Wait a minute… a vengeful spirit relentless in their pursuit? Didn’t we cover a monster like that just a few weeks ago?
Lore: It Follows
Formed from the souls of mortals who met cruel ends, revenants claw their way out of the grave in order to pursue revenge. They resemble a zombie in all ways except for their eyes, which burn with hatred and flare in the presence of their target. Should the revenant’s original body not be available, the spirit will simply posses another humanoid corpse.
Revenants only have a year to live. Should they claim their vengeance or run out of time, their body will turn to dust. If the spirit is aware that they alone will not be able to get revenge, they will seek powerful allies to aide them in the endeavor.
These spirits can always detect the creature of their ire, always knowing the direction and distance between them. No magic can conceal them. In the scenario that the revenant has multiple targets, they’ll first pursue the one to strike the killing blow. If the body is destroyed, the revenant’s soul will simply find a new one and start again.
This makes for some pretty good storytelling potential. Maybe an NPC the party defeats returns as a revenant and pursues them for revenge as a recurring boss. Or maybe the party allies themselves with a revenant to fight the BBEG. It may not work well in the starring role, but it adds some excellent variety to a campaign!
And since its design is basically just ‘zombie with fire eyes’, we can skip that and move on to…
Stats: Unkillable Hatred
For a vengeful spirit, revenants sure are durable. Their AC isn’t all that high, but their HP total more than makes up for that. On top of that, they’re resistant to necrotic and psychic damage, completely immune to poison damage, and immune to most conditions.
Oh, but we’re not done. With Regeneration, it heals 10 HP at the start of each of its turns. This function is only disabled if it takes fire or radiant damage. Thanks to Rejuvenation, its soul survives even if the body is destroyed; while in this state, only a wish spell can send it to the afterlife. Finally, thanks to Turn Immunity, it can’t be driven off by turn undead effects. Oh, and thanks to Vengeful Tracker, it always knows where its target is.
Finally, we reach its attacks. Its Fist attack isn’t that dangerous; it just punches you in the face. However, should you be one of its targets, the damage increases to a monstrous degree. Or it could grapple the target instead of dealing any damage.
Then there’s its Vengeful Glare. This ability only works on one it has sworn vengeance against. Should that target fail a save, they will be paralyzed until the revenant deals damage to it. When that paralysis ends, the victim is frightened of the revenant. This effect lasts until they remake and succeed the saving throw.
If the players are the target of the revenant’s ire, then this can make for a pretty terrifying battle. That extra little requirement to unlock its true potential is a neat little addition. It isn’t the best boss battle, but it’s still better than just ‘hit it ’till it dies’.
Placement
This is a fairly decent monster overall. Its design is literally nothing, sure; it’s just a zombie with different eyes. But its lore and stats are both pretty good. Not mind-boggling, but still cool.
With all that in mind, the Revenant is going to #88 on the Best of the Bestiary!
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- Revenant <—————
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