Death Tyrant

Source: Monster Manual p. 29

On rare occasions, a beholder’s sleeping mind drifts to places beyond its normal madness, imagining a reality in which it exists beyond death. When such dreams take hold, a beholder can transform, its flesh sloughing away to leave a death tyrant behind. This monster possesses the cunning and much of the magic it had in life, but it is fueled by the power of undeath. A death tyrant appears as a massive, naked skull, with a pinpoint of red light gleaming in its hollow eye socket. With its eyestalks rotted away, ten spectral eyes hover above the creature and glare in all directions.

Deathly Despot

As they did when they were beholders, death tyrants lord their power over other creatures. Moreover, a beholder’s ability to quash magical energy with its central eye gives way to a more sinister power in a death tyrant, which can transform former slaves and enemies into undead servants.

Zombies created by a death tyrant are used and discarded as needed. They stand guard at the entrances to the death tyrant’s lair or guard its treasure vaults.

Acting as bait for traps or as combat fodder, zombies keep powerful enemies distracted while the death tyrant moves into position and prepares to destroy them.

Armies of the Dead

A death tyrant that embraces undeath becomes an engine of destruction. Driven by a hunger for power and security, it advances against humanoid settlements, using its eye rays to destroy every creature it encounters, then building an army of undead. If left unchecked, a death tyrant might wipe out the population of a city in weeks, then set its undead eye on wider conquest. As each settlement falls, the death tyrant’s zombie forces build to overwhelming numbers.

Undead Nature

A death tyrant doesn’t require air, food, drink, or sleep.

A quote from From the Journal of Jastus Hollowquill, explorer of Undermountain

A cluster of tiny lights descended from a dark crevice in the ceiling. These motes cast an eerie glow on the great, alien skull that hung beneath them.

A Death Tyrant’s Lair

A death tyrant’s lair is usually the same site it held as a beholder, but it contains more trappings of death and decay. A death tyrant encountered in its lair has a challenge rating of 15 (13,000 XP).

The death tyrant can’t repeat an effect until all three have been used, and it can’t use the same effect on consecutive rounds.

"name": "Death Tyrant"
"size": "Large"
"type": "undead"
"alignment": "Lawful Evil"
"ac": !!int "19"
"ac_class": "natural armor"
"hp": !!int "187"
"hit_dice": "25d10 + 50"
"modifier": !!int "2"
"stats":
  - !!int "10"
  - !!int "14"
  - !!int "14"
  - !!int "19"
  - !!int "15"
  - !!int "19"
"speed": "0 ft., fly 20 ft. (hover)"
"saves":
  - "strength": !!int "5"
  - "constitution": !!int "7"
  - "intelligence": !!int "9"
  - "wisdom": !!int "7"
  - "charisma": !!int "9"
"skillsaves":
  - "name": "Perception"
    "desc": "+12"
"damage_immunities": "poison"
"condition_immunities": "charmed, exhaustion, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned, prone"
"senses": "darkvision 120 ft., passive Perception 22"
"languages": "Deep Speech, Undercommon"
"cr": "14"
"traits":
  - "desc": "The death tyrant's central eye emits an invisible, magical 150-foot cone\
      \ of negative energy. At the start of each of its turns, the tyrant decides\
      \ which way the cone faces and whether the cone is active.\n\nAny creature in\
      \ that area can't regain hit points. Any humanoid that dies there becomes a\
      \ [zombie](/3-Mechanics/CLI/bestiary/undead/zombie-xmm.md) under the tyrant's\
      \ command. The dead humanoid retains its place in the initiative order and animates\
      \ at the start of its next turn, provided that its body hasn't been completely\
      \ destroyed."
    "name": "Negative Energy Cone"
"actions":
  - "desc": "*Melee Weapon Attack:* +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. *Hit:* 14\
      \ (4d6) piercing damage."
    "name": "Bite"
  - "desc": "The death tyrant shoots three of the following magical eye rays at random\
      \ (reroll duplicates), choosing one to three targets it can see within 120 feet\
      \ of it:\n\n- **1. Charm Ray.** The targeted creature must succeed on a DC 17\
      \ Wisdom saving throw or be charmed by the death tyrant for 1 hour, or until\
      \ the death tyrant harms the creature.  \n- **2. Paralyzing Ray.** The targeted\
      \ creature must succeed on a DC 17 Constitution saving throw or be paralyzed\
      \ for 1 minute. The target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of\
      \ its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.  \n- **3. Fear Ray.**\
      \ The targeted creature must succeed on a DC 17 Wisdom saving throw or be frightened\
      \ for 1 minute. The target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of\
      \ its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.  \n- **4. Slowing Ray.**\
      \ The targeted creature must succeed on a DC 17 Dexterity saving throw. On a\
      \ failed save, the target's speed is halved for 1 minute. In addition, the creature\
      \ can't take reactions, and it can take either an action or a bonus action on\
      \ its turn, not both. The creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of\
      \ each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.  \n- **5. Enervation\
      \ Ray.** The targeted creature must make a DC 17 Constitution saving throw,\
      \ taking 36 (8d8) necrotic damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on\
      \ a successful one.  \n- **6. Telekinetic Ray.** If the target is a creature,\
      \ it must succeed on a DC 17 Strength saving throw or the death tyrant moves\
      \ it up to 30 feet in any direction. It is restrained by the ray's telekinetic\
      \ grip until the start of the death tyrant's next turn or until the death tyrant\
      \ is incapacitated.  \n\n    If the target is an object weighing 300 pounds\
      \ or less that isn't being worn or carried, it is moved up to 30 feet in any\
      \ direction. The death tyrant can also exert fine control on objects with this\
      \ ray, such as manipulating a simple tool or opening a door or a container.\
      \  \n- **7. Sleep Ray.** The targeted creature must succeed on a DC 17 Wisdom\
      \ saving throw or fall asleep and remain unconscious for 1 minute. The target\
      \ awakens if it takes damage or another creature takes an action to wake it.\
      \ This ray has no effect on constructs and undead.  \n- **8. Petrification Ray.**\
      \ The targeted creature must make a DC 17 Dexterity saving throw. On a failed\
      \ save, the creature begins to turn to stone and is restrained. It must repeat\
      \ the saving throw at the end of its next turn. On a success, the effect ends.\
      \ On a failure, the creature is petrified until freed by the  greater restoration\
      \ spell or other magic.  \n- **9. Disintegration Ray.** If the target is a creature,\
      \ it must succeed on a DC 17 Dexterity saving throw or take 45 (10d8) force\
      \ damage. If this damage reduces the creature to 0 hit points, its body becomes\
      \ a pile of fine gray dust.  \n\n    If the target is a Large or smaller nonmagical\
      \ object or creation of magical force, it is disintegrated without a saving\
      \ throw. If the target is a Huge or larger object or creation of magical force,\
      \ this ray disintegrates a 10-foot cube of it.  \n- **10. Death Ray.** The targeted\
      \ creature must succeed on a DC 17 Dexterity saving throw or take 55 (10d10)\
      \ necrotic damage. The target dies if the ray reduces it to 0 hit points.  "
    "name": "Eye Rays"
"lair_actions":
  - "desc": "When fighting inside its lair, a death tyrant can invoke the ambient\
      \ magic to take lair actions. On initiative count 20 (losing initiative ties),\
      \ the death tyrant can take one lair action to cause one of the following effects:\n\
      \n- An area that is a 50-foot cube within 120 feet of the tyrant is filled with\
      \ spectral eyes and tentacles. To creatures other than the death tyrant, that\
      \ area is lightly obscured and difficult terrain until initiative count 20 on\
      \ the next round.  \n- Walls sprout spectral appendages until initiative count\
      \ 20 on the round after next. Any creature, including one on the Ethereal Plane,\
      \ that is hostile to the tyrant and starts its turn within 10 feet of a wall\
      \ must succeed on a DC 17 Dexterity saving throw or be grappled. Escaping requires\
      \ a successful DC 17 Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check. \
      \ \n- A spectral eye opens in the air at a point within 50 feet of the tyrant.\
      \ One random eye ray of the tyrant shoots from that eye, which is considered\
      \ to be an ethereal source, at a target of the tyrant's choice. The eye then\
      \ closes and disappears.  \n\nThe death tyrant can't repeat an effect until\
      \ all three have been used, and it can't use the same effect on consecutive\
      \ rounds."
    "name": ""
"regional_effects":
  - "desc": "A region containing a death tyrant's lair is warped by the creature's\
      \ unnatural presence, which creates one or more of the following effects:\n\n\
      - Creatures within 1 mile of the tyrant's lair sometimes feel as if they're\
      \ being watched even when they aren't.  \n- When a creature hostile to the tyrant\
      \ and aware of its existence finishes a long rest within 1 mile of the tyrant's\
      \ lair, roll a d20 for that creature. On a roll of 10 or lower, the creature\
      \ is subjected to one random eye ray of the tyrant.  \n\nIf the death tyrant\
      \ dies, these effects fade over the course of 1d10 days."
    "name": ""
"legendary_description": "Legendary Action Uses: 3. Immediately after another creature's\
  \ turn, the death tyrant can expend a use to take one of the following actions.\
  \ The death tyrant regains all expended uses at the start of each of its turns."
"legendary_actions":
  - "desc": "The death tyrant uses one random eye ray."
    "name": "Eye Ray"
"source":
  - "MM"
"image": "/3-Mechanics/CLI/bestiary/undead/token/death-tyrant.webp"

Environment

underdark