Gashadokuro
Also known as ōdokuro ("giant skull"), the gashadokuro ("rattling skull") is a skeletal giant that meanders through the rural countryside during the night's darkest moments. Sometimes it can be heard making a "gachi gachi" sound, a symphony of chattering teeth & rattling bones for which this creature is named. However, it can become eerily stealthy when hunting. Should a gashadokuro see a human travelling along the roads at night, it will creep upon its victim in complete silence. If successfully ambushed, the victim will either be crushed in the giant's hands or have their head bitten off.
Walking Mass Graves
Gashadokuro are born from the collective pain & resentment of those who died in mass casualty events. Unburied soldiers left on the battlefield to decay, the mass graves of plague victims, or rural villages that succumbed to famine or natural disasters often do not recieve the proper funerary rites. These restless dead remain on the Material Plane, festering on their agonies, resentments, & unfufilled desires until it manifests into a undead giant made from the bones of hundreds. The gashadokuro will then carry out the spiteful grudge of the dead against any living victims that it encounters.
Statblock
Hombrew, Dungeon Dad
Gashadokuro CR: 10
STR
22 +6
DEX
10 +0
CON
20 +5
INT
6 -2
WIS
10 +0
CHA
8 -1
Evasion. If the gashadokuro is subjected to an effect that allows it to make a saving throw to take only half damage, it instead takes no damage if it succeeds on the saving throw, and only half damage if it fails.
Invisible Form. The gashadokuro cannot be seen or heard by any creature that is more than 60 feet away from it, however all creatures within 400 feet of a gashadokuro are able to hear a soft ringing in their ears that gets louder the closer they are to the gashadokuro. A creature with truesight is able to see the gashadokuro as normal.
Magic Resistance. The gashadokuro has advantage on saving throws against spells and magical effects.
Turn Immunity. The gashadokuro is immune to effects that turn undead.
Actions
Multiattack. The gashadokuro attacks three times, twice with its claws, and once with its bite.
Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +10 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 16 (3d6 + 6) slashing damage. The target is grappled (escape DC 16). The gashadokuro has two claws, each of which can only grapple on target.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +10 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 19 (2d12 + 6) piercing damage. The gashadokuro has advantage on the attack roll if the target is grappled. If this damage reduces the target to 0 hit points, the gashadokuro kills the target by biting off its head and regains hit points equal to half of the damage dealt.
Envelop In Darkness. The gashadokuro creates a wall of black energy in a space it can see within 120 ft. The wall appears as a hemispherical dome with a radius of up to 80 feet. If the wall cuts through a creature’s space when it appears, the creature is pushed to one side of the wall chosen by the gashadokuro. The wall is one foot thick, and lasts for 10 minutes, or until the gashadokuro is killed. It is impossible to see through the wall, and any creature that ends its turn within 5 feet of the wall takes 7 (2d6) necrotic damage. A creature who attempts to pass through the wall takes 21 (6d6) necrotic damage, or half as much on a successful DC 18 Constitution check, remaining in the space nearest the point they tried to exit on a failure.
Sources
Dungeon Dad, youtube
Meyer, Matthew, The Night Parade of One Hundred Demons: a Field Guide to Japanese Yōkai, 2015
Dread Domains
Rukoshima Taiyou. Each of the islands have stories of famines, massacres, & plagues responsible for countless deaths. The possibility of gashadokuro haunting the remote parts of the countryside is a very real concern for those that dare to travel in this domain.
Dark Powers
The Bloodied Pair (VI). Remote battlefields where the dead lie abandoned in the open or in hastily dug mass graves are potential sources for a gashadokuro. In this way, a gashadokuro can envoke the fears of bloodshed & violence from seemingly forgotten wars.
The Crushing Wheel (X). Famine, plague, & natural disasters can wipe out entire communities, often leaving few survivors to perform the proper funeral rites. In this way, the appearance of a gashadokuro can serve as an unpleasant reminder to survivors of devastation or that remote rural villages are also subject to the whims of nature.
The Final Breath (XIII). A gashadokuro is an embodiment of mass death in all of its forms, seeking vengeance against any mortal that crosses its path.
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