berserker rage will only end when the final foe falls. The monster has disadvantage on Deft and defense checks while berserk.
Lore
A wet, choking stench of rot wafting from the mire, followed by the thud of stubby legs dragging a bloated bulk through the muck.
The Catoblepas is an obscene fusion of buffalo, warthog, and hippo, its bristled neck ending in a heavy, downward-lolling head with a single bloodshot eye that glows faintly in the murk. Warts and lesions stud its hide, oozing pus that attracts clouds of flies. It lashes with its club-like tail or drives its horns forward with surprising force, but worse than any brute strength is its gaze: those who lock eyes with it face deadly enervation. Drawn to carrion and stagnant water, the Catoblepas thrives in fetid swamps where its presence spoils the ground, wilts plants, and sickens beasts.
Catoblepas make for excellent open marsh or fen cryptids, best used as territorial predators that punish intrusion. They are typically the cause of blights in corrupted lands, being the physical incarnations of a curse or bad omen. Hags may harness a Catoblepas as livestock to render poisonous milk; liches and other intelligent undead may ride them as steeds. They are dimwitted, rageful omnivores with a diet akin to vultures, but will devour the living if given the opportunity. Their signature abilities—a baleful maleficence and wilting aura—can sow chaos among clustered adventurers, until the creature singles out a foe to trample them to death or strike with its deadly gaze. GMs should emphasize its growing ferocity under duress: when bloodied, it may enter a blind rage. Rumors of such a beast nearby should darken the tone of a whole adventure, for its folkloric weight makes it as much a portent as a monster.