Bête pourrissante du marais - the Black Bête

Bête pourrissante du marais, aka Black Bête

Large Plant

Hit Dice: 5d8+10 (32 hp)
Initiative: +0
Speed: -- ft. (cannot move)
Armor Class: 14 (+4 natural), touch 10, flat-footed 14
Base Attack/Grapple: +3/+6
Attack: Slam +6 melee (1d6+3 plus grab)
Full Attack: 2 slams +6 melee (1d6+3 plus grab)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./10 ft.
Special Attacks: Grab, constrict, sap lure
Special Qualities: Plant traits, tremorsense 60 ft., damage reduction 5/slashing, vulnerability to fire, swamp-bound vitality, semi-sentient
Saves: Fort +6, Ref +1, Will +2
Abilities: Str 16, Dex 10, Con 14, Int 3, Wis 10, Cha 8
Skills: Listen +5, Spot +5, Hide +2 (in swamp)
Feats: Alertness, Endurance, Improved Initiative
Environment: Warm swamps and marshes
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: 3
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always neutral evil

Description

The Bête pourrissante du marais, also known as the Black Bête, is not an aberration from beyond the world, but rather a corruption that grows within it. It appears as a bald cypress in its final, rotting state - its bark split and peeling, its trunk swollen with decay, and its roots knotted above the water like grasping limbs that refuse to release their hold on life. Its canopy is sparse and sickly, draped in dead moss and brittle growth, yet faint movement can sometimes be seen in its branches, as though the tree itself is struggling to continue breathing.

Unlike a truly dead tree, the Bête has not fully surrendered to decay. Instead, it lingers in a state between life and death, sustained by the swamp’s slow, pervasive necrotic influence. The swamp does not simply consume - it transforms. The Bête embodies this process, feeding on rot, stagnation, and the faint traces of death that linger in the air and water around it. Wildlife instinctively avoids it, and even insects seem reluctant to settle near its roots.

Combat

The Bête pourrissante du marais is an ambush predator, though it does not hunt in the traditional sense. Instead, it lures creatures through subtle stimuli - a slow drip of sap, the faint scent of decay, or the illusion of a safe resting place. When prey draws near, its limbs lash out with surprising speed, attempting to seize and crush the life from its victims.

It prefers to attack solitary or weakened targets, relying on patience rather than aggression. If faced with sustained resistance, it does not flee, but instead withdraws slightly into stillness, relying on concealment and the swamp itself to obscure its presence until another opportunity arises.

Special Attacks

Grab (Ex):
If the Bête hits with a slam attack, it can attempt to start a grapple as a free action without provoking an attack of opportunity.

Constrict (Ex):
On a successful grapple check, the Bête deals 1d6+3 points of damage with a successful grapple check.

Sap Lure (Su):
Once per encounter, the Bête exudes a slow, thick sap that drips from its bark, releasing a faintly sweet but unsettling scent. Creatures within 30 feet must succeed on a DC 12 Will save or be compelled to approach the tree for 1d4 rounds, drawn by an instinctive sense of shelter or curiosity. This is a mind-affecting compulsion effect. The save DC is Charisma-based.

Special Qualities

Plant Traits:
The Bête is immune to poison, sleep, paralysis, stunning, and polymorph effects. It is not subject to critical hits or mind-affecting effects.

Tremorsense (Ex):
The Bête can detect the location of anything within 60 feet that is in contact with the ground or swamp water.

Damage Reduction (Ex):
Damage reduction 5/slashing. Its dense, rotting wood resists blunt trauma and absorbs impacts unnaturally well.

Vulnerability to Fire (Ex):
Fire deals +50% damage to the Bête.

Swamp-Bound Vitality (Ex):
Though immobile, the Bête draws strength from the swamp itself. In areas of deep marsh or standing water, it gains a +2 circumstance bonus to saving throws against being affected by any effect that would damage or destroy plants. In addition, it is difficult to distinguish from a normal, dying cypress at a distance (DC 15 Spot check to notice its unnatural state when not in combat).

Lore

The Bête pourrissante du marais is believed to be a consequence of the swamp’s natural cycle taken to a disturbing extreme. Where most trees decay and return to the earth, the Bête lingers - sustained by the dense, stagnant magic that permeates the land. It is not raised by necromancy in the traditional sense, nor is it animated by outside will. Rather, it is what happens when life refuses to end, feeding instead on the slow accumulation of death around it.

Many locals avoid areas where these trees grow, referring to them in hushed tones and marking their locations with crude warnings. To approach one is to risk becoming part of its continued existence - another body consumed, another source of sustenance in its endless, quiet hunger. For most, the safest choice is simple: avoid the still places, where the swamp grows too quiet… and the trees begin to listen.

These trees are said to be... extensions... of the loa also known as Black Bête. Servants of that malevolent loa will chant and sing to these awful plants in an attempt - although an often vain one - to contact the monstrous loa itself.

Black Bête Chant (Swamp Version)

Oh, Black Bête (bam-ba-lam)
Deep in the mire (bam-ba-lam)
Black Bête waits (bam-ba-lam)
Rotting desire (bam-ba-lam)
It calls you nearer (bam-ba-lam)
Cold breath, you hear it (bam-ba-lam)
Oh, Black Bête (bam-ba-lam)
Don’t go near it (bam-ba-lam)

Whoa, Black Bête (bam-ba-lam)
Yeah, Black Bête (bam-ba-lam)
Bark like sickness (bam-ba-lam)
Roots hold fast (bam-ba-lam)
It pulls you under (bam-ba-lam)
Time goes faster (bam-ba-lam)
Whoa, Black Bête (bam-ba-lam)
Won’t let you pass (bam-ba-lam)

Whoa, Black Bête (bam-ba-lam)
Yeah, Black Bête (bam-ba-lam)
Eyes in the bark (bam-ba-lam)
Hungry and dark (bam-ba-lam)
If you get closer (bam-ba-lam)
There’s no turning back (bam-ba-lam)
Whoa, Black Bête (bam-ba-lam)
Never come back (bam-ba-lam)

(This is obviously a parody of the song Black Betty)

Wandering Jack (Jack Errant)

 

Wandering Jack (Jack Errant)

Hit Dice: 25d12+125 (287 hp)
Initiative: +9
Speed: Fly 40 ft. (perfect)
Armor Class: 26 (+5 Dex, +11 deflection), touch 26, flat-footed 21
Base Attack/Grapple: +12/—
Attack: Incorporeal touch +17 melee (2d6 plus steal visage)
Full Attack: Incorporeal touch +17 melee (2d6 plus steal visage)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Aura of dread, steal visage, maddening reflection
Special Qualities: Incorporeal traits, undead traits, darkvision 60 ft., lifesense 120 ft., bound by the harvest, unmoored identity, turn resistance +4
Saves: Fort +8, Ref +13, Will +18
Abilities: Str —, Dex 20, Con —, Int 16, Wis 18, Cha 24
Skills: Bluff +32, Disguise +32 (+40 when mimicking a stolen visage), Hide +29, Intimidate +34, Listen +22, Spot +22, Sense Motive +22
Feats: Improved Initiative, Ability Focus (steal visage), Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Mobility, Spring Attack, Flyby Attack, Iron Will, Lightning Reflexes
Environment: Any (especially urban areas during harvest season and festivals)
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: 15
Treasure: None (but see below)
Alignment: Always chaotic evil
Advancement: —
Level Adjustment: —

Special Abilities

Aura of Dread (Su):

Creatures within 30 ft. must succeed on a DC 24 Will save or become frightened for 1d6 rounds. A successful save grants immunity to this aura for 24 hours.

Steal Visage (Su):

A creature struck by Wandering Jack’s incorporeal touch must succeed on a DC 26 Will save or take 2d6 Charisma damage and be shaken for 1d4 rounds.

If a creature is reduced to 0 Charisma by this ability, it becomes a faceless husk (as feeblemind combined with blindness), while Jack may perfectly assume its appearance for 24 hours.

Maddening Reflection (Su):

If Wandering Jack is within 30 ft. of five or more visible depictions of his own likeness (such as carved faces, masks, or reflections), he must succeed on a DC 25 Will save or be confused for 1d6 rounds.

He is staggered for 1 round on a failed save if he sees even a single clear reflection of his own visage.

Bound by the Harvest (Su):

Wandering Jack can fully manifest only during the Night of Deuxième Récolte. Outside this time, he exists only as a partially manifested spirit and cannot use his steal visage ability.

Unmoored Identity (Su):

Jack cannot be targeted by effects that rely on knowing his true name or identity. Divination spells targeting him have a 50% chance to fail unless the caster has previously seen his true form without a mask.

LORE

• DC 10 (Common Knowledge):

On the Night of Deuxième Récolte, people wear masks and carve faces into gourds and pumpkins to keep Wandering Jack at bay. It is believed that Jack is confused, weakened, or repelled by seeing his own face repeated everywhere.

• DC 15:

Entire neighborhoods prepare for the night with lanterns, masks, and music. Silence, empty streets, or places without carved faces are considered unsafe - these are where Jack is most likely to appear.

• DC 20:

Jack does not simply fear his own image - he is compelled by it. The more his face is represented, the more unstable and weakened he becomes. Some older families claim that Jack can be driven away if his likeness surrounds him completely.

• DC 25:

Wandering Jack is bound by strange rules tied to identity. He cannot fully claim a victim if he cannot “understand” or perceive a stable face to copy. Masks and disguises don’t just hide people - they disrupt his ability to target and remember them.

It is also said that victims of Jack are not merely killed - something essential is taken.

• DC 30:

Those who lose their faces to Jack are not truly gone. Their bodies remain, but their identities are fractured and trapped within Jack himself.

If Wandering Jack is destroyed, there is a chance that:

• Lost identities may return
• Some victims may be restored to life (though often altered or incomplete)
• Others may awaken as hollow, changed beings with gaps in their memory
• However, doing so risks something far worse: Jack’s final destruction may release every identity he has ever stolen at once - unleashing a wave of confused, unstable spirits into the world. Some whisper that Jack is not just a monster… but a container.

• DC 35 (Forbidden Lore):

There are conflicting, dangerous truths about Wandering Jack’s origin, but most accounts agree on one thing: Jack was not always a spirit.

Long ago, he was a living man who learned too much about the nature of identity—how a “face” is not just flesh, but a name, a memory, and a soul bound together. He discovered (or was taught by something older and darker) how to sever those bonds and take what he called “faces” from others.

At some point, Jack attempted to transcend mortality entirely by shedding his own identity. But in doing so, he fractured it beyond repair. The result was not ascension, but punishment.

Now, Wandering Jack is both:

The thief of faces

And the last remnant of the man who tried to become something beyond himself

Further revelations at DC 35+:

Jack may have once made a pact with a powerful entity - possibly a loa, a forgotten spirit of identity, or something far older - that granted him his first power to steal faces. The pact turned against him when he tried to break free.

The masks and jack-o’-lanterns used in the festival are not just protections - they are part of a long-standing containment ritual. The tradition predates most modern settlements and may have been established by the same force that bound Jack.

There is a hidden truth whispered only in certain secretive circles:

If Jack ever becomes whole again - f he successfully collects enough identities to reconstruct himself - he will no longer be bound by the harvest, the masks, or the rules that weaken him.

Some scholars believe Jack is not just collecting identities… but trying to replace his own - again and again - searching for the one that will finally make him complete.

Final Warning (rarely spoken aloud):

Those who study Jack too deeply begin to notice unsettling side effects:

• Faces appearing in reflections that aren’t theirs
• Hearing their own name spoken in unfamiliar voices
• Dreams where they wear a mask they cannot remove.

And in the darkest interpretation of the legend:

Jack is not wandering the world to hunt the living. He is wandering because he has lost himself, and is trying to remember who he is.

Grunch

 

Grunch

Medium Magical Beast (Augmented Humanoid)

Hit Dice: 6d10+18 (51 hp)
Initiative: +3
Speed: 40 ft., swim 20 ft.
Armor Class: 17 (+3 Dex, +4 natural), touch 13, flat-footed 14
Base Attack/Grapple: +6/+9
Attack: Bite +9 melee (1d8+3)
Full Attack: Bite +9 melee (1d8+3) and 2 claws +7 melee (1d6+1)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Rend flesh, bayou ambush
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, scent, swamp stride, damage reduction 5/magic
Saves: Fort +8, Ref +8, Will +3
Abilities: Str 16, Dex 17, Con 16, Int 6, Wis 12, Cha 8
Skills: Hide +12, Move Silently +10, Listen +8, Spot +8, Survival +6, Swim +11
Feats: Multiattack, Alertness, Weapon Focus (bite)
Environment: Warm marshes and swamps (especially near settled areas)
Organization: Solitary, pair, or pack (3–5)
Challenge Rating: 5
Treasure: None
Alignment: Usually chaotic evil
Advancement: 7–9 HD (Medium)
Level Adjustment: —

Combat

Grunches are ambush predators that prefer to stalk prey from waterlogged undergrowth or roadside ditches before launching a sudden, savage attack. They favor isolated targets and will retreat into the swamp if seriously injured, often circling back later.

Their intelligence is low but cunning - they understand roads, wagons, and the habits of humanoids, suggesting a dim echo of their origins.

Rend Flesh (Ex)

If a grunch hits with both claw attacks, it tears into its victim’s body for an additional 2d6+4 points of damage.

Bayou Ambush (Ex)

When attacking a creature that is unaware of its presence, a grunch gains a +4 bonus on attack rolls and deals an extra 2d6 points of damage on its first successful strike.

This ability functions similarly to a rogue’s sneak attack but only applies during the first round of combat when the grunch is hidden.

Special Qualities

Swamp Stride (Ex)

A grunch can move through natural difficult terrain in marshes, shallow water, and mud at normal speed without taking damage or suffering impairment. This functions like a druid’s woodland stride, but only in swamp environments.

Scent (Ex)

Grunches can detect prey by smell, often tracking travelers long before revealing themselves.

Damage Reduction (Su)

A grunch’s twisted, unnatural physiology grants it damage reduction 5/magic.

Skills

Grunches have a +4 racial bonus on Hide checks in swampy or wooded terrain and a +8 racial bonus on Swim checks. They can always take 10 on Swim checks, even when threatened.

Ecology

Grunches are said to be the degenerate descendants - or perhaps cursed remnants - of isolated humanoid communities driven into the swamps. Over generations, exposure to dark magic, desperation, and cannibalism warped them into something no longer truly human.

They lair in half-sunken shacks, abandoned roadside structures, or crude dens of bone and refuse at the edge of civilization. Evidence of their presence includes gnawed remains, strange hoof-like tracks mixed with claw marks, and distant, unnatural howls that echo across the water at night.

Lore

Characters with ranks in Knowledge (local) or Knowledge (nature) can learn more about grunches:

• DC 10: A grunch is a swamp predator that hunts near roads and isolated settlements.
• DC 15: It prefers ambush tactics and drags prey into the marsh.
• DC 20: Legends claim grunches were once human - or something close to it.
• DC 25: Packs sometimes coordinate attacks, suggesting a crude, unsettling intelligence.

Adventure Hooks

• Travelers vanish along a lonely road skirting the marsh - locals whisper of something watching from the reeds.
• A ruined homestead is discovered deep in the swamp, its walls marked with clawed symbols and old, human belongings.
• A survivor insists the creatures spoke - not words, but broken, almost-remembered sounds.

Grunch Alpha

Large Magical Beast (Augmented Humanoid)

Hit Dice: 7d10+28 (66 hp)
Initiative: +4
Speed: 40 ft., swim 30 ft.
Armor Class: 19 (–1 size, +4 Dex, +6 natural), touch 13, flat-footed 15
Base Attack/Grapple: +7/+14
Attack: Bite +11 melee (1d10+6)
Full Attack: Bite +11 melee (1d10+6) and 2 claws +9 melee (1d8+3)
Space/Reach: 10 ft./10 ft.
Special Attacks: Rend flesh, bayou ambush, terrifying bay
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, scent, swamp stride, damage reduction 5/magic, pack leader
Saves: Fort +9, Ref +9, Will +4
Abilities: Str 22, Dex 18, Con 18, Int 7, Wis 13, Cha 10
Skills: Hide +11, Move Silently +12, Listen +10, Spot +10, Survival +8, Swim +14
Feats: Multiattack, Alertness, Improved Initiative
Environment: Warm marshes and swamps
Organization: Solitary or with pack (1 alpha plus 3–6 grunches)
Challenge Rating: 7
Treasure: Standard (often scattered remains of victims)
Alignment: Usually chaotic evil
Advancement: 8–10 HD (Large)

Combat

A grunch alpha rarely attacks alone. It uses hit-and-run tactics, coordinating its pack to isolate prey. It prefers to strike from concealment, then unleash chaos with its bay before closing in.

Terrifying Bay (Su)

As a standard action, a grunch alpha emits a horrifying, broken howl that echoes with almost-human tones.

All creatures within 60 ft. must succeed on a DC 15 Will save or become shaken for 1d6 rounds. Creatures that fail by 5 or more are instead frightened for 1 round, then shaken.

This is a mind-affecting fear effect. The save DC is Charisma-based.

Pack Leader (Ex)

All allied grunches within 30 ft. of the alpha gain a +2 morale bonus on attack rolls and Will saves.

Additionally, any grunch flanking a target with the alpha deals +1d6 extra damage.

Rend Flesh (Ex)

If the alpha hits with both claw attacks, it deals an additional 2d8+6 damage.

Bayou Ambush (Ex)

As the standard grunch ability, but the alpha deals +3d6 extra damage on its initial ambush strike.

Swamp Stride (Ex)

As standard grunch.

Ecology

The alpha is the oldest, strongest, and most cunning of its kind. Its body is more twisted - horns thicker, limbs longer, and its eyes burn with a dim, hateful awareness. Some tales insist the alpha remembers what it once was.

It marks territory with shredded remains and crude symbols carved into wood or bone.

Grunch Curse

Supernatural Affliction

The transformation into a grunch is not always immediate. Some victims are marked - body and spirit slowly dragged toward something feral and inhuman. The curse isn’t inflicted like lycanthropy is; the victim is usually guilty of some true crime against the swamps and bayous, or it is inflicted by a powerful user of dark magics.

Type: Curse (transformation)
Save: Fortitude DC 14 (initial and each stage)
Onset: 1 day
Frequency: 1/day
Cure: Remove curse and remove disease before final stage

Progression

• Stage 1: The Mark
• Symptoms: Fever, nightmares of drowning marshes, distant howling
• Effect: –2 penalty on Will saves, +2 bonus on Survival checks in swamp terrain
• Physical: Eyes slightly yellowed, teeth subtly sharpen
• Stage 2: The Hunger
• Symptoms: Craving raw meat, aversion to civilization
• Effect: –2 Intelligence, +2 Strength, character must succeed on a DC 12 Will save to avoid attacking helpless creatures or feeding on corpses
• Physical: Nails harden into claws, posture becomes hunched
• Stage 3: The Change
• Symptoms: Loss of speech, animalistic behavior
• Effect: Intelligence drops to 6 if higher, gains scent ability, alignment shifts one step toward chaotic evil
• Physical: Horn buds emerge, body hair thickens, gait becomes bestial
• Stage 4: The Grunch

The victim fully transforms into a standard grunch under the DM’s control. The original personality is lost, though fragments may linger in rare moments.

Breaking the Curse

• Before Stage 3: Remove curse or remove disease ends the affliction
• Stage 3: Requires both spells cast within 24 hours
• Stage 4: Only wish or miracle can restore the victim
• Lore (Knowledge: Local or Arcana)
• DC 15: Some grunches are made, not born
• DC 20: Survivors of attacks sometimes change over time
• DC 25: The curse worsens in swamp environments or near other grunches

Using the Curse in Play (Quick DM Notes)

This works beautifully as a slow horror element:

• A bitten NPC starts acting… off
• The party notices subtle physical changes
• Moral dilemma: cure them, restrain them… or put them down