Large aberration (beholder), neutral evil
Armor Class 16 (natural armor)
Armor Class (suggested) 16 (front), 14 (natural armor), 12 (belly)
Hit Points 161 (17d10 + 68)
Speed 0 ft., fly 30 ft. (hover)
Proficiency Bonus +4
Proficiency Bonus +7 (5th Edition Advanced Mode)
| STR | DEX | CON | INT | WIS | CHA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 (+4) | 14 (+2) | 18 (+4) | 10 (+0) | 12 (+1) | 10 (+0) |
Saving Throws Con +8, Wis +5
Skills Perception +5
Damage Immunities lightning
Condition Immunities prone
Senses darkvision 120 ft., passive Perception 15
Languages Deep Speech, Undercommon
Challenge 10 (5900 XP)
Lightning Blood. A creature within 5 feet of the death kiss takes 5 (1d10) lightning damage whenever it hits the death kiss with a melee attack that deals piercing or slashing damage.
ACTIONS
- Multiattack. The death kiss makes three tentacle attacks. Up to three of these attacks can be replaced by Blood Drain, one replacement per tentacle grappling a creature.
- Multiattack (suggested). The death kiss makes ten tentacle attacks.
- Tentacle. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 20 ft., one target. Hit: 14 (3d6 + 4) piercing damage, and the target is grappled (escape DC 14) if it is a Huge or smaller creature. Until this grapple ends, the target is restrained, and the death kiss can’t use the same tentacle on another target. The death kiss has ten tentacles.
- Tentacle (suggested). Melee Weapon Attack: +11 to hit, reach 20 ft., one target. Hit: 9 (2d4 + 4) piercing damage, and the target is grappled (escape DC 17) if it is a Huge or smaller creature. Until this grapple ends, the target is restrained, and the death kiss can’t use the same tentacle on another target.
- Blood Drain. One creature grappled by a tentacle of the death kiss must make a DC 16 Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, the target takes 22 (4d10) lightning damage, and the death kiss regains half as many hit points.
- Blood Drain (suggested). One creature grappled by a tentacle of the death kiss takes 1d4+4 blood drain damage, and the death kiss regains half as many hit points.
5th Edition Advanced Mode
Limiting the power of a character and making the overall difficulty of the game harder, does not reduce the creativity, indeed it does quite the opposite.
The Game Master has the option to use any and all of the instances proposed in this guide, or just some of them according to their preference.
It is the lack of something that move and motivate characters, not the abundance of it
DESCRIPTION
The Death Kiss, also known as a “bleeder” or an “Eye of Terror”, is a terrifying creature that resembles a beholder, but with a crucial difference: instead of having eyes on its ten stalks, it has toothed mouths that can drain the blood of its prey. The Death Kiss is an aberration that lurks in dark and desolate places, such as caverns or ruins, where it hunts for living creatures to feed on. It prefers to target humans and horses, but it will not hesitate to attack anything that has blood in its veins. The Death Kiss is not related to the beholder, but rather a result of a rare mutation that occurs when a beholder dreams of feeding on blood The Death Kiss has a central eye that gives it 120-foot infravision, but it has no magical powers The Death Kiss is a solitary and aggressive hunter, and will often fight with other beholders or Death Kisses over territory or food. One of the most notorious Death Kisses is the Tentacled One, a massive specimen that roams the high forests and crags of the northern Sword Coast in the Forgotten Realms The Tentacled One is feared by both adventurers and monsters alike, as it has been known to devour entire caravans and villages in its hunger.
COMBAT
The Death Kiss has a spherical body with no mouth, and a single eye that allows it to see in the dark, but it has no other magical abilities. It looks very similar to a beholder, a fearsome creature with many eyes that can cast spells, and most people would mistake it for one. The Death Kiss has ten tentacles that can retract into its body, making them look like eyestalks, but they can also stretch out very quickly and attack with their barbed mouths. The tentacles can act independently or together, attacking one or more creatures at the same time.
When a tentacle hits a creature, it does some damage and attaches itself to it, sucking its blood. The tentacle keeps draining blood every round until it is detached or killed. The central body of the Death Kiss is harder to hit than its eye or its tentacles, and the mouths on the tentacles are even harder to hit. Hitting a mouth will stun the tentacle for a short while, making it unable to move or attack. Cutting off a tentacle requires a sharp weapon and a strong blow, and it will also hurt the creature that was attached to it. If a tentacle is wounded but not severed, it will instantly heal itself by draining more blood from its victim. This can happen several times in a round, but not more than twice. This healing effect does not work for the central body or other tentacles.
A tentacle will keep draining blood even if the central body of the Death Kiss is killed, unless it was already attached to a victim. A Death Kiss can also retract a tentacle that is draining blood, but it will only do so if it is very wounded or if its victim is dead.
The Death Kiss uses the blood it drains to generate electrical energy, which it uses for moving and healing. It can heal itself every other round by spending some of its stored energy, restoring some of its hit points to all of its parts. Each tentacle can store a lot of energy, and the body can store even more. A severed tentacle has a high chance of releasing all of its stored energy to anything that touches it, causing electrical damage. The Death Kiss can also ram its opponents with its bulk, doing some damage and knocking them off balance.
If its eye is destroyed, the Death Kiss can still sense creatures nearby by smell and vibration.
HABITAT / SOCIETY
Death Kisses are aberrant predators that dwell in dark and desolate places, such as caverns or ruins. They have the ability to levitate and float above the ground, using their tentacles to grab and drain their prey. Death Kisses can also enter a state of hibernation, where they lie motionless and unresponsive on the ground for long periods of time. They can survive in this state without food or water, but they need a strong stimulus to awaken them, such as electricity, heat, or physical damage. Adventurers who stumble upon a hibernating Death Kiss often mistake it for a helpless or dead creature, and end up providing it with a fresh meal when they disturb it.
Death Kisses are solitary and territorial hunters, inheriting the paranoia and ego of their cousins, the beholders. They do not tolerate the presence of other Death Kisses or beholders, and will often engage in deadly aerial battles with them. The winner of such a fight will use the corpse of the loser as a breeding ground, laying numerous eggs inside it. The eggs are suspended in a greenish fluid, and hatch within a day, producing 1d4 young Death Kisses. The young have half the hit points and size of their parent, and reach maturity in a month.
A Death Kiss’s lair is usually filled with the treasure and remains of its victims, which it sometimes arranges in a trail to lure more prey into its trap. A Death Kiss is not interested in the value or use of its treasure, but rather in the blood and flesh of its prey.
ECOLOGY
Death Kisses are voracious predators that feed on the blood of larger creatures, such as humans, horses, or magical beasts. They provide a natural balance against the overpopulation of such creatures, who might otherwise have no other natural enemies. Death Kisses are fearless and aggressive hunters, who will attack anything that has blood, except for dragons and other beholderkin, who they recognize as superior or rival threats.
Death Kisses have some parts of their body that are useful for magic or adornment. One of these is an organ in their upper central body that allows them to levitate. This organ can be used as an ingredient in magical potions and spell inks that grant the power of levitation. Another part is their eye, which gives them infravision. A rare and secretive mage in Marsember claims to be able to use the eye of a Death Kiss to cure blindness, but only by granting infravision instead of normal vision. A third part is a brain or nerve node that hardens into a red gem-like substance after death. These gems are called “blood-eyes”, and they have a unique property: they glow brighter as the wearer’s emotions become more intense. Blood-eyes are valued for their beauty and rarity, and can fetch a price of 70 gp each in the market.