This horrible gigantic crimson leech slithers upright on four muscular tentacles, each 30 feet long. At the top of its writhing trunk, a great lidless eye glows with baleful orange light, surrounded by quivering, feathered antennae fully 5 feet long.
Underworld Wanderers. The urochar are among the most dreaded monsters of the underworld. They have long plagued the drow, morlocks, and other humanoid races of the deep paths. They seek out death and the dying all the way to the banks of the
River Styx.
Devour the Dying. Urochars feast on the final moments of those caught in their crushing tentacles. Though they rival the terrible neothelids in power, urochars are quite passive, watching the life and death struggles of other creatures and taking action only to drink in a dying being’s final moments from a nearby crevice or overhang, and taste their final gasps of horror.
Immortal. Strangling watchers are effectively immortal. Gargantuan specimens in the deepest reaches of the underworld are several millennia old.
Urochar (Strangling Watcher)
Huge aberration, chaotic evilArmor Class 19 (natural armor)
Hit Points 256 (19d12 + 133)
Speed 40 ft., climb 20 ft.
| STR | DEX | CON | INT | WIS | CHA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24 (+7) | 15 (+2) | 24 (+7) | 14 (+2) | 14 (+2) | 20 (+5) |
Saving Throws Dex +8, Con +13, Wis +8, Cha +11
Skills Perception +8, Stealth +8
Damage Resistances cold, lightning; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical weapons that aren’t silvered
Damage Immunities thunder
Condition Immunities frightened
Senses truesight 120 ft., passive Perception 18
Languages understands Darakhul and Void Speech
Challenge 17 (18,000 XP)
Death Throes. When a strangling watcher dies, it releases all the fear it consumed in its lifetime in a single, soul-rending wave. All creatures within 60 feet of it must succeed on a DC 19 Charisma saving throw or become frightened. A frightened creature takes 13 (2d12) psychic damage at the start of each of its turns from the centuries of accumulated dread. It can repeat the Charisma saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on a success.
Innate Spellcasting. The watcher’s innate spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 19). It can cast the following spells, requiring no material components:
At will: feather fall
3/day each: blur, meld into stone, phantasmal killer
1/day each: black tentacles, eyebite, greater invisibility
Spider Climb. The watcher can climb any surface, including upside down on ceilings, without making an ability check.
Squeeze. Despite their size, strangling watchers have slender, boneless bodies, enabling them to squeeze through passages only a Small-sized creature could fit through, without affecting their movement or combat capabilities.
Actions
Multiattack. The watcher makes four attacks with its tentacles.
Tentacle. Melee Weapon Attack: +13 to hit, reach 20 ft., one target. Hit: 20 (3d8 + 7) bludgeoning damage, and the target is grappled (escape DC 17). Until this grapple ends, the target is restrained. Each of its four tentacles can grapple one target.
Paralyzing Gaze (Recharge 5-6). The watcher can target one creature within 60 feet with its eerie gaze. The target must succeed on a DC 19 Wisdom saving throw or become paralyzed for 1 minute. The paralyzed target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on a success. If a target’s saving throw is successful or the effect ends for it, the target is immune to the watcher’s gaze for the next 24 hours.
Legendary Actions
The urochar can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one option can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature’s turn. The strangling watcher regains spent legendary actions at the start of its turn.
Crush Attack. The urochar crushes one creature grappled by its tentacle. The target takes 25 (4d8 + 7) bludgeoning damage.
Tentacle Attack. The watcher makes one tentacle attack.
Tentacle Leap (Costs 2 Actions). Using a tentacle, the urochar moves up to 20 feet to an unoccupied space adjacent to a wall, ceiling, floor, or other solid surface. This move doesn’t trigger reactions. The urochar must have at least one tentacle free (not grappling a creature) to use this action. Grappled creatures move with the urochar.