Monster Monday: Creniad, Nymph of Wells and Fountains

Today's Monster Monday is the creniad, a rare urban nymph of wells and fountains. Creniads are guardians of these urban water sources, granting boons to those who respect them and leveling curses against those who defile their purity.

Detail from 'Am Schönen Brunnen' by Anton Ebert, via Wikimedia

Before modern indoor plumbing, public water sources like wells and fountains were very important for city-dwellers, especially since any rivers running through a city would likely be full of human waste and the runoff of industry. Rulers of cities would commission fountains to bring clean water into the city for the public good, often beautifying them with statuary and pools. Urban wells were less dramatic but no less important for supplying clean water. Both water sources would have been features of public squares where people could gather and socialize as they collected their drinking water.

Recently I have been interested in urban environments as habitats, and how wild animals adapt to live in man-made environments. Thinking about this in the context of fantasy RPGs brought up several ideas for urban monsters (one of which was the feral hivemind). The creniad derives from the crinaeae, Greek naiads associated with wells and fountains. There are already some urban fey, mostly household spirits like brownies and domovoi, but the idea of a nymph associated with urban water sources seemed like an interesting idea worth pursuing, since those fairies are usually depicted as being part of unspoiled nature rather than man-made environments.

The resulting monster (see the stat block below) is built around protecting these urban water sources. She has a number of water-based spells and abilities, but she can also curse those who despoil her water source, bless those who make offerings or wishes at her well, and even inhabit fountain statues. When a creniad's water source becomes polluted, she becomes ill, and she might even become corrupted, gaining an altered suite of spells and abilities that turn her into an evil spirit of vengeance!

The following text in gold is available as Open Game Content under the OGL. Open Game Content is ©2018 Jonah Bomgaars.

This beautiful woman is clad in diaphanous robes and bears a pitcher overflowing with clear water

Creniad        CR 3

XP 800

NG Medium fey (urban, water)

Init +8; Senses low-light vision; Perception +2

DEFENSE

AC 18, touch 18, flat-footed 14 (+4 Dex, +4 deflection)

hp 27 (5d6+10)

Fort +3, Ref +9, Will +6

DR 5/cold iron

Defensive Abilities transparency

OFFENSE

Speed 30 ft., swim 40 ft.

Melee slam +1 (1d6-1)

Ranged splash +6 5ft.

Spell-Like Abilities (CL 5^th)

   At will – alter reflection^d20 (DC 15), control water, create water, hydraulic push, meld into stone, purify food and drink (water only)

   3/day – river whip, water jet^d20 (DC 16)

   1/day – aqueous orb (DC 17), cup of dust (DC 17), remove disease, rising water

   1/week – scrying (DC 18)

STATISTICS

Str 9, Dex 19, Con 14, Int 14, Wis 15, Cha 18

Base Atk +2; CMB +1; CMD 19

Feats Alertness, Improved Initiative, Skill Focus (Heal)

Skills Acrobatics +9, Diplomacy +12, Heal +10, Knowledge (geography) +8, Knowledge (local) +10, Perception +12, Sense Motive +12, Stealth +12, Swim +15

Languages Common, Sylvan

SQ bonded water source, offerings, statue meld, unearthly grace

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Bonded Water Source (Su)

A creniad is mystically bound to a particular fountain or well from which she draws her strength. A creniad who moves 300 yards beyond her fountain or well immediately becomes sickened. Every hour thereafter, the must make a DC 15 Fortitude save to resist becoming nauseated for an hour. A creniad that is out of range of her bonded water source for 24 hours takes 1d6 points of Constitution damage, and another 1d6 Con damage for every day that follows. A creniad can forge a new bond with a new well or fountain by performing a 24-hour ritual and making a successful DC 20 Will save. A creniad can use her spell-like abilities only when she is within range of her water source.

   While in contact with her water source, she is aware of the water’s purity, any source of contaminants, and the exact location of any creature moving through her water source. She can also squeeze through any tight space that her water can flow through, such as the narrow pipes of a fountain.

   If the creniad’s water source becomes contaminated by external means (such as the contamination of the aquifers or aquaducts feeding it) or if fresh water ceases to reach her well or fountain (due to drought or the drying up of an aquifer), the creniad becomes sickened as if she were outside the area of her water source, and must begin making hourly saves against nausea. She does not take daily Constitution damage unless the water in her well or fountain dries up entirely. She can stave off these effects by constantly casting purify food and drink or create water for a solid week, during which time she can take no other strenuous action. If the problem is not resolved within a week, she loses access to her spell-like abilities.

Offerings (Su)

When someone leaves a coin or other offering for the creniad, if the creniad so chooses, she can bless the offerer with a 50% chance of gaining a +1 luck bonus on their next skill check. Alternately, if the offerer then drinks of the fountain, the creniad can affect them as if by the spell soothing word.

   If someone removes a coin from the creniad’s fountain or well, or contaminates the water source, she can choose to curse them: each skill check they make for the next 24 hours has a 50% chance of suffering a -1 luck penalty. This is a curse effect that lasts for 24 hours or until the stolen coins are returned to the creniad’s bonded water source.

Splash (Su)

The creniad can splash a creature with water from her pitcher as a ranged touch attack. This attack has a range increment of 5 feet, to a maximum of 25 feet. The water in her pitcher deals 2d4 points of damage to undead, aberrations, and creatures which have defiled the sanctity or cleanliness of the creniad’s bonded water source in the last 24 hours. It deals 2d6 points of damage to creatures with the fire subtype. The water has no effect on other creatures, aside from wetness.

Statue Meld (Su)

If the creniad’s bonded water source is a fountain containing statuary, when using her meld into stone spell-like ability to meld into a statue, she can see through the statue’s eyes and speak or cast spells through its mouth. If the statue is in her image, she can use the statue as her own body within the area of the fountain, lowering her movement speed to 20 feet but gaining DR/adamantine equal to the statue’s hardness.

Transparency (Su)

When underwater, a creniad’s body becomes transparent, effectively rendering her invisible. She can become visible or transparent at will as a free action.

Unearthly Grace (Su)

A creniad adds her Charisma bonus as a deflection bonus to her Armor Class and CMD if she wears no armor.

ECOLOGY

Environment urban

Organization solitary

Treasure standard

Creniads are the guardian spirits of wells and fountains. They spend most of their time invisibly lounging in their water or even melded into the stone that surrounds them. Typical of fey living in urban environments, creniads are shy, appearing only when it is most urgent. When they do appear, they have the form of beautiful women clad in thin, wet robes, bearing pitchers that never empty of water. It is common for passers-by to drop coins or other valuable offerings into the well or fountain of a creniad, even if they are not aware of its presence. Creniads value such offerings, often collecting them at night and hoarding them someplace deep in their water source. Creniads give what aid they can to those who leave them offerings and take care of their water sources. They are especially sought after by pregnant women, for the creniad’s cool, clean water is thought to ease the birthing process.

   Corrupted Creniads: Sometimes, when a fountain or well falls into disrepair and becomes contaminated, a creniad will make a pact with dark forces in order to survive in her corrupted home. She no longer suffers ill effects when her bonded water source is contaminated, but the contamination does show in her appearance. She becomes Neutral Evil and gains the evil alignment subtype. Her Splash ability and slam attack spread filth fever, and her spell-like abilities change to the following selection:

   At will – alter reflection^d20 (DC 15), control water, create water, hydraulic push, meld into stone, putrefy food and drink (water only)

   3/day – river whip, water jet^d20 (DC 16), water of maddening (DC 16)

   1/day – aqueous orb (DC 17), cup of dust (DC 17), contagion (DC 17), rising water

   1/week – scrying (DC 18)

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Plot Hooks and Encounter Ideas

• The party bard drunkenly pissed in one of the city’s many fountains last night. The party must now help him figure out which fountain it was and break the creniad’s curse before his big performance this evening.
• Trapped in a city under siege, many citizens have grown to rely on the aid of the creniad of the city's fountain. But when an enemy agent infiltrates the city and poisons the fountain, it is up to the adventurers to track down the poisoner and rescue the nymph.
• While exploring overgrown ruins of an ancient temple, the party encounters a vengeful corrupted creniad. They must either put her out of her misery or find some way to re-purify her defiled water source.

By the way, if you are a patron of mine over on Patreon, you might notice that I have skipped over a couple of really cool monsters (I'm thinking specifically of the bellwether and the armored grave, both made available to patrons back in January). The reason is that I am very excited to illustrate these monsters, but the most recent Windows 10 update introduced a bug that basically makes it impossible to draw on my Microsoft Surface. Roughly one out of every five brush strokes it interprets instead as an attempt to move the canvas. Until another update fixes this bug, those really cool monsters will have to wait on a shelf.

-your hydraulic d20 despot