Non-Dragon Hoarding Monster?

[Catullus64]

Working on a dungeon while traveling, and therefore away from my books. Thus, I don't have the flavor text that would be useful in telling me what monster would fit well in this scenario.

The players will soon embark on an expedition to explore an abandoned dwarf-hold. The lower levels are infested with evil ratmen (kill dwarf-things, yes-yes!), but these vermin dare not venture into the high hall, for fear of the dreadful creature which has taken up residence there, and laid claim to the ancient dwarven hoard.

What should it be? The situation really screams dragon, but I'm honestly kinda tired of dragons; I used them pretty heavily in a recent campaign. What I really want (and what I would ordinarily use the descriptor text of the books to find out) is another monster that explicitly desires and hoards treasure.

The players will be level 3 for the entire dungeon, but I want the creature to be at least CR 6; something they stand very little chance of defeating in a straight fight, requiring supernatural aid/subterfuge/harebrained schemes to defeat. (My players are used to that, and will know to roll with it.) My available sources are Monster Manual, Volo's Guide, and Mordenkainen's Tome.

[Seekergeek]

The Nagpa could be a good fit here - CR 17 so, you know, they are unlikely to go toe to toe with it - they are collectors of lore and magic but cursed to only be able to gather it from crumbled kingdoms and civilizations. Page 215 of tome of foes.

A Morkoth is CR 11 and are voracious collectors. Each one travels the planes, amassing the valuables, oddities, and castoffs of the multiverse to make its collection ever more complete. Page 178 of Volos

[JackPhoenix]

Ghost of a greedy dwarven king who jealously guards his treasures. You can't just kill it, as it'll be back, perhaps curse any treasure taken from it in the meantime, and could possibly be negotiated with.... perhaps finding a piece of treasure that was stolen from him, or avenging his death, or helping his heir to take his rightful throne will bring it to rest.

A giant, if there's enough space. Propably storm or cloud. How it got there? Well, that's a long story!

[iTreeby]

A chimera could fit the bill. It is cr 6 and has some of the characteristics of a dragon.

[xanxosttheslaad]

Gauth, CR 6, a lesser beholder that eats magic, which could be magic items that the dwarves has in their hoard. Could be an especially interesting boss battle, with all their eye rays and such.
Xorn are CR 5, and like to eat treasure. You might want to say that that xorn is especially hangry or evil or something (perhaps through the influence of ogremoch, or whatever’s relevant to your game), given their typically passive demeanor. If you use this, I would also recommend geonids, weaker earth elementals that like treasure, although I don’t think they’re in the books you listed.

[WaroftheCrans]

I was watching the hobbit the other day, it could be a troll hoard. Instead of Smaug as the king under the mountain, it's William, Bert, and Tom. Subvert expectations by replacing one trope from the hobbit with a different one :smallsmile:

[HappyDaze]

Whatever you choose, I'd recommend a small group (perhaps a mated pair) of lower Challenge creatures over a single higher-Challenge enemy. The game just plays better that way.

[Mjolnirbear]

Dwarf "they delved too deeply".
Any NPC, really: Cultists (the ritual to raise Tiamat needs us to sacrifice untold wealth) or archmage (the ritual for lichdom requires gems of unequal beauty) or bandit captain (steal from the rich and give to me) or hobgoblin (magubliyet wants an ay, I need resources to force the goblins to join and convince the bugbear to get out of their caves).

You don't really need a hoarding monster so much as a motivation to gather wealth, and that's really easy.

[Lupine]

Am I hearing ‘MUMMY LORD?’ A vengeful spirit with a noticeable weakness that is sworn & cursed a treasure for the end of days? What a great idea!”

In actuality, though. Crumbled dwarven society left behind a guardian to protect their wealth until they could return? prophesy, loot, big supernatural enemy, and legendary monster sounds like a good fit.

[KittenMagician]

i suggest a psuedodragon with awesome powers of illusion magic that has just scared the rat people away without actually harming them. it would just be pure hilarity and maybe the party can befriend it.


if you want an actual fight, maybe a cambion (MM), beholder zombie (MM), a tanarukk (VGM), Vampire spawn (MM)(can be used as a lead to a bigger threat), medusa (MM), or a cyclops (MM). i think any of these might do as they can all be communicated with for subterfuge and the like.

[Avonar]

Perhaps a roper? It found a bunch of shiny things and realised that food came looking for the shiny things, so it decided to sit by them. Not so much a hoarding creature, but eating adventurers would cause things to pile up.

[Temperjoke]

Truthfully, you could actually make it be any sort of intelligent monster you want, that has just decided to hoard all the treasure for itself. Maybe there was an artifact of Abbathor among the items, and it filled the previously normal creature with an insatiable greed? Or what if a clan of duergar have claimed the hall and it's treasure for themselves?

[The Shoeless]

How about a monster not acting out of pure greed, but as a guardian? The rat-people would fear it the same, as they are not worthy:

Amongst the treasures is the ancient Pearl of Thautam, a once powerful artifact blessed by the dwarven gods. The Mordinsamman tasked a mighty Gynosphinx to guard the artifact so no one living in defiance of dwarvenkind would lay hand on Thautams beloved bauble. The sphinx collected the treasure and warded the ruins with magical wards, ready to give the riches of dead dwarves to anyone who can best her in battle - or a trial of dwarfness... :smallamused: