Deep Dive - The Balhannoth
An aberration that’s been around since the 3rd edition, the Balhannoth is a creature of the dark, lurking in the shadows, waiting to strike when you least expect it. While the editions might disagree about what exactly its abilities are, just watch out for those writhing tentacles. If it grabs onto you, there is no escape as it quickly devours you and hunts the surviving members of your party.
3e/3.5e - Balhannoth
Usually CN Large aberration, CR 10
Initiative +7; Senses blind, dweomersight 120 ft.; Listen +6
Languages -
Aura dimensional lock
Armor Class 21, touch 12, flat-footed 18 (–1 size, +3 Dex., +9 natural)
Hit Points 147 (14 HD); DR 15/magic
Immune gaze attacks, illusions, visual effects
SR 18
Fort +10, Ref +9, Will +12
Speed 50 ft. (10 squares), climb 50 ft.
Melee 2 slams +18 each (2d6+9/19–20) and bite +13 (1d8+4)
Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft. (15 ft. with tentacles)
Base Atk +10; Grp +23
Atk Options Power Attack, constrict +1d8, improved grab, magic strike
Special Actions antimagic grapple
Abilities Str 28, Dex 17, Con 23, Int 3, Wis 12, Cha 8
SQ camouflage
Feats Improved Critical (slam), Improved Initiative, Iron Will, Lightning Reflexes, Power Attack
Skills Climb +17, Hide +16, Jump +17, Listen +6, Move Silently +13
Advancement 15–20 HD (Large); 21–30 HD (Huge)
Dweomersight (Su) A balhannoth can sense the presence and position of magic auras within 120 feet of itself, and knows the strength and school of each one. It can pinpoint the location of any creature with ongoing spells cast on it, carrying magic items, or otherwise using magic, and it can notice anything within the area of a magic effect (including its own dimensional lock aura). This otherwise functions like blindsense.
Monster Manual IV, 2006 Wizards of the Coast / Carl Frank
The Balhannoth is first found in the Monster Manual IV (2006) and is the worst nightmare of wizards everywhere. Barbarians, rogues, and everyone in between shouldn't think they are safe either, as the Balhannoth is a dangerous predator that stalks the Underdark and subterranean world, hunting down anyone who likes magic or uses magical items. We imagine that’s just about everyone that lives in a fantasy world where magic is as common as breathing.
Before we talk about how this creature is going to rip you apart and devour you and all your magical goodies, let’s just go ahead and get you ready for what it will look like. It is described as having an ovoid body, which means it kind of looks like an egg… with six tentacles and a large mouth filled with razor-sharp teeth. It’s a strange-looking egg, but the Underdark is a strange place. It uses its tentacles to help it climb quickly, often lurking along ceilings where it then causes its skin to morph and change color, giving it almost perfect camouflage no matter where it is hiding.
As you may have guessed by our description above, these solitary creatures are another in a long line of creatures that take great pleasure in munching on your bones and devouring your flesh. What makes them worse than the rest of their flesh-eating friends is they also enjoy feeding on the magical aura of all your precious magic items. The Balhannoth's natural attunement to all things magical allows them to sense your coveted magic items as if the Balhannoth was under the constant effects of a detect magic spell, and we assume that this innate sense somehow plays into their need to feed on magic.
In addition, they are far more interested in powerful magic items than a piddling magical coin that always lands heads-up. The more powerful the item, the longer that a Balhannoth can feed off of it, with the weakest items only lasting for a day, while more powerful items could feed them for a whole month. It’s even thought that artifact-level items could feed a Balhannoth for its entire lifetime, though we aren’t sure that a Balhannoth will get much of an opportunity.
Of course, don’t think you could just capture a Balhannoth and feed it a few rings of protection and it will be your friend. After a while, they grow bored with the flavor of specific magic items and will cast it aside in search of a new delicacy to feed on. We do wonder what magical auras taste like; are evocation magic items spicy? Is illusion ephemeral? Transmutation like eating a magic fruit and everything sour is now sweet? Luckily for you, though, if a Balhannoth does feed on your item, you just have to wipe off the slobber as the item is undamaged from being fed on by these creatures.
If you do end up carrying way too many magical items in the Underdark, and draw the attention of these hungry, hungry aberrant hippos, then we wish you all the luck. These large creatures don't even have the common courtesy to fight you head-on. The Balhannoth prefers to lurk in the shadows, blending in with the surrounding underground terrain, ambushing you and your friends as you pass by. It may not see you from its hiding spot, but the Balhannoth can pinpoint your location through its dweomersight, which is kind of like blindsight but for magical auras. If you and your magic items are deemed tasty enough, the Balhannoth will strike out with its tentacles, attempting to slam you with these limbs. If successful, the Balhannoth will grapple you, and your day will have suddenly become much worse.
Once it has grappled its foe, the Balhannoth will begin to squeeze the life out of you as it begins constricting. Now we know what the fighter is thinking; I'll just hit it with my fancy magic weapon and lop that tentacle right off. Well, you can certainly hit it with the sword, but any and all of its magical properties are suppressed thanks to the Balhannoth's antimagic grapple ability. The same goes for any spells or innate spell-like skills you may have, or any ongoing magical effects you’d cast on yourself like mage armor or please-don’t-let-me-die-to-this-horrific-monster.
Fleeing is always an option, but you can forget about magically whisking yourself away due to the Balhannoth's dimensional lock trait. This trait does precisely what it sounds like it would do. It prevents extradimensional travel, rendering astral projection, blink, dimension door, ethereal jaunt, etherealness, gate, plane shift, shadow walk, teleport, and similar spell-like or psionic abilities useless. You'll still be able to run away manually, and besides, when was the last time your wizard got a good jog in?
Once the Balhannoth emerges from battle victorious, it will drag your corpse and all your delectable magical stuff back to its lair. If you are still breathing, taking a few of your last gasps, you might be lucky enough to see a single Balhannoth egg waiting to hatch. Balhannoths get pregnant easily; a simple touch between two Balhannoth tentacles produces a large egg in each of the hippo-monsters. Once their egg is produced, the proud parent will slide a powerful magic item next to their egg and allow the egg to gestate for one year before it hatches.
Just for you, we'll leave on a positive note. If you manage to kill the Balhannoth and find its lair, you can be confident of scoring some good magical loot.
4e - Balhannoth
Level 13 Elite Lurker
Large aberrant magical beast (blind); XP 1,500
Initiative +18; Senses Perception +16; blindsight 10
HP 216; Bloodied 108
AC 28; Fortitude 27, Reflex 26, Will 24
Immune gaze, illusion
Saving Throws +2
Speed 4, climb 4 (spider climb); see also reality shift
Action Points 1
Tentacle (standard; at-will) Reach 3; +17 vs. AC; 1d8 + 9 damage.
Whipping Tentacles (standard; at-will) Close burst 3; targets enemies; +17 vs. AC; 1d8 + 9 damage, and the target slides to any other square of the balhannoth’s choosing within the burst area.
Combat Advantage The balhannoth deals an extra 2d8 damage against any target it has combat advantage against.
Invisibility (minor; at-will) Illusion The balhannoth can turn invisible until the end of its next turn. It turns visible if it takes a standard action.
Reality Shift (move; at-will) Teleportation The balhannoth can teleport 10 squares. Enemies adjacent to the balhannoth before it teleports are dazed until the end of its next turn. The balhannoth automatically gains combat advantage against creatures it teleports adjacent to.
Alignment Chaotic Evil; Languages Deep Speech
Skills Stealth +19
Str 29 (+15) Dex 27 (+14) Wis 20 (+11) Con 24 (+13) Int 3 (+2) Cha 8 (+5)
Monster Manual, 2008 Wizards of the Coast / Francis Tsai
The Balhannoth found in the Monster Manual (2008) is a far cry from the apex magic-eating predator we came to fear in the previous edition. There's little to no discussion for this slug monster as it is given less than a page of descriptive information. Even the art goes in a new direction, as the creature now appears as a cross between a giant green slug and a roper. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on your point of view, the Balhannoth undergoes a radical change in its abilities, so we have something to write about.
The Balhannoth still stalks its prey and will ambush them when given a chance, attacking with its long tentacles. It can no longer sense your magical stuff, instead just utilizing basic blindsight to find its target and rip them apart with gusto. Add to that the Balhannoths ability to go invisible, and there's a good chance you'll never see a Balhannoth until it's too late. It doesn't use its appendages to grapple you, instead pushing you and your friends around the battlefield with its whipping tentacles ability. This way, it can pick and choose which of your friends it’ll eat first while flinging the smellier adventurers away so their stench doesn’t ruin its appetite.
Wizards Presents: Worlds and Monsters, 2007 Wizards of the Coast
Forget about all the Balhannoth's magic suppression traits because they have been tossed into the trash. What it gains instead is the ability to reality shift at will. The Balhannoth can blink up to 50 feet away from its present location. This is no regular teleportation, however. When it disappears, creatures next to the Balhannoth are dazed for a round. Seeing stars and being out of it isn't great, but the poor soul the Balhannoth teleported next to has it worse because the Balhannoth now has combat advantage against it and deals even more damage with its tentacles.
We didn't mention it before, but the Balhannoth now and then can be charmed, trained, or otherwise coerced into guarding a location. In 3rd edition, the mind flayer loved to take advantage of our land octopus, but now, creatures such as the kuo-toa, aboleth, and drow have all been known to raise and train Balhannoths to do their bidding. While Balhannoths can’t talk, they can learn languages to follow commands and the like, but they really only like it when people use telepathy to command them. If you aren’t telepathically inclined, you really should train these creatures from birth so they don’t realize what they are missing. We guess that telepathy just tickles their brain.
It’s not all bad news as the Balhannoth does appear in Dungeon #204 (July 2012) in the adventure The Sword Collector by Michael E. Shea. We’ve previously mentioned this adventure with the hook horror, though don’t get your hopes too high. The Balhannoth in this adventure is actually an Ancient Balhannoth, which has all the same abilities as a regular Balhannoth, but stronger at level 25 instead of just level 13. Though it does gain an acidic maw attack and has an easier time overcoming the dazed, stunned, and dominated condition. Other than that, it is a one-off monster that doesn’t come with new information and just attempts to eat a party of adventurers with nothing else for it to do.
5e - Balhannoth
Large Aberration, Chaotic Evil
Armor Class 17 (natural armor)
Hit Points 114 (12d10 + 48)
Speed 25 ft., climb 25 ft.
Str 17 (+3) Dex 8 (-1) Con 18 (+4) Int 6 (-2) Wis 15 (+2) Cha 8 (-1)
Saving Throws Con +8
Skills Perception +6
Senses blindsight 500 ft. (blind beyond this radius), passive Perception 16
Languages understands Deep Speech, telepathy 1 mile
Challenge 11 (7,200 XP); Proficiency Bonus +4
Legendary Resistance (2/Day). If the balhannoth fails a saving throw, it can choose to succeed instead.
Multiattack. The balhannoth makes a bite attack and up to two tentacle attacks, or it makes up to four tentacle attacks.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 25 (4d10 + 3) piercing damage.
Tentacle. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 10 (2d6 + 3) bludgeoning damage, and the target is grappled (escape DC 15) and is moved up to 5 feet toward the balhannoth. Until this grapple ends, the target is restrained, and the balhannoth can’t use this tentacle against other targets. The balhannoth has four tentacles.
Legendary Actions The balhannoth can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary action can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature’s turn. The balhannoth regains spent legendary actions at the start of its turn.
Bite. The balhannoth makes one bite attack against one creature it has grappled.
Teleport. The balhannoth teleports, along with any equipment it is wearing or carrying and any creatures it has grappled, up to 60 feet to an unoccupied space it can see.
Vanish. The balhannoth magically becomes invisible for up to 10 minutes or until immediately after it makes an attack roll.
Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes, 2018 Wizards of the Coast
First found in Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes (2018) and updated in Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse (2022), the Balhannoth continues to ignore its original lore in favor of being a reality-warping creature, this time an inhabitant from the Shadowfell. It keeps many of its powers and abilities from the previous edition, as well as gaining a few new ones to trick and ambush its prey.
They say that home is where your heart is, and a Balhannoth's lair could very well house your heart, liver, spleen, and other tasty organs if you aren't careful. Balhannoths make their lairs close to the locations of creatures they like to eat. Some creatures still use them as guardians, with their refuge near passages and roads that guard their master's home. What makes them such great guardians is that they have several unique abilities that allow them to transform their lair into the desires of whatever creature happens to stumble into their homes, making you an easily distracted meal.
The land by the Balhannoth's home is deeply affected by the aberration, twisting it and creating two different effects. First, the Balhannoth can look into your heart and discover your happy place. The sense desires ability can be used on any humanoid within 1 mile of the creature and allows the Balhannoth to learn your desires and determine if those desires involve a specific location or place. It doesn't seem important to know this, but wait until we get to the lair actions, and you'll understand why this sucks for you. The second effect is a supernatural lure. When you're within 1 mile of the Balhannoth's lair, you'll feel a rush of excitement as if you are getting closer to whatever you desire the most in the multiverse. The closer your get, the strong the sensation. Somehow we doubt what you desire the most is to be wrapped up in the tentacles of a Balhannoth, so the joke's on you.
If you do stumble into their lair, get ready to see the thing you most desire. The Balhannoth can reshape the appearance of its lair based on the desires of a creature it is sensing within a mile of it, crafting an almost perfect trap. Of course, this isn’t a perfect trap as it doesn’t do great on details, but you won’t be noticing those details while having to fight for your life. Just know that if it creates a book in its lair because you are really obsessed with libraries, all those books will be empty cause details don’t matter in its trap. It only needs to create a location that is good enough to draw you into its deadly tentacles.
If you do stumble into a room that is your heart’s desire in the Underdark, you are in a lot of trouble. First, they’ll teleport you about, getting you far from your allies but close to the Balhannoth. Next, the Balhannoth will start lashing out with tentacles, grappling you and dragging you close to its big maw, ready to give you a big chomp. If your party tries to help you, they might have a very difficult time when it turns invisible and starts teleporting away with you grasped in its tentacles. All the while, you'll be unable to flee as it begins eating its very squirmy snack, a bamboozled adventurer. Even if the party can keep up with this fleeing tentacled-hippo-monster, they’ll have a hard time bringing it down since it has two legendary resistances it can use every day to just shrug off damaging or controlling effects.
Luckily for you, Balhannoths are natives of the Shadowfell, so it is very rare for you to stumble across them on your homeworld. Drow raiding parties do sometimes head off into the plane of shadows to capture a Balhannoth to help guard their homes, important locations, and lairs but that’s pretty rare and we can only imagine that the Balhannoth eats a few drow before it can be properly captured and transported across the planes.
If you go to the Shadowfell, like everything else there, it feeds on pain, suffering, and horror. It likes terrorizing its prey with its reality-warping powers and probably plays with its food like a giant octopoidal cat. You’ll know if you are about to become a Balhannoth’s plaything because it will breathe false hope into your mind, and then rip it away as you realize that there is no hope. There is only Balhannoth.
Add another monster to the list of creatures that wants nothing more than to eat you, savoring your horror as it devours your corpse. The Balhannoth is not a creature to be taken lightly, and one best to avoid when your characters are lower level. Unfortunately, that may prove difficult since they live to ambush you from the cold darkness of their surroundings. Once that happens, we wish you the best of luck. Just be thankful that now your magic items will still work… unless your characters are flung across the editions and land in the lap of a magic-hungry Balhannoth.
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