Oni: The Ogre Mage

Lock the door, blow out the light;
The hungry Oni haunts the night.
Hide and tremble, little one;
The Oni wants to have some fun.

Hear it scratching on the door;
See its shadow cross the floor.
The sun won’t rise for quite a while;
Till then, beware the Oni’s smile.

Children’s rhyme

Well. That’s… one way to start. It’s okay, I didn’t need to sleep tonight anyway!

Lore: Trust No One

Sang of in nursery songs to frighten both children and adults alike, oni are the bogeymen of the D&D world. They go around devouring humans, especially babies, so long as they look delicious.

During the day, an oni hides its true form using magic, changing its form to resemble the humanoids in the local area. While in this hidden form, it works to gain the trust of those it seeks to devour. Come night time, it works to carry out its sinister designs.

Oni are often called ogre mages. While they are only distantly related to ogres, they share certain qualities with them, such as their willingness to work with other evil creatures. Often, an oni can be bought using magical items as trade, so they are frequently seen in service to dark wizards or even hags.

This lore could make for some really fun stories! If you want an extra-powerful goon for your BBEG, this could work. Or it could be its own big bad for a smaller story. Maybe you could do an Among Us style murder mystery story with an oni as the killer! It ain’t BBEG material, but it’s still good for some fun sessions!

Design: Big Blue Bastard

This isn’t an exceptionally interesting design. It’s a big blue dude with a scary face and big muscles. We’ve seen dozens like it over the years.

But I do like how spooky its face is. And the tattered cloak is a nice aestetic.

I’m grasping at straws here, so let’s just move on.

Stats: Shapeshifter of Death

Don’t sleep on the oni. As a low to mid-level boss, it’s actually pretty tough!

Its defences are nothing to sneeze at. It boasts a near 20 AC and a triple-digit HP pool. However, there’s nothing particularly special about it. No unique resistances or weaknesses. It’s just hard to hit and hard to kill.

Especially thanks to its two special abilities. With Magic Weapons, all of its attacks do magic damage, making them harder to resist. More dangerous is Regeneration; with this, the oni regains 10 HP at the start of its turn, so long as it has at least 1 HP to begin with. So long as it’s breathing, it’s healing itself.

As you might expect from the ‘ogre mage’, it also has a small list of magic spells to play with. These are:

• At will: darkness, invisibility
• 1/day each: charm person, cone of cold, gaseous form, sleep

While only one of those spells actually does damage, every single one of them is a threat to the players. They all turn the oni from a deadly enemy to a dangerous trickster.

On top of that, it also has the Change Shape ability. With this, it can polymorph into medium-sized humanoids, a Large giant, or into its true form. Depending on the form, its melee weapon stats change. Luckily, this requires an action; otherwise, you could end up fighting three different beasts in one round.

The rest is all pretty simple. In its oni form, it has claws. In other forms, it has a glaive. The latter is pretty dangerous, but the former is pretty pitiful. If it weren’t for Multiattack, they wouldn’t be a threat at all.

Overall, the oni can make for an incredible battle. How do the players deal with its shapeshifting? Its magic spells? What creative tactics will they use to help them endure long enough to kill it? It’s a solid battle through and through.

Placement

This is a fairly decent entry. Its lore is prime for some fun, albeit short, stories, and its stats can make for a really fun fight. I just wish the design had a bit more going for it.

With all that in mind, we’re going to put the Oni at #42 on the Best of the Bestiary!

1. Beholder
2. Death Tyrant
3. Mind Flayer
4. Dragon Turtle
5. Mummy/Mummy Lord
6. Nagas (all three of ’em)
7. Green Dragons
8. Red Dragons
9. Blue Dragons
10. Black Dragons
11. White Dragons
12. Silver Dragons
13. Couatl
14. Behir
15. Aboleth
16. Sea Hag
17. Lamia
18. Bronze Dragons
19. Brass Dragons
20. Copper Dragons
21. Gold Dragons
22. Chuul
23. Kuo-Toa
24. Gibbering Mouther
25. Kraken
26. Intellect Devourer
27. Chimera
28. Death Knight
29. Fomorian
30. Bone Devil
31. Dracolich
32. Faerie Dragon
33. Lich
34. Magmin
35. Kobold
36. Kenku
37. Hobgoblins
38. Night Hag
39. Green Hag
40. Ankheg
41. Hook Horror
42. Oni <————–
43. Storm Giant
44. Hill Giant
45. Empyrean
46. Efreeti
47. Grimlock
48. Minotaur
49. Dao
50. Cloud Giant
51. Manticore
52. Drow (all four of ’em)
53. Shadow Demon
54. Modrons (all five of ’em)
55. Marilith
56. Drider
57. Aarackockra
58. Azer
59. Demilich
60. Spectator
61. Hydra
62. Marid
63. Harpy
64. Werejackal
65. Half-Dragon
66. Cambion
67. Fire Giant
68. Nothic
69. Animated Armor
70. Banshee
71. Basilisk
72. Yochlol
73. Bulette
74. Cloaker
75. Darkmantle
76. Doppelganger
77. Ghoul and Ghast
78. Ettin
79. Medusa
80. Pit Fiend
81. Erinyes
82. Chain Devil
83. Bearded Devil
84. Barbed Devil
85. Spined Devil
86. Ice Devil
87. Mimic
88. Djinni
89. Merrow
90. Nalfeshnee
91. Glabrezu
92. Chasme
93. Grell
94. Barlgura
95. Horned Devil
96. Balor
97. Shadow Dragon
98. Myconids (all four of ’em)
99. Werebear
100. Lizardfolk
101. Vrock
102. Dretch
103. Gnolls (all three)
104. Goristro
105. Hezrou
106. Manes
107. Frost Giant
108. Weretiger
109. Werewolf
110. Duergar
111. Quasit
112. Dryad
113. Flumph
114. Goblin
115. Nightmare
116. Wereboar
117. Wererat
118. Githyanki
119. Planetar
120. Imp
121. Ogres/Half-ogres
122. Clay Golem
123. Flameskull
124. Displacer Beast
125. Carrion Crawler
126. Githzerai
127. Grick
128. Invisible Stalker
129. Rug of Smothering
130. Bugbear Chief
131. Bugbear
132. Flesh Golem
133. Vine Blight
134. Twig Blight
135. Needle Blight
136. Mephits (all six of ’em)
137. Bullywug
138. Hellhound
139. Ettercap
140. Gas Spore
141. Cockatrice
142. Lemure
143. Homonculus
144. Merfolk
145. Solar
146. Deva
147. Gorgon
148. Hippogriff
149. Griffon
150. Cyclops
151. Centaur
152. Ghost
153. Fire Elemental
154. Water Elemental
155. Air Elemental
156. Stone Giant
157. Deep Gnome
158. Dinosaurs (All six of them)
159. Iron Golem
160. Stone Golem
161. Earth Elemental
162. Galeb Duhr
163. Helmed Horror
164. Flying Sword
165. Crawling Claw
166. Violet Fungus
167. Shrieker
168. Gargoyle