Marrowpact Shaman
- Npc
- fiend
- CR 5
- Swamp
Appears in: Undead, Cults and Rituals, Curses and Bargains, Urban Intrigue, Social and Negotiation
Marrowpact Shaman
AC 15 / HP 75 (10d10 + 20) / CR 5
- STR
- 16
- DEX
- 12
- CON
- 14
- INT
- 17
- WIS
- 16
- CHA
- 14
Binding Contract. A creature that willingly agrees to a deal with the shaman is magically bound. The bound creature has disadvantage on attack rolls against the shaman until the deal is fulfilled or the shaman breaks its terms.
Swamp Sovereign. The shaman ignores difficult terrain in swamp environments and can breathe underwater.
Bone Staff. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 10 (2d6 + 3) bludgeoning damage plus 4 (1d8) necrotic damage.
Debt Collection. The shaman targets one creature within 30 ft. that can hear it. The target must succeed on a DC 14 Wisdom saving throw or become frightened for 1 minute as it feels the crushing weight of an obligation. A frightened creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on a success.
Summon Debtors (Recharge 5-6). The shaman raises its staff and calls two zombies from the swamp in unoccupied spaces within 30 ft. The zombies act on the shaman's initiative and obey its commands. They persist for 1 minute or until destroyed.
How to run Marrowpact Shaman
Marrowpact Shaman is a cr 5 fiend for Dungeons & Dragons. Drop it into any swamp scene; the statblock above is free to add to your compendium in the app, and the one-shot below gives you somewhere to run it.
Where it begins
- 1
A merchant's hands turned black overnight; he says he bought a charm from something in the bog and never paid the second installment.
- 2
Villagers leave animal skulls at the swamp's edge each new moon, and the fever that plagued them for a decade stopped.
- 3
A missing herbalist was last seen following a trail of golden sap into the mire.
The Bone Ledger
The party seeks out a swamp-dwelling shaman to lift a curse or retrieve a missing person. The shaman deals on its own terms, and if the party cannot stomach the price, the negotiation turns violent fast.
The Mire Road
The trail sinks into black water. Fireflies drift through the cypress, and the air tastes of rot and sweet resin. Something pale shifts under the surface ahead. A carved skull on a post marks the boundary, its jaw wired open with copper thread.
The skull markers define the shaman's territory. Past this line, the dead do not attack unless provoked. The party may encounter a shambling figure carrying a bundle of herbs back toward the shaman's clearing. It was once a person who defaulted on a deal. It ignores the party unless blocked.
