Lamb
Monster
At a glance
What it is: Someone who followed the bell. A shepherd, a traveler, a child: hollow-eyed and smiling, with soft grey fleece where their hair used to be.
How they fight: In a crowd. They grab and hold so the Bellwether's crook can do the rest.
How to save one: Knock them out instead of killing them, or silence the bell. They wake up as themselves.
Read aloud
They are standing very still in the heather, a dozen of them, all facing you. Their hair has gone soft and grey and curly as fleece. Every one of them is smiling. One is wearing a wedding ring. One is very small.
Running a flock
Lambs never speak, only bleat, and they never run. Describe the moment a player recognizes one of them: a missing merchant from the last town, a face from a wanted poster, a name stitched inside a collar. That is when the fight stops being simple.
The Bellwether
Monster
At a glance
What it is: An ancient fey shepherd, twelve feet tall, with a ram's skull for a head and a great iron bell hanging at its throat.
Where it's found: Moors, fens and fog-bound roads. Anywhere travelers get lost.
What it wants: A flock. It truly believes it is rescuing the people it takes.
Challenge: 9. Built for four characters of 6th to 8th level, with its lambs.
Read aloud
There is no wind, but somewhere out in the fog a bell is ringing. It is the most comforting sound you have ever heard. It sounds like supper being called. It sounds like someone saying your name. It sounds like home, and home is only a little way off the road.
Signs it's near
Sheep tracks where no sheep would go, every one walking the same way.
Packs left neatly at the roadside, boots set side by side.
Fog that thickens against the wind.
Lambs: hollow-eyed people with soft woolly hair and blank smiles, standing perfectly still in the heather.
How to run it
The Bellwether never fights fair and never fights first. It rings, and it waits. Anyone lost, grieving or far from home feels the pull hardest, so let the bell split the party before a single sword comes out.
When it does fight, it fights for its flock: lambs go first, and it uses its crook to drag anyone standing alone back toward itself.
How to beat it
Silence the bell. Stuff the clapper, cast silence on it or tear the bell free. Without it, the Bellwether is a huge, confused old thing that can be reasoned with.
Give it a reason. Prove a lamb has somewhere to go home to and it lets them go.
Lantern light. It will not step into the light of a grave-wax flame, like the one above the door of The Last Lantern.
Its flock
The Bellwether never travels without four to eight lambs. Use the @Lamb stat block for each of them.
Running it at other levels
Levels 3 to 5: Drop it to 110 hit points, remove Legendary Resistance and use two to four lambs. Toll the Bell becomes DC 14.
Levels 9 to 11: Give it 200 hit points and a second bell (a second use of Toll the Bell each round, Recharge 6).
The Bellwether stat block
D&D 5e · CR 9
- Armor Class
- 15
- Hit Points
- 161
- Challenge
- 9
- Proficiency bonus
- +4
- Passive Perception
- 17
| STR | DEX | CON | INT | WIS | CHA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22 (+6) | 10 (+0) | 20 (+5) | 9 (-1) | 16 (+3) | 18 (+4) |
Saving throws CON +9, WIS +7, CHA +8
Skills Perception +7, Survival +7
Damage resistances cold, piercing, slashing, bludgeoning
Senses darkvision 120 ft., passive Perception 17
Languages Sylvan, understands Common but rarely speaks
Traits
Fogwalker. The Bellwether ignores difficult terrain from mud and bog, and fog doesn't obscure its vision.
Grave-Wax Aversion. The Bellwether can't willingly enter bright light cast by a flame fed with grave-wax.
Legendary Resistance (1/Day). If the Bellwether fails a saving throw, it can choose to succeed instead.
Magic Resistance. The Bellwether has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
Attacks
Crook. Melee attack, +10 to hit, 3d8+6 bludgeoning damage.
Actions
Multiattack. The Bellwether makes two Crook attacks, or one Crook attack and uses Toll the Bell if it is available.
Toll the Bell (Recharge 5-6). Each creature of the Bellwether's choice within 60 feet that can hear the bell must succeed on a DC 16 Wisdom saving throw or be charmed for 1 minute. A charmed creature must use its movement each turn to move toward the Bellwether by the safest route, and can't take reactions. A charmed creature that ends its turn within 5 feet of the Bellwether takes 9 (2d8) psychic damage as its memories of home begin to fade. A creature repeats the save at the end of each of its turns, with advantage if it has someone or somewhere it is trying to get back to.
Crook. Melee Weapon Attack: +10 to hit, reach 15 ft., one target. Hit: 19 (3d8 + 6) bludgeoning damage. If the target is Large or smaller, the Bellwether pulls it up to 10 feet toward itself.
Legendary Actions (3/round). The Bellwether can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below, one at a time at the end of another creature's turn. Graze: it moves up to half its speed without provoking opportunity attacks. Crook (costs 2 actions): it makes one Crook attack. Call the Lambs: up to two Lambs within 60 feet move up to their speed and make one Clutching Grasp attack each.
Use The Bellwether at your table
Add a copy to your campaign in MythWeaver, then change anything you like.
