Demon, Dretch: The Wretched Spawn of the Abyss
“Meet the Dretch: the grotesque, bottom-feeding demon that’s as pathetic as it is deadly in a mob!”

A Dretch is a squat, nightmarish creature standing about 4 feet tall, with hunched shoulders and a grotesquely bloated body. Its leathery, warty skin oozes with foul-smelling ichor, ranging in color from sickly green to ashen gray. Its bulbous head is adorned with glaring, bloodshot eyes that glint with feral malice, and a maw filled with jagged, yellowed teeth. Its arms are disproportionately long, ending in gnarled claws that are too small to cause serious harm individually but effective in frenzied attacks. Its entire form exudes an aura of decay, accompanied by a suffocating stench that clings to the air around it.
Behavior
Cowardly and servile, Dreches exist at the bottom of the demonic hierarchy and display a mixture of sullen spite and abject fear. They are typically too unintelligent to form complex plans, relying instead on instinct and the commands of more powerful demons. While they are easily intimidated and prone to panic when alone, in groups they become emboldened, attacking with reckless abandon. They bicker constantly among themselves, their guttural voices filled with venom and malice.
Despite their pathetic demeanor, they delight in the suffering of others, showing a cruel streak that aligns them with the chaos of the Abyss.
Habitat
Dreches are native to the lower planes of existence, specifically the Abyss—a realm of infinite chaos and malevolence. They thrive in fetid swamps, barren wastelands, and labyrinthine caverns filled with acidic pools and poisonous fumes. These environments suit their resistant physiology, allowing them to endure conditions lethal to most other creatures. On the Material Plane, they are often summoned by reckless mortals or appear in areas where the veil between worlds has been weakened.
Modus Operandi
Dreches rarely act independently. When commanded by more powerful demons, they swarm enemies in large numbers, relying on sheer quantity to overwhelm their prey. They use their sharp claws in frantic slashes, targeting weaker or isolated foes. Their most notable ability is their repulsive stench—a cloud of noxious gas they emit when threatened, capable of incapacitating nearby enemies.
When not directly under command, Dreches tend to form chaotic mobs, attacking anything they perceive as weaker than themselves. They are scavengers by nature, feeding on carrion and any refuse they can find, though they prefer fresh kills when available.
Motivation
Dreches are motivated by a combination of base instincts and the influence of the Abyss. Their primary drive is survival, coupled with an insatiable urge to inflict suffering on others. They seek the approval of stronger demons, often groveling or performing menial tasks in the hope of avoiding annihilation—or, in rare cases, being transformed into a higher form of demon. Their pitiful existence is defined by a desperate need to assert dominance over anything weaker while remaining subservient to their more powerful brethren.
For the Dretch, existence is a cruel cycle of servitude, spite, and self-preservation, played out in the darkest corners of reality.
Dretch 5e
Dretch 5e
Dretch Pathfinder
Demon, Dretch

This creature’s bloated frame shudders with each heaving step, yet despite its shape, the thing moves with surprising quickness.
Family: Demons
Small fiend (demon), chaotic evil
Armor Class 11 (natural armor)
Hit Points 18 (4d6 + 4)
Speed 20 ft.
STR | DEX | CON | INT | WIS | CHA |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
11 (+0) | 11 (+0) | 12 (+1) | 5 (-3) | 8 (-1) | 3 (-4) |
Damage Resistances cold, fire, lightning
Damage Immunities poison
Condition Immunities poisoned
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 9
Languages Abyssal, telepathy 60 ft. (works only with creatures that understand Abyssal)
Challenge 1/4 (50 XP)
Actions
- Multiattack: The dretch makes two attacks: one with its bite and one with its claws.
- Bite: Melee Weapon Attack: +2 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 3 (1d6) piercing damage.
- Claws: Melee Weapon Attack: +2 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (2d4) slashing damage.
- Fetid Cloud (1/Day): A 10-foot radius of disgusting green gas extends out from the dretch. The gas spreads around corners, and its area is lightly obscured. It lasts for 1 minute or until a strong wind disperses it. Any creature that starts its turn in that area must succeed on a DC 11 Constitution saving throw or be poisoned until the start of its next turn. While poisoned in this way, the target can take either an action or a bonus action on its turn, not both, and can’t take reactions.

This creature’s bloated frame shudders with each heaving step, yet despite its shape, the thing moves with surprising quickness.
Even the lowest demons of the Abyss are dangerous and filled with a driving need to spread ruin and dismay. The lowly dretch is as hideous and foul as it is cruel, even if it lacks the strength and power to realize its need to brutalize others in its native realm. The lot of the dretch’s existence is to serve more powerful demons as victims, and only the lucky few survive long enough to evolve.
The dretch is a favorite target for dabblers in Abyssal summonings to call forth. Relatively weak and easy to bully, dretches can often be pressured into long periods of servitude with only vague promises of the opportunity to vent their frustrations and anger on softer foes. Yet the prospective dretch-summoner would do well to remember that these demons are as craven and untrustworthy as they come. A dretch faced with a more powerful foe is only too eager to trade what it knows for its pitiful excuse for a life.
Unlike most demons, a dretch’s slovenly personality and disdain for prolonged physical labor rarely result in success. Advanced dretches are rare, but those who do find it within themselves to be more than they were at creation often become the pauper-kings of the Abyss, cruel and bitter in their rule over vermin, broken souls, mindless undead, and other dretches. Their empires are confined to abandoned stretches of sewers under backwater cities, unstable reaches of swampland avoided by more sensible minds, and other undesirable corners of the Abyss that even demons find uncomfortable or foul. Yet to the dretch lords, these realms are their empires, and they defend them with a pitiful tenacity.
A dretch stands 4 feet tall and weighs 180 pounds. Dretches typically form from the souls of slothful, evil mortals—yet it only takes a small fragment of a soul to trigger such a hideous birth. A single soul can often trigger the manifestation of a small army of dretches, and the sight of a horde of fresh-birthed dretches pulling free from the heaving protomatter of the Abyss is a nauseating and terrifying one indeed.
Dretch CR 2
XP 600
CE Small outsider (chaotic, demon, evil, extraplanar)
Init +0; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +5
DEFENSE
AC 14, touch 11, flat-footed 14 (+3 natural, +1 size)
hp 18 (2d10+7)
Fort +5, Ref +0, Will +3
DR 5/cold iron or good; Immune electricity, poison; Resist acid 10, cold 10, fire 10
OFFENSE
Speed 20 ft.
Melee 2 claws +4 (1d4+1), bite +4 (1d4+1)
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 2nd)
1/day—cause fear (DC 11), stinking cloud (DC 13), summon (level 1, 1 dretch 35%)
STATISTICS
Str 12, Dex 10, Con 14, Int 5, Wis 11, Cha 11
Base Atk +2; CMB +2; CMD 12
Feats Toughness
Skills Escape Artist +5, Perception +5, Stealth +9
Languages Abyssal (cannot speak); telepathy 100 ft. (limited to Abyssal-speaking targets)
ECOLOGY
Environment any (Abyss)
Organization solitary, pair, gang (3–5), crowd (6–12), or mob (13+)
Treasure none
DRETCH LORE
Originally Posted by Dracomortis of the Wizards Community forums.
Characters with ranks in Knowledge (the Planes) can learn more about dretches. When a character makes a successful skill check, the following lore is revealed, including the information from the lower DCs.
Knowledge (the Planes) | |
DC | Result |
12 | This wretched creature is a dretch, a pathetic type of demon. This result reveals all outsider and tanarri traits. |
17 | While weak and unintelligent, dretches are often used as fodder in demonic armies. Without more powerful demons to keep them in line, they often flee at the first sign of defeat. |
22 | A dretch will use its summoning ability to call more dretches as soon as battle starts. It can also use stinking cloud and scare once per day. |
Dretch

Small fiend (demon), chaotic evil
Armor Class 11 (natural armor)
Hit Points 18 (4d6 + 4)
Speed 30 ft.
STR | DEX | CON | INT | WIS | CHA |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
14 (+2) | 13 (+1) | 12 (+1) | 5 (-3) | 8 (-1) | 7 (-2) |
Skills Stealth +3
Senses Darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 9
Languages Abyssal, telepathy 60 ft.
Challenge 1/4 (50 XP)
TRAITS
Aura of Decay.
The stench of rot and decay follows the Dretch wherever it goes. Any creature that starts its turn within 5 feet of the Dretch must succeed on a DC 10 Constitution saving throw or be poisoned until the start of its next turn. Creatures that succeed on this saving throw are immune to the Aura of Decay for 24 hours.
Frenzied Claws.
The Dretch’s claws are adapted for quick, frenzied strikes. Whenever the Dretch hits a creature with its Claw Attack, it can immediately make an additional claw attack as part of the same action.
ACTIONS
Multiattack.
The Dretch makes two Claw Attacks.
Claw.
Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target.
Hit: 6 (1d6 + 2) slashing damage.
Bite (Recharge 5-6).
Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target.
Hit: 7 (1d8 + 2) piercing damage. The target must succeed on a DC 11 Constitution saving throw or be infected with a demonic disease, which causes the creature to suffer disadvantage on saving throws against poison for the next 24 hours.
Scalding Ichor (Recharge 6).
The Dretch sprays a burst of boiling, toxic ichor in a 10-foot line that is 5 feet wide. Each creature in that line must make a DC 12 Dexterity saving throw, taking 9 (2d6 + 2) fire damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. The ichor also lingers for 1 minute, dealing an additional 1d6 fire damage at the start of the target’s turn if they remain within 5 feet of the burned area.
SPELLCASTING
The Dretch is a 2nd-level spellcaster. Its spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 10, +2 to hit with spell attacks). The Dretch has the following spells prepared:
- At will: Thaumaturgy
- 1/day each: Cause Fear, Unseen Servant
TACTICS
The Dretch fights aggressively but mindlessly, using its Frenzied Claws to attack rapidly and overwhelm opponents. It is not particularly intelligent, so it will charge directly into combat, attacking anything within reach. It favors using Scalding Ichor when multiple enemies are close together or to push enemies into dangerous areas. Bite is typically used when the Dretch wants to weaken a target and inflict its demonic disease, causing lasting disadvantage on saving throws against poison.
- Aura of Decay should always be in play, especially in tight spaces where the Dretch can surround enemies and make their presence even more suffocating.
- The Dretch will not hesitate to use its Scalding Ichor to cause disruption, especially if it can force enemies to move and expose them to the lingering damage from the ichor.
Dretches are aggressive but do not use complex tactics. They will attack whatever they perceive as a threat, prioritizing weaker or isolated foes. When in groups, they will work together to flank and overwhelm targets, using their Aura of Decay and Scalding Ichor to disrupt and damage foes.
ENVIRONMENTAL TACTICS
Dretches are native to the Abyss, and as such, they will often be found in places where the environment is chaotic and hostile. They can take advantage of difficult terrain, using Scalding Ichor to drive enemies into lava, acid pools, or crumbling structures. The environment often serves to hinder the movement of their foes, while the Dretch takes advantage of its small size and natural agility.
TREASURE
While Dretches are not particularly known for treasure hoards, they may have collected items in their mindless travels. This might include trinkets, bones, and strange Abyssal gemstones, typically items with a corrupt or demonic aura. Any valuable items they possess are usually of little interest to them, but could prove useful to those who defeat them.