The False Nymph
A Horny Bard's Nightmare
Spiciness: 3/5
The False Nymph may catch a party off guard & manage to down or even kill a PC, but having no insta-kills or AoEs makes it unlikely to do more than make your players forever dial back their pursuits of strange desires.
Preparation
Nature demands adaptation to survive, & some carnivorous plants have found ways to exist in such a competitive world by incredible means. Examples of such are the Snapdragon Flower, the Corpse Flower, or the False Nymph.
When the False Nymph sees an adventurer, they begin twirling a flower on their back which resembles Nymph-- a beautiful, green-skinned fey that often appears in the forests where False Nymphs grow also. But while a Nymph is likely to flee a suitor, the False Nymph invites you in. While most adventurers are smart enough not to get too close to this flower, the False Nymph has means of enticing...
As the False Nymph dances, it fills the air with bits of pollen & petals. While almost impossible to see & unassuming to those who do notice, these spores enchant those who touch them, keeping them docile while the plant beneath the flower seeks to consume them.
Click for more monsters!
Cooking the False Nymph
Round 0. The creatures are likely to get in range of the Alluring Dance all together-- this means each one in this range needs to make that Wisdom save. Do that before combat! Let the players get this sinking feeling of something being "wrong" before you do the big reveal. Once they roll this save, then roll initiative.
Round 1: Some of the party should be charmed-- good! Grasping Vine up to 4 of the party (preferring the not-charmed), Pull ONE of them closer, and Swallow them. Since you can selectively pull people, it makes sense to not pull melee people closer to the False Nymph, since then they'll be in stabbin' range.
Round 2+. The party is likely waking up from their charms by now-- use your vines to push them away! Digest that swallowed party member as long as possible, using it to heal.
The Party's Strategy
How to fight back:
- Ignore the vines unless absolutely necessary, attacking them doesn't hurt the main plant.
- Misty Step and other teleports can not only get you out of the grapple instantly, their range will let you get out of the False Nymph's reach entirely.
- Stand back and use Ranged attacks! It only has a 50ft reach and a 5 ft movement speed-- so you can kite it easily once you get away.
- Fly or climb a tree! It uses a root-based tremor sense to feel its prey's location, so if you don't touch the ground-- it can't see you.
- AOEs-- if you target the False Nymph's body with an AOE like fireball-- it's going to hit the creature, but also all of its vines, AND it won't hit the creature it swallowed! Yay!
False Nymph
Large plant
- Armor Class 20 (natural armor)
- Hit Points 93 (11d10 + 33) Speed 5 ft.
STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 18 (+4) 8 (-1) 17 (+3) 7 (-2) 16 (+3) 6 (-2)
- Skills Perception +6, Stealth +5
- Senses Tremorsense (roots) 120 ft
- Challenge 5 (1,800 XP) Proficiency Bonus +3
False Appearance. While the False Nymph has no vines extended & does not have a creature swallowed, it is indistinguishable from a nymph.
Grasping Vines. The False Nymph can have up to six vines at a time. Each vine can be attacked (AC 20; 10 hit points; immunity to poison & psychic damage). Destroying a vine deals no damage to the False Nymph, which can extrude a replacement vine on its next turn. A vine can also be broken if a creature takes an action & succeeds on a DC 15 Strength check against it.
Alluring Dance. Any creature that starts its turn within 30 feet of the False Nymph must succeed on a DC 14 Wisdom saving throw or be charmed by the nymph, and cannot notice the plant beneath the False Nymph's flower, perceiving all motions made by the False Nymph to be part of its dance.
Each creature charmed in this way may make an additional saving throw at the end of its turn; On a successful saving throw, the creature is immune to the False Nymph's Dance for 24 hours.
Actions
Multiattack. The False Nymph makes four attacks with its vines, uses Grassy Grasp, & makes one attack with its swallow.
Vine. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 50 ft., one creature. Hit: The target is grappled (escape DC 15). Until the grapple ends, the target is restrained & has disadvantage on Strength checks & Strength saving throws, & the False Nymph can't use the same vine on another target.
Grassy Grasp. The False Nymph pulls any number of creatures grappled by it up to 25 feet straight toward it (up to 5 ft away from the False Nymph), or pushes them 25ft away (up to 50ft away from the False Nymph).
Swallow. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one Medium or smaller creature grappled by the False Nymph. The creature is swallowed, & the grapple ends. The swallowed creature is blinded & restrained, it has total cover against attacks & other effects outside the False Nymph, & it takes 21 (6d6) acid damage at the start of each of the False Nymph's turns, & the False Nymph is healed by half the damage done. A creature who dies while swallowed in this way is dissolved completely, leaving no corpse.
The False Nymph can have only one creature swallowed at a time. While the False Nymph isn't incapacitated, it can regurgitate the creature at any time (no action required) in a space within 5 feet of it. The creature exits prone. If the False Nymph dies, it likewise regurgitates a swallowed creature.
Extra Spicy Variants Did the party all make their save except one of them? Simply worried your party might not see this as a threat? Try one or more of these boosts to help!
- What a lovely Dance. The charmed creatures fall in love with the False Nymph, and will take action to prevent harm to it. They may buff the False Nymph, heal it, or even attack their allies, depending on that character's disposition. A character who usually solves problems with violence will continue to do so.
- Thorned Vines. The Vine now deal d6+4 slashing damage on hit. While not a huge amount of damage, it allows for attacking multiple creatures at once, and will crank up the intensity of the fight.
- Infestation. add a Swarm of Insects per party member. This will give them something else to attack, meaning the False Nymph lasts longer. Other swarms can be even more dangerous, such as the Rot Grub.
Thank you for checking out this monster!
If you liked this, check out my book of Spicy 5e Encounters meant to offer your players a more challenging experience,
or check out Pip's Ode to Eccentricism for Classes, Subclasses, Player Races & more!
Click here for more
Monsters & Encounters
