Wume

Medium undead (shapechanger), neutral evil

Armor Class 17 (natural armor; see Thick Hide)

Hit Points 110 (13d10 + 39)

Speed 40 ft., climb 20 ft.

STR 20 (+5) · DEX 14 (+2) · CON 17 (+3) · INT 14 (+2) · WIS 15 (+2) · CHA 18 (+4)

Saving Throws Con +7, Wis +6, Cha +7

Skills Insight +6, Perception +6, Stealth +6

Damage Resistances necrotic; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks that aren’t silvered or blessed

Damage Immunities poison

Condition Immunities poisoned

Senses darkvision 120 ft., passive Perception 16

Languages the languages it knew in life; telepathy 120 ft.

Challenge 8 (3,900 XP)

Traits

Thick Hide. The Wume’s desiccated flesh turns most blades aside. While it isn’t restrained, it has resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage from nonmagical weapons.

Iron Will. The Wume has advantage on saving throws against being charmed or frightened.

Predatory Intellect. The Wume knows the exact location of any creature that has taken damage within the last minute and is within 120 feet of it.

Blood-Fed Resurgence. When the Wume reduces a creature to 0 hit points, it regains 15 hit points.

Actions

Multiattack. The Wume makes two Slam attacks and one Mind Pierce attack.

Slam. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 19 (2d10 + 5 plus 2d4) bludgeoning and necrotic damage.

Mind Pierce. Ranged Spell Attack: +7 to hit, range 60 ft., one creature. Hit: 16 (3d6 + 5) psychic damage, and the target can’t take reactions until the end of its next turn.

Telepathic Compulsion (Recharge 5–6). The Wume targets one creature it can see within 60 feet. The target must succeed on a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw or be charmed for 1 minute. While charmed in this way, the creature is incapacitated and must use all its movement on each of its turns to move toward a spot of the Wume’s choice (often its own grave). The creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.

Bonus Actions

Relentless Advance. The Wume moves up to its speed toward a hostile creature it can see. This movement doesn’t provoke opportunity attacks.

Reactions

Unbreakable Grip. When a creature within 5 feet of the Wume hits it with a melee attack, the Wume can attempt to grapple that creature (escape DC 15).

Weakness: Ritual Binding

If a creature spends 1 minute wrapping the Wume in ropes that have been purified with holy oils or ashes, the Wume must succeed on a DC 15 Strength saving throw or become restrained. While restrained in this way, the Wume is unconscious. If it takes damage, it awakens but remains restrained.

Lore

A vampire that rises from the unburied corpse of a criminal. It can be slain only by tying it up while it is dazed after feeding.

The Wume phenomenon takes shape in the mythic landscape of the Gulf of Guinea coast in West Africa. It is regarded as a revenant endowed with high intelligence and formidable strength, capable of exerting mental, telepathic influence on people. This creature differs radically from the more common animal-like or insectoid vampires of West African lore. Its origin is tied to two key violations of social and religious norms: the death of a criminal whom the community refused to bury—thus denying him passage to the realm of the ancestors—and the imposition of an undead curse that turns the corpse into a predator beyond any sorcerer’s control.

“Undead” here means the being retains full cognitive function while lacking all biological vitality; it experiences an unrelenting hunger that can be sated only by the blood of humans and animals. The Wume is a consummate predator whose very existence destabilizes the community’s balance. Folklore stresses the creature’s flawless physical preservation: thick skin that resists weapons, powerful musculature hinting at tremendous strength, and eyes said to glow, signaling perpetual readiness to hunt. Its hands are considered the primary weapons of attack, so the only effective means of neutralization involves pinning its arms tightly against its torso and binding it completely with ropes, turning the Wume into something like a mummy. Despite those physical traits, the creature’s intellect remains the main threat: the Wume plans its assaults, selects victims, lives a stealthy solitary life, and—even after burial—can compel anyone who approaches its grave to unearth and free it. This psychic assault is nearly impossible to resist without ritual protection, which explains the obligatory vow of silence and the ban on returning to the burial site.

From Vampire Bestiary 5E, p. 104 · Fern Flower Press