Kasha

Large fiend (yōkai), chaotic evil

Armor Class 16 (natural armor)

Hit Points 110 (13d10 + 26)

Speed 40 ft., climb 40 ft.

STR 17 (+3) · DEX 18 (+4) · CON 15 (+2) · INT 14 (+2) · WIS 15 (+2) · CHA 16 (+3)

Saving Throws Dex +7, Wis +5, Cha +6

Skills Deception +6, Perception +5, Religion +5

Damage Resistances fire; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from non-magical attacks that aren’t silvered

Condition Immunities frightened

Senses darkvision 120 ft., passive Perception 15

Languages Common, Infernal, understands Celestial and Draconic

Challenge 5 (1,800 XP)

Traits

Hellfire Sheath. The kasha is wreathed in smokeless orange fire. A creature that touches the kasha or hits it with a melee attack while within 5 feet of it takes 5 (1d10) fire damage.

Corpse Sense. The kasha is always aware of the direction (but not distance) to the nearest humanoid corpse within 1 mile that has died within the last 24 hours.

Funeral Disguise. The kasha can use its action to magically polymorph into a Tiny or Small ordinary cat, or back into its true form. In its cat guise its speed becomes 30 ft., its size changes, and it gains advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks; its statistics otherwise remain the same. Equipment it is carrying shrinks with it.

Actions

Multiattack. The kasha makes two attacks, either Claw or Bite.

Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 13 (1d10 + 3 slashing plus 1d8 fire) damage.

Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 15 (2d6 + 3 piercing plus 1d6 necrotic) damage.

Burst (Recharge 5–6). The kasha ignites its tails and spins, releasing a wave of hellfire in a 15-foot cone. Each creature in that area must make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw, taking 22 (5d8) fire damage on a failed save, or half as much on a successful one. Unattended flammable objects ignite.

Raise Corpse. The kasha touches the body of one Medium or Small humanoid that died within the last minute. The corpse rises at the start of the kasha’s next turn as a zombie under the kasha’s control. The zombie remains animated for 1 hour, until it or the kasha dies, or until the kasha dismisses it (no action required).

Bonus Actions

Tail Snare. The kasha lashes out with its forked tail at a creature it can see within 10 ft. The target must succeed on a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw or be grappled (escape DC 15) and pulled up to 10 ft. toward the kasha. Until this grapple ends, the kasha can’t Tail Snare another target.

Reactions

Corpse Leaper. When a creature within 30 ft. drops to 0 hit points, the kasha can move up to its speed toward that creature without provoking opportunity attacks.

Lore

An undead creature with an insatiable hunger for human flesh; it digs up graves and steals entire coffins.

Kasha is a yōkai whose name, 火車, originally meant “fire cart,” the blazing wagon demons used to ferry sinners’ souls to hell. Over time that faceless engine of punishment merged with the image of a cat, turning into a sentient, necro-vampiric predator. In Japanese monster taxonomy the Kasha is classed as a kind of bakeneko, an evolved nekomata, yet unlike European blood-drinkers it feeds not on blood but on fresh human remains, stealing corpses for the purpose. One typical scene has the creature leaping from a rooftop to snatch a body straight out of its coffin.

In appearance, Kasha are large, upright-walking cats, about as tall as a person—sometimes taller. They usually show up at night or in the rain. Telltale features are ember-red pupils, enormous claws, a split tail, and a constant sheath of hellfire that neither rain nor wind can snuff out. Their arrival is accompanied by thunderclouds and sudden gusts; the monster itself often balances on, or even replaces its limbs with, flaming wheels, a nod to its original job as a transporter.

From Vampire Bestiary 5E, p. 54 · Fern Flower Press