The Aspirant
It feeds upon your dreams, drinks your ambitions, & drains you of your potential to fuel its own.
Spiciness: 5/5
Feeds about 3-5 players, level 4-6
Scales for: Number of Players, Player Level
Ingredients:
- 1 Aspirant
Scale for Level: Add 10 x the party's level to the Aspirant's Health. This helps it survive without actually changing the CR (rolling HP or taking Max is allowed)
Scale for Party Size. If your party has more than 4 players, consider giving the Aspirant the Shield spell (1/day). This should help it survive long enough for the crowd control to kick in, without making the fight more lethal.
Preparation
The Aspirant is an aberrant horror-- one of the emotive manifestations. They are relentlessly ambitious, and seek to grow their own power by preying on the drives of others. An Aspirant identifies a humanoid creature who might be susceptible to its temptations of power, and approaches them in their dreams to offer a deal. If the creature accepts, the Aspirant uses its long, sticky, needled proboscis to leave an Aberrant Mark on them, granting them strange powers-- but allowing the Aspirant to drain their power over time (see Aberrant Cost & Parasitic Bond). Once the Aspirant gains enough power, it cocoons itself in a thick ooze that hardens, which is nearly impenetrable.
It is unknown how long they stay in this state, or what they become. Some warlocks claim their patrons were once Aspirants, feeding on their power in a symbiotic bond until their patron became far too powerful to rely on them further.
Strange Dealings
The party may decide to treat with the Aspirant rather than attacking it. If your PCs are the type to make unwise deals, the Aspirant may become a dubious ally, a patron, or perhaps even a questgiver, offering knowledge and power in exchange for carrying out its bizarre bidding.
Pairing the Aspirant
- Intellect Devourers would be brutal with the Aspirant. They can lower the intelligence of the party members. Many of the Aspirants abilities are intelligence saves, making the combination lethal. This doesn't really fit well thematically though, unless perhaps a mindflayer as captured an Aspirant as a pet.
- The Aspirant could be taking its victims & molding them together into an Adult Ooblex (MTF). Pairs well thematically & the abilities synergize well.
Cooking the Aspirant
Since the Aspirant approaches sleeping characters, it likely will begin by slithering into an Inn or campsite. Note that it has a climb speed, so it can definitely attack from the ceiling. In taller buildings (10ft up), this keeps the Aspirant completely safe from most melee attackers, and it's smart enough to do that. Additionally, it can fit in spaces as small as 1 inch, giving it ample opportunities to get 3/4 cover (and thus, +5 to Armor Class and Dexterity Saves). Since that's a massive buff, I'd recommend making the cover something destructible (like, a wooden wall or roof).
The Aspirant is looking to make a deal with the party, offering them power in their sleep. While its communications are silent, it does have to stick its web-like proboscis into the room to seal the deal. If spotted, it will likely attack to prevent witnesses from warning others in the area.
Round 1. Nightmare Reality will likely cause some chaos-- open up with Synaptic Static to not only deal some AOE Psychic damage (that won't awaken the party), but to give them a -d6 penalty to all attacks, checks, and concentration checks for up to 1 minute.
Round 2. If there are only 1 or 2 party members that are awake, Use Phantasmal Killer to frighten one of them. Since they're frightened now, they might not be able to shake awake the sleepers (since they can't walk towards the Aspirant), and it puts out some damage every turn, while providing the Aspirant some defense (they'll have disadvantage on attacks against the Aspirant). Since you'll have an AC of 20 (from 3/4 cover & mage armor), disadvantage is brutal. Stack that with the -d6 penalty from Synaptic static and they basically can't hit the Aspirant.
With the majority of the party incapacitated, focus on using non-concentration spells to keep Phantasmal Killer alive longer.
Round 3. By now, some party members have likely become immune to Nightmare Reality-- use Dissonant Whispers to move the target away from the Aspirant (great for making melee opponents step out of reach or stop them from awakening others), and Mind Whip can be used to effectively "Slow" a creature (it gets an action, bonus action, or movement, but not all three).
Round 4+. By now, either the party is in bad shape (and easily cleaned up), or they've approached the situation tactically (using weak AoEs to wake themselves all up, blowing up the Aspirant's cover, retreating so the aspirant has to come out of hiding, etc). If the Aspirant is low, use Phantasmal Force to summon a spiked wall-- since it's opaque, enemies can't see the Aspirant through it, and it will allow the Aspirant to run away without provoking attacks of opportunity. Don't forget that it can flee through tunnels as small as 1 inch without losing movement speed, making chase nearly impossible.
The Aspirant
Large aberration, lawful evil
- Armor Class 15 (mage armor)
- Hit Points 84 (13d10 + 13)
- Speed 30 ft., fly 30 ft. (climb)
STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 8 (-1) 14 (+2) 12 (+1) 18 (+4) 15 (+2) 16 (+3)
- Saving Throws Int +7, Wis +5
- Skills Deception (+6), Persuasion (+6)
- Damage Immunities Psychic
- Condition Immunities charmed, frightened, prone.
- Senses darkvision 120 ft., passive Perception 18
- Languages Telepathy 600 ft.
- Challenge 7 (2,900 XP) Proficiency Bonus +3
Dream Speech. When the Aspirant communicates with its telepathy, the creature it's speaking to receives the message as a strange dream, or vision (if awake). The Aspirant can make them perceive sounds, images, and all other sensory effects. If the creature is awake, or awakens, it realizes that these sensations are not real.
Amorphous. The Aspirant can move through a space as narrow as 1 inch wide without squeezing.
Nightmare Reality. If a humanoid creature starts its turn within 30 feet of the Aspirant and can see it, the Aspirant can force the creature to make a DC 15 Intelligence saving throw if the Aspirant isn't incapacitated. On a success, they become immune to this effect for 24 hours. On a failed save, the creature enters a sleep-like trance, and begins to have erratic dreams. While dreaming in this way, they act as if they are under the effect of the Confusion Spell. The creature awakens only if it takes non-psychic damage, or another non-dreaming creature uses its action to shake it awake.
Creatures who do not sleep but enter trancelike states have advantage on this save, and creatures who cannot sleep (such as undead) are immune to this effect.
Psionics. The Aspirant knows the following spells, using its Intelligence Modifier (spell save DC 15):
At-Will: Dissonant Whispers, Tasha's Mind Whip, Mage Armor
1/day each: Phantasmal Force, Phantasmal Killer, Synaptic Static
Actions
Aberrant Mark. The Aspirant can bestow upon a willing humanoid an Aberrant Mark. To do so, it touches the skin of this creature with a strange, 20ft proboscis that leaves a visible mark on the creature. A creature marked in this way has disadvantage on all saves against the Aspirant that marked it.
Aberrant Marks
The marked Humanoid creature gains the benefit associated with their chosen mark, but upon use of the mark, suffers the Aberrant Cost. Each mark can be used a number of times equal to the creature's proficiency bonus per long rest. Other humanoid creatures who see the mark are unnerved by it, and charisma checks made by the Marked have disadvantage against them.
The mark can be removed by a Remove Curse, Greater Restoration, or similar (albeit more powerful) magic like Wish. It withers and disappears if the Aspirant who created the mark dies.
Aberrant Cost. When activating an Aberrant Mark as an action or bonus action, you must expend one Hit Die, and take damage equal to the amount rolled + your constitution modifier. This damage may not be mitigated in any way.
Parasitic Bond. While marked, the creature's strength is slowly siphoned to the Aspirant. When the creature would finish a long rest, roll a d4. On a result of 4, nothing happens. On a result of 3, it regains only half its hit points. On a result of 2, it gains the benefit of a short rest instead of a long rest. On the result of a 1, it gains no benefit of the rest.
| Mark | Benefit |
|---|---|
| Eldritch Maul. | As a bonus action, you allow the mark to grow tendrils out of you. Until the end of the round, each of your melee attacks with a weapon or an unarmed strikes gains a 15ft reach, and they deal an extra 1d6 psychic damage on a hit. |
| Grasping Tendrils. | As an action, you cause the mark to extrude into inky tendrils, which reach for a creature you can see within 15 feet of you. The creature must succeed on a DC 14 Strength saving throw or take 3d6 psychic damage and be grappled by you. As an action, the creature can escape the grapple by succeeding on a DC 14 Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check. The grapple also ends if you halt it (no action required), if the creature is ever more than 15 feet away from you, or if you use this mark on a different creature. |
| Aberrant Appearance. | As an action, you can use the tattoo to cast the disguise self spell (DC 15 to discern the disguise). You may choose to take on a terrifying appearance of a aberrant horror-- if you do, humanoid creatures that can see you must make a DC 15 Intelligence Save or be frightened of you. Each creature may make an additional save at the end of their turn to end the effect. |
| Mind Breaker | You can speak telepathically to any creature you can see within 60 feet of you. Your telepathic utterances are in a language you know, and the creature understands you only if it knows that language. As an action, you may cast Dissonant Whispers. |
The Aspirant
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