SRD 5.2.1, p. 258

Aboleth

An aquatic, alien monstrosity full of intelligent plots.

CR 10 → Tier 3 Large Aberration Solo

Motives & tactics

Scheme, consume, expand knowledge

SRD 5.2.1

AC 17

Initiative +7 (17)

HP 150 (20d10 + 40)

Speed 10 ft., Swim 40 ft.

Score Mod Save STR 21 +5 +5 DEX 9 −1 +3 CON 15 +2 +6 INT 18 +4 +8 WIS 15 +2 +6 CHA 18 +4 +4

Skills History +12, Perception +10

Senses Darkvision 120 ft.; Passive Perception 20

Languages Deep Speech; telepathy 120 ft.

Daggerheart

Difficulty 17

Thresholds 20 / 32

HP / Stress 13 / 4

ATK +3

Tentacle Close · 3d6+3 phy

Traits

Amphibious. The aboleth can breathe air and water.

Eldritch Restoration. If destroyed, the aboleth gains a new body in 5d10 days, reviving with all its Hit Points in the Far Realm or another location chosen by the GM.

Legendary Resistance (3/Day, or 4/Day in Lair). If the aboleth fails a saving throw, it can choose to succeed instead.

Mucus Cloud. While underwater, the aboleth is surrounded by mucus. Constitution Saving Throw: DC 14, each creature in a 5-foot Emanation originating from the aboleth at the end of the aboleth’s turn. Failure: The target is cursed. Until the curse ends, the target’s skin becomes slimy, the target can breathe air and water, and it can’t regain Hit Points unless it is underwater.While the cursed creature is outside a body of water, the creature takes 6 (1d12) Acid damage at the end of every 10 minutes unless moisture is applied to the skin before those minutes have passed.

Probing Telepathy. If a creature the aboleth can see communicates telepathically with the aboleth, the aboleth learns the creature’s greatest desires.

Actions

Multiattack. The aboleth makes two Tentacle attacks and uses either Consume Memories or Dominate Mind if available.

Tentacle. Melee Attack Roll: +9, reach 15 ft. Hit: 12 (2d6 + 5) Bludgeoning damage. If the target is a Large or smaller creature, it has the Grappled condition (escape DC 14) from one of four tentacles.

Consume Memories. Intelligence Saving Throw: DC 16, one creature within 30 feet that is Charmed or Grappled by the aboleth. Failure: 10 (3d6) Psychic damage. Success: Half damage. Failure or Success: The aboleth gains the target’s memories if the target is a Humanoid and is reduced to 0 Hit Points by this action.

Legendary Actions

Legendary Action Uses: 3 (4 in Lair). Immediately after another creature’s turn, the aboleth can expend a use to take one of the following actions. It regains all expended uses at the start of each of its turns.

Lash. The aboleth makes one Tentacle attack.

Psychic Drain. If the aboleth has at least one creature Charmed or Grappled, it uses Consume Memories and regains 5 (1d10) Hit Points.

Features

Designer's note

A terrifying manipulator of reality. The aboleth seeks to consume all knowledge and achieve unfathomable desires in its own due time. There's a lot to this creature, and a lot of ambition behind it.

Why Solo?

Aboleths could arguably be a Leader instead of a Solo; they manipulate and pull strings to achieve their desires. I stepped it up to Solo because they should also be formidable, terrifying opponents in battle. The ability to control the field and your allies, the ability to heal, and the ability to corrupt all make it terrifyingly powerful.

Isn’t that a lot of features?

Yes, there are a lot of features on the base stat block. This is a consequence of converting a complex, powerful creature, but I don’t see it as a big negative, because you can always leave things out. For example, Mucus Cloud is easy to strip away while leaving the core of the creature intact. I’ve included it for completeness, but you can always remove and adjust things as they make sense to you and your table.

Isn’t this a cephilith titan?

The Daggerheart SRD’s cephilith titan, a Tier 4 Solo, shares the aboleth’s tentacled, eldritch look. The aboleth is a Tier 3 schemer that works through domination and stolen memories, while the titan is a far larger, transdimensional threat. If your aboleth campaign needs to escalate, a titan makes a natural next step.

What about Legendary Resistance?

Daggerheart doesn’t have the same notion of Legendary Resistance that 5e has. To offset this, the aboleth has some extra Hit Points beyond a typical Tier 3 Solo. This helps it survive long enough to be a menace in combat without slowing things down with another custom feature.

What about Legendary Actions?

These are baked into the aboleth’s features already. Relentless lets it be spotlighted multiple times per GM turn, covering Lash, and Consume Memories heals it as it drains its victims, covering Psychic Drain. In its lair (see below), Momentum gains a Fear with each hit, which keeps those extra spotlights coming.

What about the lair references in the SRD?

Lairs are optional homes for monsters, and the best equivalent in Daggerheart is an environment. The SRD mentions the aboleth’s lair but doesn’t include one, so this lair is my own design. When I get a chance to use an aboleth in my home games, I plan on having it in a lair, so here is what I plan to use for it:

Environment

Aboleth's Lair

Tier 3 · Traversal

The cave and home of a water-bound eldritch horror.

Difficulty 17

Impulses Consume knowledge, entice the powerful, empower nightmares

Potential adversaries Aboleth, dominated creatures

Features

Relentless Assault — Passive: While in its lair, the aboleth’s Relentless (2) becomes Relentless (3).

Momentum — Reaction: When an aboleth in its lair makes a successful attack roll against a PC, you gain a Fear.

Eldritch Projection — Action: An aboleth in its lair can create a projection of itself within 3 miles of itself. While controlling this projection, it can use its Probing Telepathy and Dominate Mind features. The projection can’t move, has Difficulty 10 and 2 Hit Points, and can only be harmed by magic damage; each hit marks 1 Hit Point, regardless of the damage rolled. It lasts until the aboleth ends it or the projection is destroyed. If the projection is destroyed, the aboleth can’t use this feature again for 1 hour.

Flooded — Passive: Most pathways in the cave system are flooded with poisoned water. PCs that spend more than a minute in the water at a time must make an Instinct Reaction Roll (15) or mark a Stress.