The Galloping Gallery

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Large Construct, Chaotic Evil

Armor Class 18 (lacquered wood and iron)

Hit Points 199 (19d10+95)

Speed 60 ft.

STR 20 (+5)

DEX 16 (+3)

CON 20 (+5)

INT 12 (+1)

WIS 14 (+2)

CHA 18 (+4)

Saving Throws Dex +7, Con +9, Wis +6

Skills Perception +6, Persuasion +8

Damage Resistances bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks

Damage Immunities poison, psychic

Condition Immunities charmed, exhaustion, frightened, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned, unconscious

Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 16

Languages Common, telepathy 60 ft.

Challenge 12 (8,400 XP) Proficiency Bonus +4

Painted Splendor. The Galloping Gallery has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects. It is immune to any spell or effect that would alter its form.

The Ride Must Continue. The Galloping Gallery can move through the space of a prone creature without treating that space as difficult terrain. A creature whose space it enters for the first time on a turn must succeed on a DC 17 Dexterity saving throw or fall prone.

Collector of Last Things. Whenever the Galloping Gallery reduces a creature to 0 hit points within 60 feet of it, a tiny glass token containing one odd remnant of that creature appears in its saddlebag, such as a tooth, a tear, a final word, or a shadow. The Gallery can carry an unlimited number of tokens. As an action, it can crush one token to perfectly imitate the defeated creature's voice for 1 hour, or to gain advantage on one ability check involving knowledge of that creature.

Horse-Call of the Midway. Beasts with the equine form within 120 feet of the Galloping Gallery have disadvantage on saving throws against its charm effects. A horse charmed by the Gallery regards it as the master of a magnificent, endless ride and willingly carries creatures chosen by it.

Innate Spellcasting. The Galloping Gallery's spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 17, +9 to hit with spell attacks). It can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components:

1/day each: dominate beast

3/day each: charm monster, fear, hypnotic pattern

At will: command, minor illusion

Actions

Multiattack. The Galloping Gallery makes three Hoof attacks and one Bite attack.

Hoof. Melee weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 16 (2d10+5) bludgeoning damage. If the target is prone, the attack deals an extra 2d6 bludgeoning damage.

Bite. Melee weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 14 (2d8+5) piercing damage. The target must succeed on a DC 17 Strength saving throw or be grappled by the Gallery's iron bit. Until the grapple ends, the target is restrained. The Gallery can grapple only one creature this way.

Endless Carousel (Recharge 5-6). The Galloping Gallery spins in a 20-foot-radius circle centered on itself. Each creature in the area must make a DC 17 Dexterity saving throw, taking 27 (6d8) bludgeoning damage on a failed save, or half as much on a successful one. On a failed save, a creature is also knocked prone and pushed up to 15 feet. The Gallery can then move up to half its speed without provoking opportunity attacks.

Recruit to the Ride. The Galloping Gallery targets one beast with the equine form it can see within 60 feet. The target must succeed on a DC 17 Wisdom saving throw or be charmed by the Gallery for 24 hours. While charmed, the horse obeys the Gallery's telepathic commands and uses its movement and reactions to carry out those commands. The effect ends if the Gallery dies or if the horse takes damage from the Gallery.

Bonus Actions

Dismounting Trick. The Galloping Gallery teleports to an unoccupied space within 5 feet of a charmed horse it can see within 60 feet, leaving behind a wooden carousel silhouette that lasts until the start of its next turn. This movement does not provoke opportunity attacks.

Reactions

Polished Escape. When the Galloping Gallery is hit by an attack while within 5 feet of a horse or another creature, it imposes disadvantage on the attack roll, potentially causing it to miss, and moves up to 10 feet without provoking opportunity attacks.

Legendary Actions

The Galloping Gallery 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 Gallery regains spent legendary actions at the start of its turn.

Canter. The Galloping Gallery moves up to half its speed without provoking opportunity attacks.

Hoof. The Galloping Gallery makes one Hoof attack.

Call the Next Rider (Costs 2 Actions). One horse or equine beast within 60 feet that can hear the Gallery must succeed on a DC 17 Wisdom saving throw or use its reaction to move up to its speed toward the Gallery. If it reaches the Gallery, it is charmed by Horse-Call of the Midway until the end of its next turn.

Whirling Splinters (Costs 3 Actions). Each creature within 10 feet of the Gallery must succeed on a DC 17 Dexterity saving throw or take 14 (4d6) slashing damage and be blinded until the end of its next turn.

Environment Grassland, Urban, Forest

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One more rider, one more turn, and then the music will finally stop. — scratched into the ticket booth at Merryweather Pavilion

Lore & Description

Appearance

The Galloping Gallery resembles a magnificent carousel horse enlarged to the size of a warhorse, though its body is carved from deep red lacquered wood veined with golden paint. Its glass eyes glow with rotating carnival lights, and brass plates cover its shoulders and flanks beneath peeling ribbons of faded blue and rose. A splintered carousel pole juts from its back like a lance, trailing torn pennants and dozens of tiny glass tokens. Its iron hooves spark against stone, and its painted smile never changes, even when its wooden jaw opens far too wide.

Behavior & Origins

Once the centerpiece of the Merryweather Pavilion, the Galloping Gallery broke free during a storm after every living horse in the show was sold. It now believes that all horses are performers waiting to be recruited and that every creature it defeats owes the ride a souvenir. It travels from village to village gathering living mounts, chaining them to an invisible carousel route that only it can see. The Gallery currently seeks the missing ivory token of a child named Lissa Vale, whose final laugh is said to be trapped somewhere inside its saddlebag. It will bargain, threaten, or burn an entire town to recover it.

Running The Galloping Gallery

Tactics

The Galloping Gallery opens with Hypnotic Pattern or Endless Carousel, attempting to scatter and knock down the party before riding through them with its hooves. It positions itself beside charmed horses, using Dismounting Trick and Canter to appear unpredictably on opposite sides of the battlefield. When bloodied, it crushes collected tokens to imitate fallen allies and uses fear or charm to turn the party against one another; it fights to the death if Lissa Vale's ivory token is nearby, otherwise it flees once reduced below 25 percent of its hit points.

DM Tips

Telegraph its arrival with distant calliope music, hoofprints that end in splinters, and local horses staring rigidly toward an empty road.
Play the Gallery as relentlessly courteous and theatrical, addressing every creature as a rider and applauding whenever someone falls.
Make the collected tokens narratively distinct; crushing one can produce an ally's voice, a monster's final threat, or a clue about the Gallery's past.
For a weaker party, remove its spellcasting and reduce Endless Carousel to 4d8 damage; for a stronger party, give it two charmed horses as allied mounts and let it use Recruit to the Ride once per round as a legendary action.

Loot

Lissa Vale's Ivory Token — A warm ivory bead containing the sound of a child's final laugh. It can be used once to cast speak with dead without a corpse, but doing so alerts the Galloping Gallery if it still lives.
Brass Carousel Spur — A tarnished spur that grants advantage on Wisdom (Animal Handling) checks involving horses and allows the wearer to cast find steed once, after which the summoned steed bears faint carousel markings.
Saddlebag of Last Things — A bottomless-looking red saddlebag containing 1d6 strange tokens from previous victims. Each token provides a brief sensory memory when held, potentially revealing a crime, a hidden location, or the final moments of a missing person.

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Generation Info

Original prompt:
"CR 12: A carousel horse that escaped and now recruits real horses into the ride. It collects something odd from every creature it defeats."

Created: Sep 26, 2026
Modified: Oct 27, 2026

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