Jersey Devil

Large monstrosity, chaotic evil

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Armor Class 15 (natural armor) Hit Points 90 (12d10 + 24) Speed 40 ft., fly 60 ft.

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STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
18 (+4)	16 (+3)	14 (+2)	10 (+0)	12 (+1)	10 (+0)

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Saving Throws Dex +6, Con +5 Skills Perception +5, Stealth +6 Damage Resistances cold, fire, lightning Damage Immunities poison Condition Immunities poisoned Senses darkvision 120 ft., passive Perception 15 Languages understands Common but can’t speak Challenge 7 (2,900 XP)

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Shapechanger. The Jersey Devil can use its action to polymorph into a bat-humanoid hybrid or back into its true form, which is that of a large, bat-winged humanoid. Its statistics are the same in each form. Any equipment it is wearing or carrying isn’t transformed. It reverts to its true form if it dies.

Keen Sight and Smell. The Jersey Devil has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight or smell.

Flyby. The Jersey Devil doesn’t provoke opportunity attacks when it flies out of an enemy’s reach.

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Actions

Multiattack. The Jersey Devil makes three attacks: one with its bite and two with its claws.

Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6 + 4) piercing damage.

Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 9 (2d4 + 4) slashing damage.

Screech (Recharge 5-6). The Jersey Devil emits a terrifying screech. Each creature within 30 feet of the Jersey Devil that can hear it must succeed on a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw or be frightened for 1 minute. A frightened creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.

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Description

The Jersey Devil is a fearsome creature of folklore, said to inhabit the Pine Barrens of New Jersey. With the body of a large, bat-winged humanoid and a menacing visage, it strikes fear into the hearts of all who encounter it. Legends tell of its ability to shapeshift into various forms, allowing it to elude capture and sow chaos wherever it goes.

Tactics

In battle, the Jersey Devil relies on its agility and brute strength to overwhelm its foes. It swoops down from the sky with terrifying speed, striking with its razor-sharp claws and powerful bite. Its ability to shapeshift makes it a formidable opponent, allowing it to outmaneuver and outwit even the most skilled adversaries.

Lair

The Jersey Devil is said to make its lair deep within the dark and tangled forests of the Pine Barrens. Its domain is shrouded in mystery and fear, with few daring to venture too close for fear of encountering the legendary creature. Those who do are said to be cursed with misfortune and madness, their minds haunted by the memory of the Jersey Devil’s piercing screech.

Epic Monsters: Jersey Devil (5E)

Te Devil of Leeds or as it is more commonly known: the Jersey Devil!

Epic Monsters: Jersey Devil (5E) | EN World | Dungeons & Dragons | Tabletop Roleplaying Games

If you know about this creature at all you probably know it as the Jersey Devil, a winged bestial demon picking of people in the state of New Jersey. What you might not know is the ridiculous complexity of how it got its original name: the Leeds Devil. First though let’s get the most common origins for this thing out of the way—a woman with a dozen children is real tired of the whole child-rearing thing and curses her 13th which, when it comes out of her, transforms into a monster, kills the midwife, and flies away. Also alternatively maybe she was a witch and the father was Satan.

What’s all this Leeds Devil business?
1) It originated in Leeds Point (now Atlantic County NJ)
2) It’s thought that Deborah Leeds was the woman in the story above (her husband Japhet’s will and testament has 12 children)
3) It could be from mud-slinging between Benjamin Franklin and his rival in the publication of almanacs, the Leeds family (Daniel for which Leeds Point was named and his son Titan). This Daniel Leeds fellow was a Quaker but got cast out for putting too much heretical astrology into his books, which in turn got endorsed by the British royal governor and not long after he’s labeled by the Quakers as evil. His son Titan Leeds takes over the business then as a joke Benjamin Franklin offers an astrological prediction of this guy’s death. Titan is super offended, the spat escalates, and then Ben starts referring to him as a ghost (continuing to do so after Titan’s actual death). To top that off the Leeds family crest has some imagery similar to the descriptions of the Jersey Devil (and it’s not like crests were really popular in colonial times what with all the anti-British sentiment).
4) The myth is popular in the Pine Barren area and there’s historically discrimination against “pineys” as being criminals (including two embarrassing eugenics studies).
All that aside there are two excerpts from the Wikipedia page worth mentioning here (along with the Jersey Devil’s apparent friendship with the ghost pirate Captain Kidd). This craziness happened:

During the week of January 16 through 23, 1909, newspapers of the time published hundreds of claimed encounters with the Jersey Devil from all over the state. Among alleged encounters publicized that week were claims the creature “attacked” a trolley car in Haddon Heights and a social club in Camden. Police in Camden and Bristol, Pennsylvania supposedly fired on the creature to no effect. Other reports initially concerned unidentified footprints in the snow, but soon sightings of creatures resembling the Jersey Devil were being reported throughout South Jersey and as far away as Delaware and western Maryland. The widespread newspaper coverage created fear throughout the Delaware Valley prompting a number of schools to close and workers to stay home. Vigilante groups and groups of hunters roamed the pines and countrysides in search of the Devil. During this period, it is rumored that the Philadelphia Zoo posted a $10,000 reward for the creature. The offer prompted a variety of hoaxes, including a kangaroo equipped with artificial claws and bat wings.

Then the hoaxer with the kangaroo who might well be an american hero?

Norman Jeffries, publicist for Philadelphia’s Arch Street Museum and renowned hoaxer, was well aware of the stories about the Jersey Devil. So when the museum proprietor, T. F. Hopkins, admitted that it was in danger of closure unless Jeffries came up with something to boost attendances, the publicist decided that a captive Jersey Devil would be the ideal crowd-puller.

He also planted nonfictional newspaper stories about new sightings of the Devil. During 1909, Jeffries with his friend Jacob Hope, an animal trainer, purchased a kangaroo from a circus and attached artificial claws and bat wings onto it with glue. They declared to the public they had captured the Devil and it was displayed at the museum. Twenty years later, Jeffries admitted to the hoax.

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Jersey Devil
Large monstrosity, chaotic evil
Armor Class 16 (natural armor)
Hit Points 85 (10d10+30)
Speed 60 ft., fly 60 ft.

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
21 (+5)	14 (+2)	16 (+3)	3 (-4)	15 (+2)	14 (+2)

Skills Perception +7, Stealth +7
Damage Resistances cold, lightning, necrotic; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical weapons
Damage Immunities poison
Condition Immunities exhaustion, poisoned
Senses darkvision 120 ft., passive Perception 17
Languages Common
Challenge 6 (2,300 XP)

Realflection. A mask of illusion covers the Jersey Devil, casting a reflection nearby and concealing its precise location. Attack rolls against it have disadvantage. When a creature hits the Jersey Devil with an attack, this trait stops working until the end of the Jersey Devil’s next turn. While it is incapacitated or its speed is reduced to 0, the Jersey Devil cannot use this trait.

ACTIONS
Multiattack. The Jersey Devil makes three attacks: one with its bite, one with its claws, and one with its tail.

Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 12 (2d6+5) piercing damage.

Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 9 (1d8+5) slashing damage. Instead of dealing damage, the Jersey Devil can grapple the target (escape DC 16).

Tail. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 10 (1d10+5) slashing damage.

Blood-Curdling Scream (Recharge 4-6). The Jersey Devil emits a horrific screech. Each creature within 60 feet of it that can hear it must succeed on a DC 14 Wisdom saving throw or be frightened until the end of the Jersey Devil’s next turn. While frightened by Blood-Curdling Scream, a creature must take the Dash action and move away from the Jersey Devil by the safest available route on each of its turns, unless there is nowhere to move. If the creature begins or ends its turn in a location where it doesn’t have line of sight to the Jersey Devil, the creature can make a Wisdom saving throw. On a successful save, it is no longer frightened.