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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Leatherhead" data-source="post: 8657035" data-attributes="member: 53176"><h3>Merrenoloth (MToF)</h3>Merrenoloths are Yugoloths who resemble the psychopomp Charon, right down to being ferry boat captains on the River Styx. When translated through the D&D lens, this means they are a source of relatively reliable interplanar travel on the lower/fiendish plains (but do keep in mind, you are still going from one place of absolute evil into another).If that isn’t your cup of tea, you will be pleased to know that a Merrenoloth is a CR 3 creature that can be contracted to give supernatural powers to any ship they are captaining (Though I can’t help but think that it should say piloting instead of captaining, if only for the additional story flexibility.) Allowing for a low level boss encounter in your Pirates of the Caribbean style game, where the Merrenoloth transforms the ship they are on into its lairThe Merrenoloth has three lair actions, but two of them are exclusively tied into ship-based combat, though I have to say they seem really good if you are doing that. Allowing the Merrenoloth to control the wind, propelling the ship faster, or simply repairing any damage that the ship might have suffered. Their third lair action allows them to use that same wind to push people around, and is handy for knocking flyers from the sky.In perhaps the first example of its kind, their Regional Effects (also tied to the ship), are actually useful in combat. Perfect steering, and making the ship unsinkable would be great regardless. But the fact you have to defeat the Merrenoloth in order to permanently skuttle their ship makes for a great dramatic boarding scene climax.Despite having a lair, the Merrenoloth is not a Legendary Monster, meaning they need a crew to help keep them alive. In fact, I would dare say they are underpowered, even with revisions in this book! In combat they can multiattack with their Oar and inspire fear with their Gaze in the same action. Unfortunately, they have less DPR than an Archer* unless you are using the Whirlpool option on their Control Water spell. Admittedly, their regional effects and lair actions make using that option almost totally safe (unless you give them Allies, in which case it’s going to merk the crew!), but it’s definitely not spelled out for a DM, as these changes were supposed to do. Likewise, their defensive prowess relies upon their fiendish resistances, but they only have 40 hp, meaning a group who can deal out those types of damage will send the Merrenoloth to Davy Jones’s locker in short order. They do have a decent assortment of control spells, but lack the ability to swap out an attack for a cast.At the very least, they can swim and teleport as a bonus action, should they get knocked off their ship. But keep in mind, their Oar does Fire damage, so they are even worse at attacking should they get stuck in the water.In the Changeover, the Merrenoloth lost their magical weapons power in favor of Fire damage on their Oar. (Yeah, I don’t get why they picked Fire either.) They also lost a windbreaker effect from their regional effects, one that made it much more palatable to be on their crew.  And finally, they lost the Control Weather spell.</blockquote>

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