Portrait of Desolation (5e Creature)
Portrait of Desolation[edit]
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Medium construct, chaotic evil Armor Class 10
Damage Vulnerabilities slashing, fire All In Your Head. When a creature that can see the portrait starts its turn within 30 feet of the portrait, the portrait can force that creature to make a DC 13 Charisma saving throw if the portrait isn't incapacitated. On a failed save, the creature must use as much of its movement as possible to approach the portrait. If the creature ends its movement within 5 feet of the Portrait, the creature is stunned until the beginning of the creature's next turn. Unless surprised, a creature can avert its eyes to avoid the saving throw at the start of its turn. If the creature does so, it can't see the portrait until the start of its next turn, when it can avert its eyes again. If the creature looks at the portrait in the meantime, it must immediately make the save. False Appearance. While motionless and not floating, the portrait looks just like an ordinary painting. Innate Spellcasting. The portrait's spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 12, +4 to hit with spell attacks). It can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components: At will: silent image ACTIONSSlam. Melee Weapon Attack: +2 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 4 (1d8) bludgeoning damage. Give Me Your Eyes. The portrait targets an incapacitated creature within 5 feet. The creature must make a DC 13 Charisma saving throw. On a failed save the creature takes 18 (4d8) psychic damage. A creature reduced to 0 hit points by this effect dies instantly as its eyes dissolve into black sludge. The creature can not be restored to life unless the portrait is destroyed, except by a casting of wish.
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There was once an artist who sought to create the perfect work of art: a work which would capture the purest truth of the world and what it means to be alive, and which would be able to communicate this meaning to anyone who saw it regardless of their background or circumstances. He spent years studying art theory and culture, but could never create the work he sought, until one day a mysterious stranger came to call on him. Following this visit, the artist at last found his inspiration. He spent the next few days working in a mad fervor to complete his masterpiece. He neither rested, nor ate, nor drank. When loved ones tried to stop him, he howled and thrashed until they let him return to work. Once he was finally done, he collapsed, dead. This is not a unique story of an isolated incident. It has happened repeatedly to artists across the world, resulting in the creation of hundreds or even thousands of these evil paintings, which in lieu of any name from their creators have come to be collectively titled Portraits of Desolation. Some of them have been seized and burned by various religious organizations. Others have sold at auction for a king's ransom, only for the purchaser to be found dead shortly after, kneeling before the painting, their empty and weeping eye sockets transfixed on the canvas. A few more magically inclined types have even managed to "tame" the paintings and use them in their dark towers and castles to eliminate intruders. As for the paintings themselves, they are all exquisitely made masterpieces. The individual subjects vary and are rarely as macabre as the name Portrait of Desolation would suggest. However, behind it all there is an inexplicable but also unmistakable sense of emptiness and hollow despair. There is no movement or vitality in the landscapes, no life in the eyes of the portraits. Looking at the paintings, the viewer comes to feel as if the world is devoid of all meaning, as if they once held the most precious thing in all of creation only to lose that thing with no hope of recovery, and that no matter what happens in the future they will never be warm and happy again. But of course, art is only art. Don't scream, just remind yourself it's all in your head. I T S A L R E A D Y I N Y O U R H E A D |
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