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Dungeons & Drunkards Part 5: Drunken Beasts

Dungeons & Drunkards continues! Join me, +Jens D., +Charles Akins, and +Stelios V. Perdios on a drunken ramble through roleplaying. Today I bring you some 5e critters with a drinking problem...


Throughout the known planes, humanoid cultures invariably attribute the invention of alcoholic beverages to the gods. Whether it is Aegir of the Asgardians, Alobal Lorfiril of the Seldarine, Dionysus of the Olympians, or Hanseath of the dwarven pantheon, every culture claims a god of theirs invented their favorite spirit. It is no wonder that humanoids impute divine origin to alcohol, though, for is there anything so transformative?

Alcohol can make meek men bold and bold men cowards. It gives wisdom to fools and makes the wise foolish, bestows quickness on some yet makes others fumble and fall, enrages the peaceful and calms the warlike, and unites strangers while driving families apart. Alcohol is a blessing and a curse – the cause of and solution to all of life's problems – and such a dangerous power could have only come from the wondrous yet capricious gods.

Is it any wonder then that it can work its unpredictable magic on beasts as well as men?
    
from Texas' own Cellar Rat Wine Tours
Cellar Rat

Despite its divine origins, winemaking is a dirty, hands-on business. When vintners speak of the “cellar rats” that aid them in the unglamorous physical part of winemaking – cleaning out barrels and crushers, punching down the cap or crust of fermenting grapes that forms on top of tanks, and similar tasks – most people assume they speak metaphorically about their humanoid apprentices. They do not realize that the term comes from actual rodents transformed by the divine alchemy of winemaking.

Clever Creatures. “In wine, there is wisdom,” say the philosophers. Cellar rats are proof of this concept; while normal rats are clever problem solvers (as shown by the experiments of scholars and wizards in many realms), cellar rats have insight and intelligence bordering on sentience. Some druids even claim the creatures have a language and society of their own. It certainly appears that they learn the languages of the winemakers whose barrel rooms they inhabit, even if they cannot communicate back to those who cannot speak with animals.

Tool Use. Cellar rats are proficient with vintner's (brewer's) supplies, receiving a +2 proficiency bonus. Individual cellar rats aid their vintners by licking dried grape juice out of picking bins and nibbling stuck-on grape skins off of crushers. Swarms of cellar rats work together to manipulate larger pieces of equipment, leaping on and off of the mashers used during punch downs in order to drive them down into the tanks before bobbing back to the surface. They extend this tool use to actions taken to defend their homes.   

Cellar Rat
Tiny beast, shares its winemaker’s alignment (usually neutral or neutral good)

Armor Class 11
Hit Points 2 (1d4)
Speed 20 ft.

STR       DEX      CON      INT      WIS      CHA
2 (-4)   12 (+1)   10 (+0)   7 (-2)    12 (+1)    4 (-3)

Senses darkvision 30 ft., passive Perception 11
Languages understands the language of the vintner it works with but cannot speak it 
Challenge 1/8 (25 XP)

Keen Smell: The cellar rat has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on smell.

Actions
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +1 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 1 piercing damage.

Improvised Weapon: Ranged Weapon Attack: +1 to hit, one target directly below the rat. Hit: 3 (1d4+1) bludgeoning or piercing damage. The cellar rat uses its environment to its advantage, attacking the intruder by knocking a bottle (bludgeoning), cooper’s hammer (bludgeoning), or knife (piercing) off of a high shelf or table.

Spray of Glass: The rat pushes one or more wineglasses or one or more bottles of wine off of an overhead rack or table, causing them to shatter in a spray of glass and/or wine. Glass shards left in the space afterwards act as caltrops (PHB p. 151).
• Empty Bottles and Glasses: A rat succeeding on a DC 10 Dexterity (Vintner's Supplies) check may knock down one empty bottle or wineglass; add one additional glass for every 5 points by which it exceeds the DC. Shattering glasses spray glass in a 5 ft. square, doing 2 (1d4) piercing damage per glass broken to any characters that fail a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw. 
• Full Bottles: In most medieval fantasy settings, winemakers still haven’t figured out how to control the natural effervescence that builds up in wine bottles as the yeast continues to consume the wine’s sugars. This means that glass from a shattering filled bottle is propelled by the gases contained therein as well as the force of the fall. Shattering filled bottles spray glass in a 10 ft. square and do 3 (1d6) piercing damage per bottle broken. If the shattered bottle is within range of other filled bottles (such as a nearby rack of bottles) and it does 5 or more points of damage, then 1d4 more bottles burst on the next round from damage caused by the shrapnel. This can cause a chain reaction that can destroy an entire cellar full of bottles, which is why cellar rats use it as a last resort.        

Swarm of Cellar Rats
Medium swarm of Tiny beasts, share their winemaker’s alignment (usually neutral or neutral good)

Armor Class 11 
Hit Points 31 (7d8)
Speed 30 ft.

STR       DEX      CON      INT      WIS      CHA
9 (-1)   12 (+1)   10 (+0)   7 (-2)   12 (+1)     3 (-4)

Damage Resistance bludgeoning, piercing, slashing
Condition Immunities charmed, frightened, paralyzed, petrified, prone, restrained, stunned
Senses darkvision 30 ft., passive Perception 11
Languages understands the language of the vintner it works with but cannot speak it 
Challenge 1 (200 XP)

Keen Smell. The swarm has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on smell.
Swarm. The swarm can occupy another creature’s space and vice versa, and the swarm can move through any opening large enough for a Tiny rat. The swarm can’t regain hit points or gain temporary hit points.

Actions
Bites. Melee Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, reach 0 ft., one target in the swarm’s space. Hit: 7 (2d6) piercing damage, or 3 (1d6) piercing damage if the swarm has half of its hit points or fewer.

Improvised Weapon: Ranged Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, one target directly below the rat. Hit: 4 (1d6+1) bludgeoning or piercing damage. The cellar rat swarm uses its environment to its advantage, attacking the intruder by knocking several objects off of a high shelf or table.

Rolling Barrel: The cellar rat swarm pushes a barrel loose from the stacks. A rat swarm succeeding on a DC 10 Strength (Vintner's Supplies) check is able to push loose an empty barrel, while a swarm succeeding on a DC 15 check can push a full barrel. The barrel rolls 60 feet in a straight line. The barrel can move through creatures’ spaces, and creatures can move through its space, treating it as difficult terrain. Whenever the barrel enters a creature’s space or a creature enters its space while it’s rolling, that creature must succeed on a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw or take 22 (4d10) bludgeoning damage (if empty) or 44 (8d10) bludgeoning damage (if full) and be knocked prone. A full barrel smashes open if it hits a stone wall, so cellar rats only use those as a last resort.

Spray of Glass: The rats push one or more wineglasses or one or more bottles of wine off of an overhead rack or table, causing them to shatter in a spray of glass and/or wine. Glass shards left in the space afterwards act as caltrops (PHB p. 151).
• Empty Bottles and Glasses: A cellar rat swarm succeeding on a DC 10 Dexterity (Vintner's Supplies) check may knock down one empty bottle or wineglass; add one additional glass for every 5 points by which it exceeds the DC. Shattering glasses spray glass in a 5 ft. square, doing 1d4 piercing damage per glass broken to any characters that fail a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw. 
• Full Bottles: In most medieval fantasy settings, winemakers still haven’t figured out how to control the natural effervescence that builds up in wine bottles as the yeast continues to consume the wine’s sugars. This means that glass from a shattering filled bottle is propelled by the gases contained therein as well as the force of the fall. Shattering filled bottles spray glass in a 10 ft. square and do 1d6 piercing damage per bottle broken. If the shattered bottle is within range of other filled bottles (such as a nearby rack of bottles) and it does 5 or more points of damage, then 1d4 more bottles burst on the next round from damage caused by the shrapnel. This can cause a chain reaction that can destroy an entire cellar full of bottles, which is why cellar rats use it as a last resort. 

http://s27.postimg.org/6uefwj2f7/pinky.jpg

 Pink Elephant

“You always risk some danger when you camp in a dungeon overnight. We’d spiked the doors to the chamber and were having a nip from Garlem’s flask, when suddenly there was a trumpeting roar outside in the hall. Something heavy began battering at the door and before we knew it this… this elephant had broken through and crushed poor Garlem to the floor. Before we could properly react, it plucked Garlem’s flask from his hand and downed the whole thing! Poor, poor Garlem… It wasn’t even good whiskey.”
 – Maldon Littletoes, former dungeoneer

Like the owlbear, the origins of the pink elephant are shrouded in mystery. Some claim the beasts accompanied Dionysus back from the Uttermost East, while others claim they’re the misbegotten experiment of either an abstemious or alcoholic wizard. The latter seems likely, given that pink elephants are most often encountered in dungeons created by mad archmages such as Castle Greyhawk and Undermountain. 

Dungeon Dwellers. Pink elephants have either been transformed for or adapted to a life in deep, dark dungeons. The rosé-colored creatures are smaller than most pachyderms, only being as tall as an ogre or draft horse. They subsist entirely on alcoholic beverages and other intoxicants scavenged from adventurers and humanoid dungeon inhabitants, somehow metabolizing a bottle of wine or a keg of mead into enough nutrition to keep them from starving until they can ambush the next adventuring party. Worse, they still possess the soft, cushioned soles of surface elephants – meaning they pad almost soundlessly through dungeon corridors despite their weight.

Raging Alcoholics. Perhaps because their highly specialized diet leaves them in a state of perpetual starvation, or perhaps because they really, really like to drink, pink elephants attack recklessly whenever they sniff a hint of alcohol. They will bash in doors, lift gates, and pursue their quarries up and down dungeon levels until they’ve drunk every drop. Pink elephants never forget and never give up.

Pink Elephant
Large beast, unaligned

Armor Class 11 (natural armor)
Hit Points 45 (6d10 + 12)
Speed 40 ft.

STR       DEX      CON      INT      WIS      CHA
21 (+5)  8 (−1)    15 (+2)   3 (−4)   12 (+1)   6 (−2)

Skills Stealth +4
Senses blindsight 30 ft., passive Perception 11 (16 if alcohol is involved)
Languages —
Challenge 3 (700 XP)

Nose for Booze. The pink elephant has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on smelling alcohol. Their sensitive sense of smell and exceptional hearing gives them the equivalent of blindsight in darkened locations. 
Reckless. At the start of its turn, the pink elephant can gain advantage on all melee weapon attack rolls during that turn, but attack rolls against it have advantage until the start of its next turn.
Crushing Charge. If the pink elephant moves at least 20 feet straight toward a creature and then hits it with a gore attack on the same turn, that target must succeed on a DC 12 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone. If the target is prone, the elephant can make one crush attack against it as a bonus action

 Actions
Gore. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 14 (2d8 + 5) piercing damage.

Crush. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one prone creature. Hit: 16 (2d10 + 5) bludgeoning damage




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