Lore: Rulers of Ruin
Residing in the ruins of desert civilizations, lamias take all that has been vanquished and makes it the heart of their tyrannical rule. They rely on jackalweres to perform various tasks, like kidnapping slaves or stealing treasure, under the concealment of their magic. They’ll use those stolen goods to decorate their ruined lairs, enhancing the shine of jewels and masking the decay with illusions. You might think the civilization is still in full swing, with the beautiful gardens and filled slave apartments. Worse, the slaves have no desire to leave thanks to the lamia’s mind controlling spells.
Through a pool of water in its domain, a lamia watches all that happens within its territory. They love to lure in pure-hearted adventurers and seduce them to evil, or to lure the helpless in with illusions of temptations. However, they value beauty above all else, and will consume any who doesn’t live up to their exacting standards. On top of that, lamias are cowards, preferring to let their slaves do the fighting while they sit back and enjoy the show. Should they get caught up in it, they’ll do all they can to escape.
Despite their egos, lamias are not at the top of their chains. They serve the demon lord Graz’zt, who gives them their forms and immortality in exchange for an oath of fealty. He’ll sometimes take them with him, but otherwise let’s them live as they will.
There is a ton of lore to work with here! Perhaps the players need to save a valued NPC that has been taken by a lamia. Or maybe they wander into their lair, a seeming paradise, and they slowly unravel the truth and destroy the beast. Maybe the party gets kidnapped by jackalweres and are brought before the lamia. It isn’t full campaign worthy, but you can do a lot of stuff with it!
Design: Lion Centaur Lady!
I love this design! It’s got a quiet elegance and danger to it. Not to mention that it’s fairly unique!
If you didn’t pay attention to the text, you’d think they were some odd divine guardian of some desert kingdom. But after reading the lore, you can start to feel the quiet, calm menace hidden beneath the surface. That expression suddenly becomes a disdainful scowl. That dagger and those claws suddenly start looking a hell of a lot more dangerous.
It isn’t as grotesque or interesting as some of the higher-up creatures on the list. But it’s still very unique and interesting. How often do you see creatures like this in fantasy?
This is definitely one of the better designs in the book. Elegant, dangerous, and unique, it makes a strong impression. I enjoy it quite a bit.
Stats: Charm and Slash
This is a very strong boss monster. At least for an early level party. If you try to throw one at a higher-level group, you might be disappointed by the results.
This isn’t a particularly bulky monster. Its HP is just shy of 100, which is definitely worthy of an early game boss. But its AC is far from high, making it easy for the players to actually hit it and do damage. No wonder it’s a coward!
That said, it is certainly a dangerous beast. Its claws do a ton of damage, even if its dagger doesn’t. Its Intoxicating Touch doesn’t do any damage, but it does leave the victim at disadvantage for all Wisdom and ability checks, which makes it an excellent combination move for its spells.
Speaking of which, let’s see what spells it can cast!
- At will: disguise self (any humanoid form), major image
- 3/day each: charm person, mirror image, scrying, suggestion
- 1/day: geas
Without those, this is just another boring ‘hit it until it dies’ monster. But with those spells, it can become an incredibly tricky and dangerous boss monster. Give it a few minions for it to hide behind and you can get a battle that forces the players to think on their toes and get creative in how they approach it.
Placement
This was a surprisingly strong monster! Its lore is interesting, its design is unique and interesting, and its stats make for a strong early game boss fight! This is an incredible entry!
With all that in mind, let’s put the Lamia on the Best of the Bestiary!
- Beholder
- Death Tyrant
- Dragon Turtle
- Green Dragons
- Red Dragons
- Blue Dragons
- Black Dragons
- White Dragons
- Silver Dragons
- Couatl
- Behir
- Aboleth
- Sea Hag
- Lamia <———————–
- Bronze Dragons
- Brass Dragons
- Copper Dragons
- Gold Dragons
- Chuul
- Kuo-Toa
- Gibbering Mouther
- Kraken
- Intellect Devourer
- Chimera
- Death Knight
- Fomorian
- Bone Devil
- Dracolich
- Faerie Dragon
- Kobold
- Kenku
- Hobgoblins
- Night Hag
- Green Hag
- Ankheg
- Hook Horror
- Storm Giant
- Hill Giant
- Empyrean
- Efreeti
- Grimlock
- Dao
- Cloud Giant
- Drow (all four of ’em)
- Shadow Demon
- Marilith
- Drider
- Aarackockra
- Azer
- Demilich
- Spectator
- Hydra
- Marid
- Harpy
- Werejackal
- Half-Dragon
- Cambion
- Fire Giant
- Animated Armor
- Banshee
- Basilisk
- Yochlol
- Bulette
- Cloaker
- Darkmantle
- Doppelganger
- Ghoul and Ghast
- Ettin
- Pit Fiend
- Erinyes
- Chain Devil
- Bearded Devil
- Barbed Devil
- Spined Devil
- Ice Devil
- Djinni
- Nalfeshnee
- Glabrezu
- Chasme
- Grell
- Barlgura
- Horned Devil
- Balor
- Shadow Dragon
- Vrock
- Dretch
- Gnolls (all three)
- Goristro
- Hezrou
- Manes
- Frost Giant
- Duergar
- Quasit
- Dryad
- Flumph
- Goblin
- Githyanki
- Planetar
- Imp
- Clay Golem
- Flameskull
- Displacer Beast
- Carrion Crawler
- Githzerai
- Grick
- Invisible Stalker
- Rug of Smothering
- Bugbear Chief
- Bugbear
- Flesh Golem
- Vine Blight
- Twig Blight
- Needle Blight
- Bullywug
- Hellhound
- Ettercap
- Gas Spore
- Cockatrice
- Lemure
- Homonculus
- Solar
- Deva
- Gorgon
- Hippogriff
- Griffon
- Cyclops
- Centaur
- Ghost
- Fire Elemental
- Water Elemental
- Air Elemental
- Stone Giant
- Deep Gnome
- Dinosaurs (All six of them)
- Iron Golem
- Stone Golem
- Earth Elemental
- Galeb Duhr
- Helmed Horror
- Flying Sword
- Crawling Claw
- Violet Fungus
- Shrieker
- Gargoyle
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