D&D 5E Beware the Jabberwock! D&D Beyond has a sneak preview of the "The Wild Beyond the Witchlight" monster!

D&D Beyond has uploaded a full preview of the Jabberwock from The Wild Beyond the Witchlight...

D&D Beyond has uploaded a full preview of the Jabberwock from The Wild Beyond the Witchlight, with complete stat block and full breakdown on how to run the monster in a game.

Beware the Jabberwock! The Burbling Dragon Arrives in The Wild Beyond the Witchlight

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Very interesting monster, especially with its Confusing Burble and regeneration. It looks rather tough for a CR 13 monster! It does, of course, have a vulnerability to vorpal swords, in homage to the original Lewis Carroll poem.
 

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toucanbuzz

No rule is inviolate
Meh, I have this creature pending in a 5E reboot of Kingmaker (Pathfinder 3rd edition), in which it was originally CR23 with 455 hit points and a devastating array of attacks, including an insane Burble and Whiffle. With no resistances, this CR13 thing drops in 1 round as written to a party of 9th level characters, easy. For a unique creature of legend, that's sad. The previous version ignored the first 15 points of damage (all) unless it was vorpal. That's befitting for a true creature of legend, the kind that inspires myths and poetry across cultures.

This CR13 version, chump change. You don't need a vorpal sword. Beating it down with your 1d6 club will do just fine.
 

Pathfinder inherited the Jabberwock stats from Dungeonland/Land Beyond the Magic Mirror (updated to 3rd edition rules). That was a higher level adventure (by 1st edition standards). CR 13 fits with a a level 8 party, which is the cap for Witchlight.
 


Although it is vulnerable to a vorpal sword, ironically, as a creature with legendary actions, it is immune to the Vorpal Sword's decapitation ability.

I think this is the sort of enemy that you have to stage the appearances of carefully to actually have be interesting or compelling. The Confusing Burble looks pretty devastating to most groups that aren't prepared for it. A 30 foot aura of DC 18 Charisma save each turn to be able to control your character is pretty rough for any melee combatants who aren't Paladins with double Charisma bonuses to the save (even a melee Warlock or Bard with high Charisma and proficiency in the save is probably going to fail that half the time without buffs). But if they are prepared for it it can be completely nullified by anything that eliminates sound, leaving the Jabberwock as basically just a mid-level dragon. So if they have their one and only fight with it knowing what they are in for it is likely to not really display the power of this monster.

I'd probably go with having their first encounter be interrupting it terrorizing a village or something, with no warning about its abilities, have it stick around for a round or two before just leaving, carrying off a villager, cow, etc. for its lunch. Then they can research it, track down a scroll of silence or special ear-sealing materials, possibly quest for a vorpal sword, and then go slay the jabberwock.

I'd also probably change the regeneration to being stopped only by a vorpal weapon rather than general slashing damage, if such a weapon was appropriate to the campaign. Quest to find the macguffin that can stop the otherwise unstoppable enemy is the sort of straightforward, clear-goals, tropey thing I like for an overarching campaign plot.
 



Scribe

Legend
Alignment is Dead, Long Live Alignment!

Agreed. ;)

And I like it much better that way. It provides guidance on creature alignments without making anyone feel like they have to use a particular alignment for the creature or creating philosophical questions about free will.

Cant say I understand this, as its noted in the MM specifically "... Feel free to depart from it and change a monster's alignment to suit the needs of your campaign."

But hey, its all good. I get Alignment back on Stat Blocks, and folks feel they get the flexibility they were looking for.
 

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