Banshees are spirits, in D&D of dead elves, always female. They are created at death when they lament something that have not completed, generally this is some sort of guilt or vengeance, but it drives their spirit to remain. Known for their cries or wailing, a Banshees cry can cause the strongest of adventurers to grow faint.

In D&D terms they are a fair challenging creature to deal with but not that high a challenge rating. For a group of four third level characters, this is a hard encounter just as a solo monster. Now, if it isn’t able to use it’s wail effectively, it won’t be nearly as difficult. The ability isn’t the toughest to avoid, but it’s a good one for hitting the whole part, the banshee wails and everyone who can hear it makes a constitution saving throw, of 13, so not that high. But if they fail, they immediately drop to 0 health, otherwise 3D6 damage. At third level, there’s a chance that a banshee could take down a whole party if they roll poorly.

But let’s talk about how to use them in a game and if they could be a BBEG (Big Bad Evil Guy).

For me, they are probably the catalyst for characters becoming adventurers at the start of a campaign, at least one of the ways. You have the players face off against a Banshee that is haunting their town and defeat it and that’s how they start getting jobs. This works especially well since it’s third level and that’s when players generally get their specialization for their class. So simplest would be they are all from the same town, they team up to save the town.

But, I think a more interesting thing to do would be to create a coven of banshee. Like it was a coven of hags who were killed and now have become a coven of banshee. I’m not giving them magical powers, but four banshee for a group of level 10 is considered a hard encounter. And a wail can be used by each of the banshee once per day. That’s 4 chances for failed saving throws and if they do that all in round one, you got a slight chance of a party wipe, but it’s also possible, if the party is fast enough they can get out ahead of it.

Now, finally, I think you could homebrew banshee’s some if you wanted to build off of my coven idea above. Have the players first take down a group of hags, seems like that solves the problem, and while the hags were a problem, they also were warning of a potential larger disaster. That’d be the main BBEG or event for the story that you’re playing. Then, because they can’t be at rest, the hags are back as banshee, and you give them some innate casting abilities. Grab some spells, not all, but maybe one higher level spell from the hags as another once per day ability. Now, not only is there the banshee wail that the players need to worry about and the flaws that do necrotic damage, but there can be some impressive spells being flung around, or at least something else that the players might not be prepared for.

Those are just some ways that I think you could use a banshee to make it interesting, and the first one is a good way to kick off a game, and the last one can really heavily tie into a story.

Have you used a Banshee in your game? How have you used them if you have?

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Aboleth

The Aboleth is a monstrous aberration that is more than just bestial. It lives under the water but expects to be worshiped. It’ll surface when worshipers or when visitors want to treat with it. It’s a large creatures that can speak telepathically.

In the monster manual, it’s CR (challenge rating) is 10. This means that for your standard adventuring party of 4, you’re probably looking at level 7 for when they’d face off against one of these. Now, when calculating encounters, remember that numbers do mean something, so if you could find a handful of CR 1/2 to 1 that you could add to the mix, I’d say that a party at level 8 with a few pesky lower level monsters pinging them would work best. Generally solo monster battles when you have a party of 4 or more, are going to be easier simply because your players attack more often than the monster does.

But to balance that out, the Aboleth does have what are known as lair actions and legendary actions. These allow it to have affects take place outside of it’s turn. So a level 7 party with those legendary actions would probably still win but find it a tougher battle.

How Would You Use It?

For me, this seems like a side quest monster. This is after your players have made a name for themselves, and as they’ve dealt with the first arc of the campaign, there’s a reprieve in a small town where people are going missing or something like that, being sacrificed to the Aboleth. Or if you have a slightly higher level group at this point, it’s a good one shot that you can get done in a night when one of the players can’t make the game and you don’t want to progress the main story.

If you want to use it as larger part of a bigger story, this is a first arc boss. The players would be investigating a cult or something that is worshiping the Aboleth. We’re probably again looking at sacrifices or kidnapping or something along those lines. And basically give the Aboleth an unending horde of cultists. It’ll be pretty easy to mow through, but the Aboleth has mind control powers, so let it use them. Eventually the players will have to find a way to fight it on it’s terms not theirs. That means going to the Aboleth, which wouldn’t leave the water anyways, and find a way to get into the water to fight it. This is going to make the fight even tougher, because how good are the players at holding their breath, or can they find a way to bait it into surfacing. Use the monsters intelligence. If it’s losing, it’ll go hide in the depths, make the players figure out how to bait it and then keep it from running away. Maybe give them a crack at it, have it leave, and then make them come back and try again.

How would you use an Aboleth in your games? Is it a monster that you’ve used often before or is it something you’ve never seen used?

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