Morrowbarrow
Armor Class 17 (natural armor)
Hit Points 153 (18d8+72)
Speed 35 ft. climb 20 ft.
Saving Throws Str +9, Con +8, Wis +6
Skills Survival +6, Perception +6
Damage Resistances bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks
Damage Immunities poison, psychic
Condition Immunities charmed, exhaustion, frightened, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 16
Languages understands Common but can't speak
Challenge 10 (5,900 XP) Proficiency Bonus +4
Actions
Bonus Actions
Reactions
Legendary Actions
Morrowbarrow 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. Morrowbarrow regains spent legendary actions at the start of its turn.
📷 Export as Image
Share your monster as a beautiful PNG image styled like classic D&D sourcebooks.
Includes: Full stat block, monster image (if selected), CR badge, and QuickMonster branding.
Resolution: High-quality PNG at 2x scale for crisp display on any device.
"Don't call it by name. The first time is an invitation; the fifth is a funeral." — Mara Venn, last keeper of Red Kettle Hill
Lore & Description
Appearance
Morrowbarrow is an old iron-rimmed wheelbarrow made from black orchard wood, its single wheel swollen and veined like a diseased heart. Rusted harvesting hooks jut from either side of its handles, while the deep wooden basin has split into interlocking teeth stained purple with berry juice and dark with old blood. Green shoots thread through its joints, bearing tiny white blossoms that open whenever someone speaks its name. It moves in abrupt, lurching bounds, leaving furrows of black compost and crushed seeds behind it.
Behavior & Origins
Morrowbarrow was built by the vanished orchardist Hessa Vale to carry apples from the haunted terraces of Red Kettle Hill. After years of hauling spoiled harvests, it developed a hunger of its own and began eating the fruit, then the workers, then the names written on their grave markers. It has learned that spoken recognition gives it substance, and it stalks villages by leaving its name carved into fences, market stalls, and children's toys. The villagers of Brindlecross are currently forbidden to say the name aloud, but someone has been whispering it nightly from inside the abandoned cider mill. Morrowbarrow wants every orchard in the valley harvested into one enormous mound of rotting food, from which it plans to build a body large enough to roll over the town.
Running Morrowbarrow
Tactics
Morrowbarrow opens by using Name in the Wood or attacking the nearest creature who speaks its name, then pulls targets into reach with its Harvesting Hooks. It uses Spoil-Spitting against distant spellcasters and tries to knock prone or grapple isolated foes before consuming nearby plant matter to recover. When bloodied, it spends legendary actions on Rolling Lunge and Basin Snap to separate the party; it fights to the death if it has gained three or more Hunger marks, but flees into an orchard if it remains unnamed and heavily damaged.
DM Tips
- Telegraph the creature by showing its name carved repeatedly into wood, hearing wheel squeaks in empty fields, and finding fruit with human teeth marks in it.
- Have Morrowbarrow communicate through scraping sounds, slammed handles, and words formed by seeds or scratches rather than spoken language.
- Players can deny it easy growth by referring to it as "the cart" or "the thing," while enemies or frightened villagers may accidentally empower it by shouting its name.
- For a weaker party, reduce its maximum Hunger marks to three and remove the bonus armor class; for a stronger party, let it gain a mark whenever its name is written as well as spoken.
Loot
- Hessa Vale's Orchard Key — A green-bronze key shaped like a root, still warm when held. It opens the sealed gates beneath Red Kettle Hill, where the original plans for Morrowbarrow are hidden.
- The First Wheel — Morrowbarrow's iron wheel remains intact after its destruction. Mounted on a weapon or wagon, it grants advantage on checks made to track movement through cultivated land.
- Blackseed Apple — A single glossy apple grows from the creature's splintered frame. Eating it grants vivid dreams revealing the name of whoever first taught Morrowbarrow to hunger.