5E: Fifth Edition Monster Variants Inspired by Fourth Edition Sources

[Casimir Liber]

ok maybe an extra bonus action/action

The Blood is the Life. The Scarlet Mist can bestow 10 (3d6) hp on any Vampiric Mist it is within five feet of. The Scarlet Death loses the same amount of hp (half??)

 

[Cleon]

ok maybe an extra bonus action/action

The Blood is the Life. The Scarlet Mist can bestow 10 (3d6) hp on any Vampiric Mist it is within five feet of. The Scarlet Death loses the same amount of hp (half??)

I'm liking Scarlet Death better for the name.

Calling it a "Scarlet Mist" sounds too much more like it's blinded with rage for my tastes.

If we're going to make it a Boss Monster we'll need to give it at least a couple of interesting things for it to do in combat, and it sounds like you want it to have multiple actions in a round so it can potentially act as a solo opponent.

Now I was thinking of giving it a "bestow blood to Vampiric Mist" power, but I'm not sure about the cost. If the Scarlet Death is a lot tougher and deadlier than a Mist it might be more effective for it to keep its hit points and stay in the fight longer than bleeding them away into an ally who might not be contributing much to a fight.

Perhaps we should instead give it a pool of "blood dice" it spends on various effects, including healing itself or an ally. Its blood-draining tendril melee attack action can replenishes its Blood Pool special trait by adding a new blood dice to it, up to its "satiety" limit (whatever that is), and if it becomes over-satiated it becomes sluggish.

Also, if we're looking for a way to give it extra actions, how about we write up some Lair Actions for it? We haven't done much with lair actions so far.

 

[Casimir Liber]

Sorry meant Scarlet Death. Yes to lair actions

 

[Cleon]

I'm starting to think it'd be a lot easier to do the Vampiric Mist first, since that ought to be a simpler monster, and then decide what to add for the Scarlet Death.

Sorry meant Scarlet Death. Yes to lair actions

Yeah, it was an obvious approach once I thought of it, considering how many references to its lair there are in the 2E Monstrous Compendium versions.

 

[Casimir Liber]

ok so thinking of the lesser one first, it has to be substantively different from the published one:

Vampiric Mist

I thought of lair action ideas:

- any healing spell or spell-like power has a 2 in 6 chance of failing. On a '1', the subject suffers an equivalent amount of necrotic damage.

- Maleficent Vapour. A x diameter bubble of noxious vapour coalesces - all within must succeed on a DC 14 CON roll or be poisoned for 1 turn.

- Lethargic Haze. A x diameter bubble of noxious vapour coalesces - all within must succeed on a DC 14 WIS roll or be slowed for 1 turn.

 

[Cleon]

ok so thinking of the lesser one first, it has to be substantively different from the published one:

Vampiric Mist

It might be prudent to change the name since the Vampiric Mist already has official stats in 5E.

How about Scarlet Mist, since our Crimson Death analog is renamed the Scarlet Death Mist?

Or we could use the original name of the monster, the Vampire Mist or go back to your earlier proposal of Blood Mist.

I'm also considering statting up a monstrosity version modelled on the original AD&D Vampiric Mist, since that had some noteworthy differences from the Dungeon Magazine #221 version.

 

[Cleon]

I thought of lair action ideas:

- any healing spell or spell-like power has a 2 in 6 chance of failing. On a '1', the subject suffers an equivalent amount of necrotic damage.

- Maleficent Vapour. A x diameter bubble of noxious vapour coalesces - all within must succeed on a DC 14 CON roll or be poisoned for 1 turn.

- Lethargic Haze. A x diameter bubble of noxious vapour coalesces - all within must succeed on a DC 14 WIS roll or be slowed for 1 turn.

Not sure about the first one. It doesn't feel terribly "Fifth Edition" in style.

 

[Cleon]

It might be prudent to change the name since the Vampiric Mist already has official stats in 5E.

How about Scarlet Mist, since our Crimson Death analog is renamed the Scarlet Death Mist?

Or we could use the original name of the monster, the Vampire Mist or go back to your earlier proposal of Blood Mist.

I'm also considering statting up a monstrosity version modelled on the original AD&D Vampiric Mist, since that had some noteworthy differences from the Dungeon Magazine #221 version.

Okay, let's get started on the "Scarlet Vampire Mist" or whatever we end up calling it.

Since we're basing it on the 4E Dungeon #221 version, the Size & Type is going to be a Medium undead.

The 4E version has Alignment: evil, so I'd make it Neutral Evil rather than Chaotic Evil, since (a) 4E has a CE alignment (it being "More EVIL than Evil") which it didn't assign to the monster, which leaves us with LE and NE. It doesn't seem very lawful and the original AD&D Vampire Mist was a NE monster.

The Dungeon version also had the "shadow" origin to indicate it came from the Shadowfell. That plane still exists in the current edition but the 5E monster statblocks don't use an origin entry, so we'll have to remember to mention that in the Description.

Next is Armour Class. The Fourth Edition version has "AC 23, Fortitude 21, Reflex 21, Will 19," which is a pretty average AC and saves for its Level of 9 since 4E suffered from extreme stat inflation. The Will is a bit low, but we can reflect that with a poor Wisdom score.

I'm thinking Armour Class 13 and ability modifiers of Dexterity +3, Constitution +3 and either Wisdom +0 and Proficiency in Wisdom saves; Wisdom +2 and no Save Proficiencies at all or just Wisdom +1.

It's a weak monster, so doesn't really need Saving Throw Proficiencies.

Regarding Abilities, the 4E version has:

Str 7 (+2)	Dex 21 (+9)	Wis 17 (+7)
Con 20 (+9)	Int 5 (+1)	Cha 9 (+3)

While the official 5E Vampire Mist has STR 6 (–2), DEX 16 (+3), CON 16 (+3), INT 6 (–2), WIS 12 (+1), CHA 7 (–2).

If we follow the odd-even arrangement of the 4E version and step the numbers down a bit to match the typical ability scores of 5E, that'd be something like STR 7 (–2), DEX 17 (+3), CON 16 (+3), INT 5 (–3), WIS 13 (+1) or 15 (+2), CHA 7 (–2).

Of the Wisdoms, I'm leaning towards the higher WIS 15 just because that matches the standard 5E Vampire.

I'm tempted to either slap on another Hit Dice or cut one off, mostly to distinguish it more from the official Vampiric Mist.

Scarlet Vampire Mist
Medium undead, neutral evil
Armor Class 13
Hit Points 37 (5d8 + 15) [or 22 (3d8 + 9)?]
Speed 0 ft., fly 30 ft. (hover)

STR​	DEX​	CON​	INT​	WIS​	CHA​
7 (–2)​	17 (+3)​	16 (+3)​	5 (–3)​	15 (+2)?​	7 (–2)​

 

[Cleon]

Blood Mist
Medium monstrosity, alignment
Armor Class ## (type)
Hit Points ## (#d# + ##)
Speed ## ft., climb/fly/swim ## ft.

STR​	DEX​	CON​	INT​	WIS​	CHA​
## (+–#)​	## (+–#)​	## (+–#)​	## (+–#)​	## (+–#)​	## (+–#)​

Saving Throws Stat +#
Skills Skill +#, Skill +#
Damage Vulnerabilities type, type
Damage Resistances type, type
Damage Immunities type, type
Condition Immunities type, type
Senses ???vision/sense/sight ## ft., passive Perception ##
Languages ### —
Challenge # (### XP) Proficiency Bonus +#

Special Trait. ???.

Actions

Multiattack. The [NAME] makes ## attacks: ## with its ??? and ## with its ???.
Multiattack. The [NAME] makes ## ??? attacks or uses its ??? ###.
Multiattack. The [NAME] makes ## ??? attacks or ## ??? attacks. It can use its ??? in place of one ??? attack.

Attack. Melee Weapon Attack: +# to hit, reach # ft., one target. Hit: # (#d# + #) ??? damage.

Attack. Ranged Weapon Attack: +# to hit, range ##/## ft., one target. Hit: # (#d# + #) ??? damage.

Action (#/day). ???.
 ???.

Action (Recharge #-6 | Recharges After a Short/Long Rest). ???.
 ???.

Bonus Actions

Bonus. ???.
 ???.

Reactions

Reaction. ???.
 ???.


Description

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 ???.
 Subsection. ???.
 ???.

 Subsection. ???.
 ???.

(Originally appeared in I6 – Baltron's Beacon (1985) by Philip Meyers.)

 

[Cleon]

Got bored, so worked up a complete conversion of the 4E Vampiric Mist and pasted it into the Scarlet Mist Working Draft.

Scarlet Mist
Medium undead, neutral evil
Armor Class 13
Hit Points 37 (5d8 + 15)
Speed 0 ft., fly 30 ft. (hover)

STR​	DEX​	CON​	INT​	WIS​	CHA​
7 (–2)​	17 (+3)​	16 (+3)​	5 (–3)​	15 (+2)​	7 (–2)​

Damage Vulnerabilities radiant
Damage Resistances acid, cold, lightning, thunder; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks
Damage Immunities necrotic, poison
Condition Immunities charmed, exhaustion, grappled, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned, prone, restrained
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 12
Languages —
Challenge 3 (700 XP) Proficiency Bonus +2

Aura of Life Siphoning. Whenever a creature that is not an undead or construct ends its turn within 5 feet of the scarlet mist, the creature must succeed on a DC 13 Constitution saving throw. If it fails, the target takes 6 (1d12) necrotic damage and the mist gains temporary hit points equal to the damage its aura caused.

Earthbound Flight. The scarlet mist can only fly within 10 feet of the ground. If it goes any higher, the mist descends to the ground without taking any falling damage.
OR
Tethered Flight. The scarlet mist can only fly within 10 feet of a surface able to support the weight of a Medium sized creature. It can spread its weight over a 10 foot wide area, allowing it to float across water or quicksand and fly next to the branches of a tree or across the top of a wheat field, but this counts as difficult terrain. If it flies any higher than 10 feet, the scarlet mist descends to the ground without taking any falling damage.
​

Mist Form. The mist can occupy another creature's space and vice versa. In addition, if air can pass through a space, the mist can pass through it without squeezing. Each foot of movement in water costs it 2 extra feet, rather than 1 extra foot. The mist can't manipulate objects in any way that requires fingers or manual dexterity..

Sensitivity to Light & Flame. If a scarlet mist takes any amount of fire damage or radiant damage, it loses all its damage resistances until the start of its next turn.

Actions

Life Drain. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 13 (3d6 + 3) necrotic damage. The target must succeed on a DC 13 Constitution saving throw or its hit point maximum is reduced by an amount equal to the damage taken. This reduction lasts until the target finishes a long rest. The target dies if this effect reduces its hit point maximum to 0.

Wave of Lethargy (Recharge 5-6). Every creature within 10 feet of the scarlet mist must succeed at a DC 13 Constitution saving throw or take 7 (2d6) necrotic damage plus 7 (2d6) psychic damage and be slowed until the end of the mist's next turn.

Bonus Actions

Misty Movement. The scarlet mist moves up to 30 feet; this movement doesn’t provoke opportunity attacks.


Description

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 Subsection. ???.
 ???.

 Subsection. ???.
 ???.

Note: The original AD&D Vampiric Mist was a living vapor not a misty undead; it debuted as the Vampire Mist in I6 – Baltron's Beacon (1985) by Philip Meyers. See the "Blood Mist" entry for a conversion of that creature.

(This version is modelled after the Vampiric Mist from the 4E D&D adventure "Vainglorious" by Daniel Helmick in Dungeon Magazine #221 (December 2013).)