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Shrine Tender - AI-generated fantasy Monster

Shrine Tender

The Shrine Tender is the last caretaker of an oath-shrine in Sootwatch Tower. The shrine's carved words have been chiseled away, but the tender still recognizes the vow's outline and keeps the offerings from obscuring it. It treats stolen trinkets as offerings once placed before the shrine, not as property to be returned.

Monsters
Small construct · CR 1/8 (25 XP) · Uncommon

Shrine Tender

A small, tireless shrine-guardian that maintains the surviving outline of a watchman's oath, even though the shrine around it has been defaced.
AC12
HP9/9
CR1/8 (25 XP)
Init
STR
DEX
CON
INT
WIS
CHA
ConditionsNone

Combat

AC 12 · HP 9 · CR 1/8 (25 XP)

Shrine Tender

Small construct (construct), lawful neutral
Armor Class12 (natural armor)
Hit Points9 (2d6 + 2)
Speed
Walking 20 ft.
STR
DEX
CON
INT
WIS
CHA
Immunities
Poison damage,
Poisoned condition
Senses
Darkvision 60 ft.,
Passive Perception 10
Languages
Understands Common but cannot speak
Challenge1/8 (25 XP)
Hit Dice2d6 + 2
Proficiency Bonus+2
Constructed Nature. The Shrine Tender does not need to breathe, eat, drink, or sleep.
Oath-Bound Guardian. The Shrine Tender attacks only to protect the offerings or the clean oath-mark. It does not pursue creatures that move away from the alcove and stop interfering with it.

Actions

Stone Knuckle. Melee Weapon Attack: to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 3 () bludgeoning damage.
Tidy the Offerings. The Shrine Tender touches one unattended object it can see within 5 feet, weighing no more than 5 pounds, and slides it up to 5 feet along the ground. It cannot move an object held or worn by a creature.

Reactions

Guard the Oath. When a creature the Shrine Tender can see within 5 feet takes an offering from the alcove or touches the clean oath-mark, the tender makes one Stone Knuckle attack against that creature.
Role
Low-threat shrine guardian
Built for
Any level; a single Shrine Tender is a very easy encounter for a typical adventuring party.

Gear

  • Stone brush (Tool, No significant monetary value)A short brush carved from pale stone, used to arrange offerings and dust the alcove.

Notes for the game master

Custom creature designed for Challenge 1/8.
The Shrine Tender is a construct. It does not require air, food, or sleep.
Its reaction is intended to deter interference with the shrine, not to begin combat against creatures that leave it undisturbed.

Tactics

  1. Opening

    It rises silently from the heap of trinkets when someone reaches toward the clean stone or removes an offering, then gives a single warning tap with its brush.

  2. Mid-fight

    It keeps near the shrine and uses Stone Knuckle against whoever is disturbing the offerings. It does not attack creatures who have stepped away and stopped meddling.

  3. End of the fight

    If badly damaged, it retreats to the alcove and braces itself over the clean oath-mark rather than pursuing anyone.

  4. Retreat

    It has no fear or survival instinct. When reduced to 2 hit points or fewer, it focuses on shielding the shrine and stops pursuing attackers.

How it fights

Stays within reach of the alcove.
Uses its reaction only when the oath-mark or offerings are disturbed.
Does not attack creatures who heed its warning and withdraw.

Who it attacks first

A creature touching the clean oath-mark.
A creature taking an offering from the alcove.
A creature actively damaging the shrine.

Works well with

A quiet, non-hostile Shrine Tender can establish the shrine's significance before stronger dungeon guardians appear.

How to beat it

Its low hit points make it easy to overcome with focused attacks.
It has no ranged attack and cannot effectively pursue creatures that withdraw.
Leaving the shrine and its offerings alone prevents it from becoming hostile.

Ways to avoid a fight

A character who calmly backs away from the alcove can end the encounter without a fight.
A character who spends a minute arranging the offerings neatly earns the tender's silent approval.
The tender can indicate the surviving oath outline by brushing dust from it, but cannot explain its history.

Ecology

A knee-high figure of soot-dark stone with a narrow, apron-like slab across its chest. Its face is a blank oval except for two pinprick amber lights. It carries a little stone brush, and its fingertips remain clean despite the dust coating the rest of it.

Behavior

The Shrine Tender arranges stolen trinkets into tidy rows, but never lets them touch the clean stone beneath. It tolerates quiet observers. Taking an offering or defacing the alcove draws a warning gesture, then a defensive strike.

How it lives

Shrine Tenders are minor constructs bound to places where a duty was sworn and later dishonored. They do not eat, sleep, or reproduce. A tender can persist for centuries if the oath-mark it serves remains intact.

Lair

A defaced alcove shrine in Sootwatch Tower. The old stone beneath the stolen trinkets remains clean and unburned, preserving the outline of a watchman's oath.

Habitat
Dungeon

Signs that it is near

A tiny brush mark through the dust, leading to the alcove.
Trinkets arranged into orderly rows despite the surrounding disarray.
A clean, unburned patch of stone beneath the offerings.

Tags

construct,
guardian,
dungeon,
shrine,
oath

Lore

The Shrine Tender is the last caretaker of an oath-shrine in Sootwatch Tower. The shrine's carved words have been chiseled away, but the tender still recognizes the vow's outline and keeps the offerings from obscuring it. It treats stolen trinkets as offerings once placed before the shrine, not as property to be returned.

What drives it

Keep the oath-mark clean and the offerings orderly.

After the fight

If left in peace, the Shrine Tender gathers scattered offerings into a neat pile and resumes polishing the oath-mark beneath them. If destroyed, its body crumbles into soot-gray grit, leaving the shrine's clean outline untouched.

“The shrine's carved words have been chiseled away, but the tender still recognizes the vow's outline and keeps the offerings from obscuring it.”
From its lore

Variants

A soot-stained tender with a cracked brush that taps out the rhythm of the watchman's old patrol.
A silent tender that arranges offerings into the shape of a map to a sealed Tower room.

Hooks

Plot hooks

The clean outline matches a watchman's oath recorded in a missing Tower ledger.
One of the trinkets belongs to a living descendant of the watchman who swore the oath.
The Shrine Tender begins to stir whenever someone lies about having served the watch.

How to use it

Use it as a low-stakes guardian whose hostility can be avoided by respecting the shrine.
Let the players notice that the stone beneath the trinkets is clean before the tender reveals itself.
Its warning behavior can foreshadow a more serious guardian or the history of the watchman's oath.

Treasure

The arranged offerings are stolen trinkets of little monetary value, though one may be personally important to a nearby resident.
A tiny fragment of the original oath inscription may be found beneath the clean stone if the shrine is carefully examined.

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