Top 10 Unusual/Innovative Traits from the Tome of Beasts 3

Khargi
Once you slay a khargi, insect swarms spew forth! Art (c) Kobold Press.

The Tome of Beasts 3 by Kobold Press has over 400 new monsters, so you’re bound to found some unusual abilities.  Some of these are standard traits going all the way to the first 5e Monster Manual.  And many more are variations of a spell or often used ability that is re-skinned to match a theme.  For example, The Coral Queen can do a Watery Step–something like Misty Step but with bubbles instead of mist. Or a Ravening Minotaur can consume a foe’s heart for extra hp, but other creatures have similar abilities.

Other traits in the book are new or at least rare.  On the other hand there are some that are very unique and niche–they go with a creature’s concept very well, but wouldn’t fit for just about any other creature. A Púca’s Nightmarish Ride, where it takes a rider on a night-long journey is a good example of something unusual that wouldn’t fit the concept of many other creatures.

Final caveat: These are all just one person’s opinions. I was able to see the creatures a couple months early as we created the Deck of Beasts 3 (the Tome of Beasts 3 monsters on cards, Kickstarting now!)  Hopefully this list points you at a few ideas worth looking at to decide if you want to use these creatures or use these traits to build your foes.

With those caveats out of the way, here’s a look at 10 particularly unusual or innovative traits from the Tome of Beasts 3 by Kobold Press with comments in italics:

  • Ahu-Nixta Mechanon’s Soul Reactivation. A mechanon reduced to 0 hp stops functioning, becoming inert. For the next hour, if a Small or larger creature that isn’t a Construct or Undead dies within 30 feet of a deactivated mechanon, a portion of the creature’s soul is absorbed by the mechanon, and the construct reactivates, regaining all its hp plus additional hp equal to the dead creature’s CR. If the mechanon remains inert for 1 hour, it is destroyed and can’t be reactivated.  We see other creatures that absorb some hit points as part of their attack where they drain necrotic energy, but this is a case where it just absorbs life force from a creature that dies nearby. This would be a fun trait to add to many powerful undead that don’t already have a special feature related to how they are killed.
  • Venom Drake’s Aching Venom. The venom drake produces a potent poison that causes its victims to feel pain from even the most benign contact, leaving them aching from the weight of their clothing or sore after a simple sword swing. When a creature that succumbs to this poison takes bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage, it must succeed on a DC 16 Constitution saving throw or be incapacitated until the end of its next turn as pain fills its body. This potent poison remains within the creature’s body until removed by the greater restoration spell or similar magic or until the creature finishes a long rest. We see plenty of more subtle & constant poison effects (until cured) but here is a case where the effect is more debilitating with a trigger so it isn’t over-powered.
  • Dwarf, Pike Guard’s Forest of Pikes. If a pike guard is within 5 feet of at least one pike guard or pike guard captain, it has half cover against ranged attacks. Sort of a defensive version of pack tactics.
  • Fungi, Mulcher’s Mulcher Pit. If the mulcher burrows at least 20 feet straight toward a creature, it can dig a 10-foot diameter, 20-foot-deep pit beneath the creature. Each Large or smaller creature in the pit’s area must succeed on a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw or fall into the mycelium-lined pit and land prone, taking 14 (4d6) piercing damage from the spiked mycelium in addition to any falling damage. The mulcher can make one Mycelium Spike attack against a prone creature in the pit as a bonus action. I almost didn’t put this on the list because I can’t see a creature doing all of that (digging 20′, then digging a pit, etc.) in a given turn but maybe it works for you or maybe you house-rule it a bit.
  • Haakjir’s Earthen Claws. The haakjir’s claws easily meld through stone and metal. When the haakjir makes a Claw attack against a creature wearing nonmagical metal armor or wielding a nonmagical metal shield, the attack ignores the AC bonus provided by the armor or shield. If the target is a construct made of stone or metal, the attack ignores the AC bonus provided by the target’s natural armor, if any. There are probably a few other creatures that have attacks that ignore armor in some way, but there should be more.
  • Khargi’s Death Swarms. When the khargi dies, the insects crawling across and within it burst from its body, forming 2d4 swarms of insects that appear in unoccupied spaces within 5 feet of the khargi’s space. You finally finish off the foes only to have to deal with insect swarms…
  • Midnight Sun’s Reality Inversion. Reality is inverted for creatures close to the midnight sun. When a creature starts its turn in the sun’s space or within 5 feet of the sun, any circumstance, trait, or feature that would grant it advantage, instead grants it disadvantage, and vice versa, until the start of its next turn. I could totally see characters trying to somehow work with a Midnight Sun to take down a particularly tough foe along the lines of Hercules using Medusa’s head to turn the kraken to stone. Or maybe using a part of it in a ritual or magic item.
  • Savior Lumen’s Fleeting Memory. When the savior lumen swarm leaves a creature’s sight, that creature must succeed on a DC 16 Wisdom saving throw or remember the swarm only as softly glowing lights. I’m sure a few other creatures have some sort of ability that causes you to forget seeing them, but it isn’t common.
  • Tigebra’s Final Fury. When a tigebra is reduced to 0 hp, its head and neck separate from the body. The snake?like remnant immediately attacks the nearest creature, moving up to its speed if necessary, even if it has already taken its turn this round. This snake remnant has the same statistics as the original tigebra, except it is Medium, has 30 hp, and can make only one Bite attack on its turn. The head remains active for 1d4 rounds or until killed. How cool is that?  You finish the foe and the head pops off and continues attacking?  There are likely a few other creatures that could do this such as a variant hydra.
  • Xecha’s Assume the Dead. The xecha can enter the corpse of a Small, Medium, or Large creature that has been dead for less than 24 hours, impersonating that creature for 2d4 days before the body decays. You could argue this is just a doppelganger like ability in another form, but it seems more interesting.

Honorable mentions:

  • Ahu-Nixta Mechanon’s Critical Malfunction. A critical hit against the mechanon has a 20 percent chance of striking the casing of the construct’s soul chamber, stunning the mechanon until the end of its next turn. Several traits cause a creature to explode upon death damaging others, but this causes a controlling creature inside to be hurt.
  • Alliumite, Husker’s (Rapscallion has a similar trait) Overpowering Stench. Each creature other than an alliumite or garlicle within 5 feet of the alliumite when it takes damage must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or be blinded until the end of its next turn. On a successful saving throw, the creature has advantage against the Overpowering Stench of all alliumites for 1 minute. Other creatures can do similar things, but this is so on point for this foe’s concept.
  • Angel, Pelagic Deva’s Living Coral Armor. The pelagic deva’s armor is made of living coral. If the deva’s armor is damaged, such as from a black pudding’s Pseudopod attack, the armor fully repairs itself within 1 minute, provided it wasn’t destroyed. Armor that repairs itself… How cool is that?! Maybe not terribly practical–how many PC attacks work against armor specifically, but still cool.  Perhaps this creature would be useful if making a magic item that repairs itself.
  • Aphasian Abomination’s Aphasic Field. The aphasian abomination generates a field of psychic distortion around itself. Each creature that starts its turn within 60 feet of the abomination must succeed on a DC 17 Intelligence saving throw or lose the ability to speak coherently, saying coherent words that make no sense in context instead of whatever it intends to say. If the creature attempts to cast a spell with verbal components, it fails, taking 9 (2d8) psychic damage per spell level of the spell it attempted to cast, and it expends the spell slot. Cool to see an effect that messes with spellcasters specifically.
  • Baleful Miasma’s Asphyxiate. If a creature that breathes air starts its turn in the baleful miasma’s space, it must succeed on a DC 12 Constitution saving throw or begin suffocating as its lungs fill with the poisonous air emitted by the miasma. The suffocation lasts until the creature ends its turn in a space not occupied by the baleful miasma or the baleful miasma dies. When the suffocation ends, the creature is poisoned until the end of its next turn. Interesting to see a trait that causes suffocation.
  • Catonoctrix’s Pierce the Veil. When a creature the catonoctrix can see is stunned by Mind Ravage, the catonoctrix learns one secret the creature knows. This didn’t make the main list because it is less combat related, but it is still a very cool trait.
  • Conniption Bug’s Death Trap. When the conniption bug dies, its mandibles remain locked in place, continuing to grapple beyond its death. Until the grapple ends, the creature takes 4 (1d8) piercing damage at the start of each of its turns as if the bug was still alive. Any creature can take an action to remove the mandibles with a successful DC 11 Strength (Athletics) or Wisdom (Medicine) check. This didn’t make the main list because there are other creatures that may leave something (a tooth) in a wound to continue causing damage, but this is different because it relates to grapple.
  • Corpselight Moth’s Downdraft. While the moth is flying, the area within 10 feet of it is difficult terrain. There are some ground creatures that can cause the earth to soften, but a similar effect from a flying creature is new/rarer.
  • Demon, Vetala’s Corpse Stride. Once on its turn, the vetala can use 10 feet of its movement to step magically into one corpse or Undead within its reach and emerge from a second corpse or Undead within 60 feet of the first, appearing in an unoccupied space within 5 feet of the second corpse or Undead. Ok, so it is basically a dryad’s tree stride.  But much cooler–let me walk into one corpse and out another!
  • Rafflesian’s Symbiote. A rafflesian can bond with a willing Humanoid creature that remains in physical contact with it for 10 minutes. While bonded in this way, the host creature gains a +2 bonus to AC and saving throws and has resistance to all damage, and the rafflesian’s speed is 0, moving with the host when it moves…. (description truncated). Symbiotes aren’t too common among D&D monsters, but they should be.