Medium
Undead
CR 6
Neutral Evil
Gorunoth
Bloodstained Gemwright
Once a prince of courts and forges, Gorunoth now skulks through ruined vaults and ruined manses like a jeweler of bodies. He is terrifying because his hunger is matched by a cold, meticulous artistry: he can turn blood and bone into glittering jewels, and the floors around him mutate into facets and filigree that trap and reflect prey. Even weakened, he plans—patiently siphoning life and reshaping matter until every ducat and shard returns him to terrible, ancient potency.
Armour
15
natural armor (crystalline skin)
Hit points
120
16d8+48
Speed
30ft
Challenge
6
2,300 XP
STR
16
+3
DEX
14
+2
CON
16
+3
INT
12
+1
WIS
14
+2
CHA
18
+4
Saving throws
CON +6, CHA +7
Skills
Stealth +5, Perception +4, Sleight of Hand +6
Resistances
necrotic; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks that aren't adamantine
Condition immunities
poisoned
Senses
darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 14
Languages
Common, Dwarvish, understands Elvish but can't speak Elvish
Multiattack. The creature makes two attacks: one with its Claw and one with its Bite.
Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 9 (1d8+5) slashing damage.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one willing creature, or a creature that is grappled by Gorunoth, incapacitated, or restrained. Hit: 12 (2d6+5) piercing damage plus 7 (2d6) necrotic damage. Gorunoth regains hit points equal to the necrotic damage dealt. A humanoid slain by this bite rises 1d4 days later as a crystalline thrall under Gorunoth's control unless its body is destroyed (see Crystalline Thrall).
Transmute Matter (Recharge 5-6). Gorunoth touches a nonmagical object of up to 10 pounds, or a 5-foot cube of unattended stone, metal, or glass. He transforms the material into another nonmagical substance of similar bulk (stone to glass, ore to worked metal, mundane gem to different gem). If used on stone or metal terrain, the area becomes difficult terrain as facets and shoals sprout; creatures that start their turn in the area must succeed on a DC 15 Strength saving throw or be restrained as mineral tendrils entangle their limbs. A restrained creature can repeat the save at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success. The restrained effect ends early if Gorunoth uses Transmute Matter on the area again.
Conjure Gem (1/Day). Gorunoth spends 1 minute shaping blood, bone dust, and mineral filaments into a single gem. The gem is nonmagical but is worth 1d100 × 10 gp (average 550 gp). If the gem is used as a focus for a magic circle, spellcasting, or ritual, it sheds a faint magical aura that grants Gorunoth advantage on his next saving throw against effects that would reduce his abilities or banish him.
Mirrorstep. When a creature Gorunoth can see attacks him with a melee attack, Gorunoth can use his reaction to halve the attack's damage and shift up to 10 feet to an unoccupied space he can see that is on a solid surface composed of stone, metal, or glass.
Gorunoth was a noble-born artisan-turned-adept who, centuries ago, bartered his mortality for unending craft and appetite. The bargain allowed him to transmute mundane stone into priceless gems and to graft mineral filaments into armor and servants. His name is preserved in the ledger of the guild called the Cincture of True Metal, whose surviving parchments tell of a patron who demanded that priceless vaults be 'improved'—a euphemism for Gorunoth's subtle theft and alteration. He fell in a demi-legendary siege when rival cultists shattered the reliquary that bound his full vitality; left diminished and scattered, Gorunoth retreated into crypts and ruined mines. Local miners tell of 'glass-blooded' veins appearing in seams overnight and of haunted cairns where stones rearrange into doorways. Scholars such as Master Vellun of the Hallowstoke Archive have argued Gorunoth is regaining power by crafting gem-trophies from victims and by siphoning sheen from old workrooms; the band of grave-keepers known as the Stonewardens train specifically to seal the way into his favored lairs.
Gorunoth stands gaunt and tall, clothed in a moth-eaten tailcoat embroidered with metallic thread. His skin has a translucent, varnished look like polished onyx, crisscrossed with thin, crystalline veining that glitters when he speaks. His eyes are empty sockets filled with two slow-turning gems—one smoky quartz, one chipped emerald—that catch and refract light. Fingernails have become hard as facets and tipped with filigreed metal. Where he has fed, garments and skin sometimes sprout clusters of small, rough-cut gems that pulse faintly with stolen warmth. He often carries a jeweler's loupe and a pouch of metal filings that rattle like tiny bones.
Made with the free LoreKeeper Monster Generator · D&D 5e-compatible stat block · Free to use at your table · Licence
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