Samodiva

Medium fey, chaotic neutral

Armor Class 16 (natural armor)

Hit Points 110 (13d8 + 52)

Speed 40 ft., fly 40 ft. (hover)

STR 12 (+1) · DEX 18 (+4) · CON 18 (+4) · INT 14 (+2) · WIS 15 (+2) · CHA 18 (+4)

Saving Throws Dex +7, Cha +7

Skills Deception +7, Insight +5, Nature +5, Perception +5, Persuasion +7, Stealth +7

Damage Vulnerabilities fire, bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from iron weapons

Damage Resistances cold; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks that aren’t iron

Condition Immunities charmed, exhaustion

Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 15

Languages Common, Elvish, Sylvan

Challenge 7 (2,900 XP)

Traits

Heart-Braid. The samodiva’s loose golden braid is the seat of her magic (AC 18; 10 hit points; immune to poison and psychic damage). A creature within 5 feet can take an action to make a DC 15 Strength (Athletics) check contested by the samodiva’s check to seize the braid. On a success, the braid can be cut with a slashing weapon. If the braid is destroyed or removed, the samodiva immediately drops to 0 hit points and dies.

Grace of the Wind. Difficult terrain doesn’t cost the samodiva extra movement, and she can move across water and vertical surfaces without falling during the move.

Innate Spellcasting. The samodiva’s innate spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 15, +7 to hit with spell attacks). She can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components:

At will: druidcraft (PHB, p. 236/266)

3/day each: charm person (PHB, p. 221/249), misty step (PHB, p. 260/299)

1/day each: conjure animals (fey spirits only; PHB, p. 225/254), lightning bolt (PHB, p. 255/292)

Magic Resistance. The samodiva has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.

Actions

Multiattack. The samodiva makes two attacks: Wind Arrow or Siphoning Touch.

Wind Arrow. Ranged Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, range 150/600 ft., one target. Hit: 13 (2d8 + 4) piercing damage plus 4 (1d8) lightning damage.

Siphoning Touch. Melee Spell Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: 14 (3d6 + 4) necrotic damage, and the samodiva regains hit points equal to half the necrotic damage dealt. The target’s hit-point maximum is reduced by the same amount until it finishes a long rest. The target dies if this effect reduces its hit-point maximum to 0.

Alluring Dance (Recharge 5–6). The samodiva begins an otherworldly dance. Each creature of her choice that can see her within 60 feet must succeed on a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw or be charmed until the dance ends at the start of the samodiva’s next turn. While charmed in this way, a creature is incapacitated and must use all its movement to move toward the samodiva, joining the dance when it is within 5 feet of her. A dancing creature takes 7 (2d6) necrotic damage at the start of its turn. A charmed creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.

Bonus Actions

Wind Step (3/Day). The samodiva magically becomes a swirl of air, teleporting up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space she can see.

Reactions

Feather Shift. When the samodiva would take damage from a weapon attack, she can halve the damage taken.

Lore

A forest nymph-vampire who rides stags; if she meets a hunter she drains his blood and takes his head as a trophy.

The Samodiva, also known as the samovila, carries a name in which the prefix “samo-” stresses autonomy, while the second part “diva” goes back to an Indo-European root meaning “deity.” The variant “vila,” on the other hand, connects to a root linked with the motion of wind.

Historically, the image shifted with the times. In its oldest, Thracian layer it is tied to the cults of Orpheus (mystical religious currents and rites of Ancient Greece based on the legends of Orpheus, his journey to the underworld, and his teachings about the soul’s immortality) and the goddess Bendis. There, female figures—guardians of the forests and the moon—performed ritual songs and dances at night around bonfires. In later folklore the Samodivi took on a more demonic coloring: people called them descendants of lamias (demonic beings) or believed them to be the restless souls of women—sinners, virgins who died untimely deaths, or victims of violence—caught between worlds. Overall, the Samodiva settled into the role of a vampiric woodland nymph, and the shift from “divine guardian” to “dangerous vampire” paralleled changing religious paradigms and heightened the threat she posed to humans.

From Vampire Bestiary 5E, p. 90 · Fern Flower Press