Marrowborn Minion: Cardinal

The marrowborn cardinal's name derives from the deep-red coloration of its bones, forever stained by the bloodiness of its profane creation. The undead abomination's frame is slim and armless. Only the ribcage and spine remain, along with a few shriveled organs sticking to the bone. Its skeletal legs dangle lifelessly, clacking like windchimes as the marrowborn cardinal floats along. The creature's head is a conical mass of bone, unevenly bisected by a fleshy slash one might call a mouth. The orifice contains too many teeth and serpentine tongue that cannot fully retract into the solid cranium. The marrowborn has no eyes to speak of, nor does it need them.

Abhorrent Arcanist. The marrowborn cardinal is a dedicated spellcaster for the undead brood. With no hands to weave spells, the horror animates its desiccated organs for the task. The leathery meat undulates into arcane shapes within the cardinal's ribcage whenever it casts a spell while its upturned mouth spouts sacrilegious formulae.

Sensory Thief. Like all marrowborn, the cardinal is sightless and relies on an unholy, alien sense of its surroundings instead. However, this blindsight is quite limited in its range, while spells are not. The marrowborn cardinal circumvents this limitation by creating a parasitic link between it and another creature. Often, it links up with other marrowborn but it can worm its way into the minds of unfortunate foes. Either way, the connection burns away the tethered creature's psyche as the marrowborn cardinal pigbacks on its sensory data until only a mindless husk remains.

Marrowborn Cardinal

medium undead, chaotic evil

Armor Class 14

Hit Points 84 (13d8 + 26)

Speed 0ft

Flight 30ft

Str 12 Dex 18 Con 15 Int 9 Wis 17 Cha 9

Saving Throws Dex +6

Damage Resistances bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks

Damage Immunities poison

Condition Immunities blinded, frightened, poisoned, prone

Sensesblindsight 60 ft. (blind beyond),, passive Perception 13

Languages-

Challenge 4 (1100 XP)

Innate Spellcasting.

The marrowborn cardinal's innate spellcasting ability is Wisdom (spell save DC 13, +5 to hit with spell attacks). It can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components:

At will: acid splash, infestation

3/day each: chromatic orb, color spray, melf's acid arrow, snare

1/day each: protection from energy, victriolic sphere

Psychic Tether.

As a bonus action, the marrowborn cardinal targets a creature it can see and attempts to create a parasitic bridge to its senses. The creature must succeed on a DC 13 Wisdom save or be tethered to the marrowborn cardinal. While tethered to a creature, the marrowborn cardinal perceives through its senses as well as its own. However, it still casts spells and makes attack from its current position.

At the end of each of its turns, a creature may attempt to break the connection by repeating this Wisdom save. If it fails to do so, the creature takes 7 (2d6) psychic damage as its mind is burned away. Marrowborn except for the marrowborn consort and empress automatically fail when saving against this ability.

Actions

Whip Tongue:

Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 15 ft., one creature. Hit: 8 (1d8+4) slashing damage. The target must succeed on a DC 11 Strength saving throw or be moved to an unoccupied square within 5ft of the marrowborn cardinal.