Dungeons & Dragons 2024 (D&D) Monster/NPC: Nightmare Centipede
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SGttEH 335
These nightmarish entities, with an unsettling multitude of writhing limbs producing a continuous, disquieting clatter, are truly a sight to unhinge the mind. Even when seemingly at rest, their bodies appear to be in constant flux, ceaselessly shifting and pulsating in a grotesque dance of flesh and tendons, exuding a noxious miasma—a toxic byproduct of their repugnant feasts.
Nightmare Denizens. Mercifully, the city of Luyarnha has been spared direct contact with these abominations, confined as they are to nightmare realms, unable to breach into the Material Plane. They are grotesque echoes of the absurdity that infests the dreams of the dormant Great Ones. Nightmare centipedes have the ability to ensnare entire communities caught adrift in the nightmare realms, causing them to disappear without trace. Whether these lost souls are consumed or subjected to some other fate is a chilling unknown.
Hive Minds. A single nightmare centipede is sufficiently worrisome, but they become exponentially more dangerous when they gather, forming a collective consciousness. This hive mind amplifies their intellect and their lethality, coordinating their movements and strategies with terrifying efficiency.
Nightmare centipedes produce a subsonic chittering noise, a sound beyond the auditory capabilities of most species, that serves as a communication tool, and as something far viler. They can use this sound to exert control over creatures weaker than themselves, particularly insects and other many-legged beasts, compelling these underlings to enact their gruesome will. Their unfortunate victims can do little more than writhe in agony as a horde of spiders, ants, centipedes, and cockroaches swarm over them, burrowing into their flesh and consuming them from within.
| MOD | SAVE | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| STR | 18 | +4 | +4 |
| DEX | 15 | +2 | +2 |
| CON | 15 | +2 | +2 |
| MOD | SAVE | ||
| INT | 6 | -2 | -2 |
| WIS | 12 | +1 | +4 |
| CHA | 16 | +3 | +3 |
Traits
Abhorrent Presence. When a creature starts its turn within 60 feet of the centipede, the creature must make a DC 14 Wisdom saving throw. If the creature has never encountered a centipede before, it gains a long-term madness on a failure, or a short-term madness on a success. A creature that has encountered a centipede before gains a short-term madness on a failure, and no madness on a success.
Hive Mind. Nightmare centipedes share a bond with other members of their hive that enhances their abilities. As long as a centipede is within 60 feet of at least one other centipede, it has advantage on initiative rolls and Perception checks. If one centipede is aware of a particular danger, all others in the hive are, too. No centipede in a hive mind is surprised at the beginning of an encounter unless all of them are. In addition, a centipede gains a bonus to attack and damage rolls equal to the number of centipedes within 60 feet of it (maximum +5).
Otherworldly Communication. The centipede can communicate via subsonic sounds with other aberrations, aquatic creatures with 6 or less Intelligence, and insects within 60 feet of it. This is a silent and instantaneous mode of communication that the other creatures can understand. As a bonus action, the centipede can use this trait to control and give orders to one creature or swarm of creatures (e.g. a swarm of insects) of CR 1 or lower that understands it within 60 feet of it.
Inexorable Movement. When the centipede moves into the space of a creature that is Large or smaller, the target must succeed on a DC 15 Athletics or Acrobatics check (creature’s choice) or become grappled by the centipede. The centipede can grapple up to 100 creatures and its speed isn’t halved by grappling creatures.
Actions
Multiattack. The centipede makes three attacks: one with its bite and two with its pincers.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 15 (2d10 + 4) piercing damage and 6 ( 1d12 ) poison damage. If the target is a creature, it must succeed on a DC 13 Constitution saving throw or become poisoned for 1 minute. A poisoned creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on a success.
Pincer. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 13 (2d8 + 4) slashing damage and 3 ( 1d6 ) poison damage. The centipede has advantage on the attack roll if it is grappling the target.
Bonus Actions
Crawl. The centipede moves up to its speed.
Reactions
Regurgitate (Recharge 5-6). After being hit by an attack, the centipede exhales a stream of acidic ichor in a 40-foot line that is 5 feet wide. Each creature in that area must make a DC 13 Dexterity saving throw, taking 26 ( 4d12 ) poison damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.
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