Fell Rider (5e Creature)

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Fell Rider[edit]

Medium fey, neutral evil


Armor Class 14 (hide armor)
Hit Points 162 (25d8 + 50)
Speed 30 ft.


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

Saving Throws Dex +6, Wis +5
Skills Animal Handling +5, Athletics +6, Intimidation +6, Perception +5, Religion +4
Proficiency Bonus +3
Condition Immunities charmed, exhaustion, frightened
Senses darkvision 120 ft., passive Perception 15
Languages Common, Sylvan
Challenge 8 (3,900 XP)


Bringer of the Night. All light within a 90-foot radius of the fell rider is magically reduced to no brighter than dim light for all other creatures. This is considered a magical darkness effect, and can be temporarily suppressed by magic of 5th level or higher that suppresses or dispels darkness.

Cavalry Expert. The fell rider gains the following benefits as long as it's riding a mount:

  • It can wield two-handed weapons in one hand.
  • It has advantage on saving throws made to resist being knocked off its mount.
  • Whenever the fell rider moves at least 35 feet away from the space it started its turn on, it and its mount gain a +2 bonus to AC until the beginning of the fell rider's next turn.

Fellvision. Magical darkness doesn't impede the fell rider's darkvision.

Greater Find Steed. The fell rider's steed is tougher than other mounts: Its hit point maximum is increased by 40. In addition, whenever the fell rider teleports, its mount also teleports with it.

Innate Spellcasting. The fell rider's spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 14). It can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components:

At will: cause fear, chill touch, compelled duel, find steed, hunter's mark, shadow mist, soul arrow, thunderous smite, toll the dead
On recharge: dimension door (Supernatural Recharge 5+), expeditious retreat (Supernatural Recharge 4+), fear (Supernatural Recharge 4+), invisibility (Recharges after a Short or Long Rest), witch bolt (Supernatural Recharge 3+)
1/day each: bestow curse (9th level), call lightning, etherealness, greater darkness

Nondetection and Pass without Trace. The fell rider and its mount are each considered under the effects of both the nondetection and pass without trace spells. Each of these effects can be suppressed by antimagic or temporarily dispelled by magic of 6th level or higher. A dispelled ability resumes normal function again daily at dusk.

Sunlight Hypersensitivity. The fell rider burns at the touch of sunlight. Whenever it begins its turn in sunlight, it takes 20 radiant damage. If it gets reduced to 0 hit points this way, it disintegrates, dying instantly. While in sunlight, it has disadvantage on attack rolls and ability checks.

Supernatural Recharge. At the beginning of the fell rider's turn, roll 2d6. The fell rider can expend each of these dice to regain a use of a spell or ability whose recharge value is less than or equal to that die's result.

Weapon. The fell rider wields either a halberd, glaive, greatsword, or scythe. This determines which actions the fell rider can do.

ACTIONS

Multiattack. The fell rider makes four melee weapon attacks.

Spell and Multiattack (Supernatural Recharge 2+). The fell rider casts one spell and makes two melee weapon attacks.

Glaive (Glaive Only). Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 9 (1d10 + 3) slashing damage. Miss: 3 slashing damage.

Greatsword (Greatsword Only). Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 10 (2d6 + 3) slashing damage. Miss: 3 slashing damage.

Halberd (Halberd Only). Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 9 (1d10 + 3) slashing damage, and the fell rider makes an additional halberd attack against a second creature within 5 feet of the first, dealing 5 (1d10) slashing damage. The fell rider can only make this additional attack once per turn.

Scythe (Scythe Only). Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 9 (2d4 + 3) slashing damage. If the target is a creature, its speed is reduced by 10 feet until the start of the fell rider's next turn.

Rapid Steed (Supernatural Recharge 4+). The fell rider casts find steed.

Sweeping Strike. The fell rider makes two melee weapon attacks against each creature within its reach.

REACTIONS

Fell Curse. In response to dropping to 0 hit points, the fell rider casts bestow curse at 9th level upon the creature it deems most responsible for its death. It can use one of the default curse options or one of the curses described in the Combat Behavior section.

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A dark rider that hunts in the night. Courtesy of https://www.craiyon.com/.

Fell riders are cursed warriors of omen, both weal and woe; their armor and horses swathed in black cloth. They hunt both lone travellers and villagefolk alike, striking down any who dare leave themselves unattended at night. The fell rider almost exclusively rides solitary, patrolling regular routes of its own designation and hunting down anything it sees.

Baned by Sunlight. Fell riders are bound to never step foot in sunlight. A fell rider typically waits daylight hours out by casting etherealness upon itself just before dawn, using its time in the Ethereal Plane to slink away to a safe place and take a long rest. If it can't do this, it will move as quickly as it can under cover of magical darkness toward relief, such as a cave or dungeon.

The Wild Hunt. Once in a blue moon, numerous fell riders gather together on a moonless night to scour the land clean, in an event known as the Wild Hunt. They whirl through town after town, howling and screaming as they go, taking any who leave their doors unlocked to join their numbers. In some settings, the Wild Hunt is a lawless tornado of death; In others, the Wild Hunt is championed by a god or demigod, usually one whose portfolio includes death or war.

Fell Rider's Loot. The fell rider's black cloak and weapon burn up and disintegrate with it if the fell rider dies to sunlight exposure. Should a fell rider be slain by other means, its equipment can be taken as trophies. The weapon it wields is mundane, but is usually in good enough condition for an adventurer to wield immediately.

Combat Behavior

The fell rider is a mounted opponent that uses hit-and-run tactics to slam its foes repeatedly. The DM probably should not be using it in enclosed spaces where it does not have room to run around freely.

The fell rider will always be riding its mount when combat begins; the mount always takes the form of a warhorse. If its mount dies, it will do everything in its power to stay alive, and activate Rapid Steed as quickly as possible.

The fell rider always spends every turn moving as much as possible to gain the benefit of its Cavalry Expert feature.

On any given turn, the fell rider has one of several strategies it will try. The DM can choose one deliberately, pick one at random, or control the fell rider manually.

  • Finishing Off. The fell rider moves up to its speed towards a creature it deems the weakest (typically one it has targeted with spells or attacks already) and uses its Multiattack against it. It will then continue to move its remaining speed in the same direction.
  • Sniper Targeting. The fell rider focuses on a far-away attacker. If dimension door or expeditious retreat are available, it uses Spell and Multittack to gap-close toward a creature out of movement range it deems a threat and then attacks. If these are not available, it will instead cast a spell that can reach that creature.
  • Tactical Retreat. The fell rider tries to disengage from melee. If dimension door is available, it will use Spell and Multiattack to attack adjacent creatures and then teleport away to a safe location. If neither of these are available, it instead disengages and moves away, or defaults to using Multiattack to take out adjacent threatening creatures.
  • Crowd Control. The fell rider blasts a group of clumped-together creatures. If it can hit three or more creatures at once, it will move to that position and cast call lightning upon them if available, repeating the spell until it ends to its fullest effect. Otherwise, it will instead use Sweeping Strike to hit as many creatures as possible.
  • Joust. If the fell rider sees a hostile mounted creature, it is compelled to fight that specific creature first, one-on-one. It will move into engagement range as soon as possible, casting compelled duel on that creature as often as possible until it purchases (using Spell and Multiattack if possible), all the while using everything in its power to fight that creature singly.

If the fell rider senses that it is going to lose a fight and possibly die, it will attempt to escape using etherealness. Otherwise, it will prioritize using its most powerful available moves to deal optimally maximum devastation to its foes, fighting to the absolute last.

Curses. Typically, the fell rider will only cast bestow curse using its Fell Curse feature as a final farewell attack, but the DM may also see fit to use it in the normal course of battle. The fell rider knows several different curses it can inflict using bestow curse's inherently freeform power. These include:

  • While cursed, the target is deafened.
  • While cursed, the target suffers the effects of extreme cold (see chapter 5 of the Dungeon Master's Guide) after every hour it spends without protecting itself from extreme cold.
  • While cursed, the target gains the following personality flaw: "I am deathly terrified of the dark."
  • While cursed, the target's movement speed is reduced by 10 feet.
  • While cursed, the target can't take reactions.
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