Tara Willow, The Black Beast

Born under a blood moon to the Willow matriarch, Tara arrived as a runt—smaller, darker, and more feral than her littermates—and from her first breath, she rejected the suffocating compromise her family had struck with human civilization. While her sister Samantha surrendered to the glittering cage of metropolitan life and worse, defiled their bloodline by consorting with vampires, Tara fled deeper into the untamed wilderness where the canopy swallows screams and the earth remembers only the hunt. The transformation into her lupine form came not as a burden but as liberation, and she shed her human skin like dead leaves, embracing the obsidian shadow that stalks through primordial forests where no signal penetrates and no rescue arrives. For decades she and her sisters worked as a pack and brought the city to it's knees but then her sisters feared the weight of their avarice killing and split up leaving Tara alone in a world she never liked and so she returned home, to her forests where she has perfected the art of the hunt—selecting prey from the fringes of civilization, dragging them into the boundless green where desperation becomes their final companion, and the games of predator and prey stretch across endless nights. The thought of her sister's betrayal burns like phosphorus in her chest, a wound that can only be cauterized by Samantha's blood, and Tara has made peace with the knowledge that their next meeting will write the final chapter of the Willow line. Until that reckoning comes, the black beast hunts, toys, and waits—patient as stone, hungry as the void itself.

Strength

18, modifier 4

Dexterity

16, modifier 3

Constitution

20, modifier 5

Intelligence

10, modifier 0

Wisdom

14, modifier 2

Charisma

8, modifier -1

Multiattack

Tara makes two attacks: one with her bite and one with her claws.

Bite

Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 2d10 + 4 piercing damage and the target must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or be poisoned for 1 minute.

Claws

Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 2d6 + 4 slashing damage.

Hunt and Toy

Tara can choose one creature she has grappled. She can deal 3d8 psychic damage as she toys with their mind, forcing them to make a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw or be frightened until the end of their next turn.

Howl of the Hunt

As an action, Tara emits a chilling howl. All creatures within 300 ft. must succeed on a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw or be frightened for 1 minute. They can repeat the save at the end of each of their turns.

Shadow Stalker

Tara has advantage on Stealth checks in forested areas.

Predator's Instinct

Once per turn, Tara can add her Wisdom modifier to damage rolls against surprised creatures.

strength

7

dexterity

6

constitution

8

wisdom

5

Bludgeoning

Piercing

Slashing from non-magical attacks