Medium fiend (yugoloth), neutral evil
Armor Class 18 (natural armor)
Hit Points 75 (10d8 + 30)
Speed 40 ft.
Proficiency Bonus +3
Proficiency Bonus +5 (5th Edition Advanced Mode)
| STR | DEX | CON | INT | WIS | CHA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 (+4) | 11 (+0) | 16 (+3) | 7 (-2) | 10 (+0) | 11 (+0) |
Saving Throws (suggested) Str +7, Con +6
Skills Perception +3
Damage Resistances cold, fire, lightning; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks
Damage Immunities acid, poison
Condition Immunities poisoned
Senses blindsight 60 ft., darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 13
Languages Abyssal, Infernal, telepathy 60 ft.
Challenge 5 (1800 XP)
Innate Spellcasting. The mezzoloth’s innate spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 11). The mezzoloth can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components:
- 2/day each: darkness, dispel magic
- 1/day: cloudkill
Magic Resistance. The mezzoloth has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
Magic Weapons. The mezzoloth’s weapon attacks are magical.
ACTIONS
- Multiattack. The mezzoloth makes four attacks: one with its upper claws, one with its trident and two with its lower claws.
- Upper Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d6 + 4) slashing damage.
- Lower Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d4 + 4) slashing damage.
- Trident. Melee or Ranged Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft. or range 20/60 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d6 + 4) piercing damage, or 8 (1d8 + 4) piercing damage when held with two claws and used to make a melee attack.
- Teleport. The mezzoloth magically teleports, along with any equipment it is wearing or carrying, up to 60 feet to an unoccupied space it can see.
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
Mezzoloth
The mezzoloth is a fiendish creature that belongs to the yugoloths, a race of mercenary fiends that inhabit the Lower Planes. The mezzoloth is the most common and lowest-ranking of the yugoloths, serving as a foot soldier and a grunt in their armies. The mezzoloth is a humanoid insect, covered in dense plates of ivory-colored chitin. It has four arms, each ending in a hand with sharp talons, and two legs. Its head has two wide-set, unblinking eyes that glow red when angered, and two mandibles flanking a mouth full of teeth. The mezzoloth is about 7 feet tall and weighs about 250 pounds.
Description
The mezzoloth is a simple-minded and violent creature, driven by the desire for treasure and destruction. It has little understanding or care for the world around it, except for finding weak enemies to bully and strong allies to serve. It has no loyalty or honor, and will flee from a battle when outnumbered or outmatched. It has a reputation as a mercenary, willing to work for anyone who can pay its price. The mezzoloth can speak Abyssal and Infernal, as well as communicate telepathically with other yugoloths.
The mezzoloth has no society or culture of its own, only following the orders of its superiors and the contracts of its employers. The mezzoloth is constantly abused and mistreated by the higher-ranking yugoloths, such as the nycaloths and the ultroloths, who view it as expendable cannon fodder. The mezzoloth has no friends or allies among its own kind, only rivals and enemies. The only way for a mezzoloth to advance in rank is to kill a more powerful yugoloth and take its place.
Combat
The mezzoloth is a fearsome combatant, using its claws and trident to slash and stab its foes. It can also use its innate magic to cast darkness and dispel magic spells, as well as create a cloud of poisonous gas that can choke out its enemies. The mezzoloth has resistance to cold, fire, lightning, and nonmagical weapons, as well as immunity to acid and poison. It also has magic resistance, giving it an advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects. The mezzoloth’s weapon attacks are magical, allowing it to overcome some forms of damage resistance. The mezzoloth can also teleport up to 60 feet to an unoccupied space it can see, making it hard to pin down.
Habitat / Society
The mezzoloth lives in the Lower Planes, especially in Gehenna and Hades, where it serves as a soldier in the yugoloth armies. Mezzoloths are the lowest yugoloths, the rank-and-file warriors of the mercenary armies. Higher yugoloths rule over them by might alone. Due to their lack of intelligence, the mezzoloths have accepted their lot. In fact, the abuse they receive makes them more vicious, toughening them for brutal combat.
Mezzoloths have little motivation when not fighting in a mercenary army. They wander the Lower Planes (particularly the Abyss) in search of creatures to torment, especially lemures. Sages have never ascertained exactly where mezzoloths are formed. They appear to be yugoloth adaptations of some other evil creature. Mezzoloths appear slightly more plentiful in Gehenna than elsewhere; perhaps ultroloths or arcanaloths originally brought them there from some other plane.
Ecology
The mezzoloth has no natural role in the ecology of any plane, being an artificial creation of the yugoloths. The mezzoloth does not need to eat or drink, but it enjoys killing and devouring living creatures for pleasure. The mezzoloth does not reproduce naturally, but is created by the ultroloths using a complex ritual that involves sacrificing living souls and infusing them with fiendish essence. The mezzoloth has no lifespan, being immortal unless killed by violence or magic.