D&D 5E Sphinx

[Mouseferatu]

"Oh, great sphinx, now that we have passed your challenge... We have been battling [campaign villain] for ages, now, as long as [campaign to date]. We've never been able to defeat him, and his forces grow stronger every day. What is the secret to defeating him?"

*sphinx takes the entire party back in time ten years*

"Better go find him fast, before he gets powerful again. It shouldn't take too long to find him. I mean, you have a pretty good idea what continent he's on..."

 

[Boarstorm]

"the sphinx can take a lair action to cause one of the following magical effects; the sphinx can't use an effect again until it finishes a short or long rest"

I would say it only gets one effect before resting, but it could be read either way.

I would read it as the opposite.

"Lair action" and "effect" are two different things, by my reading. So it can use another lair action, but it can't use the same effect.

 

[Sir Brennen]

Ah, I see. It would be interesting to see what the Tarrasque's lair is. I hope that's true.

Also noted in the DM Basic PDF just released today, Legendary Creatures can also have a Region Effect. That sounds more like what a Tarrasque would have rather than a lair:

Regional Effects
The mere presence of a legendary creature can have strange and wondrous effects on its environment, as noted in this section. Regional effects end abruptly or dissipate over time when the legendary creature dies.

 

[Patrick McGill]

Also noted in the DM Basic PDF just released today, Legendary Creatures can also have a Region Effect. That sounds more like what a Tarrasque would have rather than a lair:

I wonder if this will answer some of those pesky flying problems.

 

[Curmudjinn]

I passed the Sphinx Redirect Loop Riddle!

Love the art.

I completely agree. Very majestic.

 

[Nebulous]

I love it. The 5e Monster Manual is going to be so fun to read.

 

[Ballbo Big'uns]

The answer is the moon!

 

[The Hitcher]

I also quite like the art, although I feel obliged to point out that it doesn’t match the description. It says that the Androsphinx has a humanoid head on a lion's body. That's pretty clearly a lion's head.

 

[dd.stevenson]

Like the art again, and I'm also happy about what they did with the lair actions. These things could be used in combat, but mainly they seem to serve as plot hooks.

Comparing this to the tarrasque, it now also looks like a couple of pages were missing from the tarrasque preview--I have the idea that it's text gives the ability to self-rez, among other things.

 

[JEB]

The flavor text format reminds me of the 4E Essentials monster books (Monster Vault and Threats to the Nentir Vale). Considering those are the only 4E monster books I truly enjoyed, I have no objections to this...