Relict Minion: Tallow

In its natural form, a tallow is a humanoid figure of around six feet in height with blocky features. Its waxen skin holds an oily sheen, broken here and there by a wire framework beneath. Its hair is nothing more than a mess of candle wicks, and its eyes are glazed marbles. While the tallow is genderless it adopts whatever sex The Relict assigns to it and dress accordingly. When the construct assumes the appearance of another race its pallid flesh bubbles and pops while reshaping into what it desires.

Knife in the Dark. All tallow have a natural inclination toward assassination and spycraft, as that is what their 'mother' designed them for. They innately know how to take advantage of striking first and hard, preferring this method over direct conflict if possible. All of the waxen folk can hide weapons and other small objects within their unnatural corpus, stilettos being the most common instrument squirreled away until it is time to knife an unexpecting target.

Loyal Spawn. The tallow are beholden to the Relict for their creation and universally venerate the construct as something akin to a creation goddess. They follow her commands without concern for their well-being or the morality of their actions. Without direction, the tallow do what they think 'mother' would want, and are a devious and amoral lot. It is surmised that the tallow could act against the Relict, even if they wanted to.

Tallow

medium construct, lawful evil

Armor Class 13 (natural armor)

Hit Points 32 (5d8 + 10)

Speed 30ft

Str 15 Dex 12 Con 14 Int 8 Wis 7 Cha 14

Skills Deception +4, Perception +0

Condition Immunities charmed, exhaustion, frightened, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned

Damage Resistances fire, poison

Senses darkvision 60ft, passive Perception 10.

Languages common, ignan.

Challenge 1 (200 XP)

Amorphous:

The Tallow can move through a space as narrow as 1 inch wide without squeezing.

Subsume:

The tallow can absorb a tiny piece of equipment into its body, or take a subsumed piece of equipment out of its body as a bonus action.

Surprise Attack:

If the tallow surprises a creature and hits it with an attack during the first round of combat, the target takes an extra 7 (2d6) damage from the attack.

Actions

Dagger:

Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d4 + 2) pirecing damage.

Crossbow:

Melee Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, range 80/320ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d8 + 1) pirecing damage.

Malleable Features.

As an action, the tallow can transform its appearance or revert to its natural form. This cannot exactly duplicate an individual but grants the tallow advantage on Deception checks to imitate an individual or conceal its true nature. When the tallow dies it reverts to its natural form. If a tallow suffers 5 or more fire damage in a single attack it reverts to its natural form until the start of its next turn, at which point its transformed appearance re-solidifies.

The tallow can assume a shape that is either Medium or Small. It can change its weight, facial features, the sound of its voice, hair length and any other distinguishing characteristics. It can appear as a member of any humanoid race, though its statistics never change. Its clothing and other equipment do not change.