Bakezori 化け草履

Tiny fey (tsukumogami), chaotic neutral

Armor Class 15 (nimble body)

Hit Points 27 (6d4 + 12)

Speed 30 ft., climb 20 ft.

STR 4 (−3) · DEX 17 (+3) · CON 14 (+2) · INT 10 (+0) · WIS 12 (+1) · CHA 11 (+0)

Saving Throws Dex +5

Skills Acrobatics +5, Stealth +7

Damage Vulnerabilities fire

Condition Immunities prone

Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 11

Languages understands Common and Sylvan but can’t speak

Challenge 1/2 (100 XP)

Traits

Too Flat to Grab. The bakezori has advantage on ability checks and saving throws made to escape a grapple, and creatures have disadvantage on grapple checks made against it.

Sleep-Stealing Presence. A creature that finishes a short rest within 30 feet of the bakezori regains no hit points from spending Hit Dice unless the rest took place in bright light or the creature burned incense or another pleasant scent worth at least 1 sp.

Actions

Multiattack. The bakezori makes two Slap attacks.

Slap. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 4 (1d4 + 2) bludgeoning damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 13 Dexterity saving throw or fall prone as the bakezori sweeps its legs from under it.

Pinky-Toe Tug (Recharge 5–6). The bakezori targets one creature it can see within 5 feet that is wearing footwear or is barefoot. The target must succeed on a DC 13 Wisdom saving throw or take 5 (2d4) psychic damage and be frightened of the bakezori until the end of its next turn.

Reactions

Shadow Scuttle. When a creature the bakezori can see misses it with an attack, the bakezori can move up to 15 feet without provoking opportunity attacks.

Lore

An enchanted old sandal that hops through the house at night and nips its owner’s toes.

Bakezori, written with the characters 化け草履—literally “haunted sandal”—is a yokai of the tsukumogami class: everyday objects that awaken after a hundred years of use or prolonged human neglect. Visually it’s just a flat straw zori, except two thin arms and two legs sprout from the edges and a single large eye stares from the middle of the sole.

Its favorite nighttime chant goes: “Kararin, kororin, kankororin, managu mittsu ni ha ninmai!” The opening sounds kara- and koro- mimic the clatter of something hard rolling across the floor or the thunk of wooden geta—footwear the humble straw zori envies. Bakezori’s dream is to become geta, so it sings about them constantly. Managu is a dialect form of me (“eye”), and mittsu means “three,” so managu mittsu points to the three holes where sandal straps run. Ha ninmai translates to “two teeth”: ha means “tooth,” while the counter mai is used for flat objects. The “teeth” are the two wooden blocks sometimes nailed under geta to raise the sole and make them last longer. In short, the creature keeps describing—but never attaining—the form it longs for.

From Yokai Bestiary 5E, Book Two, p. 12 · Fern Flower Press