Ovengua

Medium undead (shapechanger), chaotic evil

Armor Class 16 (natural armor)

Hit Points 133 (14d8 + 56)

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

STR 20 (+5) · DEX 18 (+4) · CON 18 (+4) · INT 14 (+2) · WIS 15 (+2) · CHA 13 (+1)

Saving Throws Dex +7, Con +7, Wis +5

Skills Perception +5, Stealth +7, Survival +5

Damage Vulnerabilities fire

Damage Resistances bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks

Damage Immunities poison

Condition Immunities exhaustion, poisoned

Senses darkvision 120 ft., tremorsense 30 ft., passive Perception 15

Languages understands Common, Kommi, and Mpongwe but can’t speak

Challenge 7 (2,900 XP)

Traits

Regeneration. The ovengua regains 10 hit points at the start of its turn if it has at least 1 hit point and hasn’t taken fire damage since the end of its last turn. The ovengua only dies if it starts its turn with 0 hit points and doesn’t regenerate.

Hook Climber. The ovengua ignores movement restrictions caused by natural foliage, and its climb speed is unaffected by difficult terrain.

Life-Sight. The ovengua can sense the life force of living creatures within 60 feet of it. This sense functions like blindsight but only for living creatures that aren’t constructs or undead.

Actions

Multiattack. The ovengua makes three Hook attacks, or two Hook attacks and one Soul Rend if it has a creature grappled.

Hook. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 17 (2d10 + 5) slashing damage, and the target is grappled (escape DC 16) if it is a Large or smaller creature. Until this grapple ends, the target is restrained and the ovengua can’t Hook a different creature.

Soul Rend. Melee Spell Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature that is grappled by the ovengua, incapacitated, or restrained. Hit: 18 (4d8) necrotic damage, and the ovengua regains hit points equal to half the necrotic damage dealt. The target must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or have its hit-point maximum reduced by the same amount. The reduction lasts until the target finishes a long rest. A creature that dies while its maximum is reduced in this way rises 24 hours later as a zombie under the ovengua’s control.

Possess Corpse (Recharge 5–6). The ovengua targets one humanoid corpse within 5 feet. The bones flow into the body, which becomes the ovengua’s new shell. The possessed corpse has the ovengua’s statistics but its appearance; discerning the truth requires a DC 18 Intelligence (Investigation) check. If this body drops to 0 hit points, the ovengua emerges in its skeletal form in an adjacent space.

Bonus Actions

Canopy Leap. The ovengua leaps up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space it can see. This movement doesn’t provoke opportunity attacks and can include vertical movement along walls or through tree branches.

Reactions

Hook Parry. When a creature the ovengua can see targets it with a melee attack, the ovengua adds 3 to its AC for that attack.

Lore

The vampiric spirit of a dead sorcerer roaming the forest for victims; if it wins the struggle it possesses the victim’s body.

Ovengua holds a distinctive place in the traditional beliefs of equatorial Africa, especially among the Kommi and Mpongwe peoples of Gabon. Under this name people envision a skeletal vampire-spirit that blends the traits of a materialized vampire, a ravenous forest demon, and an energy parasite. Its range includes the tropical rain forests and stretches of the modern Gulf of Guinea coast. Thick vegetation, a near-total lack of direct sunlight, and countless caves create ideal conditions for the spirit’s presence. In local demonology Ovengua is considered one of the most hostile beings toward humankind.

According to Gabonese lore, an Ovengua arises from a sorcerer who, while alive, was exceptionally wicked. After burial—often weeks or months later—the sorcerer’s bones crawl out of the grave one by one, travel to a hidden forest lair, and reassemble themselves into a complete skeleton. Once the final bone snaps into place, the skeleton comes alive, still holding the sorcerer’s mind. The reanimated frame has a gruesome feature: in place of hands it sports oversized hooks, and it suffers a burning thirst for blood and living flesh—both now absent from its form.

From Vampire Bestiary 5E, p. 76 · Fern Flower Press