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View Full Version : D&D 5e/Next Oriental Low-Level Monsters: The Zashiki Warashi and the Otoroshi (CR2)



Gastronomie
2016-03-03, 11:32 AM
Based on requests by Ninja Prawn. The Zashiki Warashi's abilities are loosely based off his works (the Zashiki Warashi as a player race), with permission.

Zashiki Warashi
http://payload61.cargocollective.com/1/7/243277/3522065/.jpg
The Zashiki Warashi is a small mystical being which resembles a young human child with bobbed hair. There are both male and female Zashiki Warashi, and their ages in appearance range from three to fifteen. The Zashiki Warashi stays in a particular house for some time, enjoying its stay, and then later leaving once bored or when it wishes to go stay in a new house. While the Zashiki Warashi stays in a house, the family of that house will flourish; but once the Zashiki Warashi leaves, it is also said that the family is doomed to its downfall, and in some cases, even death (especially the case if the Zashiki Warashi departed the house due to disgust or an event it found unpleasant, such as being bullied by children). For this reason, families with a Zashiki Warashi in their house will try to keep it in the house for as long as possible, offering red beans (which are said to be their favorite food), and toys to play with.
The Zashiki Warashi has no evil or good intent. It simply enjoys its stay, playing with children and practicing mischief upon inhabitants of its house, such as leaving footprints upon walls, using the spinning wheel in the middle of the night, hiding pillows, jumping on top of sleeping people, and such.
It is said that only children can see the Zashiki Warashi, unless the Zashiki Warashii specifically wishes itself to be seen – which is a rare event.

Zashiki Warashi
Small Humanoid (Lesser Deity), neutral
Hit Points: 18 (5d6)
Speed: 25ft, fly 20ft
AC: 14
Str 8 (-1) Dex 14 (+2) Con 10 (+0)
Int 12 (+1) Wis 16 (+3) Cha 18 (+4)
Damage Resistance: damage from nonmagical weapons
Senses: Passive Perception 15, truesight 60 feet
Languages: common, all languages of the house it lives in
Challenge Rating: 2 (450 XP)
Magic Resistance. The Zashiki Warashi has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
Spider Climb. The Zashiki Warashi can climb difficult surfaces, including upside down on ceilings, without needing to make an ability check.
Blessings of the House. When the Zashiki Warashi takes a long rest inside a building, it may use this ability to bring fortune to anyone else who lives there. Upon the completion of the Zashiki Warashi’s long rest, anyone else who has slept in that building within the last 24 hours gains 1 luck point, which they may discharge exactly as if they had the Lucky feat (anyone who already has the Lucky feat gains no benefit from this ability). Unspent luck points disappear the next time the Zashiki Warashi begins a long rest.
Innate Spellcasting. The Zashiki Warashi’s innate spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 14, +6 to hit with spell attacks). The Zashiki Warashi can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components:
At will: dispel magic, invisibility, minor illusion, silent image, pass without trace
1/day each: bane, bestow curse, counterspell, teleport (self only)

Actions
Mischief. Ranged Magical Attack: +4 to hit, reach 60 ft., one target.
Hit: 5 (2d4) force damage. The target has disadvantage on its next attack roll.
Blessings. One target within 60 feet of the Zashiki Warashi gains 2d4 temporary hit points, and has advantage on its next attack roll.



The Otoroshi / The Shishikori
http://i65.tinypic.com/2jbnxqf.png
The Otoroshi is a bizarre Yokai indeed – for despite various sightings in many areas, no one yet clearly understands its motives or nature. The Otoroshi sometimes rests on top of the entrance of a shrine or temple, looking down at those passing below, invisible to the naked eye. When someone with malice attempts to pass the gates, the Otoroshi drops down, engulfs the victim within seconds, and disappears into thin air.
However, there are other sightings of Otoroshi, not as a sacred guardian, but as a malignant Yokai and a member of the Hyakki Yakou, a parade of various vile Yokai that ravages through the countryside. In which case, they are said to eat horses and cows whole with their voracious appetite and go marching on to the next farm.
Some believe that there are two types of Otoroshi, the good and the evil. They argue that while the guardians should be called Otoroshi, their evil counterparts should be addressed to as the Shishikori.

Otoroshi / Shishikori
Large aberration (Yokai), lawful good or lawful evil
Hit Points: 39 (6d10+6)
Speed: 10ft, fly 40 ft
AC: 14
Str 17 (+3) Dex 6 (-2) Con 13 (+1)
Int 6 (-2) Wis 10 (+0) Cha 6 (-2)
Damage Resistance: force, bludgeoning from nonmagical weapons
Senses: Passive Perception 12, darkvision 60 feet
Languages: Ayakashi
Challenge Rating: 2 (450 XP)
Spider Climb. The Otoroshi can climb difficult surfaces, including upside down on ceilings, without needing to make an ability check.
Ambush from Above. When the Otoroshi attempts a Stealth check from above to perform a Surprise Attack, it uses its Strength Score instead of its Dexterity score for the check. Also, the Otoroshi takes no falling damage, and does not land prone even after falling.
Innate Spellcasting. The Otoroshi's innate spellcasting ability is Wisdom (spell save DC 10, +2 to hit with spell attacks). The Otoroshi can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components:
At will: acid splash (1d6), invisibility (self only)
1/day each: dispel magic

Actions
Engulf. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target.
Hit: 8 (2d4+3) bludgeoning damage. If the target is a Medium or smaller creature, it must succeed on a DC 14 Dexterity saving throw or be swallowed by the Otoroshi. While swallowed, the creature is blinded and restrained, it has total cover against attacks and other effects outside the Otoroshi, and it takes 3 (1d6) acid damage at the start of each of the Otoroshi’s turns. If the Otoroshi takes 10 or more damage on a single turn from a creature inside it, the Otoroshi must succeed on a DC 13 Constitution saving throw at the end of that turn or regurgitate all swallowed creatures, which fall prone in a space within 10 feet of the Otoroshi. If the Otoroshi dies, a swallowed creature is no longer restrained by it and can escape from the corpse using 10 feet of movement, exiting prone.
This attack cannot be used while the Otoroshi already has a swallowed creature within itself.
Restraining Hair. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 10ft., one creature.
Hit: 10 (2d6+3) poison damage. If the target is a Medium or smaller creature, it must succeed on a DC 14 Strength saving throw or be restrained by the Otoroshi’s long hair. While restrained by the Otoroshi’s hair, the creature is under the effects of the Restrained condition, and during each of the start of the Otoroshi’s turns, the Otoroshi gains 3 (1d6) hit points.
As an action, the restrained target can make a DC 14 Strength check, escaping the hair on a success. The hair can also be attacked and cut (AC 12, HP10, has immunity to bludgeoning, piercing, poison, and psychic damage). Damage to the Otoroshi’s hair does not affect the Otoroshi.
The Otoroshi’s hair is magical, and as so, its hair that is cut will regrow within seconds. Thus, the Otoroshi may use this ability any number of times per day, without fear of having all of its hair cut away.

Ninja_Prawn
2016-03-03, 01:59 PM
http://darkluna.com/animatedgif/twilightsparkle.gif
I love the otoroshi's restraining hair. It's so creepy! And spider climb is perfect for the zashiki-warashi... I'm wondering why you gave it flight though? I don't recall coming across that in my research.

Is it okay if I add them to my Fey Folio (https://www.dropbox.com/s/5wh33z72zn2hmgw/Fey%20Folio.pdf?dl=0) (with a credit to you)? I'm not planning to charge money for it any time soon.

Gastronomie
2016-03-03, 06:22 PM
Well, there isn't a particular "logical reason" I gave it flight. More like "since it's some lesser deity, it should be able to fly".
In the Otoroshi's case, flight was for one because while its form seems unsuited for running, I didn't want it to be possible for the adventurers to run away from it, and another because it's a mystery Yokai and I figured it should be able to hover or fly or whatever.

Thanks for the comments, and yes, of course, you can add them to the Fey Folio! More like, my pleasure.

Ninja_Prawn
2016-03-04, 04:02 AM
Oh, I totally agree with the Otoroshi flying, I just thought it seemed a bit random on the parlour child.

Out of interest, where do you draw the line between 'monster' and 'deity'? I always find it messy, trying to line up eastern and western myth within the D&D system. To me, the Zashiki-Warashi fills the same mythological niche as the Scottish Brownie or Russian Domovoi, both of which are well-established as belonging to the 'fey' category, but the difference between fey, monstrosity and demon isn't always clear, especially where Yokai are concerned. And then, within D&D, 'demon', 'demon lord', 'demon prince', 'demigod' and 'god' are more of a sliding scale than separate categories... :smallannoyed:

Gastronomie
2016-03-04, 04:39 AM
This is just my opinion, but something is classified a deity when people start worshipping it. Its origins don't matter much.

For instance, Japanese aristocrats in the Heian period feared Yokai and had Onmyouji cast rituals that protected the capital city (Heian-Kyo) from plague and fire and various other threats that were thought to be caused by Yokai. In this case, the Onmyouji was basically "fighting against the forces of the Yokai".

Compare this to the noble called Sugawara no Michizane, again the Heian period, who is a very famous "god of academics" in Japan (yes, he used to be a human, but now people worship him as a god. JESUS!! But this is actually pretty commonplace in Japanese culture). He was a talented man and a genius of various arts, but was banished from the capital by his political rivals (the Fujiwara family) who saw him as a dangerous foe, and died in vain in the Dazaifu (Kyushu, far away from the center of Japan).
Things start to get wrong several years later. Plague sweeps through the Heian-Kyo, people die of famine everywhere, lightning strikes the palaces of the powerful nobles, scary stuff happen. People think it's Michizane's spirit cursing the nobles for what they did to him.
Now, if people saw him as a Yokai, the nobles would hire Onmyouji and have them confine him somewhere.
But no, they didn't. The people tried to please Michizane by starting to worship him as the god of academics. They built shrines under his name. They pleaded him to please stop, to forgive them, to give them mercy.
Michizane is worshipped as a god, even now in the 21-st century. Worshipped especially by those taking entrance exams for college or high or middle school, you know, that sort.

See the difference here?

Going a bit further: In Japanese Shinto, the gods are viewed as being at times calm, at times kind, and then again, at times angry - just like normal human beings (the same can be said for Norse and Greek and various other polytheistic myths, too). People describe these as the Nigitama (written in Kanji as literally "Peaceful Spirit", and refers to when the god is blessful) and the Aratama (again, in Kanji, literally "Ravaging Spirit" - referring to when the god is unleashing its wrath), respectively.
People built shrines under the names of the gods to gain their favor, and have them bless their lands with their powers as a Nigitama. When lightning struck or fires burnt crops, or plagues broke out or the river went dry, people said it was the Aratama (the god being angry at something), and did their best to calm the god down. NEVER did they hire an Onmyouji to try to seal the god, as in the case with Yokai, which were viewed as nothing more than "unknown forces of evil".

For the record, many scholars believe that the legend of the Zashiki Warashi originated from a rather dark tradition in medieval Japan, of killing their own children when there wasn't enough food (in times of famine and such). This tradition, called Usu-Goro, was worst in the Tohoku region, where the climate was cold and rice was often insufficient to feed the population. Children were killed by being smashed under a heavy millstone, and instead of being buried properly in a graveyard, were buried under the kitchen floor or living room. There are some instances of folklore where they say the ghosts of these killed, innocent children were walking through the house at midnight, or surprising guests who arrived in the house. The Zashiki Warashi legends in the Tohoku region often involve them crawling out of the ground and writhing through the house on all fours, or making sounds like pounding on a millstone. Perhaps these are connected to the bloody tradition of the Usu-Goro.

But here, the people didn't try to seal the Zashiki Warashi. They embraced it as part of their life. They gave them food to eat and toys to play with. Perhaps it was originally a tradition coming from the parents' sense of guilt, but either way, people respected the Zashiki Warashi and did their best to not lose its liking (which would mean the Zashiki Warashi leaving the house).

So, I think it's safe to call it a lesser deity.

Ninja_Prawn
2016-03-04, 05:13 AM
That makes a lot of sense.

I think part of the reason it's so confusing to western eyes is because monotheism is so aggressively embedded in our culture. Anything that isn't the God - the one true God - can't be any kind of deity, even if it is by turns benevolent or malicious, even if you've spent the last few hundred years putting bells on your door to keep them away, or bread in your pockets to placate them...

And the idea of spiritualists using their power to exorcise/confine spirits is so bound up with Christian tradition over here that it would never occur to someone to even try it on a spirit that wasn't (in D&D parlance) undead or fiendish.

Gastronomie
2016-03-04, 05:30 AM
That makes a lot of sense.

I think part of the reason it's so confusing to western eyes is because monotheism is so aggressively embedded in our culture. Anything that isn't the God - the one true God - can't be any kind of deity, even if it is by turns benevolent or malicious, even if you've spent the last few hundred years putting bells on your door to keep them away, or bread in your pockets to placate them...

And the idea of spiritualists using their power to exorcise/confine spirits is so bound up with Christian tradition over here that it would never occur to someone to even try it on a spirit that wasn't (in D&D parlance) undead or fiendish.Despite living in America for 8 years, I haven't had much experience with religion in western culture (mainly since I was a small child back then), but from what I hear, it does seem true that western culture doesn't allow anything except the Christian "God" to be called a deity. I mean, what I learnt in world history class about calling the deities of other cultures "demons" and stuff, as in the case with Baal (Beelzebub), Ishtar (Astaroth) and many others.

The Kanji "Yo" means "Suspictious" or "Mysterious", and "Kai" means "Scary" or "Monster". It refers to anything that's mysterious, unexplainable, and harmful. You could think of most Yokai as being similar in nature to what D&D'ers would call "Monstrosities", or perhaps "Abberations". In some cases such as the Gasha Dokuro, they have some Undead elements.