Cinderbone
Armor Class 15 (natural armor)
Hit Points 59 (9d8+18)
Speed 30 ft. climb 30 ft.
Saving Throws Con +4, Wis +3
Skills Stealth +4, Perception +3
Damage Resistances fire
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 13
Languages Abyssal, Common (understands)
Challenge 4 (1,100 XP) Proficiency Bonus +2
Actions
Reactions
Lair
Regional Effects
The region containing the creature's lair is warped by its magic, creating the following effects:
- Within 6 miles of the Cinderbone's lair, rocky outcrops and caverns are streaked black with ash and the wind carries fine ember-scented dust.
- Small fumaroles and pockets of warm, sulfurous air open unexpectedly in valleys and caverns; water tastes faintly of smoke and scalding pockets are more common.
- Animals avoid the region at unexpected times: flocks scatter days before volcanic tremors and spelunkers report hearing distant bones clicking through the dark.
If the Cinderbone dies, the ash-stained rock and minor fumaroles slowly cool and clear over the course of 1d10 days. The embers in the lair go out, but the bones remain cold and brittle, prized by cultists; any lingering ash hardens into brittle black glasslike flakes.
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"When the bones warm and the rocks weep smoke, the mountain remembers hell's appetite." — miners' proverb
Lore & Description
Appearance
A tall humanoid whose bones are charred jet-black, fused in places with glowing ember seams. Gouts of ash curl from empty eye sockets; ribs are spiked and jagged like a crown of broken rock. Where it moves a faint orange glow traces its joints and a thin veil of smoke trails from its bones.
Behavior & Origins
Cinderbones are demons birthed where infernal fire bleeds into the deep stone — often in collapsing volcanic fissures or places where the underdark's heat presses against the mountain. They are not souls reborn but skeletons claimed and reshaped by hellfire. They haunt ruined pyres and magma-warmed caverns, hunting for heat, flame, and objects that contain concentrated fire (emberstones, hearth-hearts, the pyres of fallen fire-wielders). A local hook: the Cinderbone known as the Black Harrow has taken residence in the lower galleries of Mount Harsa and is said to guard an 'emberheart' — a chunk of blasted coal that will not cool. Cultists want that ember to fuel a forbidden forge; a nearby mining town hires adventurers to recover the ember or to slay the Black Harrow before its ash-choked storms make the mountain uninhabitable.
Running Cinderbone
Tactics
The Cinderbone opens combat by using Ash Burst to soften or scatter clustered foes, then closes to engage a single target with Bone Scythe and Ember Bite, using its climb speed to strike from ceilings or high ledges. It tries to flank and isolate the most flammable or heavily armored foes first; when wounded it relies on Smoldering Grin and Ember Parry to punish attackers and slips into ash-covered crevices to regroup. If reduced below half its hit points it prefers to retreat into fumaroles or vertical shafts where it can ambush again rather than die where it stands.
DM Tips
- Telegraph the Cinderbone's lair with small ashfalls, warm gusts, and the metallic tang of smoke; let players find singed bones or charred equipment before the fight.
- Roleplay it with a soft clicking voice and the sound of embers shifting; it is cunning and patient rather than loud and brutish.
- To scale down for a weaker party, remove the Ash Burst ability and reduce hit dice to 7d8+14 (47 HP). To make it a harder encounter, add lair traps (pockets of scalding steam) or give it an undead minion of charred bone shards.
Loot
- Emberheart Shard — A fist-sized chunk of coal-like material that remains warm to the touch. It can be used as a focus for fire rituals or as a continuous tinder (DM: a possible hook for cultists or to fuel a forge).
- Charred Femur Blade — A cleaned, blackened bone fashioned into a jagged blade. It hums faintly with heat; a smith can temper it into a unique weapon or a cultist might use it as a ceremonial item.
- Ash-Laced Rune — A brittle fragment of stone streaked with ash and infernal sigils. It is valuable to scholars of fiends and to those seeking to bargain with fire spirits; it can be a map fragment or a key component in summoning rites.
