Intelligent alien creatures such as aboleths, as well as the occasional mad wizard or capricious deity, enjoy tinkering with creatures to make them more suited for their environments or just as a thought exercise. Then the PCs have to go out and fight things like owlbears or chimeras.

Doesn’t it make you want to get in on the action? Monster Mix crosses two monsters from the Tales of the Valiant Monster Vault to create new horrors that combine elements from the original creatures beyond just shuffling their component abilities.

Previous installments have kept the Challenge Ratings (CR) of the mashed-up monsters fairly close. This time, however, the CR ranges have a wide disparity, so a GM can add one as a surprise encounter for players expecting a pushover Tiny critter.

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Spite Sprite

This tiny humanoid, carried through the air with dragonfly wings, crackles with magical energies, as do the sword and bow it carries. A brief skeletal mien superimposes itself over its face.

Victims of Empathy. A sprite’s ability to determine a creature’s emotional state becomes a liability when it is in range of a powerful ego with magical might to match. When that ego is a lich that meets its end in combat and has lost its phylactery, it will seek refuge in any tiny body to stave off its ultimate destruction.

Vengeful Foes. The first order of business for a newly created spite sprite is to kill those who dared to dispatch its undead form. Strangely, the sprite’s personality exerts itself afterward, and it violently dispatches trespassers to its forest. Having lost its empathetic abilities, it sees any creature arriving from outside the forest as an intruder.

Time-Limited Fusion. The lich’s force of personality gradually declines, as does its power, returning the sprite to its former self after a few months. While the lich retains some say in the spite sprite’s activities, it tries to create a new phylactery where it can store its soul.

Spite Sprite                     CR 15

Tiny Fey

Armor Class 17 (natural armor)
Hit Points 282
Speed 10 ft., fly 40 ft.
Perception 18                    Stealth 19
Resistant cold, lightning, necrotic; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage from nonmagical attacks | frightened, paralyzed | Fey Resilience
Senses darkvision 60 ft., keensense 30 ft.
Languages Common, Elvish, Sylvan, plus up to three other languages

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
−3	+5	+9	+9	+8	+3

Arcane Mastery. The spite sprite can concentrate on two spells simultaneously. If it casts a third spell that requires concentration, the sprite loses concentration on the oldest spell. If the sprite is concentrating on two spells and loses concentration because of taking damage, it loses concentration only on the oldest spell.

Fey Resilience. The spite sprite is resistant to the charmed and unconscious conditions.

Legendary Resistance (3/Day). If the spite sprite fails a save, it can choose to succeed instead. When it does so, and it can see the source creature for the spell or effect, it has advantage on attacks against that creature.

Speak with Beasts and Plants. The spite sprite can communicate with Beasts and Plants as if they shared a language.

ACTIONS

Multiattack. The spite sprite makes three Shortsword attacks or three Shortbow attacks. It can replace one attack with a use of Spellcasting.

Shortsword. Melee Weapon Attack: +10 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d6 + 4) piercing damage plus 13 (3d8) force damage and 14 (4d6) necrotic damage. If the same target is hit twice during this turn with the Shortsword attack, it must succeed on a DC 17 CON save or be paralyzed for 1 minute. The target can repeat the save at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.

Shortbow. Ranged Weapon Attack: +10 to hit, range 80/320 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d6 + 4) piercing damage plus 13 (3d8) force damage and 14 (4d6) poison damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 17 CON save or be poisoned for 1 minute. If the save fails by 5 or more, or the target failed its save from a previous Shortbow attack this turn, the poisoned target falls unconscious for the same duration, or until it takes damage or another creature takes an action to shake it awake.

Spellcasting. The spite sprite casts one of the following spells, requiring no material components and using INT as the spellcasting ability (spell save DC 17).

At will: detect magic, disguise self, invisibility (self only), mage hand, message, prestidigitation
3/day each: charm, color spray, hideous laughter, mirror image
1/day each: dimension door, greater hold

BONUS ACTIONS

Heart Grasp. The spite sprite touches a creature and instills awe or fear in it. The target must succeed on a DC 17 CHA save or be charmed or frightened (the sprite’s choice) until the end of its next turn.

Swift Flight. The spite sprite moves up to half its speed without provoking opportunity attacks.

REACTIONS

Absorb Spell. When a creature the spite sprite can see within 30 feet of it casts a spell, the sprite can absorb the spell’s energy, countering it. This works like the counterspell spell, except the sprite must always make a spellcasting ability check, no matter the spell’s circle. Its ability check for this is +9. If it successfully counters the spell, the sprite gains 5 temporary hit points for each level of the spell.

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