Fluffgrin, the Cotton Candy Wraith
Medium Fey (Undead), Chaotic Neutral
Armor Class: 13 (Natural Charisma)
Hit Points: 45 (6d8 + 18)
Speed: 30 ft., fly 40 ft. (hover)
Challenge Rating: 4 (1,100 XP)
| STR | DEX | CON | INT | WIS | CHA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | 16 | 16 | 12 | 14 | 20 |
Saving Throws: Dexterity +5, Wisdom +4, Charisma +7
Skills: Deception +7, Persuasion +7, Stealth +5, Insight +4, Performance +7
Damage Vulnerabilities: Fire
Damage Resistances: Psychic; Bludgeoning and Slashing from Nonmagical Attacks
Damage Immunities:
Condition Immunities: Charmed, Frightened
Senses: Darkvision 60 ft., Truesight 20 ft. (can see through illusions and invisibility), Passive Perception 12
Languages: Understands Common and Sylvan but cannot speak.
Spellcasting
Spellcasting. The Fluffgrin is a 5th-level spellcaster. Its spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 14, +6 to hit with spell attacks). The Fluffgrin has the following spells prepared:
Cantrips (at will): **Dancing Lights**, **Minor Illusion**, **Vicious Mockery**
1st level (4 slots): **Charm Person**, **Sleep**
2nd level (3 slots): **Mirror Image**, **Hold Person**
3rd level (2 slots): **Hypnotic Pattern**
**Descriptions of spell levels:**
– **Cantrips (at will):** These spells can be cast without expending spell slots and can be used as often as desired.
– **1st level (4 slots):** Spells of this level can be cast four times per long rest. Fluffgrin typically uses **Charm Person** when it seeks to isolate a party member and **Sleep** to incapacitate multiple foes easily.
– **2nd level (3 slots):** Fluffgrin uses **Mirror Image** to create copies of itself to confuse attackers and **Hold Person** to paralyze foes it wishes to toy with.
– **3rd level (2 slots):** **Hypnotic Pattern** allows the Fluffgrin to ensnare the minds of those nearby, enveloping them in a vivid display of colors and sounds to lock them in a state of euphoric entrancement.
**Special notes:** The Fluffgrin often utilizes its spells to manipulate the battlefield before combat begins, attempting to charm or incapacitate its foes from the start. Additionally, its spells are thematic to its character, emphasizing enchantment and control, reflecting its overall mischievous and playful demeanor.
Actions & Abilities
Multiattack: The Fluffgrin makes two attacks: one with its **Cotton Candy Whirl** and one **Sugar Spire**.
Cotton Candy Whirl: – **Melee Weapon Attack:** +5 to hit, reach 15 ft., one target.
– **Hit:** 2d6 + 2 psychic damage.
– **Effect:** If the target is hit, it must succeed on a DC 13 Wisdom saving throw or be charmed until the end of its next turn, captivated in a moment of bliss and unable to take actions.
Sugar Spire: – **Ranged Weapon Attack:** +5 to hit, range 30 ft., one target.
– **Hit:** 2d4 + 2 psychic damage.
– **Effect:** The target must succeed on a DC 12 Constitution saving throw or be blinded until the end of its next turn, covered in a sticky, sugary glaze that reduces its vision.
Cotton Cloud (Recharge 5-6): – **Area Effect:** The Fluffgrin envelops a 20-ft radius sphere in a dense mist of cotton candy. This effect lasts for 1 minute or until the Fluffgrin dismisses it (no action required).
– **Saving Throws:** Each creature in the area must make a DC 14 Dexterity saving throw.
– **On Failure:** 3d8 necrotic damage and becomes poisoned until the end of its next turn.
– **On Success:** No damage, but allies of the Fluffgrin gain advantage on saving throws against fear effects while in the cloud.
Enveloping Laughter: – The Fluffgrin emits a lulled laugh that echoes like distant carnival music.
– **All creatures within 30 feet** must make a DC 12 Wisdom saving throw or be frightened until the end of their next turn. Creatures that succeed are immune to this effect for the next 24 hours.
Sugar Rush: – **Effect:** As a bonus action, the Fluffgrin can grant itself a fleeting surge of energy.
– **Temporary Effect:** Until the end of its next turn, the Fluffgrin can move through creatures and objects as if they were difficult terrain. It takes 1d10 force damage if it ends its turn inside an object.
Sugary Tendril Grapple (Recharge 4-6): – **Melee Attack:** The Fluffgrin targets one Medium or smaller creature it has charmed with Cotton Candy Whirl.
– **Effect:** The target must make a DC 13 Strength saving throw or be grappled. While grappled, the creature takes 1d6 psychic damage at the start of its turns. The Fluffgrin can only maintain a grapple on one creature at a time.
Cloud’s Embrace: – As a reaction when a creature within 15 feet of the Fluffgrin attacks it, the Fluffgrin can envelop the creature in a spectral swarm of sugary tendrils.
– **Effect:** The attacker must succeed on a DC 13 Dexterity saving throw or take 1d8 psychic damage and be frightened until the end of their next turn.
Notes on Tactics: The Fluffgrin prefers to begin its encounter with charming or blinding attacks to render targets ineffective. It may use **Cotton Cloud** to disorient adventurers and retreat within to set up ambushes using the lingering effects of its miasma. If it finds itself cornered, it will leverage **Sugary Tendril Grapple** to isolate and deal damage to a single target while fleeing to safety using its **Sugar Rush** movement.
Treasure and Narrative Rewards: Upon being defeated, adventurers will recover magical artifacts reflecting the sweet and sorrowful nature of the Fluffgrin, offering them unique avenues for character development and lore.
Appearance
- Size and Shape: The Fluffgrin is a Medium-sized creature, appearing as a shifting, amorphous mass that undulates gracefully in the air. Its form resembles a billowing cloud, with fluffy, rounded contours that evoke an innocent appearance, masking its deeper, ominous presence.
- Coloration: The Fluffgrin’s colors are a vibrant combination of pastel hues, primarily soft pink, baby blue, and lavender, interspersed with streaks of shimmering gold and silver that glisten like sugar crystals under light. These colors swirl and shift as it moves, creating an entrancing display that draws the eye.
- Texture and Surface Features: The outer layer of the Fluffgrin is ethereal and fluffy, resembling spun sugar, giving it a soft appearance that belies its chilling nature. The surface is wispy and light, with an almost intangible quality, creating a sensation of sweetness and allure, while also hinting at something deeper and more treacherous.
- Facial Features: At the core of the Fluffgrin lies a subtly distorted face that peers through the sugary haze. Its large, hollow eyes radiate an unsettling glee, sparkling mischievously in shades of oily black, and reflecting an unsettling eagerness to ensnare its victims. Its mouth resembles a French horn, wide and curved, with lips that curl into a perpetual, sinister grin. Sharp, uneven teeth are faintly visible within, glistening as they catch the light, adding to its nightmarish charm.
- Limbs and Appendages: Instead of traditional limbs, the Fluffgrin’s body is adorned with long, flowing tendrils that drift elegantly in the air like strands of cotton candy. These tendrils span outwards, reaching approximately 10 feet long, allowing it to strike or grasp targets from a distance. Each tendril appears to be independently animated, swaying and curling with a mind of their own as they envelop or ensnare, providing both an eerie beauty and a dangerous capability.
- Special Features: The Fluffgrin exudes a faint, sparkling haze that trails behind it, leaving a residue that sticks to surfaces like sugary dust. This residue glimmers when touched by light, creating a halo effect. The laughter of the Fluffgrin echoes with the distant notes of a carousel, an illusionary sound that both captivates and terrifies those who hear it.
- Posture and Movement: The Fluffgrin hovers just above the ground, with its body undulating like a wave. It moves with a fluid grace, ebbing and flowing, resembling a gentle breeze or a child’s playful movement through a fairground. The creature can dart quickly, making sudden, unpredictable shifts that confuse and disorient its prey.
- Additional Notable Traits: Occasionally, shimmering motes of light burst from its body, showcasing bioluminescent patterns that flicker like fireflies. These lights momentarily distract and captivate onlookers, reinforcing the creature’s enchanting but ghastly allure. When engulfed in its own mist, the Fluffgrin becomes more difficult to discern, almost vanishing from sight, making it a master of evasion and psychological manipulation.
Tactical Information
Combat Behavior and Tactics for Fluffgrin, the Cotton Candy Wraith
Challenge Rating: 4
Combat Behaviors:
-
Deceptive Engagement:
- Fluffgrin begins encounters with playful banter and enchanting laughter, trying to draw the party in with phrases like, “Isn’t it lovely here? Come, taste my wondrous delights!” This sets the atmosphere as friendly, lowering expectations of hostility.
- It will use evasive tactics such as moving around the battlefield frequently, creating the appearance of effortless grace. If it senses that its charms are failing, it will quickly adjust its tactics to become more aggressive.
-
Charm Before Harm:
- Fluffgrin will prioritize using Cotton Candy Whirl to charm at least one adventurer, ensnaring them in blissful distraction. It strategically targets those who seem the strongest or most threatening, aiming to incapacitate a player early in the encounter.
- If successful, Fluffgrin might taunt the charmed target with sweet nothings, such as, “Oh, why fight? Just float away with me in a delightful dream!”
-
Area Control:
- When engaged and feeling pressured, Fluffgrin will retreat into personal space and utilize Cotton Cloud strategically to impede the party’s movement and control the battlefield. It can use this ability if it starts to feel overwhelmed, allowing it to escape or regroup.
- Within the mist, Fluffgrin takes the opportunity to attack with Sugar Spire at ranged targets who are not within the cloud, keeping a safe distance while still attacking.
-
Retreat and Confusion:
- If things turn dire, Fluffgrin will attempt to back away slowly, using its movement and the lingering effects of Cotton Cloud to muddle the party. It may lead the party members deeper into the fog, causing them to lose track of one another and become isolated, where it can pick them off more easily.
Narrative Interactions:
-
Luring with Curiosity:
- In narrative interactions outside of combat, Fluffgrin will communicate using whimsical riddles or half-truths: “They say the sweetest things are made from nightmares…” The Fluffgrin uses subtlety, crafting verbal illusions that hint at its darker intentions.
- When adventurers get closer, it may conjure illusions of small, fluffy cotton candy treats, beckoning children (or adventurers with lower wisdom) to taste, while revealing hints of its true nature only in fleeting moments.
-
Whimsical Distracts:
- During confrontations, Fluffgrin could create cheerful yet unsettling scenarios, such as a momentary vision of the village’s joyful fair becoming eerily distorted, urging adventurers to recall joyous moments from their own lives — only for the Fluffgrin to disrupt those memories with visions of resulting madness.
- “Ah, that sweet joy! How it can twist and bend until all that’s left is despair wrapped in spun sugar,” it might say as it floats mockingly.
-
Witnesses of the Past:
- If adventurers inquire about the history of the Fluffgrin, it will weave tales about the beloved fair, leaving trails of half-hearted praises about the villagers while drumming silent laughter. “Those poor souls, so naive in their merriment — they called me forth to grant their wishes, but wishes come at a price, don’t they?”
-
Final Confrontation:
- When confronted, Fluffgrin might momentarily pause, revealing traces of sadness or longing, hinting at its origin. “You fear me, yet I once was joy incarnate! Whose laughter has been silenced in a gluttonous pursuit of mirth?” This vulnerability can create a momentary hesitation among players, adding depth to the combat.
With these detailed tactics and narration themes, encounters with Fluffgrin, the Cotton Candy Wraith, will create an engaging blend of emotional resonance and strategic challenge while providing ample opportunity to explore the dark underbelly of joy and innocence.
