With a face comprised of fathomless shadow and blazing, red eyes it is hard to imagine that Hypatatos was once a man. A crown of tarnished silver set with teeth instead of jewels rotates about his head. Beneath a funeral shroud converted into a sweeping toga lays clammy skin, dotted with rigamortis' bruises. The Dreamhunter's arms end in ephemeral talons, twice the length of human fingers; the number of slicing digits forever changing as the gloom churns like a timeless sea.

Frightful Specter. In life, Hypatatos relished fostering fear in others. As a child he played cruel pranks on his siblings and friends, culminating in frightening his grandfather to death. Beaten and tossed out onto the streets Hypatatos held onto his thirst for screams and the evil soul recovered. He studied under dark clerics and poisoners, developing techniques to keep victims in the paralyzed edge of sleep as he tortured them. When mere pain was not enough Hypatatos worked on dream-based magic. He'd keep his prey comatose, caught in an endless loop of nightmares as they slowly starved to death. The madman's plans grew bolder until he put an entire village under his spell, but a group of adventurers intervened. Instead of killing Hypatatos they assailed him with the drugs and magic he'd developed and sealed him on a crypt out of a sense of poetic justice. While Hypatatos died, he rose as a restless, malignant spirit, and continued to plague the waking. His first victims were those foolish heroes. Now, generations later, Hypatatos has become a fiend of legend in the realm, thought of as the bogeyman he always wanted to be.

Fear of Fire. The Dreamhunter's new form, however, didn't come without its drawbacks. Being comprised of fear and shadows alone Hypatatos soon discovered that fire rapidly burned away his essence, like the day does a fog. As the sun doesn't affect him in such a way the apparition suspects this stems from the psychological comfort fire brings. Since the dawn of time humanoids have used it, whether a candle, torch, or bonfire to keep the dark and the things that go bump in it at bay. If a fire is big enough, bright enough, it keeps Hypatatos from feeding off of the dreams of those he haunts. The phantasm has been seeking a method to mitigate this weakness, but has yet to find one.

Hypatatos, the Dreamhunter

Medium undead, lawful evil

Armor Class 17 (natural armor)

Hit Points 110 (13d8+52)

Speed 30ft

Str 10 Dex 18 Con 18 Int 11 Wis 14 Cha 18

Saves Con +9, Wis +7, Cha +9

Skills Deception +9, Intimidation +9

Condition Immunities charmed, exhaustion, frightened, paralyzed, poisoned

Damage Immunities necrotic, poison; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks

Damage Vulnerabilities fire

Senses darkvision 60ft, passive Perception 12

Languages All humanoid

Challenge 15 (13,000 XP)

Incoporeal Movement:

Hypatatos can move through other creatures and objects as if they were difficult terrain. It takes 5 (1d10) force damage if he ends its turn inside an object.

Legendary Resistance (3/Day):

Hypatatos, the Dreamhunter fails a saving throw, he can choose to succeed instead.

Rejuvenation:

After being destroyed Hypatatos gains a new body in 24 hours if his bones are intact, regaining all his hit points and becoming active again. The new body appears within 5 feet of the Dreamhunter's bones

Turn Immunity:

Hypatatos is immune to any effect that turns undead.

Actions

Reaping Claws:

Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5ft., one target. Hit: 14 (3d6 + 4) slashing damage plus 18 (5d6) psychic damage. If the target is a creature, it must succeed on a DC 17 Constitution saving throw or falls Unconscious and sleeping for 1 hour. If the sleeper takes damage, or someone uses their action to shake or slap the sleeper awake they may repeat the save, awaking on success.

Etherealness:

Hypatatos magically enters the Ethereal Plane from the Material Plane, or vice versa. To use this ability the Dreamhunter must be within 30ft of a sleeping humanoid.

Horrifying Visage:

Each non-undead creature within 60 ft of Hypatatos that can see it must succeed on a DC 17 Wisdom saving throw or be frightened for 1 minute. If the save fails by 5 or more, the target also suffers the effect of Waking Nightmare. A frightened target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the frightened condition on itself on a success. If a target's saving throw is successful or the effect ends for it, the target is immune to this Dreamhunters's Horrifying Visage for the next 24 hours.

Nightmare Haunting (1/Day):

While on the Ethereal Plane, Hypatatos, the Dreamhunter magically touches a sleeping humanoid on the Material Plane. A protection from evil and good spell cast on the target prevents this contact, as does a magic circle, or a flame at least bonfire strength. As long as the contact persists, the target has dreadful visions. If these visions last for at least 1 hour, the target gains no benefit from its rest, and its hit point maximum is reduced by 5 (1d10). If this effect reduces the target's hit point maximum to 0, the target dies. The reduction to the target's hit point maximum lasts until removed by the greater restoration spell or similar magic.

Waking Nightmare (Recharge 5-6):

The Dreamhunter taps into the nightmares of a creature he can see within 120ft and create an illusory manifestation of its deepest fears, visible only to that creature. The target must make a DC 17 Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, the target becomes frightened for the duration. At the end of each of the target's turns before the spell ends, the target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or take 5d10 psychic damage. On a successful save, the effect ends.

Legendary Actions

Hypatatos, the Dreamhunter 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. Hypatatos, the Dreamhunter regains spent legendary actions at the start of his turn.

Attack (1 point): The Dreamhunter makes one attack with his Reaping Claws.

Waking Nightmare (1 point): Hypatatos uses the Waking Nightmare action, if available.

Night Whispers (2 points): The Dreamhunter fills the air with eerie whispers one only usually hears on the edge of wakefulness. Each creature within 10 feet of the Hypatatos that can hear the whispers must succeed on a DC 17 Constitution saving throw or be stunned until the end of the Dreamhunters's next turn.

Dream's Shackles (2 points): A fit of sleep paralysis threatens to overtake those around Hypatatos. Creatures within 30 feet of the Dreamhunter must succeed on a DC 17 Constitution saving throw or be restrained until the end of the Dreamhunter's next turn. Hypatatos may use his bonus action during that time to magically move one creature restrained by Dream's Shackles to an empty, adjacent square and gains advantage on his next attack against the creature.

Using Hypatatos, the Dreamhunter–

Used in a campaign the Dreamhunter can be focused on overcoming his weakness to fire so he can blanket the land in terror and feed of off the psychic anguish. Perhaps he seeks out a way to cut off the world from the elemental plane of fire, or a way to force a god of fire to grant him immunity to it. At an extreme Hypatatos could search for a way to usurp a dream deity and become so powerful fire wouldn’t bother him at all. If anything the Dreamhunter has always suffered from delusions of grandeur. As for subordinates, he could work through sadists and arcanists with a penchant for dream magic. While he grows in power he may even be able to empower warlocks with nightmarish pacts. In the end, his plans should always be larger than life, as that is what dreams are made of.

As a story arc villain Hypatatos could lull an entire city under his control; its populace becoming somnambulant ‘zombies’ serving his desires. His acolytes have seized key structures around the metropolis. Creatures formed from nightmare and dream-stuff wander the streets and hunt down those that have resisted the bogeyman. Hypatatos will have set himself up in the lord’s manor or castle, awaiting a climactic final fight.

Appropriate Minions

Zombies (Sleep-walking victims instead of undead)

Night hag paramours

Various aberrations, beasts and monstrosities that are manifested nightmares, dissolving into shadowy wisps when they die.

Various incorporeal undead.

Warlocks and Deathlocks

Wizards – Illusionists and Conjurers mostly.