Fun fact: I accidentally killed one of my players using this monster. We were doing a prototype session of a new campaign and I chose this monster on a whim. Then I rolled 72 damage. On a character with 36 HP. Killing them instantly. I’ve never felt worse as a DM in my whole life.
Anyways, here’s the monster.
Lore: Under a Blanket of Snow…
Hidden beneath snow and ice, the remorhaze is a vicious predator with a blazing flame in its belly. Hunters within frost giant tribes search for their nests and eggs in the hopes of raising one as a companion.
And… that’s just about it. No, I’m serious. The rest of the lore just describes how they hunt.
Minimal as this is, you can’t do a whole lot with it. If you need a random encounter in a snowy area, it’s a good pick. Or perhaps you could use it as an extra enemy in an encounter against frost giants. Either way, this monster’s primary role is just being a big monster for the party to kill.
And hoo boy, does it do that job marvelously.
Design: A Frozen Abomination
Oh, cool! Nightmare fuel! My favorite!
In case I haven’t mentioned it: these guys are huge. An adult is literally large enough to swallow a player whole. Now imagine this running at you at full speed across a snowy field. Have fun sleeping with that image in your head!
This is an excellent design. It’s creative, it’s creepy, and it’s intimidating as all hell. Not to mention how its colors give subtle clues about its abilities.
Most of its body is a bright blue, like its carapace is frozen. However, the ridges along its spine glow a bright orange. It’s as if the fire inside the monster is peeking out through them, radiating through its spikes. A very neat detail!
Without a doubt, this is the best monster design we’ve seen in a long long time. Hopefully its stats will be just as good!
Stats: The Air Burns
This monster comes in two flavors: the young remorhaz and the adult. Thankfully, the adult is just a more powerful version of the young one, so it’s not like we need to talk about two entirely separate monsters here.
The young remorhaz is a fairly tough monster. Its AC isn’t especially high, but its HP is just shy of an even 100. On top of that, it’s completely immune to cold and fire damage. Sorry, wizards; no Fireball for you.
Even getting near it is dangerous. With its Heated Body ability, anyone who touches it or attacks it takes fire damage.
Also, it’s Bite attack does mean damage. The piercing damage hurts really bad and then it has extra fire damage on top of it.
An adult remorhaz has all of this. But the numbers are way higher. On top of that, its Bite attack also grapples anyone who fails a DC, restraining them and leaving them vulnerable to its Heated Body. Those already dangerous teeth are even deadlier!
Finally, there is its Swallow ability. If a character is grappled by Bite, the remorhaz can make another attack. If that hits, the victim is swallowed. While swallowed, they are blinded, restrained, have total cover, suffer the same effects around the remorhaz, and takes a massive chunk of acid damage. Should the remorhaz take 30 damage or more in a single turn from the inside, it needs to make a Con save or vomit them back up. In doing so, it falls prone.
Oh, and if it dies, the swallowed victim can escape.
All of this combined can make for a terrifying boss fight. How do the melee fighters deal with a monster they can’t even get close to? How does a swallowed player deal with the problem? How do those on the outside help them get out before they die? It’s a hectic battle that could very well push your players to their limits.
Just… don’t make my mistake an instantly kill anyone, alright?
Placement
This was a surprisingly good entry! Sure, the lore fell flat. But the design and the stats made up for that in spades!
With that in mind, the Remorhaz is going to #36 on the Best of the Bestiary!
- Beholder
- Death Tyrant
- Mind Flayer
- Dragon Turtle
- Mummy/Mummy Lord
- Nagas (all three of ’em)
- Green Dragons
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- Couatl
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- Sea Hag
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- Gibbering Mouther
- Kraken
- Intellect Devourer
- Chimera
- Death Knight
- Fomorian
- Bone Devil
- Dracolich
- Faerie Dragon
- Gelatinous Cube
- Lich
- Peryton
- Remorhaz <———————
- Orcs (all four of ’em)
- Magmin
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- Stone Giant
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- Dinosaurs (All six of them)
- Iron Golem
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- Galeb Duhr
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- Flying Sword
- Crawling Claw
- Violet Fungus
- Shrieker
- Gargoyle
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