Nelapsi

Medium undead (shapechanger), chaotic evil

Armor Class 18 (preternatural hide)

Hit Points 247 (19d8 + 152)

Speed 50 ft., climb 50 ft., spider climb

STR 26 (+8) · DEX 20 (+5) · CON 26 (+8) · INT 16 (+3) · WIS 16 (+3) · CHA 18 (+4)

Saving Throws Dex +11, Con +14, Wis +9, Cha +10

Skills Athletics +14, Insight +9, Perception +9, Stealth +11

Damage Resistances necrotic; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from non-magical attacks

Damage Immunities poison

Condition Immunities charmed, exhaustion, frightened, poisoned

Senses darkvision 120 ft., blindsight 30 ft., passive Perception 19

Languages Common, Infernal, any two regional tongues

Challenge 15 (13,000 XP)

Traits

Two Hearts. The nelapsi has two hearts. The first time it is reduced to 0 hit points, it instead drops to 1 hit point and its first heart is destroyed. While only one heart remains, the nelapsi loses Legendary Resistance and Regeneration and has disadvantage on attack rolls and saving throws. If a wooden stake (hawthorn, oak, or blackthorn) is driven through its chest while it is at 0 hit points, both hearts are destroyed and it dies. The stake attempt is a melee weapon attack made with disadvantage against a prone, incapacitated nelapsi.

Regeneration. The nelapsi regains 20 hit points at the start of its turn if it has at least 1 hit point, hasn’t taken radiant damage since the end of its last turn, and a stake isn’t lodged in its chest.

Sunlight Stasis. In direct sunlight, the nelapsi is incapacitated, its speed is 0, and Regeneration ceases. It remains motionless but doesn’t fall prone.

Echolocation. The nelapsi can’t be blinded, deafened, or surprised while it can hear.

Spider Climb. The nelapsi can climb difficult surfaces, including upside down on ceilings, without needing to make an ability check.

Spellcasting. The nelapsi is a 12th-level spellcaster (spell save DC 18, +10 to hit). It requires no material components.

At will: detect thoughts (PHB, p. 231/262), invisibility (self only; PHB, p. 254/289)

3/day each: dimension door (PHB, p. 233/262), greater invisibility (PHB, p. 246/281), major image (PHB, p. 258/295), polymorph (PHB, p. 266/306)

1/day each: dominate person (PHB, p. 235/266), true seeing (PHB, p. 284/336)

Actions

Multiattack. The nelapsi makes three attacks, only one of which can be a Bite.

Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +13 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 19 (2d10 + 8) slashing damage.

Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +13 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 34 (4d10 + 8) piercing damage plus 14 (4d6) necrotic damage. The target’s hit-point maximum is reduced by the necrotic damage taken, and the nelapsi regains an equal number of hit points. The reduction lasts until the target finishes a long rest; the target dies if this effect reduces its hit-point maximum to 0.

Vampiric Rush (Recharge 5–6). The nelapsi moves up to its full speed without provoking opportunity attacks, then makes two Claw attacks against different creatures. A creature hit by this attack must succeed on a DC 18 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone.

Bonus Actions

Blood Sense. The nelapsi pinpoints any creature that has blood within 120 feet of it until the start of its next turn.

Reactions

Shadow Split (Recharge 4–6). When a creature it can see targets the nelapsi with an attack, the nelapsi creates a shadowy duplicate in an unoccupied space within 10 feet. The attack targets the duplicate instead (AC 18). On a hit, the duplicate is destroyed; on a miss, the duplicate remains until the start of the nelapsi’s next turn, when it melts away.

Legendary Actions

The nelapsi can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary action option can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature’s turn. The nelapsi regains spent legendary actions at the start of its turn.

Move. The nelapsi moves up to half its speed.

Claw. The nelapsi makes one Claw attack.

Grave Embrace (Costs 2 Actions). The nelapsi grapples a creature within 5 feet (escape DC 21) and immediately makes a Bite attack against it.

Legendary Resistance (2/Day)

If the nelapsi fails a saving throw, it can choose to succeed instead. (Lost after one heart is destroyed.)

Lore

One of the deadliest vampires—so strong it can wipe out an entire village in a single night. It has two hearts and two souls.

The Nelapsi is a vampire of Slovak lore, regarded as one of the most aggressive and physically powerful breeds of ghoul. Legends claim the creature can wipe out an entire village—livestock and all—in a single night. Outwardly, the Nelapsi is a walking corpse with no visible rot, its skin an unnaturally pale, “porcelain-death” hue. The vampire’s build is gaunt, yet its muscles and tendons are drawn so tight that it can leap dozens of yards and move at speeds no human can match. Its hair is long, black, and hangs in matted clumps. The eyes burn bright red, granting perfect vision in total darkness. Thirty retractable, needle-like fangs line the mouth, made for severing arteries and crushing bone in an instant. Each limb ends in long talons suited for sprinting up vertical walls and across sheer surfaces. A forked tongue can sense the smell of blood from more than a mile and a half away; pointed, oversized ears provide natural echolocation.

Inside, the creature is even stranger: folklore says it has two hearts and two souls. The twin hearts explain its near-invulnerability and regenerative powers—if one is damaged, the other takes over. The dual-soul nature is interpreted in two ways: either the human soul is trapped alongside a demonic spirit, or the person was “double-souled” in life and inevitably became a vampire. The Nelapsi usually rises in ragged burial shrouds that, legend says, resist both fire and steel; some modern sources claim older specimens favor lavish yet outdated clothing to blend in with humans. By day, the Nelapsi lies in its grave.

From Vampire Bestiary 5E, p. 72 · Fern Flower Press