The Displacer Beast
Illusory Murder Kitty
Dittz Durden slunk through the Shrouded Forest with his “panther” companion Gwen. They had been on the trail of a band of Blue-Hill Goblins for the better part of a week, trudging through muddy rivers and thorny brambles until they found themselves in a clearing overlooking a Goblin encampment. They settled in for the night, pitching a small fire to keep themselves warm and cook what little rations they had. “Gwen, when this job is over, we will be able to settle down in that town you liked so much!” Dittz said to his sleek black cat.
Gwen took a defensive stance and started hissing, “What’s wrong?” Dittz jumped up, drawing his twin scimitars to ready himself for a fight. He scanned the treeline; his attention snapped to a pair of green eyes reflecting in the moonlight. Emerging from the foliage was a pair of silky black tentacles on a six legged cat the size of a leopard. It looked at Dittz with hunger in its eyes, lowering itself, ready to pounce. Dittz wasted no time — he sprang forward, bounding side to side in an attempt to disorient the creature. With a flip and flourish, Dittz stabbed his scimitar into the beast’s side.
Dittz looked at his blade. There was no wound or blood, even though the blade was clearly in the beast’s flank. The creature began to fizzle like an exploded firework as he heard a slight bestial chuckle from above him. As his vision moved up, away from the fading creature, he saw the beast’s true form leaping down at him with killer intent.
A goblin’s ears twitched as the screams of a man being mauled echoed in the cold night air.
The hunter had been hunted.
Overview
The Displacer Beast is an iconic monster from the Dungeon and Dragons mythos that, since its inception, I feel has been mostly forgotten about. There have been a handful of references to everyone’s favorite Murder Kitty1, but these haven’t had the impact that this iconic creature deserves. Outside of the D&D modules, they have made a strong appearance in Baldur’s Gate 3 and Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves that I feel highlight the Displacer Beast’s strengths.
First thing of note as a DM: the Displacer Beast has Unseelie origins but is not a Fey itself. This may have been an oversight by Wizards of the Coast, but regardless, this can be used to give characters with Fey origins some extended knowledge of it. Also, after lifetimes of ownership, servitude, and selective breeding under the Unseelie, they broke free from the control of their masters and made their way to the Material Plane.
The second thing of note: they will live in isolation as often as they live in small prides — more than likely, this will depend on food scarcity. When living in prides, it is mentioned in the fluff text that they will memorize the frequency of caravans on crowded trade routes to set up ambushes. With their higher than average intelligence (for animals), this could even be extended to setting up carcasses as a ploy to slow down caravans.
Third and final thing to take note of: they are not above toying with their prey before killing them. This extends even to hunting for sport, rather than just hunting to kill and eat. This malevolent nature, cultivated by their former masters, has turned them into efficient guards. They stalk their prey and harass them until either the prey flees, or they die and the Displacer Beast can feast.
Now, let us proceed to look at the stat block and see what we can learn.
Stats
From its stat block, we can learn the following from our little beastie:
Here is our info:
A low Armor Class, and one of the highest Hit Points for CR 3. The low AC does not concern me as much as it would with other creatures due to the other abilities that the Displacer Beast has. Also, with a speed of 40 feet, this little beastie will be zooming around the battlefield, outpacing most players.
They have an intelligence of 6. With the average Commoner having an intelligence of 10, this gives the Displacer Beast below average intelligence, but high enough to make plans. This (plus the rest of this number list) is what sets the Displacer Beast apart from animals (Beast type creatures) and into the realm of a Monstrosity.2 Coupled with a 12 in Wisdom, the Displacer Beast is bound to be a formidable enemy.
The Avoidance ability is quite insane for CR 3. A Displacer Beast that is subject to a damage dealing AoE3 automatically takes half damage, and if they succeed on their Saving Throw, they take no damage. This is big, giving the Displacer Beast ridiculous survivability versus some of the strongest spells in Tier 1, 2, and even into Tier 3.
The Displacement ability is also fantastic for survivability. While not as universally powerful as Avoidance, giving all attacks disadvantage against a Displacer Beast will make them experts at avoiding damage. This, however, will stop working when they take damage from an attack4, and will not come back until the end of their next turn.
The attacks are where the Displacer Beast is weakest. As I’ve said in another post (looking at you again, Kuo-toa Monitor) having one good attack option is worse than two or more okay attack options, even if they have Multiattack. Especially if they are by themselves against two or more Adventurers.
If you notice, the Displacer Beast does not have a Bite or Claw attack to supplement the Tentacle attack. I’m not sure why this Big Tentacled Cat does not get a Bite or Claw, but WotC5 decided that it shouldn’t. I dunno. IF you want to add them, they will be posted after this list.
The Tentacle attack will often hit, especially in Tiers 1 and 2. With its attack bonus of 6, and depending on the Class and Level of the target, 1d6+4 bludgeoning and 1d6 piercing can be lethal, but will quickly start to fall off. However, with their survivability, the Displacer Beast will be making many attacks in a combat encounter, which will tend to make up for the fall off of damage. Also, with the attack distance being 10 feet, the Displacer Beast will be able to stay out of direct combat with the players.
Multiattack. The Displacer Beast makes two attacks with its tentacles or one attack with its bite and one with its claws.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5ft., One target. Hit: 8 (1d8+4) piercing damage
Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5ft,. One target. Hit: 7 (1d6+4) slashing damage
Combat Examples
In our combat examples, we will have a Displacer Beast as a pet/guard for a mid level boss and as a part of a small pride. For our first example, we will have an Assassin accompanied by their Displacer Beast companion against 4 ninth level Adventurers.
The Adventurers rushed into a warehouse along the waterfront. They had been hot on the trail of an Assassin that had killed their mentor. They carefully checked their steps, prepping for their quarry to have set traps. A low guttural growl emanated from deeper in the warehouse as several shifting images of a Displacer Beast walked into the light.
On the first turn of combat, the Displacer Beast won’t attack directly. It will attempt to draw attacks from the Adventurers while the Assassin attacks from the shadows. If the Assassin gets detected, the Displacer Beast will attack anyone that targets the Assassin. Since the base Displacer Beast does not have a variety of options for offensive combat (unless you use the attack action updates I provided), have them attack from their 10 foot range and run away from the players.
Our second combat example will include 4 Displacer beasts against 4 seventh level Adventurers. This will be an ambush along a well traveled road. In this instance, the Adventurers will be traveling by themselves to their next destination.
Leaving the safety of the walls of Helmfirth, our Adventurers descend into the depths of the dark foreboding Kilchatten Vale, a forest steeped with tales of monsters and fey. As the canopy weaves into a dense ceiling of branches and leaves, glowing green eyes begin tracking the Adventurers from the darkness around them. The cracking and falling of a tree grabs the attention of the Adventurers as a tree lands on the road cutting off their route.
In the first turn of combat, two of the Displacer Beasts jump out of the forest and use their Displacement ability to give the impression that there are more than two of them there. They will harass the players, running up to their 10 feet range to attack and retreat away from the battleline. Let the players believe that there are more creatures on the battlefield, as it will play into the illusion of the Displacer Beast’s abilities and themes.
If you use miniatures on a battle grid, you should place multiple Displacer Beast minis where they jump out of. If you don’t have enough minis to sell the illusion, then use placeholders for all of them until the Displacement ability falters for one. Also, it doesn’t specify that the illusion attacks the same person they do. Have fun with that.
After those two Displacer Beasts make themselves known and start their attacks, the other two will sneak up on the adventurers, as best they can, from behind. At the start of their turn, roll a Stealth check against the Adventurers Passive Perceptions. If the Displacer Beasts pass, they stalk 20 feet forward. Repeat this until they are either discovered, or they can make attacks against the Adventurers.
Non-Combat Encounter
If, by chance, you want your players to interact with a Displacer Beast as an NPC and not as a combatant, here are a couple of options.
“Shimmer” The Circus Displacer Beast.
While in a town or city, have the Adventurers notice a traveling Circus has arrived. As the Adventurers make their way through the tents and vendors of the Circus, they notice, hidden behind the carts and wagons, a caged wagon with a Displacer Beast inside it with the name “Shimmer” painted on the wagon's frame. If the Adventurers have the Tongues spell, they can talk to Shimmer to learn she wants to be freed and is willing to help the Adventurers with their current quarry. If they do not and still free her, Shimmer will flee to the surrounding terrain, but will reappear at an opportune time to aid the Adventurers.
The Displacer Beast Kitten
As the Adventurers travel through a forest, they stumble upon the remains of a deadly combat between some large beast and a Displacer Beast. As they investigate the surrounding scene, they hear mewling from a nearby hollow. Inside, they find a very young Displacer Beast Kitten, hungry and waiting for their mom to return.
Final Thoughts
The Displacer Beast is another well known monster, and one that comes from D&D Mythos,6 that rarely appears in games. The abilities and fluff text allow for interesting non-humanoid NPCs for your players to interact with, either as combatants or non-combatants. You can use the Displacement ability to alter combat scenarios or trick players into thinking there are more Displacer Beasts present. Have fun with their abilities, and let the players explore how these abilities affect themselves and the Displacer Beast.
Yes, I realize it may not be EVERYONE’S favorite, but you get the point. I don’t include the opinions of people with bad taste(/j).
The difference between a Beast and a Monstrosity is simple. Beasts are an animal: your Lions, Tigers, Bears (oh my), and Sheep. Monstrosities are monsters, creatures that can invoke nightmares: your Griffons, Chimeras, Owlbears (oh my?), and Doppelgangers.
AoE, or Area of Effect, is a spell or ability that covers an Area and can affect multiple creatures rather than targeting a single creature
Not the Attack action but an attack, any damage dealing action, e.g. Weapons, Spells, Unarmed Strikes.
Wizards of the Coast
To my knowledge it was created for D&D. Please correct me if I’m wrong.