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Ash Watcher

The Ash Watcher is a minor guardian made from the remains of a warding fire. It was set to keep unwanted hands away from the shrine passage. The ash circle is both its anchor and the boundary of its vigil.

Monsters
Tiny construct · CR 1/4 · Uncommon

Ash Watcher

A tiny, shrine-bound guardian formed from ash, cinders, and a fragment of an old warding rite.
AC13
HP9/9
CR1/4
Init
STR
DEX
CON
INT
WIS
CHA
ConditionsNone

Combat

AC 13 · HP 9 · CR 1/4

Ash Watcher

Tiny construct (ash guardian), neutral
Armor Class13 (natural armor)
Hit Points9 (2d4 + 4)
Speed
20 ft.,
Fly 20 ft. (hover)
STR
DEX
CON
INT
WIS
CHA
SkillsPerceptionStealth
Damage Resistances
fire
Immunities
poison damage,
the poisoned condition
Weaknesses
If the ash circle is scattered, the Watcher loses the benefit of Circle's Veil.
Strong gusts can scatter the loose ash, though they do not directly harm the Watcher.
Senses
Darkvision 60 ft.,
Passive Perception 11
Languages
understands the languages of its creator but cannot speak
Challenge1/4
Proficiency Bonus+2
Passive Perception11
Ash-Bound. The Ash Watcher does not need to eat, drink, breathe, or sleep.
Hover. The Watcher can hover and does not fall while incapacitated.
Circle's Veil. While within 5 feet of its ash circle, the Watcher has advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks made to hide among ash or soot.

Actions

Cinder Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 4 () bludgeoning damage plus 1 fire damage.
Ash Puff. The Ash Watcher exhales a brief puff of ash in a 10-foot cone. Each creature in the area must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or be blinded until the start of the Ash Watcher's next turn. The Watcher can use this action once, then must finish a short or long rest to use it again.
Role
Minor guardian and passage sentinel
Built for
Designed for a low-level party; CR 1/4.

Notes for the game master

Custom creature using D&D 5e conventions.
Ash Puff is a custom recharge-free limited-use feature and is not a spell.
The Ash Watcher is a minor threat intended for low-level parties; avoid adding multiple Watchers to an already difficult encounter.

Tactics

  1. Opening

    It remains motionless in the ash circle until a creature disturbs the ash or approaches the southern archway, then attacks the nearest intruder.

  2. Mid-fight

    It flits around the low ceiling, clawing at a nearby intruder and using its puff to hinder several close foes.

  3. End of the fight

    If reduced to 3 hit points or fewer, it retreats toward the southern archway and tries to obscure pursuit with its Ash Puff.

  4. Retreat

    It does not pursue creatures beyond the chamber. If the circle is swept clear or its shrine ward is disrupted, it flees toward the shrine at room 19.

How it fights

Use its hover movement to stay near the ceiling and dart around the chamber.
It attacks creatures who disturb the circle or move toward the southern archway.
It avoids pursuing targets into the eastern passage.

Who it attacks first

A creature disturbing the ash circle.
A creature advancing through the southern archway toward the shrine.
The nearest creature if the Watcher is attacked.

Works well with

A shrine guardian, locked passage, or trapped corridor can make its defensive role more apparent without increasing its damage.
Its Ash Puff can create a brief opening for a stronger guardian farther inside the shrine.

How to beat it

Stay more than 10 feet away from one another to limit the Ash Puff's reach.
A creature that avoids the ash circle and does not threaten the southern archway may pass without provoking it.
Its low hit points make focused attacks effective.

Ways to avoid a fight

A character who succeeds on a DC 11 Intelligence (Arcana) or Wisdom (Religion) check recognizes that the circle is its anchor and that the Watcher is guarding the southern passage.
A careful creature can cross the chamber by avoiding the ash circle and not approaching the southern archway.
Reforming the circle after it has been disturbed may briefly calm the Watcher, at the GM's discretion.

Ecology

A fist-sized knot of pale ash hovers just above the floor. Two pinpricks of ember-red light peer from its center, while thin gray streamers trail behind it like torn cloth. When it moves, the ash circle beneath it stirs but does not scatter.

Behavior

The Watcher is still until the circle of ash is disturbed or a creature threatens the shrine passage. It attacks intruders but ignores creatures that carefully step around the circle and leave by the eastern passage.

How it lives

The Watcher does not eat or breathe. It gathers strength from the ash circle and the rite that created it, growing faint if kept away from the chamber for long.

Lair

A tiny chamber in The Split Seam with a low arched ceiling and a circle of ash on the floor. The archway to the south opens toward the shrine at room 19; the eastern passage leads back to the cells.

Habitat
Dungeon

Signs that it is near

A perfectly round circle of ash on the floor, undisturbed despite drafts.
A faint smell of cold campfire smoke.
A line of gray residue on the stones beneath the low arch, as if something small has hovered there for years.

Tags

ash,
guardian,
dungeon,
custom

Lore

The Ash Watcher is a minor guardian made from the remains of a warding fire. It was set to keep unwanted hands away from the shrine passage. The ash circle is both its anchor and the boundary of its vigil.

What drives it

Keep intruders from reaching the shrine through the southern archway.

After the fight

When destroyed, the Ash Watcher collapses into a gray heap. Its last swirl briefly outlines the circle on the floor, revealing whether anyone crossed it recently.

“It was set to keep unwanted hands away from the shrine passage.”
From its lore

Variants

A soot-stained watcher with dull blue sparks instead of red embers, using the same statistics.
A cracked-circle watcher that attacks only anyone carrying a shrine relic.

Hooks

Plot hooks

The ash circle contains a second set of footprints, suggesting someone reached the shrine without waking its guardian.
A captive in the cells claims the Watcher whispers a name whenever the shrine door opens.
The circle's ash includes a fresh trace of a substance that does not belong to the old warding rite.

How to use it

Place it in the tiny chamber of The Split Seam, hovering within the circle of ash beneath the low arched ceiling.
The southern archway leads toward the shrine at room 19, and the eastern passage leads back to the cells. Use these routes to make its guarding purpose immediately legible.
Have it stir the ash or turn its ember eyes toward the party before combat, offering a chance to investigate or circumvent it.

Treasure

The ash circle contains a small, heat-darkened copper token bearing the shrine's mark.
The Watcher leaves no conventional treasure.

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