The Maw

[JNAProductions]

The Maw
Large Aberration, Hungry
Armor Class 14 (Thick Hide)
Hit Points 420 (40d10+200)
Speed Immobile


Strength
Dexterity
Constitution
Intelligence
Wisdom
Charisma


26 (+8)
1 (-5)
20 (+5)
18 (+4)
8 (-1)
16 (+3)


Saving Throw Wisdom +3
Damage Resistances Necrotic
Damage Immunities Poison, Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing from non-magical weapons
Condition Immunities Blinded, Charmed, Exhaustion, Frightened, Paralyzed, Petrified, Poisoned, Prone
Skill Athletics +12
Senses Blindsight 30', Tremorsense 120', Passive Perception 9
Languages Common, Dwarven
Challenge X

Blind The Maw is totally blind, and as such, is immune to anything based on vision.

Immobile The Maw is quite literally rooted into the ground. Its tendrils go deep, so it is virtually impossible to move by any means while still alive, and quite difficult to move even when dead.

Vast Gullet The Maw can distend itself to swallow creatures as large as huge, and can hold up to sixty-four medium creatures in its stomach. Each small creature counts as half a medium, each tiny is one fourth. A large creature counts as four medium, and a huge counts as sixteen.

Easy To Chew The Maw has advantage on attacks against targets it has grappled.

Actions
Bite Melee Weapon Attack: +12 to-hit, reach 10', one target. Hit: 2d12+8 (21) piercing damage and 2d10+5 (16) acid damage. In addition, The Maw can make a grapple attempt without taking an action against the creature targeted.

Swallow The Maw attempts to swallow a grappled creature. They must make a DC 20 Strength or Dexterity saving throw (their choice) to avoid being swallowed. If they succeed, they take 2d10+5 (16) acid damage from the attempt. If they fail, they are swallowed, becoming blinded and restrained, as well as lacking line of effect to anything but The Maw. On the start of each of The Maw's turns, all swallowed targets take 2d12+8 (21) bludgeoning and 3d10+5 (21) acid damage.

At the end of each of The Maw's turns, it must make a Constitution save with a DC equal to the damage it took between the end of its last turn and now from swallowed creatures. On a failed save, it regurgitates its most recent meals adjacent to it, in squares of its choosing.

If The Maw dies while creatures are swallowed, they continue to take acid damage until they escape, but no more bludgeoning damage. Escaping requires 20' of climbing.

Acid Spittle Ranged Weapon Attack: +9 to-hit, range 120', one target. Hit: 2d10+5 (16) acid damage.

Vacuum Suction All creatures of The Maw's choice within 120' must make a DC 17 Strength saving throw. On a failure, they are dragged 20' closer. On a failure of 5 or more, they are knocked prone and dragged 30' closer. On a success, they are dragged 10' closer. If they succeed by 5 or more, they are not dragged at all.

Multiattack The Maw makes, in any order, three Acid Spittle attacks, one Vacuum Suction action, and either one Bite or one Swallow.

Bonus Actions
Bite As above.

Swallow As above.

Sustenance The Maw draws sustenance from its meals and the earth its rooted in. It regains 4d10+5 (27) HP.

Tendril Strike The Maw shoots a tendril out from the ground, restraining a target. One creature of its choice within 120' must make a DC 17 Dexterity saving throw or be restrained. They may make a Strength check against DC 17 as an action to escape. While restrained, The Maw's Vacuum Suction still affects them without breaking the restrained condition.

The Maw may have up to five creatures restrained at a time in this fashion.

Reaction
Spawn As a reaction to being targeted, The Maw spawns a single Mawling between itself and the attacker. This grants The Maw cover against the attack, as well as creating an extra Mawling.

Legendary Actions
The Maw has three legendary actions.

Spawn The Maw spawns a Mawling.
Spit The Maw uses Acid Spittle.
Bite (2 Actions) The Maw Bites a target.
Swallow (2 Actions) The Maw Swallows a target.

Mawling
Small Aberration, Hungry
Armor Class 16 (Thick Hide)
Hit Points 26 (4d8+8)
Speed 20', Fly 30'


Strength
Dexterity
Constitution
Intelligence
Wisdom
Charisma


8 (-1)
14 (+2)
14 (+2)
6 (-2)
8 (-1)
6 (-2)

Damage Resistances Necrotic
Damage Immunities Poison
Senses Blindsight 30', Passive Perception 9
Languages -
Challenge X

Actions
Bite Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to-hit, reach 5', one target. Hit: 1d8+2 (6) piercing damage and 1d8+2 (6) poison damage.

Reaction
Intercept As a reaction to The Maw being hit, a Mawling may use its reaction to take the hit itself.

[The Nth Doctor]

What's the context for this enemy and what level/composition is the party? Also, are you looking for critiques or general comments?

If you are looking for critiques, I have a few small ones.

Overall, I like the design of the creature. I think it has the makings of a fun fight. However, I think that stat block is a little busy and that makes it confusing.

First, I'd clarify the multi-attack action a little better. You just have a lot of individual actions for the creature and that could get confusing for you as a DM (assuming you are the DM). I'd reduce it down to something like: Multi attack: The Maw makes three Acid Spittle or Bite attacks and one Swallow attack. Second, I'd get rid of Bite and merge it with the tendril attack. The creature can make multiple tendril attacks instead which I think thematically fits better with the grapple. So it can make up to three of those per turn and potentially grapple three creatures per turn and then try to swallow one. I would then get rid of the bonus action section because it doesn't really add anything to the creature but make the stat block more complicated.

Next, I'd parse down the bonus action, reaction, and legendary action sections and give the creature lair actions. With an immovable creature, giving it lair actions will add some extra depth to the battle instead of the players just dancing around the thing. I think the Spawn and Vacuum Suction actions work better as lair actions, probably paired with some other terrain control options to keep the fight interesting and draw the players in. Also, your Saves for Vacuum Suction are fairly complex and it might slow combat down as you individually check everyone's scores against your chart. That's just been my experianced with varied saves. You could keep his ability to sacrifice Mawlings to avoid hits but give him the ability to spawn Mawlings as a lair action so he gets more on the board. Maybe make it a a 2d4 roll or something.

All in all I like it, I just think the combat would flow easier with a little clean up. I think the key will be drawing the players in and keeping them engaged in the fight.