Revener
by Sheldon MorrisThis monster appears as a human figure with skeletal hands and a skull head with flowing, white hair. A revener prowls dark, underground caverns and dust-filled tombs and crypts.
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REVENER
Medium monstrosity, chaotic evil
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Armour Class 17 (natural armour)
Hit Points 71 (11d8 + 22)
Speed 40 ft.
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STR|DEX|CON|INT|WIS|CHA
13 (+1)|16 (+3)|14 (+2)|10 (+0)|11 (+0)|12 (+1)
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Saving Throws Wis +3, Cha +4
Damage Resistances bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical weapons
Senses darkvision 120 ft., passive Perception 10
Languages -----
Challenge 5 (1,800 XP)
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ACTIONS
Multiattack. The revener makes two claw attacks.
Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature.
Hit: 6 (1d6 + 3) slashing damage, plus 10 (3d6) psychic damage. The creature loses any sense of taste it may have had and must make a DC 16 Intelligence saving throw. On a failed save, the creature is deafened. If the save failed by 3 or more, it is also blinded. If the save failed by 5 or more, the creature is also stunned. Conditions gained from the revener last for one minute. The creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending one condition on itself on a success.
[Design notes: I departed from the RC version moreso here than I tend to do. The original is basically a "screw the PCs" monster as it removes senses, not damages them. While I think the aftermath could be a great roleplay opportunity, the monster really doesn't threaten them in any real way.
Its hps and xp from the RC suggested a CR 5 creature in 5E, and I really struggled to get there without creating a decent damaging component to it. The idea I came up with (from the sparce info in the RC) is that it is essentially a mind effecting creature, manifesting in 5E as pyschic damage and its ability to drain senses from creatures. (If I was a creature that could not harm anyone else, only remove their senses one by one, I wouldn't be attacking anything!)
Finally, the RC version's sense-draining ability is much longer lasting and that doesn't gel well with the 5E handling of conditions like that - it generally provides recurring saving throw attempts. To increase the potency I gave it the ability to inflict several conditions at once, and only one can be 'cured' each round. This was a tough one to convert to 5E's structure but I'm pretty happy with it actually.]