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Large monstrosity, unaligned
Armor Class 17 (natural armor)
Hit Points 189 (18d10 + 90)
Speed 30 ft., climb 30 ft.
Skills Athletics +8, Perception +9, Stealth +6, Survival +7
Damage Resistances bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks.
Condition Immunities charmed, exhaustion, frightened, stunned
Senses , darkvision 240 ft.,passive Perception 19
Languages Druidic, Common
Challenge 10 (5,900 XP)
Animal Ken. The mubida can telepathically communicate simple messages to beasts within 100 feet.
Bounding Escape. Any creature that makes an opportunity attack against the mubida has disadvantage on the attack roll.
Charge. If the mubida moves at least 10 feet straight toward a target and then hits it with a gore attack on the same turn, the target takes an extra 9 (2d8) bludgeoning damage.
Guard Dog. Creatures have disadvantage on attack rolls against a beast ally of the mubida while the mubida is within 10 feet of the beast.
Shepherd's Isolation. If the mubida hits with its first attack on its turn, the target takes an extra 22 (4d10) damage (of the same type as the attack) if the target has no allies within 5 feet.
Skulk. The mubida can use the Hide action as a bonus action.
Vengeful Stalker. The mubida automatically succeeds on Wisdom (Survival) checks made to track a creature it has dealt at least 20 damage to in the past 24 hours.
ACTIONS
Multiattack. The mubida makes a bite, claw, and gore attack.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 9 (1d10 + 4) piercing damage.
Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 10 (1d12 + 4) slashing damage.
Gore. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 9 (1d10 + 4) bludgeoning damage.
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{{{description}}}
A rare monstrosity believed by hunters and woodsmen to be a herald of strife, it is said that the mubida arrive to cut off villages from the bounty of the wilds around them. Many settlements undergo years of hardship because only to find that the creature simply disappears without warning. In truth a mubida is a highly intelligent and empathic child of nature, protecting it from overharvesting and overhunting. Many non-druids do not consider their impact on the world around them—they don’t consider the stability of the deer they hunt or their impact on the ecosystem, and some druidic scholars believe that the mubida is nature’s response to these actions. A defense mechanism that prevents the total destabilization of the ecosystem.
There are many ways that a mubida might be brought into existence. The most common theory is that the monstrosities are constructed with primal magic by nature itself, and the common thread between sightings is that they always appear in areas where life is being harvested and hunted at a rate that exceeds nature’s ability to replenish. Sages have concluded that these creatures do not “arrive” at a location but are instead born, fully grown in unstable areas.
Another popular theory is that this patchwork creature is, not unlike the owlbear, the result of too much magical experimentation on a mundane creature. Unlike the owlbear and chimera, scholars postulate that the responsible spellcaster was not a wizard but a druid. Many historians believe that this druid was a wandering shepherd that repeatedly altered their trusted sheepdog with magic in the belief that improving the canine would better protect the flock. Eventually one too many spells were cast on the animal and the very foundation of its body and mind altered—it no longer viewed the small group of sheep as its charge but rather saw all creatures endangered by the mortal races as its flock. Those who subscribe to this speculation presume that all mubida share a single common ancestor as its offspring spread throughout the known world.
Finally, the third most prevalent idea regarding the genesis of the mubida flies in the face of the other, more widely accepted theories: they are not monstrosities at all. Created from magic but not true primal energies, instead they are thought to perhaps be undead animated from large volumes of beast corpses that are the byproduct of overhunting. They do not come to protect the land, only to serve as nature’s vengeance against greedy mortal races. This school of thought is popular with scholars that find no correlation between a mubida’s presence and the stabilization of a region’s fauna, positing that any dangerous creature in a region will stem the tide of overharvesting due to its very presence. Detractors cite the fact that a mubida has never been seen harming an animal in the wild yet the skeptical don’t accept that lack of evidence is proof within itself.
Regional Effects
A region containing a mubida’s lair thrives. Animals are more durable, require less to eat, reproduce healthy offspring more frequently. The senses of non-beasts dull and the very landscape seems to work against them. No death goes unnoticed within the mubida’s domain.
- All wild creatures of the beast type within 10 miles of the mubida’s lair increase their AC by 2 and gain 5 temporary hit points at the end of each long rest.
- The mubida becomes instantly aware of any Tiny or larger creature that dies within 10 miles of its lair. It knows the exact location the creature died and if the death was the result of a sapient creature’s actions.
- Wisdom (Survival) checks are made with disadvantage by all creatures other than beasts within 10 miles of the mubida’s lair.
- Mundane foliage becomes difficult terrain at inconvenient times for creatures other than beasts within 1 mile of the mubida’s lair.
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