I'm bringing to you the Blyek, which is an enigmatic mysterious "far realm like" creature. It is meant to be weird and creepy without giving up too much about it. To create this weird creature, I got my inspiration from horror movies. Do you remember that moment when some people give up understanding the monster/creature and just straight forward try to kill it? They thing they succeeded, but the creature rises again as if back from the dead and keeps killing the characters. That's pretty much what I was aiming for, but how to simulate that in D&D and have the correct amount of Effective HP or AC applied to the monster? Oh, well: we go for the existing monster traits.
I needed something to make it come back after receiving a killing blow and the only creature with such mechanics was the Zombie:
Undead Fortitude. If damage reduces the zombie to 0 hit points, it must make a Constitution saving throw with a DC of 5+the damage taken, unless the damage is radiant or from a critical hit. On a success, the zombie drops to 1 hit point instead.
I didn't want to make the creature vulnerable to radiant damage, but I needed it to pass a feeling that even though it behaves a lot like a golem, it's still a living organism. So POISON was my way out. In general, the trait works the same way and will add the same amount of hit points to the creature. Poison damage is not that rare to rogues and any member of a crew can buy poison, so the trick will do more than enough. The result is a menacing creature with a new scaring trait that is not so new, but will more than just do the trick:
Blyek's Fortitude. If damage reduces the blyek to 0 hit points, it must make a Constitution saving throw with a DC of 5 +the damage taken, unless the damage is poison or from a critical hit. On a success, the blyek drops to 1 hit point instead.We can do that in many different ways. Making special kinds of plant people only be killed by fire or skeletons that won't die until crushed. Many are the possibilities but use it wisely. It's important to let your players to have access to the damage types they'll eventually need.
Now, enjoy the creature...
