Lathander, The Morninglord — CR 35 Avatar Stat Block

The Avatar of Lathander

Medium humanoid (avatar), neutral good

Armor Class: 28 (divine armor)
Hit Points: 850 (55d10 + 550)
Speed: 60 ft., fly 120 ft. (hover)

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
30 (+10)	28 (+9)	30 (+10)	26 (+8)	30 (+10)	30 (+10)

Saving Throws: Str +20, Dex +19, Con +20, Int +18, Wis +20, Cha +20
Skills: Insight +20, Persuasion +20, Religion +18
Damage Resistances: force; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks
Damage Immunities: necrotic, poison, radiant
Condition Immunities: charmed, exhaustion, frightened, paralyzed, poisoned
Senses: truesight 120 ft., passive Perception 30
Languages: all, telepathy 120 ft.
Challenge: 35 (270,000 XP)
Proficiency Bonus: +10

Traits

Aura of the Dawn. Bright light fills a 120-foot radius around Lathander and dispels magical darkness created by a spell of 8th level or lower. An ally that starts its turn there regains 20 hit points. An undead that starts its turn there takes 30 radiant damage.

Zeal of Renewal. When another creature within 30 feet drops to 0 hit points, Lathander can cause it to regain one-third of its maximum hit points. A creature can benefit from this trait only once before the next dawn.

Radiant Dominion. A hostile creature cannot create undead within 120 feet of Lathander, and a spell that deals necrotic damage there must succeed on a DC 26 spellcasting ability check or fail.

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

Dawning Rebirth (Mythic Trait; 1/Day). When Lathander is first reduced to 425 hit points or fewer, he dissolves into sunlight and reforms in an unoccupied space within 120 feet. He regains 250 hit points and ends each condition affecting him.

Actions

Multiattack. Lathander makes three Dawnspeaker attacks.

Dawnspeaker. Melee Weapon Attack: +20 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 38 (8d6 + 10) bludgeoning damage plus 36 (8d8) radiant damage. An undead target must succeed on a DC 26 Constitution saving throw or be stunned until the end of its next turn.

Sun’s Judgment. One creature within 120 feet makes a DC 26 Constitution saving throw, taking 77 (14d10) radiant damage and becoming blinded until the end of its next turn on a failed save, or taking half as much on a successful one.

Blazing Cataclysm (Recharge 5–6). Each hostile creature within 100 feet makes a DC 26 Constitution saving throw, taking 99 (18d10) radiant damage on a failed save, or half as much on a successful one. Each ally in the area instead regains 50 hit points.

Reactions

Heavenly Intercession. When an ally within 30 feet is hit by an attack, Lathander teleports to an unoccupied space adjacent to it and becomes the attack’s target.

Reflected Dawn. When Lathander takes damage from a creature within 120 feet, that creature takes radiant damage equal to half the triggering 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.

Attack. Lathander makes one Dawnspeaker attack.

Radiant Healing (Costs 2 Actions). Lathander or one creature within 60 feet regains 60 hit points and ends one condition affecting it.

Dawning Radiance (Costs 3 Actions). Each hostile creature within 120 feet makes a DC 26 Constitution saving throw, taking 66 (12d10) radiant damage on a failure, or half as much on a success. Each ally in the area regains 40 hit points.

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.

Renewed Dawn. Magical darkness within 300 feet is dispelled.

Solar Benediction. One creature Lathander can see automatically succeeds on saving throws until initiative count 20 on the next round.

Radiant Bloom. Vines of dawnlight fill a 30-foot-radius area within 120 feet. Allies there regain 30 hit points. Hostile creatures must succeed on a DC 26 Strength 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.

Sunfire Pulse (Costs 2 Actions). Each hostile creature within 60 feet makes a DC 26 Strength saving throw, taking 44 (8d10) radiant damage and falling prone on a failure, or taking half as much on a success.

Beacon of Renewal (Costs 2 Actions). Up to three allies within 60 feet regain 50 hit points and have advantage on attack rolls until the end of their next turn.

Cataclysm’s Verdict (Costs 3 Actions). Each hostile creature in a 30-foot-radius sphere centered within 120 feet makes a DC 26 Constitution saving throw, taking 70 (20d6) radiant damage and becoming stunned until the end of its next turn on a failed save, or taking half as much on a successful one.

Introduction

Lathander, the Morninglord, governs dawn, renewal, creativity, and the promise of a new beginning. His light is the first edge of day rather than the full force of noon. It reveals what survived the night and demands that the living decide what comes next.

Dawnbringers maintain bright temples aligned to the sunrise. They heal, sponsor artists and inventors, restore blighted land, and organize new institutions after disaster. The Order of the Aster protects these works when old powers resist replacement.

Lathander sends an avatar when undeath smothers a region, despair has become a tool of rule, or a broken society refuses every chance to change. His intervention saves lives, but his impatience with delay can turn reform into upheaval.

Physical Appearance

The avatar is a vigorous young man with warm golden-brown skin, bright eyes, and short hair in the colors of sunrise. Angular golden plate covers white and coral cloth. Dawnspeaker, his heavy mace, carries a simple sunburst head that glows without flame.

Thin dawn rays arc behind him and new leaves uncurl in his wake. His voice has the clear carrying quality of a call heard at first light. When angered, his face darkens like an eclipse while the rest of him burns brighter.

Roleplaying the Avatar

Lathander expects movement. He forgives honest failure quickly, but he presses allies to build, heal, or begin again rather than remain in grief.

Open with what can be done before naming what was lost.
Ask each ally what they will build after the crisis.
Forgive a confessed mistake once and remember a repeated one.
Treat delay as a choice that needs justification.
When his plan causes harm, repair the immediate damage before debating responsibility.

Use in a Campaign

The Last Dawn

A necromantic engine prevents sunrise over a valley. Lathander holds back its undead host while the party enters the machine.

The Necessary Ruin

The avatar intends to destroy a corrupt institution overnight, although thousands of innocent people depend on it. The party must design a replacement first.

Patron of the First Attempt

Lathander sponsors a dangerous invention that could restore poisoned land. Rival churches and cautious rulers want the experiment stopped.

A Dawn Too Soon

The dead rise peacefully for one hour each morning to finish unfinished work. Lathander demands the phenomenon end before grief becomes dependence.

Lairs

Lathander’s lairs remain fixed at the edge of sunrise. Wounds close, old materials become workable, and shadows retreat from any creature that chooses a new course of action.

The Eastern Basilica

Mirrors carry first light through every chamber. Turning one mirror can heal a district or expose a sealed crypt beneath it.

The Rebuilt Quarter

A neighborhood destroyed many times reconstructs itself each dawn, repeating structural mistakes unless someone changes the plans before sunrise.

Garden of First Growth

Every planted seed matures in one day. The abundance can feed a city, but invasive growth begins at dusk.

The Unfinished Workshop

Abandoned inventions resume their work in the avatar’s presence, including devices their creators stopped for good reason.

Shared References

Open a reference for its canonical description and related entries.