The D&D 2024 Monster Manual might have just cooked up the next false hydra with a monster, that’s a house!
The false hydra is the gold standard of monsters. It’s not the toughest creature around (a regular hydra is tougher) and it’s not the most interesting in combat (though it is fairly interesting). But what it does do incredibly well, is create an adventure and a mystery simply by it’s presence.
Anyone that sees a false hydra, forgets about it’s existence and those it consumed are forgotten about as well. This creates a disturbing hole in the lives of those close to a false hydra’s residence where they can’t remember what they were doing at midday yesterday.
A husband might have no idea why he has dresses in his wardrobe as he’s not married (at least he forgot he was married after the false hydra ate his wife). It creates an air of mystery simply by being present and makes for wonderful plot hooks.
It’s only natural then, that Wizards of the Coast might want to create something like this in the 2024 Monster Manual. And I think that they just might have done exactly that in the form of the haunting revenant.
What is the haunting revenant?
The haunting revenant is an undead entity. But instead of inhabiting a corpse like any normal, self-respecting poltergeist, it inhabits a structure (like a house).
Usually, these ghostly beings inhabit the structure located around where their mortal self died. But this could be any building, like a house, castle, bridge or really whatever structure you want.
It can launch objects as projectiles at enemies and swallow creatures while, trapping them in its walls unless they have access to planar travel (yikes), or kill it. Of course, like most ghostly entities, killing it isn’t particularly straightforward and unless dispel evil or good is cast on its remains, it will move on to inhabit a new structure within 24hrs!
A creature that can possess the very walls of a house gives us an opportunity for some brilliant and delightful adventures and plot hooks based on the fact that the creature itself, like the false hydra, is a mystery.
Plot hooks for a haunting revenant
So if it’s such a great monster, that just screams great plot hooks, then I must have a bunch of great adventure ideas to share with you all, which I do. Here’s my ideas. Feel free to use these for your own adventures:
The case of the replaced paintings
You are contacted by a servant on behalf of a noble lady. She believes she is the victim of a robbery. Her original paintings by renowned artist, Oskar Fevras have been stolen! But the peculiar thing is that the robber, rather than just stealing them, has replaced the paintings with exquisitely painted scenes from an unknown artist in the same frames. The other unusual thing is that one painting has been stolen each night for the last 3 night.
The paintings have not actually been stolen, they have been altered, by the house itself. It is trying to communicate with the people to tell them of something dreadful that happened to it when it died.
The pictures depict the events that occurred to the spirit when it was a mortal. Something dreadful happened to it and the players can use that story to know how to take revenge and put its soul to rest. Or they can use it as a clue that the house is haunted and destroy it. Either way, the house will continue to leave clues for the players until they can put it to rest.
The lonely widow
Years ago, a woman and her family were attacked by a warband of gnolls. Her husband and children were all brutally killed and their flesh used to feed this demonic band. The woman however, managed to survive, hiding in a secret basement while the gnolls spent days camped in her house.
Eventually, the gnolls left, but the memories of terrible screams and these horrific acts never left her. She became mute, and would often spend all day doing little other than watch the children play in the streets, longing for her own children.
One day, the tortured old lady died, but her spirit lingered, possessing the home in which those terrible deeds were performed. As an undead spirit, her mind warped, she obsessed over the children, luring them into her walls, never to leave again. She only wished to have them play with her.
The people of the town knew nothing of the haunted house, just that children kept going missing. The party is asked to investigate. The haunting revenant does not, and will not harm the children, but it will need convincing to let them go, somehow. Perhaps by force.
Clues remain in the house of the fate of the woman, perhaps these will help the party convince the revenant to release her new wards.
The spelljammer general
Long ago, a decorated Astral Elf general was captured fighting a hive of mind flayers and their nautiloid. The mind flayers took command of the general’s spelljammer ship and tortured him and his crew. He was forced to watch as his crew were transformed through ceremorphosis into new mind flayers, each just as eager to torture his weakened body.
Determined not to be transformed like his crew, the general was able to end his own life with a dagger to his heart. But his soul did not rest. Instead, it took over the spelljammer ship, destroying the mind flayers and taking on a new crew (perhaps unwillingly).
The latest crew is the party, and how the relationship between the ship and the crew manifests is up to you (and them). Perhaps they are unwillingly dragged on missions to defeat Astral Elf foes. Perhaps they’re able to work in unison, but with a quirky, sentient ship. However the ship manifests is up to you and the adventure you want to play, but in this scenario, the haunting revenant can become a recurring character in your campaign.
What do you think of the haunting revenant? Got any great plot hooks for your party? Planning on bringing the house from Encanto into your game as a sentiment inn? Let me know in the comments below.
Spotlight on D&D 2024
All the latest updates on what’s changing with the 2024 rules revision.
