Zarruthul

Huge

Dragon

CR 17

Lawful Evil

Zarruthul

Elder Cerebral Drake

Zarruthul is a hulking drake whose wing membranes fold like brain tissue and whose maw bristles with mottled, writhing tentacles. It does not simply breathe ruin — it reaches into the minds of kings and armies, unspooling memories like threads and leaving its victims hollow and obedient. When it lands, the air thrums with distant whispers and living sigils trace themselves across stone and flesh alike.

Stat block

Armour

19

natural armor

Hit points

264

23d12+115

Speed

40ft

40 ft., fly 80 ft.

Challenge

17

18,000 XP

STR

18

+4

DEX

14

+2

CON

20

+5

INT

22

+6

WIS

16

+3

CHA

18

+4

Saving throws

STR +10, CON +11, INT +12, WIS +9

Skills

Perception +9, Arcana +12, Insight +9, Stealth +8

Resistances

psychic; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks

Condition immunities

charmed

Senses

truesight 60 ft., darkvision 120 ft., passive Perception 19

Languages

Draconic, Deep Speech, understands Common and telepathy 120 ft.

Actions

Multiattack. The drake makes three attacks, only one of which can be a Bite or Tentacle attack, and it can use Psychic Maelstrom if available.

Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +10 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 21 (3d10+4) piercing damage plus 14 (4d6) psychic damage.

Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +10 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 15 (2d8+4) slashing damage.

Psychic Tentacle. Melee Weapon Attack: +10 to hit, reach 15 ft., one creature. Hit: 18 (2d10+4) bludgeoning damage, and the target is grappled (escape DC 18). While grappled, the drake can spend its action to siphon thoughts: the target takes 21 (6d6) psychic damage and must succeed on an Intelligence saving throw (DC 18) or be stunned until the end of the drake's next turn. A creature can be grappled by only one of the drake's tentacles at a time.

Mind Blast (Recharge 5-6). The drake emits a concussive psionic wave in a 60-foot cone. Each creature in that area must succeed on an Intelligence saving throw (DC 18) or take 45 (10d8) psychic damage and be stunned for 1 minute. A stunned creature can repeat the save at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on a success.

Psychic Maelstrom (1/Day). Zarruthul unleashes a sustained psychic storm in a 30-foot-radius sphere centered on itself. For 1 minute, the area is filled with whispering, overlapping memories. Creatures that start their turn in the area or enter it for the first time on a turn must succeed on an Intelligence saving throw (DC 18) or take 27 (6d8) psychic damage and have their memories of the last 24 hours scrambled — they take a -4 penalty to Wisdom and Intelligence checks and saving throws while inside the area and for 1d4 hours after leaving. Each round the area persists, Zarruthul can choose one affected creature within the area to be charmed instead (Wisdom save ends, DC 18).

Reactions

Reflective Mind. When Zarruthul would be targeted by a spell that forces an Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma save, it can use its reaction to gain advantage on the save. If the save succeeds, the spell is reflected back at the caster as if the caster had failed a save (the caster must make the appropriate save against the spell if required).

Legendary actions

The creature can take 3 legendary actions per round, choosing from the options below.

Detect. Zarruthul makes a Wisdom (Perception) check.

Tail Sweep. Melee Weapon Attack: +10 to hit, reach 20 ft., one target. Hit: 17 (2d8+4) bludgeoning damage and the target must succeed on a Strength saving throw (DC 18) or be knocked prone.

Mental Spike (Costs 2 Actions). One creature Zarruthul can see within 120 feet must succeed on an Intelligence saving throw (DC 18) or take 18 (4d8) psychic damage and have one memory flash outward as an illusory scene only others can perceive; this scene can distract (granting disadvantage on the target's next attack and on Wisdom checks for its allies who see it).

Dominate Echo (Costs 3 Actions). Zarruthul targets one creature it can see within 90 feet. The target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw (DC 18) or be charmed for 1 minute, obeying Zarruthul's telepathic commands. The creature can repeat the save at the end of each of its turns. Only one creature can be affected by Dominate Echo at a time.

Lore

Zarruthul is said to have been born where a wyrm’s egg was incubated in a place of warped thought — a fissure in reality that leaked the raw patterns of cognition into the blood of a hatchling. Over centuries it fed as much on minds as on flesh, assimilating psionic parasites and forbidden rituals gleaned from ruined intellects. Scholars of the Archivum Obscura debate whether Zarruthul was ever a true dragon that became aberrant, or an aberration that took dragon form; the creature itself shows both draconic pride and cold, clinical curiosity. The drake carves lairs in places of concentrated thought: abandoned academies, collapsed monasteries, or burial mounds of ancient states. Bands like the Glassward Conclave hunt down entire cults that worship Zarruthul as a conduit to the 'shared dream', while the hermit chronicler Verin Kest has described in a banned manuscript how the drake can 'translate' a city's memory into a living mirage. Warriors who survive encounters report their commanders acting under remote suggestions days later; whole garrisons have marched to their deaths after Zarruthul's subtle manipulations were woven into orders and maps.

Appearance

Zarruthul is a massive, elongated dragon roughly the size of a large war engine; its body is scaled in dull obsidian flecked with iridescent veins reminiscent of neural tissue. The membranes of its wings are semi-translucent and striated like cortical folds, veined with faint pale runes that pulse when it uses psionic power. Its head is broad and flat, with a maw ringed by eight pale tentacles that writhe independently and leave a faint sheen of ichor; between the tentacles the teeth are hooked and serrated. Along its flanks run ridged, spine-like nodules that glow with a sickly phosphorescence when it probes a mind. The tail ends in a fan of barbed filaments that twitch like antennae when it senses thought. For scale: Zarruthul fills a wide castle gate when coiled and can rest its forelimbs on the battlements while its head peers over the parapet.

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