Dybbuk

Departed Souls. When a person dies, their soul becomes a "shade" and is meant to reside in the realm of the dead known as Sheol until the day of resurrection. These shades possess little personality or knowledge of their past lives, and are forbidden from leaving the realm of the dead. It is the job of the Rephaim to keep these shades contained in Sheol, but every once in a while, a shade escapes back into the mortal world where it becomes a creature of undeath known as a dybbuk.

"But they do not know that the shades are there... that her guests are in the depths of Sheol."
Proverbs 9:18

Malicious Possessors. Driven by deep-seated emotions that it does not fully understand itself, a Dybbuk seeks to take control of mortals through possession. Sometimes this is caused by deeply held regret or by unfinished business from the shade's life, other times, it is purely a malevolent urge to manipulate and control. Just as each mortal has different motivations for their actions, dybbuks can be driven by a variety of instincts. However, as the personality and knowledge of the shade has faded in death, the dybbuk makes decisions based on raw emotional energy and force of will. There is no way to awaken a dybbuk or restore the personality it had in life. Regardless of its motivations, a dybbuk can only be at peace when it is destroyed, and its shade is returned to Sheol.

Medium Undead, any alignment

Armor Class 10

Hit Points 38

Speed Hover 40 ft.

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
8 (-1)	14 (+2)	10 (+0)	10 (+0)	10 (+0)	16 (+3)

Damage Resistances Acid, Fire, Lightning, Thunder, bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks

Damage Immunities Cold, Necrotic, Poison

Condition Immunities Charmed, Exhaustion, Frightened, Grappled, Paralyzed, Petrified, Prone, Restrained

Senses Truesight 60 ft., Passive Perception 11

Languages Any Language it knew in life

Challenge 4 (1,100 XP)

Features

Incorporeal Movement. The dybbuk can move through other creatures and objects as if they were difficult terrain. It takes 6 (1d10) Force damage if it ends its turn inside an object.

Actions

Necrotic Mark. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 10 (2d6 + 3) necrotic damage and the target is marked. While marked in this way, the target has disadvantage on saving throws against being possessed, and becomes the target of the dybbuk's Necrotic Transference reaction. Only one creature may be marked in this way at a time.

Possession (Recharge 5-6). One humanoid that the dybbuk can see within 5 ft. of it must succeed on a DC 13 Charisma saving throw or be possessed by the dybbuk, which then disappears. A possessed target maintains its awareness but otherwise loses control of its body to the dybbuk. The dybbuk cannot be targeted by any attack, spell, or effect other than those that turn undead, and it retains its alignment, Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma, and immunity to being charmed and frightened. It otherwise gains the possessed target's statistics, but does not gain access to the target's knowledge, class features, or proficiencies. The possession lasts until the target drops to 0 hit points, the dybbuk ends it as a bonus action, or the dybbuk is turned or forced out by an effect like the Exorcism spell. When the possession ends, the dybbuk reappears in an unoccupied space within 5 ft. of the body. The target is immune to this dybbuk's Possession for 24 hours after succeeding on the saving throw or after the possession ends.

Reactions

Necrotic Transference. When the dybbuk is hit by a melee attack, it can use its reaction to cause the creature marked by its Necrotic Mark ability to become the target of the attack, using the same attack roll. The effects of the attack are transferred regardless of the attack's range, and the damage type for the attack becomes Necrotic.

Bible5e custom monster. Its specific traits supplement the current rules. See Using Bible5e Monsters.