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Stone Mourner

People who find the shrine often assume the figure is a statue of a grieving woman. The name Stone Mourner comes from that mistaken belief, and the belief persists because the creature never corrects anyone. Its pale streak resembles a tear, though it is mineral seepage drawn through the wall fissure.

Monsters
Medium construct · CR 1/2 · Uncommon

Stone Mourner

A small shrine guardian shaped by generations of grief, mistaken by locals for a statue of a widow.
AC13
HP22/22
CR1/2
Init
STR
DEX
CON
INT
WIS
CHA
ConditionsNone

Combat

AC 13 · HP 22 · CR 1/2

Stone Mourner

Medium construct (construct), neutral
Armor Class13 (natural armor)
Hit Points22 (4d8 + 4)
Speed
Walk 20 ft.
STR
DEX
CON
INT
WIS
CHA
Saving ThrowsWisdom
SkillsPerception
Damage Resistances
Cold
Immunities
Poison damage,
Poisoned condition
Weaknesses
If exposed to bright sunlight for 1 minute, its speed is reduced to 10 feet until it returns to darkness.
It cannot willingly move more than 30 feet from the altar.
Senses
Darkvision 60 ft.,
Passive Perception 10
Challenge1/2
Proficiency Bonus+2
Initiative+0
Constructed Nature. The mourner does not need to eat, drink, breathe, or sleep.
Stone Body. The mourner has advantage on saving throws against being poisoned, and it is immune to disease.
Mourner Among Mourners. The mourner is motionless while no creature threatens the shrine. It is indistinguishable from a carved statue unless a creature succeeds on a Intelligence (Investigation) check or witnesses it move.

Actions

Griefbound Fist. Melee Weapon Attack: to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 5 () bludgeoning damage. If the target is a creature standing on stone, the mourner can slide it 5 feet toward the pale stain.
The Last Canticle. Recharge 5-6. The mourner releases a keening note in a 15-foot cone. Each creature in the area must make a Wisdom saving throw or take 7 () psychic damage and be frightened until the end of its next turn. A creature that succeeds takes half damage and is not frightened. Stone surfaces in the cone briefly weep cold water.

Reactions

Stonebound Warning. When a creature the mourner can see moves within 5 feet of the altar, the mourner can force it to make a Strength saving throw. On a failure, the creature's speed becomes 0 until the end of its turn as the floor grips its feet. A creature can be affected only once per turn.
Role
Shrine guardian and low-threat controller
Built for
Suitable for a low-level party; a single Stone Mourner is a modest threat to four 1st-level characters.

Gear

  • Mourner's dish (Treasure, Usually 1d6 sp and a small personal token)A shallow stone dish holding a few rain-darkened coins and funeral pins.

Notes for the game master

Custom D&D 5th Edition creature calibrated as a CR 1/2 threat.
The Stonebound Warning reaction is a custom feature, not a canonical monster trait.
The Last Canticle is a custom feature, not a spell.
The narrow shrine may make the mourner's 20-foot speed difficult to use; do not let the creature pass through solid stone.

Tactics

  1. Opening

    It remains motionless among the mourners' row until someone touches the altar, blocks the hole, or attacks it. Then it turns its face toward the intruder and gives a low stone groan.

  2. Mid-fight

    It uses Griefbound Fist to shove intruders out of formation and saves The Last Canticle for clustered targets.

  3. End of the fight

    If badly damaged, it uses The Last Canticle to frighten the nearest pursuer, then retreats toward the stained wall if it can do so without abandoning its shrine.

  4. Retreat

    It does not pursue beyond the shrine unless an intruder carries away a funerary offering. It fights until reduced to 5 hit points or fewer, then crumbles rather than flee.

How it fights

Use the shrine's cramped layout to make positioning matter, but leave a clear route for characters to retreat.
The mourner pushes intruders away from the altar rather than pursuing isolated characters.
Its cold draft and pale streak provide clues before combat, rewarding observation.

Who it attacks first

A creature damaging or stealing from the altar.
An intruder blocking or tampering with the hole in the rear wall.
A clustered group within the shrine.

Works well with

The shrine's narrow aisle makes The Last Canticle more likely to catch multiple characters, but also limits the mourner's ability to reposition.
A second, noncombatant statue or a row of actual mourners can make the guardian's identity ambiguous without increasing its combat strength.

How to beat it

Its modest hit point total makes focused attacks effective.
A creature that succeeds on the Wisdom save against The Last Canticle is immune to this Stone Mourner's frightened effect for 24 hours.
The narrow shrine can obstruct movement for both the mourner and intruders. Ranged attacks from outside the shrine can exploit its limited reach.

Ways to avoid a fight

A character who speaks gently of someone they have lost and leaves a personal token at the altar can make a DC 12 Charisma (Persuasion) check. On a success, the mourner remains still for 10 minutes.
The party can discover that the wall hole is an air fissure by holding a flame near it; the flame bends toward the opening without going out.
A character who cleans the pale stain without damaging the wall can calm the guardian, provided no one has attacked it.

Ecology

A human-sized figure carved from gray shrine stone, its head bowed and its hands folded as if in prayer. A pale, tear-shaped streak runs from its blank face down its chest. Hairline seams cross its body, and cold moisture gathers in them like tears.

Behavior

The Stone Mourner imitates the posture of a bereaved worshipper. It attacks only those who profane the altar, disturb the pale stain, or obstruct the small hole in the wall. It does not speak, but its stone throat produces the sound of a person trying not to sob.

How it lives

A Stone Mourner is not born or reproduced. It forms where a shrine has absorbed prolonged sorrow and the wall behind it opens onto a cold, airless fissure. It requires no food, but gathers moisture from the draft and from the grief of visitors.

Lair

The Split Seam's narrow shrine is barely wide enough for its altar and a single row of mourners. A pale stain runs down the rear wall and ends at a small hole that exhales cold air. The Stone Mourner stands or sits among the row, usually nearest the altar.

Habitat
Dungeon

Signs that it is near

A pale mineral streak that remains damp even when the surrounding stone is dry.
A cold draft issuing from a hole no wider than a finger.
Fine grit arranged in a row of folded-hand shapes beneath the shrine figures.
A soft, irregular sobbing sound that stops when anyone speaks.

Tags

construct,
shrine guardian,
grief,
dungeon,
custom monster

Lore

People who find the shrine often assume the figure is a statue of a grieving woman. The name Stone Mourner comes from that mistaken belief, and the belief persists because the creature never corrects anyone. Its pale streak resembles a tear, though it is mineral seepage drawn through the wall fissure.

What drives it

Preserve the shrine's quiet and keep the fissure unobstructed. It regards respectful mourners as harmless, but interprets desecration as a threat to the dead remembered there.

After the fight

When destroyed, the stone shell collapses into a heap of damp fragments. The pale stain drains away, and the hole exhales one final breath of cold air before going still. A faint voice may remain in the cracks, repeating the name of someone lost.

“The name Stone Mourner comes from that mistaken belief, and the belief persists because the creature never corrects anyone.”
From its lore

Variants

A Silent Mourner has no keening attack; its Last Canticle instead gives nearby characters a brief vision of the shrine's original funeral.
A Silt-Eyed Mourner is stained with white mineral dust and can make its Griefbound Fist attack at a range of 10 feet by snapping a stone fragment from the wall.
A Kindly Mourner never attacks first and guides respectful visitors toward the fissure's safe exit.

Hooks

Plot hooks

The cold hole exhales in time with the breathing of a missing villager whose name is scratched beneath the altar.
A family has paid the party to retrieve a funeral pin from the dish, not realizing the shrine is guarded.
The pale stain has begun lengthening, and the Stone Mourner is trying to prevent anyone from sealing the fissure.

How to use it

Place it among a single row of carved or real mourners so the party must identify which figure is alive.
Use the altar, narrow aisle, and rear-wall hole as meaningful terrain rather than adding extra enemies.
Let careful characters notice the stain's wet edge and the cold draft before the guardian animates.

Treasure

The mourner's dish contains 1d6 silver pieces and a personal keepsake left by a visitor.
A thin funerary pin worth 5 gp may be found beneath the altar; removing it without permission provokes the guardian.

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