My campaign's Big Bad: Greel the Mind Raker (am I doing it right?)

[Dralnu]

"Your panicked mind is a sweet nectar and I am very thirsty. I'm going to savor every. Last. Drop."

http://i.imgur.com/AnEC0M4.jpg
Artist: Brom (http://www.bromart.com/)

Greel the Mind Raker
Medium monstrosity (shapechanger), chaotic evil
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Armor Class 13 (18 with Umbral of Hadar)
Hit Points 188 (29d8 + 58)
Speed 30 ft.
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STR 11 (+0) DEX 16 (+3) CON 14 (+2) INT 11 (+0) WIS 12 (+1) CHA 20 (+5)
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Saving Throws Wis +5, Cha +9
Skills Deception +13, Insight +5, Arcana +4, Intimidation +9
Damage Resistances psychic
Condition Immunities charmed
Senses darkvision 120 ft., passive Perception 11
Languages Common, Telepathy 120 ft.
Challenge 9
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Special Equipment. Greel has the Umbral of Hadar, Eye of the Disbeliever, and scrolls of Dimension Door and Dispel Magic.

Shapechanger. Greel can use his action to polymorph into a Small or Medium humanoid he has seen, or back into his natural form. His statistics, other than his size, are the same in each form. His equipment is not transformed (though Greel can mask them with his Mask of Many Faces invocation). If slain, Greel reverts to his natural form.

Legendary Resistance (3/Day). If Greel fails a saving throw, he can choose to succeed instead.

Embrace of The Void. While wearing no armor and wearing the Umbral of Hadar, Greel add his Charisma bonus to his AC (included).

Spellcasting. Greel is a 11th-level spellcaster who uses charisma as his spellcasting ability (spell save DC 17, +9 to hit with spell attacks.) Greel has the following spells prepared from the warlock spell list:

Invocations (at will): agonizing blast, beguiling influence, devil's sight, eyes of the rune keeper, mask of many faces, repelling blast
Cantrips (at will): chill touch, eldritch blast, mage hand, prestidigitation
5th level (3 slots): clairvoyance, dimension door, dominate beast, dominate person, dream, evard's black tentacles, hunger of hadar, fly, gaseous form, phantasmal force, scrying, suggestion, telekenesis, tongues, vampiric touch
6th level (1 slot): true seeing
Rituals: divination

ACTIONS
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Read Thoughts. Greel magically reads the surface thoughts of one creature within 60 feet of him. The effect can penetrate barriers, but 3 feet of wood or dirt, 2 feet of stone, 2 inches of metal, or a thin sheet of lead blocks it. While the target is within range, Greel can continue reading its thoughts as long as Greel's concentration isn't broken. While reading the target's mind, Greel has advantage on Wisdom (Insight) and Charisma (Deception, Intimidation, and Persuasion) checks against the target.

Frightful Presence. Each creature of Greel's choice that is within 120 feet of him and are aware of him must succeed on a DC 20 Wisdom saving throw or become frightened for 1 minute. A creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success. If a creature's saving throw is successful or the effect ends for it, the creature is immune to Greel's Frightful Presence for the next 24 hours.

Multiattack. Greel makes three eldritch blast attacks.

Eldritch Blast. Ranged Spell Attack: +9 to hit, range 120 ft., one target. Hit: 10 (1d10+5) force damage. Greel can push the creature up to 10 feet away in a straight line.

REACTIONS
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Entropic Ward (recharges when Greel finishes a short or long rest). When a creature makes an attack roll against Greel, he can impose disadvantage on that roll. If the attack misses Greel, his next attack roll against the creature has advantage if Greel makes it before the end of its next turn.


LEGENDARY ACTIONS
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Greel can take 2 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary action can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature's turn. Greel regains spent legendary actions at the start of his turn.

Move. Greel moves up to his speed without provoking opportunity attacks.
Arms of Hadar (Costs 2 Actions). Greel casts Arms of Hadar as a 5th level spell. This ability does not expend any spell slots.
Darkness (Costs 2 Actions). Greel casts Darkness as a 5th level spell, except he doesn't need to concentrate to maintain the spell. This ability does not expend any spell slots.


Greel is a master spy and manipulator. The doppelganger racial heritage allows him to take the shape of anyone he has seen, while his warlock pact with the Great Old One allows him speak or read any language with Eyes of the Rune Keeper and Tongues, allowing him to impersonate any humanoid with ease. Greel's natural talents for deceit are further augmented by his ability to magically read minds, implant suggestions, charm, or even outright dominate humanoids. These abilities combined allows Greel to convince nearly anyone to do his bidding, all while hiding in plain sight. With Clairvoyance and Scrying, Greel can personally keep tabs on both places and people even if he isn't nearby.

Greel's true delight in life is to create fear in the mind of his victims. He feeds on the horror felt by intelligent creatures. On most nights, Greel will enter a creature's sleeping mind with Dream, relishing in the nightmares he coaxes into being. The perfect, most delicious meal is prepared by causing so much terror in an intelligent creature that its mind snaps. At that moment, Greel kills the creature, draining away its thoughts and emotions at that final juicy moment.

The sinister doppelganger is not one for a direct confrontation. He much prefers reaching his goals through trickery and deceit. With his set of skills, Greel can easily sway humanoids to be his loyal minions, and perhaps even tricks the PCs to work for him.

If pressed into battle, Greel will often start combat with his Frightful Presence. Afterward, he tries to stay hidden in Darkness. He will try to make an ally with Dominate Person, preferably a tanky character that can protect him, or he will use Evard's Black Tentacles to tie up multiple opponents. If focusing on a single target, he will attack it with Telekenesis or Vampiric Touch, or Eldritch Blast if he's already concentrating on a spell. Greel has no issues retreating to live another day, and if needed he will either Dimension Door or Gaseous Form to get to safety.

[Freelance GM]

Very cool! Congradulations, you are one of the first to try designing monsters in D&D:5E, let alone named villains.

The only thing that seems glaringly overpowered are the Legendary actions.

Consider that currently, Greel can Eldritch blast on his turn, and then use Legendary Actions to cast Arms of Hadar three times before his next turn. I'd make that one cost 2 actions. Maybe even 3. Especially if it doesn't count as one of his three spell slots.

On the topic of spell slots...
Based on what you've wrote for him, he seems much more dependent on magic than his 3 spell slots would suggest.
Since Clairvoyance, Dream, and Scrying all have casting times longer than 1 action, why not give him the ability to cast those two at-will, or as a Ritual? That way, he could still carry out his nefarious villain stuff, while saving his actual spell slots for inevitably confronting the PC's.

Aside from those two things, he seems like a perfectly cool villain. The fact that he's a master of disguise should definitely be used to nail a sense of paranoia into the PC's... This villain can literally be anyone, anywhere. He could be the patron at the table across the bar, or the servant watching from the shadows of the lord's keep. He can haunt them in their dreams. Using clairvoyance, he can eavesdrop on the players even as they plan to stop him.

Heck, he's basically omniscient. I'd even go so far as saying that unless the PC's specifically say they're taking precautions to block his scrying/clairvoyance, you have carte blanche to freely metagame, and let Greel know exactly what the PC's plan is and retroactively take whatever precautions are necessary to ruin it.

[EvilAnagram]

A couple things:

You gave him an INT 11, but listed it as a (+1). It should be a (+0).
He doesn't seem to have a regular proficiency bonus. His WIS is (+1), and his Insight is +8. That means that his proficiency is +7. His arcana is +6, with a (+1) INT that makes his proficiency +5. His Intimidation implies that it's +5, while his Deception implies it is +9. His spellcasting save implies that it's +5. Making it consistent might make more sense.
The Legendary Actions might be a bit OP.

Otherwise, he seems pretty sweet. I like him.

[Dralnu]

Very cool! Congradulations, you are one of the first to try designing monsters in D&D:5E, let alone named villains.

The only thing that seems glaringly overpowered are the Legendary actions.

Consider that currently, Greel can Eldritch blast on his turn, and then use Legendary Actions to cast Arms of Hadar three times before his next turn. I'd make that one cost 2 actions. Maybe even 3. Especially if it doesn't count as one of his three spell slots.

Thanks! I'm going to nerf the legendary actions. He only gets 2 per round now, and Arms of Hadar will cost 2 actions.



On the topic of spell slots...
Based on what you've wrote for him, he seems much more dependent on magic than his 3 spell slots would suggest.
Since Clairvoyance, Dream, and Scrying all have casting times longer than 1 action, why not give him the ability to cast those two at-will, or as a Ritual? That way, he could still carry out his nefarious villain stuff, while saving his actual spell slots for inevitably confronting the PC's.

Good idea. I hadn't given him a Pact Boon yet, so I'll give him the Pact of the Tome. This opens the doors for even more helpful Rituals to flesh out his character if need be.


Aside from those two things, he seems like a perfectly cool villain. The fact that he's a master of disguise should definitely be used to nail a sense of paranoia into the PC's... This villain can literally be anyone, anywhere. He could be the patron at the table across the bar, or the servant watching from the shadows of the lord's keep. He can haunt them in their dreams. Using clairvoyance, he can eavesdrop on the players even as they plan to stop him.

Heck, he's basically omniscient. I'd even go so far as saying that unless the PC's specifically say they're taking precautions to block his scrying/clairvoyance, you have carte blanche to freely metagame, and let Greel know exactly what the PC's plan is and retroactively take whatever precautions are necessary to ruin it.

I plan on having him as the party's patron initially, masquerading as a good guy. Have them recover a precious artifact and/or kill some potential rivals. When the PCs catch on, and if they decide to oppose him, it won't be easy. Like you said, his warlock powers (warlock14) makes him almost omniscient.


A couple things:

You gave him an INT 11, but listed it as a (+1). It should be a (+0).
He doesn't seem to have a regular proficiency bonus. His WIS is (+1), and his Insight is +8. That means that his proficiency is +7. His arcana is +6, with a (+1) INT that makes his proficiency +5. His Intimidation implies that it's +5, while his Deception implies it is +9. His spellcasting save implies that it's +5. Making it consistent might make more sense.
The Legendary Actions might be a bit OP.

Otherwise, he seems pretty sweet. I like him.

Thanks for the corrections. I took the Doppelganger stats and added 14 levels of warlock to it. The doppelganger's WIS is +1 but its Insight is +3, its CHA is +2 but its Deception is +6! Its Slam attack is +6 to hit and 1d6+4 damage, with a +4 DEX, so I'm going to assume it has +2 proficiency but gets an extra +2 to Deception somehow. I'll fix the stats with +7 proficiency in mind. Legendary Actions have been nerfed too.

[Freelance GM]

A way to check your work on the Proficiency Bonus would be to check out the Proficiency Bonus by Challenge Rating on Page 8 of the MM.

Doppelgangers are CR3, so they have a +2 Proficiency bonus base. Some creatures use their Proficiency Bonus x2 for certain skills. That's why the basic Doppelganger has +6 Deception; (Proficiency Bonus of +2x2, +2 CHA)

If you give that Doppelganger 14 levels of Warlock, he effectively becomes a Level 17. If you check back at the beginning of the MM again, that means a +6 Proficiency bonus.

Meaning...
Saving Throws Wis +7, Cha +11
Skills Deception +17, Insight +7, Arcana +6, Intimidation +11
Spell Save DC 19, +9 to Hit with Spell Attacks

So, Greel gets significantly better at Deception, but a little bit worse at his other skills, saving throws, and Spell attacks.
His Spell Save DC goes up, though.

I'm glad EvilAnagram noticed the Proficiency bonus anomaly- I completely missed it. But hey, we have the solution now, and the whole forum's 5E-Monster building community will benefit from it!

[BranMan]

If you give that Doppelganger 14 levels of Warlock, he effectively becomes a Level 17.


It seems like, since Greel has 14 levels of Warlock plus the Doppelganger stuff, he should be a lot more than challenge 11, as listed in the OP.

However, since he was designed as a CR 11 enemy, (I'm assuming you made him CR 11 because the party that will be facing him is around that level) I would suggest nerfing some of the abilities and taking away some Warlock levels.

[TheDeadlyShoe]

That doesn't follow. I don't think a level 11 PC wouldn't qualify as CR 11.

[Dralnu]

A way to check your work on the Proficiency Bonus would be to check out the Proficiency Bonus by Challenge Rating on Page 8 of the MM.

Thanks for pointing that out. I'll adjust his Proficiency. Unfortunately I haven't picked up an MM yet, maybe I'll do so tomorrow.


That doesn't follow. I don't think a level 11 PC wouldn't qualify as CR 11.

From what I gather, monsters with spellcasting from a PC class are generally the Class Lvl -3 for CR. But that's not a hard and fast rule. For example, Rath Modar from HotDQ is an 11th-level wizard spellcaster, even has the 11th level illusionist ability, but his CR is only 6. So there should be more factors at play here. Then how is

My PCs will actually first come in contact with this bad guy very soon at levels 4-5. They're going to inadvertently release him from a long stasis. Afterwards he will interact with them in disguise, probably as a patron. He will face them in combat somewhere in the 8-11 range I think. I can delevel him. For my purposes, Warlock 9 is all I need, so he has access to Dream and Scrying, neither of which play a role in combat.

And then there's the CR modifier from being legendary, which has got to be at least +1, likely +2?

[Freelance GM]

From what I gather, monsters with spellcasting from a PC class are generally the Class Lvl -3 for CR. But that's not a hard and fast rule. For example, Rath Modar from HotDQ is an 11th-level wizard spellcaster, even has the 11th level illusionist ability, but his CR is only 6. So there should be more factors at play here...

...And then there's the CR modifier from being legendary, which has got to be at least +1, likely +2?

It gets dicier in the MM. Rath Modar's level 11, but CR6, and a Lich is level 18 and CR21. Granted, the lich is also Legendary, and also goes up to CR22 if you fight the Lich in its lair, because of the extra abilities it gets.

How much of the CR is the Lich's undead traits, versus its Legendary abilities? It's kind of hard to tell.

If you equate 1 monster level as 1 PC level -which we know probably isn't a flawless way of doing it, but it's close enough- then he's at least a Challenge 17. Factoring in the Legendary Actions, he goes up to Challenge 19.
Which kind of makes sense, in a weird way. Greel's significantly more durable than a Lich, but has fewer spell slots, and weaker spells. Especially since he's equipped for espionage, Greel actually isn't too much of a threat to the PC's by the time they'll be fighting him. At levels 8-11, most players can easily survive most of his damage-dealing spells. The main problem is the knockback from his Eldritch blasts, and his ability to stall. If I were a PC I would be less worried about getting hit with an Eldritch blast or three, and more worried about Greel casting Black Tentacles or Darkness to distract us, then escaping to somewhere crowded.