This 'Dungeons & Dragons' Monster Will Make Dungeon Masters Smile With Wicked Glee

A preview for Dungeons & Dragons' latest publication features an amazingly versatile monster.

Yesterday, Wizards of the Coast released their latest issue of Dungeon+, a digital magazine that focuses on Dungeons & Dragons' lore and gameplay. Most of the issue focused on the 30th anniversary of Drizz't, arguably the most popular character in the D&D multiverse, but one article showed off the full stat block for Moloch, one of the new monsters featured in Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes.

For those unaware about Moloch's place in the D&D multiverse, he's a deposed archdevil constantly trying to raise an army to take back his former position. He's all but powerless in the Nine Hells, but he's still a dangerous threat on any other plane of existence.

Moloch is an old D&D monster, having first appeared in Monster Manual II way back in 1983, and Wizards of the Coast has already teased some of the things he can do by featuring him in the first installment of the "Mordenkainen's Mayhem" webcast. But the full stat sheet should have lots of DMs drooling about the many ways he can make overconfident players miserable.

As a CR 21 monster, Moloch has both Legendary Actions (meaning that he can take actions when it's not his turn in the initiative order) and Legendary Resistances, which means that he can automatically change failed saving throws into successes. He also has a TON of different abilities, ranging from a three part multiattack to a whip that can drag an opponent up to 30 feet closer to Moloch. He's also got a fantastic Breath of Despair ability that causes major Psychic Damage and adds the frightened condition to anyone who doesn't succeed on a Wisdom saving throw.

In addition to his wide range of attacks, Moloch can also teleport up to 120 feet away (meaning that he can easily get close to the squishier members of a party) and can fly. If Moloch is flying through the air and hits someone with his whip, that potentially means that a player would take falling damage, or might fall into a conveniently placed pit placed by a scheming DM.

Since Moloch only has an AC of 19, players shouldn't have too much problem hitting him. However, he has a regenerate ability that gives him 20 extra hit points per round AND prevents him from permanently dying. The only way to keep him from regenerating hit points every single round is to dish out radiant damage....which means that players better hope they have a cleric or some holy weapons on hand. You would think it's obvious to kill a devil using holy magic, but you'd be surprised at how flustered a party gets when Moloch suddenly returns from 0 HP, and drags a player to their doom with his whip/claw/bite combo.

Moloch is just one of the many monsters that will appear in Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes. There's a lot of high level monsters that DMs will be able to choose from, and we can't wait until the book comes out next month.