Chapter 5: Denizens of the Mists - Ravenloft: The Horrors Within

Monstrous Origins

Unique monsters are singularly terrifying. Consider presenting the monster central to your adventures as a one-of-a-kind terror. Such a creature might be a fluke of nature, the product of insidious magic, a purposefully terrifying creation of the Dark Powers, or a being with an even more unsettling background. Use the tips for creating Darklords and drawing inspiration from different genres of horror in chapter 4 to create unique origins for the most important threats in your adventures.

Different origin stories suggest diverse paths for adventurers to follow when investigating these creatures, learning their weaknesses, and ensuring nothing like them ever menaces again.

Terrifying Language

Describe monsters in vivid ways. A terror chasing characters could just "follow" them, but instead it might "wriggle," "surge," or "galumph" after them. Descriptive language underscores how a creature behaves and conjures a visceral description of the monster. Unexpected descriptions can emphasize a creature's bizarre nature and unsettle the players. For example, it's one thing to say a snake "slithers," but another to say a sinister shadow or cruel witch does.

Use unsettling descriptions and similes. For example, a vine blight's constricting vines might resemble "noose-like cords" or "oily digits." Try less literal descriptions-even nonsensical ones. For example, a flesh golem might howl like "an earthquake in a mortuary" or "a charnel pit that's learned to sob."

Notorious Monsters

Treat creatures central to your horror adventures as infamous threats. The more you foreshadow their menace or reveal that they have threatened others before, the larger such creatures loom. Build dread by giving monsters reputations that suggest the monsters' form, deeds, or peculiarities while letting players' imaginations embellish details.

For example, tales might describe a skeletal horror that whistles cheerfully while committing brutal acts. Characters might hear rumors of the Whistling Fiend's melodies becoming haunting earworms for survivors of the fiend's attacks. A party seeking the monster might hear it whistling in the Mists long before they confront it. All that time, characters can speculate about their enemy's nature, but ultimately the Whistling Fiend might be any threat you choose.

Mysterious Monsters

Use conflicting descriptions and strange behaviors to cultivate mystery around your monster. The less characters know about a creature, the more they'll speculate about terrifying possibilities.

You can develop uncertainty about a creature even after it appears. Keep players guessing about an adventure's threat by referring to a monster by a flavorful description rather than the name of its stat block. A "zombie" doesn't sound like much of a threat, but a "stumbling mass of fetid skin and shattered bones" might be something else entirely.

Weird Traits

By adding unexpected traits to monster stat blocks, you can undermine players' expectations of what a monster is and what it can do. Consider how you can use the Creature Traits list in the "Creating a Creature" section of the Dungeon Master's Guide to give familiar monsters horrifying twists.

Putting It All Together

Combine the techniques in this section to create a unique terror. If you have ideas about what you want your monster to do, write them down. Then develop stories that connect those pieces or reinforce the type of horror you want to create.

For example, perhaps you've got an idea for an arrogant mage who sought to prove he didn't need his adventuring companions' protection by constructing a suit of living armor. Considering the bizarre, magical whims of such a character, you choose a Zombie Beholder as the foundation for the mage's animate armor. To reinforce its nature as a magical creation, you change the monster's creature type from Undead to Construct and describe it as being made of stitched-together animal parts. Then you give it the Berserk and Magic Resistance traits of a Flesh Golem. The characters' surprise at unexpectedly facing a beholder might be startling enough, but you add to your story that the mage has become trapped within his living armor as it hunts his former companions. Only by defeating the horror might the characters free what remains of the mage within, represented by the Emissary of Juiblex creature trait from the "Creating a Creature" section of the Dungeon Master's Guide.

Bodytaker Plants

Bodytaker Plants (stat block)

Bodytaker Podling (stat block)

Bodytaker Plant (stat block)

Boneless

Boneless (stat block)

Boneless (stat block)

Brain in a Jar

Brain in a Jar (stat block)

Brain in a Jar (stat block)

Carrion Stalker

Carrion Stalker (stat block)

Carrion Stalker (stat block)

Carrionette

Carrionette (stat block)

Carrionette (stat block)

Death's Heads

Death's Heads (stat block)

Death's Head (stat block)

Aberrant Death's Head (stat block)

Petrifying Death's Head (stat block)

Death's Head Tree (stat block)

Dullahan

Dullahan (stat block)

Dullahan (stat block)

Elder Thing

Elder Thing (stat block)

Elder Thing (stat block)

Ez d'Avenir

Ez d'Avenir (stat block)

Ez d'Avenir (stat block)

Gallows Speaker

Gallows Speaker (stat block)

Gallows Speaker (stat block)

Gremishka

Gremishka (stat block)

Gremishka (stat block)

Gug

Gug (stat block)

Gug (stat block)

Jiangshi

Jiangshi (stat block)

Jiangshi (stat block)

Loup Garou

Loup Garou (stat block)

Loup Garou (stat block)

Madam Eva

Madam Eva (stat block)

Madam Eva (stat block)

Mi-Go

Mi-Go (stat block)

Mi-Go (stat block)

Mist Horror

Mist Horror (stat block)

Mist Horror (stat block)

Mist Wanderer

Mist Wanderer (stat block)

Mist Wanderer (stat block)

Mordenheim's Monster

Mordenheim's Monster (stat block)

Mordenheim's Monster (stat block)

Necrichor

Necrichor (stat block)

Necrichor (stat block)

Nightgaunt

Nightgaunt (stat block)

Nightgaunt (stat block)

Priest of Osybus

Priest of Osybus (stat block)

Priest of Osybus (stat block)

Relentless Killers

Relentless Killers (stat block)

Relentless Slasher (stat block)

Relentless Nightmare (stat block)

Relentless Juggernaut (stat block)

Rudolph van Richten

Rudolph van Richten (stat block)

Rudolph van Richten (stat block)

Shoggoth

Shoggoth (stat block)

Shoggoth (stat block)

Star Spawn Emissaries

Star Spawn Emissaries (stat block)

Lesser Star Spawn Emissary (stat block)

Greater Star Spawn Emissary (stat block)

Strahd Skeleton

Strahd Skeleton (stat block)

Strahd Skeleton (stat block)

Strigoi

Strigoi (stat block)

Strigoi (stat block)

Swarms of Insects

Swarms of Insects (stat block)

Swarm of Infesting Insects (stat block)

Swarm of Ravenous Insects (stat block)

Ulmist Inquisitors

Ulmist Inquisitors (stat block)

Inquisitor of the Mind Fire (stat block)

Inquisitor of the Sword (stat block)

Inquisitor of the Tome (stat block)

Unspeakable Horror

Unspeakable Horror (stat block)

Unspeakable Horror (stat block)

Vampires

Vampires (stat block)

Vampire Nosferatu (stat block)

Vampire Mind Flayer (stat block)

Waxwork

Waxwork (stat block)

Waxwork (stat block)

Weathermay-Foxgrove Twins

Weathermay-Foxgrove Twins (stat block)

Gennifer Weathermay-Foxgrove (stat block)

Laurie Weathermay-Foxgrove (stat block)

Wereraven

Wereraven (stat block)

Wereraven (stat block)

Yithian

Yithian (stat block)

Yithian (stat block)

Zombies

Zombies (stat block)

Swarm of Zombie Limbs (stat block)

Zombie Plague Spreader (stat block)

Zombie Clot (stat block)