Bhaal, Lord of Murder — CR 32 Avatar Stat Block

Bhaal’s Avatar, Slayer Form

Medium humanoid (avatar), chaotic evil

Armor Class: 26 (natural armor)
Hit Points: 620 (40d10 + 400)
Speed: 60 ft.

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
30 (+10)	28 (+9)	30 (+10)	24 (+7)	25 (+7)	28 (+9)

Saving Throws: Str +19, Dex +18, Con +19, Int +16, Wis +16, Cha +18
Skills: Intimidation +18, Perception +16, Stealth +18
Damage Resistances: cold, fire, lightning; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks
Damage Immunities: necrotic, poison, psychic
Condition Immunities: charmed, frightened, paralyzed, poisoned, stunned
Senses: truesight 120 ft., passive Perception 26
Languages: all, telepathy 120 ft.
Challenge: 32 (155,000 XP (epic benchmark))
Proficiency Bonus: +9

Traits

Aura of Murder. A creature of the avatar’s choice that starts its turn within 30 feet must succeed on a DC 26 Wisdom saving throw or be frightened for 1 minute. It repeats the save at the end of each turn, ending the effect on a success. A successful creature is immune to this aura for 24 hours.

Godly Regeneration. The avatar regains 30 hit points at the start of his turn if he has at least 1 hit point.

Legendary Resistance (3/Day). If the avatar fails a saving throw, he can choose to succeed instead.

Magic Resistance. The avatar has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.

Magic Weapons. The avatar’s weapon attacks are magical.

The Ravager Unbound (Mythic Trait; 1/Day). When the avatar is reduced to 0 hit points, he does not die. He transforms into the Gargantuan Ravager, ends all conditions affecting him, regains 350 hit points, and immediately uses Breath of Death. While transformed, his reach increases by 5 feet, his speed becomes 50 feet, his weapon attacks deal an extra 18 (4d8) necrotic damage, and Aura of Murder becomes Aura of Bloodlust. A creature that fails the aura’s saving throw must use its action to attack the nearest creature it can reach, then repeats the save at the end of its turn.

Actions

Multiattack. The avatar makes four Scythe of Murder attacks.

Scythe of Murder. Melee Weapon Attack: +19 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 32 (4d10 + 10) slashing damage plus 18 (4d8) necrotic damage. If this damage leaves the target with 20 hit points or fewer, the target drops to 0 hit points.

Deathly Glare. One creature the avatar can see within 60 feet must succeed on a DC 26 Wisdom saving throw or be paralyzed for 1 minute. It repeats the save at the end of each turn, ending the effect on a success.

Necrotic Wave (Recharge 5–6). Each hostile creature within 60 feet makes a DC 26 Constitution saving throw, taking 88 (16d10) necrotic damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.

Blood Harvest (Recharge 5–6). The avatar releases deathly force in a 60-foot cone. Each creature there makes a DC 27 Dexterity saving throw, taking 88 (16d10) necrotic damage on a failed save, or half as much on a successful one. On a failure, the creature is marked for murder for 1 minute. The avatar has advantage on attack rolls against a marked creature. An attack that hits the marked creature deals an extra 14 (4d6) necrotic damage, and the attacker regains 7 hit points. The creature repeats the save at the end of each turn, ending the mark on a success.

Breath of Death (Ravager Form; Recharge 5–6). The Ravager exhales necrotic energy in a 90-foot cone. Each creature there makes a DC 27 Constitution saving throw, taking 99 (18d10) necrotic damage on a failed save, or half as much on a successful one.

Reactions

Unholy Reprisal. When a creature within 60 feet damages the avatar, that creature must succeed on a DC 26 Constitution saving throw or take 27 (6d8) necrotic damage.

Legendary Actions

The avatar can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. It regains spent legendary actions at the start of its turn.

Scythe. The avatar makes one Scythe of Murder attack.

Shadow Step. The avatar teleports up to 120 feet to an unoccupied space he can see.

Murderous Shadows (Costs 2 Actions). Each creature of the avatar’s choice within 60 feet makes a DC 27 Dexterity saving throw, taking 26 (4d12) necrotic damage and becoming restrained until the end of its next turn on a failure, or taking half as much damage on a success.

Lair Actions

On initiative count 20 (losing initiative ties), the avatar uses one lair action. It cannot use the same option two rounds in a row.

Murderous Darkness. Magical darkness fills a 30-foot-radius sphere centered on a point within 120 feet until initiative count 20 on the next round.

Blood Mist. A 30-foot-radius sphere within 120 feet becomes heavily obscured until initiative count 20 on the next round. A creature that starts its turn there must succeed on a DC 26 Constitution saving throw or take 14 (4d6) necrotic damage.

Deathly Silence. A 20-foot-radius sphere within 120 feet is affected as if by the silence spell until initiative count 20 on the next round. Creatures there cannot regain hit points.

Shadow’s Grasp. Creatures in a 20-foot-radius area within 120 feet must succeed on a DC 26 Dexterity saving throw or be restrained until initiative count 20 on the next round.

Mythic Actions

The avatar can take 3 mythic actions per day, using one option at a time. It regains spent uses at dawn.

Ravager’s Claws. The Ravager makes two melee attacks, each using the Scythe of Murder attack bonus and dealing 32 (4d10 + 10) slashing damage plus 18 (4d8) necrotic damage.

Necrotic Burst. Each other creature within 30 feet makes a DC 27 Constitution saving throw, taking 27 (5d10) necrotic damage on a failed save, or half as much on a successful one.

Unleash Terror (Costs 2 Actions). One creature within 60 feet must succeed on a DC 27 Wisdom saving throw or be frightened and paralyzed for 1 minute. It repeats the save at the end of each turn, ending both conditions on a success.

Introduction

Bhaal, the Lord of Murder, embodies deliberate killing: assassination, ritual slaughter, and blood sacrifice. He shifts between cold calculation and savage hunger. His divine influence does not merely cause death. It urges living creatures to choose murder.

Assassins, mercenaries, and killers make up much of his faithful. Bhaalists believe each murder strengthens their god. His priests, the Deathstalkers, wear purple and black cowls with veils across their faces and demand regular killings performed in Bhaal’s name.

An avatar manifests when a murder cult completes a mass sacrifice, when political killings threaten to consume a city, or when open slaughter provides Bhaal a vessel. The avatar begins as a hunter. If cornered or offered enough blood, it becomes a living massacre.

Physical Appearance

In the Slayer form, the avatar is a tall corpse-pale humanoid with ivory skin, open wounds, and a lean assassin’s build. A dark cowl shadows his face. He carries a black scythe and moves without the scrape of armor or sound of breath.

When the Ravager emerges, the vessel swells into a horned giant with burning eyes, iron-hard sinews, claws, teeth, and a long lashing tail. Nearby creatures taste blood, hear racing heartbeats, and mistake movement at the edge of sight for an approaching killer.

Roleplaying the Avatar

Bhaal tolerates speech only when it identifies a victim, exposes a betrayal, or brings someone closer to murder. The Slayer whispers with precision. The Ravager answers through threats and violence.

Name a specific person who could be killed, never death in the abstract.
Pause long enough for listeners to hear their own breathing.
Offer information or safe passage only in exchange for a murder.
In Slayer form, respond to setbacks by changing position and target.
After the Ravager emerges, shorten speech to names, commands, and roared accusations.

Use in a Campaign

The Murder Ledger

A Deathstalker cell records every killing in a city and prepares the pattern as a summoning glyph for the Slayer.

A Killer’s Truce

The avatar offers to reveal the architect of a larger conspiracy if the party delivers one protected murderer alive for judgment.

The Ravager Unbound

A rural blood cult calls Bhaal into a horned vessel and directs him toward a fortress whose defenders cannot retreat.

The Last Name

The avatar hunts everyone who knows a divine secret. The party must decide whether to protect the final witness or use that person as bait.

Lairs

Bhaal turns each lair into a sequence of isolated killing grounds. Darkness breaks sight lines, silence prevents warnings, and blood mist hides which creature has already fallen.

Crypt Below the Street

Murder trophies mark narrow catacombs where hidden doors allow the Slayer to pass between sealed chambers.

The Red Slaughterhouse

Hooks, drains, and hanging curtains divide an abandoned abattoir into close ambush lanes.

Skull-Ringed Hill

A rural altar stands within a ring of skull-shaped stones. Anyone crossing the ring hears the nearest creature’s heartbeat.

The Silent Court

A palace wing emptied by assassination contains locked galleries, servant passages, and rooms in which sound cannot escape.

Shared References

Open a reference for its canonical description and related entries.