Gloomrakes are drawn to the dreams of sapient beings, lurking in dark places until they sense a creature worthy of their attention. Patiently they stalk their prey, often taking several nights to savor their target’s dreams from a distance. Eventually, gloomrakes are overcome by their desire to incorporate their victim’s thoughts into their own. They stealthily approach their sleeping target, then wrap slimy maw-tentacles around their prey’s head to psionically digest their mind.
While most gloomrakes haunt abandoned ruins, mountain cleft caverns and subterranean tunnels, on rare occasions more adventurous, or desperate, gloomrakes will sneak into small villages at night seeking helpless victims to mentally devour. They leave the emaciated remains of their victims to be found by relatives or city guards in the morning, slinking back to their lair until the mind-hunger returns.
Gloomrakes are generally solitary creatures, selfishly hoarding their absorbed dreams and thoughts to themselves, fearing other gloomrakes will try to steal them. After a sufficient capacity of memories has been collected a gloomrake will reproduce, replicating a copy of their physical beings, infusing half of their collected memories into the new spawn and, in so doing, forgetting those memories themselves. This is one of the rare occasions adventurers might encounter a pair of gloomrakes in the wild, a parent with a fresh spawn.
Gloomrake
Medium Aberration, Typically Chaotic Evil
Armor Class 13
Hit Points 26 (5d8 + 4)
Speed 10 ft., fly 30 ft. (hover)
| STR | DEX | CON | INT | WIS | CHA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 (+3) | 16 (+3) | 13 (+1) | 8 (-1) | 14 (+2) | 9 (-1) |
Skills Stealth +5
Damage Resistances psychic
Condition Immunities charmed
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 12
Languages telepathy 120 ft.
Challenge 1 (200 XP) Proficiency Bonus +2
Actions
Multiattack. The gloomrake makes two Tentacle attacks or it uses Enrapture twice, and it can make one Psychic Absorption attack.
Psychic Absorption. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature that is charmed by the gloomrake, incapacitated, or restrained. Hit: 10 (2d6 + 3) psychic damage and the gloomrake gains temporary hit points equal to half the damage taken.
Tentacle. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 10 ft. one target. Hit: 6 (1d6 + 3) bludgeoning damage.
Enrapture. The gloomrake targets one creature it can see within 30 feet of it. The targeted creature must succeed on a DC 12 Wisdom saving throw, with disadvantage if the gloomrake is hidden, or be charmed until the start of the gloomrake’s next turn. While charmed in this way, the target’s speed is halved and it has disadvantage on attack rolls.
Image generated by Dall-E
