One standout feature of the new Dungeons & Dragons campaign book, Vecna: Eve of Ruin, is its 35-page bestiary, and tucked within those pages are some especially fearsome foes. The story of the campaign starts characters out at level 10 and runs them all the way to the cap of 20, so there’s no shortage of monsters that boast loaded stat blocks or aggressively tuned abilities. Fifth edition DnD has generally paid more attention to lower-level monsters overall, and this new helping could be an exciting resource for any high-level campaign.
The greatest threats in Vecna: Eve of Ruin might not be found within its list of monsters, as enemies like Count Strahd and Vecna himself appear in the campaign, but that’s no reason to get too comfortable around any threats. Dealing with monsters in a way that doesn’t put the party at serious risk could involve gaining the right key item or ally, so attempting to play it smart is often the way to go. Of course, things going south is a bit inevitable, and encounters where everything is on the line are where high-level foes can really shine.
Although parties can run afoul of dryads easily enough in DnD, they’re not typically evil by nature. A deadbark dryad, however, is a different threat entirely, ratcheting things up from a very low-level creature to a substantial challenge for an advanced party. These Fey monsters come about after a dryad has let its wilderness succumb to evil, ultimately rotting them in more ways than one.
Deadbark dryads gain a lot of strength along with their corruption, which manifests in some devastating new attacks. Six vines make it easy for the deadbark dryad to grapple its opponents, and although destroying them can free grappled targets, it won’t hurt the dryad. It can also dish out a healthy dose of poison, potentially weakening its enemies with status ailments. With a strong array of resistances to both non-magical and magical attacks, these Fey can be difficult to take down.
In the terrifying plane of Pandemonium, a hazvongel is little more than a scout, but it’s a much more threatening one than the sort that one might expect to find in most settings. As a demonic bird with far too many legs, a hazvongel can squeeze three talon attacks into a single action, so it’s perfectly capable of shredding HP in a single hit. A Blood Barrage attack can do a wide spread of necrotic damage that puts the entire party at risk.
What really makes the hazvongel a nightmare to deal with is its long list of damage resistances, accompanied by a complete immunity to poison. Even a strong party might have to cycle through a lot of attack options before finding something that fully sticks, by which point the hazvongel can already be tearing its foes apart.
The deathwolf is far from the first lupine enemy to appear in DnD, following up classic acts like dire wolves and werewolves, but it shows up the rest when it comes to threat level. Deathwolves are created by necromancers bringing the bodies of powerful werewolves back to skeletal life, maintaining familiar DnD lycanthrope strengths while adding some new tricks. A deathwolf’s ability to create a phantom version of itself in an opponent’s mind is one fun pressure point for fear, as is the ability to teleport around a battlefield.
Another interesting deathwolf feature is its slowed fall speed, which enables it to take no damage when descending from a height. Whether jazzing up the Vecna: Eve of Ruin encounter or designing one for another campaign, this can be a fun concept to play with in environmental design.
Like the deathwolf, the borthak is a wolf-like enemy, albeit a less fundamentally unnatural one. With a “huge” designation, however, this absolute hulk of a beast isn’t to be trifled with. Ice that radiates from its position, acidic regurgitation, a stomp attack, and a tail that will bludgeon those who dare to strike it all serve to create a particularly interesting arena of play, making smart positioning and a good bit of luck absolute necessities.
The borthak’s role in Vecna: Eve of Ruin is more than that of a casual enemy, as the direct threat it poses to a temple in Krynn sets up a time-sensitive situation. Acquiring the right item offers the potential to distract it, however, so the party may not be without an ace up its sleeve. The book also offers a couple of environmental features to bolster the possibilities in the encounter, making for a showdown that should be memorable.
The relentless impaler’s name says it all – it’s very good at impaling, and it will keep coming back to do it. Thanks to its several different spike attacks under its standard actions and a couple of Legendary Actions that double down on the concept, coming into a relentless impaler encounter with low health could quickly spell the end of any party.
Anyone thinking of attempting to reason with a relentless impaler might as well give up before trying, as the ritual that creates a relentless impaler binds it in efficiently loyal service with no concern for self-preservation. This animalistic drive to attack could be something that a clever party might weaponize, but not without a lot of risk in the process. Throw in a few Legendary Resistances to boot, and a relentless impaler certainly isn’t something to be trifled with.
Parasites of any sort tend to be annoying, but they’re usually more insidious entities than they are genuinely powerful ones. When a parasite is born of a dead god, however, things can look very different. Enter the hertilod, a haunting reptilian creature with plenty of space for the party in its gullet. Party members stuck inside it will also be fighting off the effects of poison and necrotic draining, so there’s a lot of reasons to be afraid of getting swallowed.
Luckily, there is a key to fighting a hertilod. Its exposed muscle is susceptible to lightning, which could slow its otherwise frustrating options for mobility. More importantly, however, it can make the beast regurgitate creatures, which could be the saving grace in a tough fight. Even with this weakness, it’s still a nasty foe, but Vecna: Eve of Ruin‘s trials definitely get worse.
Cosmic horror isn’t the sort of title that would herald a friendly creature, and this gargantuan aberration is anything but. There’s plenty of room for a dungeon master to play up their own creative tack on its disturbing appearance, as no two look exactly the same, but all appear as a mess of body parts and organs arranged in ways that they simply shouldn’t be.
As is often the going rate for beasts of unnatural inclinations, cosmic horrors can make for some nasty tentacle attacks along with a classic bite option and a Legendary poisonous discharge. Psychic damage is also something to look out for, as the cosmic horror’s whispers can be too much for an adventurer to comprehend. Running into one of these outside of DnD‘s mysterious Astral Plane is unlikely, but venturing into that strange beyond carries this unfortunate risk.
Spider Queen Lolth has no shortage of horrific spiders in her loyal ranks, but they don’t get much worse than the citadel spider. As another gargantuan enemy, this one might be best avoided if anyone in the party has serious arachnophobia. Otherwise, it’s great for a truly memorable and potentially ruinous encounter.
Chip attacks aren’t likely to do much against the citadel spider, as its strong carapace can take 11 (or 2d10) damage off of blows as a reaction. It’s also got a few Legendary Resistances that can tank powerful attacks and spells, slowing the party down and increasing the chance that they end up stuck in its webs. In Vecna: Eve of Ruin, the citadel spider also doesn’t attack alone, with several driders guiding its actions to make for an even more formidable challenge.
Spyder-fiends aren’t new to DnD lore, but Vecna: Eve of Ruin elaborates on a number of deadly options within 5e for the first time. Most dangerous among these is the raklupis spyder-fiend, which certainly earns its impressive challenge rating of 19. One key aspect of this package is its ability to cast a number of useful spells, as well as a loyalty-bolstering bonus action that can end charmed and frightened conditions when it’s needed.
Spyder-fiends make for the perfect Vecna: Eve of Ruin inclusion thanks to their combination of wolf-like and spider-like elements, building on other intimidating foes while paving the way for Miska the Wolf-Spider himself to appear. Raklupis ones have the most majestic appearance of the bunch and keener minds than most, both admirable qualities that fail to make them any more endearing.