5e Sandman Elemental

[Mith]

Hello Playground,

I am drafting up some monsters for a desert campaign, and am looking at the Sandman from earlier editions. This monster materialises and tries to put the party to sleep. They either are victims to the next band of wandering monsters, or they are asleep in the desert.

I was originally thinking of giving the Sandman a pool of d8's that they can spend to cast a Sleep spell of a certain level. However, instead of a fiddly mechanic, would it work to reskin, slightly boosted Harpy like below? It does classify them as Undead, and steals the death burst from the Mephit, and some immunities and resistances from the earth elemental. But I think it works. I would appreciate your thoughts on the idea.

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Sandman

"As you wander through the barren desert, a strange song seems to float out of the air. Ahead of you, a vaguely humanoid shape manifests. The only feature clearly defined is the red eyes of fierce hatred. Al the while, the song seems to grow in intensity. Wouldn't it be nice to just...sleep?

The sandman is a malevolent spirit of the desert, born from the dying breath of yet another victim claimed by the desert's merciless heat. They seek to lure in others to share their fate, knowing no end to their restless thirst.

AC: 13
HP: 38 (7d8+7)
Speed: 40'

STR:10 DEX:13 CON:12 INT:7 WIS:10 CHA:14

Senses: Passive Perception 10, Tremour sense 60', Dark vision 60'
Damage Resistance: Bludgeoning, Piercing, Slashing from non magical wepons
Damage Immunities: Poison
Condition Immunities: exhaustion, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned, unconscious
Languages: Languages known in life, cannot speak
CR: 1

Actions

Death Burst: When a sandman dies, it explodes into a cloud of sand. Each creature within 5' must make a DC 10 Con save or be blinded for 1 minute. A blinded creature can repeat a saving throw on each of it's turns, ending the effect on a success.

Dirge of the Desert: The sandman sings a whispering lullaby. Every humanoid or giant within 300' that can hear the song must make a DC 13 Wisdom saving throw or be incapacitated until the song ends. The sandman may spend a bonus action on subsequent turns to keep singing. The song ends if the sandman is incapacitated.

A creature under the thrall of the sand man may make a saving throw at the end of their turn, if they take damage, or if an ally spends an action to attempt to revive them. If they fail to make their save 3 times, they fall asleep for 1d4 rounds. When they awaken, they suffer a level of exhaustion.

A target that successfully saves against the sandman's dirge is immune to this ability for 24 hours.

[InkisRatticus]

First off I really like this fun little creature. I can see one or even a couple of these giving any level of guys trouble. Plus it would be easy to adjust for any level of play. The only thing I would change would be to make it CR 2 or 3 since you have to find this creature, EDIT [scary amount of health (non magic wise)] plus shouldn't it have some skills?

[The Nth Doctor]

My only concern is the non-magical resistance. Health is low enough that it shouldn't be to much of a problem, but depending on party composition it basically has 76 hit point which is a lot for a CR 1 monster.

[Mith]

Thanks for the comment. If I bump it up to CR 2 and give is stealth (+3), allowing it to sneak into the midst of the party and sing the party to sleep, that could work?

The idea is that as a random encounter in the desert, you roll up one of these, and then roll to see what else comes along.