Arawn — Lord of Annwn and the Otherworld Hunt

Arawn, Lord of the Underworld

Medium celestial (divine manifestation), lawful neutral — D&D 5e (2014), CR 30.

Challenge Rating: 30

Armor Class: 30 (Divine Armor)

Hit Points: 675 (50d8 + 450)

Speed: 60 ft., fly 120 ft.

Saving Throws: Con +18, Wis +19, Cha +19
Skills: Insight +28, Intimidation +19, Perception +28

Senses: truesight 120 ft., passive Perception 38

Languages: All

Divine Traits:

• Immortal
• Divine Resistance: He has resistance to all damage types except psychic and radiant.
• Divine Awareness: He is aware of everything that happens within the boundaries of his domain.
• Divine Presence: He radiates an aura of cold and dread that fills creatures within 120 ft. with fear. Creatures within the aura must make a DC 30 Wisdom saving throw or become frightened for 1 minute. They can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of their turns, ending the effect on a success.

Divine Equipment:

• Divine Armor. Arawn’s black Otherworld armour is included in his Armor Class 30. It grants resistance to cold and necrotic damage; do not add another +10 Armor Class bonus on top of the listed AC.
• Spear of the Underworld. This +3 divine weapon deals 3d12 + 13 piercing damage plus 3d12 necrotic damage on a hit (its enhancement is included in the attack and piercing damage totals below). It can cast cloudkill once per day, using Arawn’s spell save DC.

Personal Spellcasting. Arawn uses Wisdom (spell save DC 27; +19 to hit with spell attacks, based on his CR 30 proficiency bonus +9). His personal spells below are not the spell lists automatically granted to clerics. They use their normal action economy, durations and concentration rules.

1/Day Each — Personal death and passage magic:

• Power Word Kill
• Finger of Death
• Create Undead
• Raise Dead
• Harm

3/Day Each — Personal battle and protection magic:

• Shield of Faith
• Crusader’s Mantle
• Haste
• Spiritual Weapon
• Blinding Smite

Actions:

Multiattack. Arawn can use his Frightful Presence. He then makes four attacks with his Spear of the Underworld.

Spear of the Underworld. Melee Weapon Attack: +22 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 32 (3d12 + 13) piercing damage plus 19 (3d12) necrotic damage.

Frightful Presence. Arawn radiates an aura of cold and dread that fills creatures within 120 ft. with fear. Creatures within the aura must make a DC 30 Wisdom saving throw or become frightened for 1 minute. They can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of their turns, ending the effect on a success.

Divine Word (1/Day; Bonus Action). Arawn casts divine word (2014 rules; spell save DC 27, Charisma saving throw, 30-foot range). Use its normal hit-point thresholds and planar banishment effects; it does not automatically kill a healthy creature after a Constitution saving throw.

Legendary Actions:

Arawn can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary action option can be used at a time, and only at the end of another creature’s turn. Arawn regains spent legendary actions at the start of his turn.

• Attack. He makes one attack with his Spear of the Underworld.
• Teleport. He teleports up to 120 feet to an unoccupied space within his domain.
• Claim of the Court (Costs 2 Actions). Arawn chooses one creature he can see within 60 feet. The target must succeed on a DC 27 Wisdom saving throw or have its speed reduced to 0 until the end of its next turn as unseen Otherworld hands hold it in place.

Lair Actions:

On initiative count 20 (losing initiative ties), Arawn can take a lair action to cause one of the following effects within his domain:

• Call the White Hounds (1/Day). Two Cŵn Annwn arrive from a visible Otherworld road within 60 feet. They roll their own initiative, are friendly to Arawn, and remain for 1 hour or until dismissed. This action cannot summon additional hounds while any previously called hounds remain.
• Fearful Aura. He intensifies the aura of cold and dread within his domain. All creatures within 120 ft. of him must make a DC 30 Wisdom saving throw or become frightened for 1 minute. They can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of their turns, ending the effect on a success.
• Threshold Ward. Until initiative count 20 on the next round, Arawn and up to three allies he can see within 60 feet gain half cover while standing on natural ground or an established Otherworld road.

Arawn

Originally written by Dom of D20 / D&D 3e Netbooks and Downloads.

On this Link

Arawn is the fey lord of the dead, and dwells in the bleak underworld of Annwn. He is the representation of the natural law that all things must end, even life. He revels in his role, and rules his shadowy domain with an iron hand, pitting his faithful servants against one another to win his praise. Sometimes he even extends his reach into the lands of the living, either through his mortal servants or his hunting hounds, although he cannot physically travel in the lands of the sun.

Being responsible for keeping the laws of the dead and ruling over them in the underworld has made Arawn a hard, bitter god. He tolerates no insubordination, though he is rumored to have been quite a rogue in his youth. He acts as king and war leader in his realm, and dispenses justice to his subjects with an iron hand. He holds his word sacred, and honors any promise he makes or deal he strikes, regardless of the other party.

Arawn is the ruler of the underworld resting place of the dead. The Celts, who often use magic to bring the slain back to life, tend to view Arawn as an evil deity, for his habit of reclaiming the resurrected back to his realm. However, Arawn, rather than being evil, is the dutiful guardian of the dead. He will recall back any dead who would return to the world of the living to resume its former life. As such, any resurrected or raised-from-the-dead character will be hunted by the hounds of Arawn until they catch him and bring him back to the underworld. The sole exception concerns those brought back to life during the night of Samhain, who are free from the god’s wrath. In fact during the night of Samhain the dead may try to escape to the world of the living, and if they succeed (either as resurrected or undead), they won’t be pursued by Arawn. (Note that Arawn only forbids the souls to return as undead or resurrected, not as reincarnated which is the normal course of life and death.) Arawn traditionally appears as a gray rider mounted on a big,dark, ghostly horse. He leads a pack of otherworldly red-eared white hounds, that help him hunt the dead who would escape to the mortal world.

Typical worshippers: Very few people worship Arawn. The rare necromancer is not a worshipper of Arawn, but he well knows his laws and will typically create undead the night of Samhain to escape the wrath of Arawn. (Note for that matter, that skeletons and Zombies are merely animated corpses, and that certain undead are evil spirits bound to a cadaver, not souls brought back to the mortal world as undead.)

Duties of priesthood:

Priests of Arawn officiate at one and only one religious function – burial. Burials involve simple graves for most, complex graves including chariot and trophies for warriors and chieftains. Priests of Arawn do not officiate at sacrifices to other gods, but are generally on hand for ceremonies of their own immediately following such events.

Priests of Arawn are clerics rather than filidh. They preside over burial and funerals, and must hunt and destroy all undead they encounter or hear about. They can only turn undead and are forbidden to rebuke them. They are likewise prohibited to cast any spell or use any item that can raise or animate the dead. These forbidden spells include animate dead, create undead, create greater undead, raise dead, Reincarnate, and resurrection. Otherwise, priests of Arawn are the traditional guardians of “mortuary mounds”, that is: cold, damp, and foggy places where are buried heroes, rulers, and other important characters. Such places often contain gates that lead to the underworld.

Special Benefit: Priests of Arawn have access to a special feat of their own: Resist Undead, that gives them a +2 bonus against all special attacks of undead such as Fear, Energy drain, Permanent ability drain, Temporary ability damage, Gaze, Paralysis, etc.

On resurrecting any individual, there is a 2% chance per level of that individual that Arawn will intervene. He will either send his avatar to reclaim the body or (25% chance) he will attempt to bargain. He will offer some other similar character from the legions of the dead provided he can keep the original character. Refusal of his offer will be met with force.

Originally Posted by Tebryn14 of the Wizards Community forums.

On this Thread

Arawn controls all the power of life and death of the worshippers of that pantheon. He is one of the few evil powers of the bunch, but truly isn’t all that evil. He feels that evil is necessary to allow good to shine brighter, and he simply does his job. He punishes the wicked, and rewards the brave. He appears as a man draped in completely black robes.

Possessions: Arawn carries a +5 impact icy burst unholy club.

Other Divine Powers

As an intermediate deity, Arawn automatically receives a die result of 20 on any check. He treats a 1 on a saving throw or attack roll normally and not as an automatic failure. He is immortal.

Senses: Arawn can see, hear, touch, and smell at a distance of 15 miles. As a standard action, he can perceive anything within 15 miles of his worshippers, holy sites, objects, or any location where one of his titles or name as spoken in the last hour. He can extend his sense to up to ten locations at once. He can block the sensing power of deities of his rank or lower at up to two remote locations at once for15 hours.

Portfolio Sense: Arawn senses the death of any worshipper of a Celtic deity the instant it happens and retains the sensation for 15 ten days (or weeks, depending on what system that person’s home world uses). He likewise senses the birth of a child to a worshipper of the Celtic Pantheon.

Automatic Actions: Arawn can use Knowledge (Arcana), Concentration , Knowledge (religion), Diplomacy, Sense Motive, or Profession (Judge), as a free action, as long as the DC is 25 or lower.

Create Magic Items: Arawn can create any magic item that creates a death effect, that brings someone back to life, or that prolongs someone’s life if the market price is 200,000 gp or lower.

Elements from -Celtic Age Roleplaying the Myths, Heroes and Monsters of the Celts

Full netbook can be found on the followng website

Files Tube.

Hunter of Souls (Su): Arawn has power over the souls of the living, and may hunt them as he chooses. He may institute this power over any living being who is not protected against Death Magic, whether that person is in his line of sight or not. Arawn simply needs to know the individual’s name. To use this ability, Arawn sounds his horn, calling for a particular soul to bow to his will. The sound of the horn is only audible at the location where the individual is standing. The targeted character must make an immediate Fortitude Save at DC 35 or die. All those within 20 feet of the individual being thus harvested take 3d10 points of damage from the awesome power of Arawn’s horn and must make a Fortitude Save at DC 30 to avoid being Deafened. The effects of Deafness wear off of the Ascended in 1d10 rounds. For mortals, the effect is permanent.

The Wild Call (Su): When Arawn is hunting on the mortal plane, any sentient mortals within 30 feet of his pack finds themselves drawn into the hunt. Those who hear the sound of the horn or who see the hunt in progression must make a Will Save at DC 18 or lose control of themselves and instinctively join the hunt. They will recover when the sun rises far from where the joined the hunt with no memories of the event other than instinctive, animal emotions.

Create Undead (Su): Arawn can summon undead creatures at will. Arawn is the master of the dead, and these creatures are not simply random dead people: they will almost always be the ancestors, familiar friends, or other deceased souls relevant to those Arawn is fighting. It is more disturbing to see your dead father rise up to face you, and as such, all saves made versus these creatures’ Fear-based effects are at -2.

Cold Immunity (Ex): Arawn suffers no damage from Cold.