Long, simian arms snake through the trees like furred serpents, dangling from a shaggy, striped ape in the leafy canopy above and trying to snare those below.
An arboreal grappler is a malformed creation of the gods, a primate whose legs warped into long, muscular tentacles covered in shaggy, red fur.
Carry Prey to the Heights. Arboreal grapplers use their long limbs to snatch prey and drag it behind them as they use their powerful forelimbs to ascend to the highest canopy. Their victims are constricted until their struggles cease and then are devoured. Their flexible tentacles are ill-suited for terrestrial movement; they must drag themselves clumsily across open ground too wide to swing across.
Clans in the Canopy. Arboreal grappler tribes build family nests decorated with bones and prized relics of past hunts. These nests are built high in the jungle canopy, typically 80 feet or more above the ground. Clans of 40 or more spread across crude villages atop the trees; in such large settlements, a third of the population are juveniles. These nests are difficult to spot from the ground; a DC 20 Wisdom (Perception) check is required. A creature observing an arboreal grappler as it climbs into or out of a nest has advantage on the check.
Carnivorous Elf Hunters. Grapplers are carnivorous and prefer humanoid flesh, elves in particular. Some suggest this arises from hatred as much as from hunger, a cruel combination of fascination and revulsion for the walking limbs of humanoid creatures.
Arboreal Grappler
Medium aberration, neutral evilArmor Class 14 (natural armor)
Hit Points 90 (12d8 + 36)
Speed 10 ft., climb 40 ft.
| STR | DEX | CON | INT | WIS | CHA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 (+3) | 16 (+3) | 16 (+3) | 6 (-2) | 10 (+0) | 6 (-2) |
Skills Acrobatics +5, Stealth +5
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 10
Languages —
Challenge 3 (700 XP)
Spider Climb. The arboreal grappler can climb difficult surfaces, including upside down on ceilings, without needing to make an ability check.
Boscage Brachiation. The arboreal grappler doesn’t provoke opportunity attacks when it moves out of an enemy’s reach by climbing.
Actions
Multiattack. The arboreal grappler makes one bite attack and two tentacle attacks.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: 6 (1d6 + 3) piercing damage.
Tentacle. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 10 (2d6 + 3) bludgeoning damage, and the target is grappled (escape DC 13). Until this grapple ends, the target is restrained and the tentacle can’t be used to attack a different target. The arboreal grappler has two tentacles, each of which can grapple one target. When the arboreal grappler moves, it can drag a Medium or smaller target it is grappling at full speed.