Copyright 2008 Wizards of the Coast

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In Greek mythology, Lamia was a woman cursed by Hera to become a half-human, half-snake, child-eating monster. The Greeks themselves would end up using the name for a whole species of such creatures later on, and a few naughty anime shows would end up adopting it for their own brand of snake lady.

D&D lamias are a bit different, and have been in the game since at least 1st Edition. Here, they are only present in the MM.

The Lore

It looks like 1e Lamias were a bit closer to the original myth in that they were creatures with the upper bodies of women and the lower bodies of beasts. In 4e they’re a type of fey whose true form is that of a swarm of large black scarabs wrapped around a skeleton, but who can disguise itself as an attractive humanoid.

D&D lamias are not very nice. They eat people, using their disguise ability to lure them to their deaths. Some of them also seek to gain arcane power “by any means necessary”. Every person they eat adds another beetle to the swarm, and when the swarm grows too large a lamia reproduces by slaying a “worthy fey” such as a powerful eladrin and injecting half its beetles into the corpse. Once the bugs finish eating the victim’s flesh, they rise as a new lamia that shares most of the victim’s memories and knowledge.

In short, they’re fey nightmare monsters.

The Numbers

There’s a single lamia stat block. It’s a Medium Fey Magical Beast (shapechanger), and a Level 12 Elite Controller with 244 HP. It has land and climb speeds of 6 and trained Perception, though no supernatural senses for seeing in the dark. Their other trained skills are Arcana, Bluff, and Insight.

Lamias are effectively swarms! They take half damage from melee and ranged attacks, and 10 extra damage from close and area ones. They also have a Swarm’s Embrace aura 1 that deals damage to any enemies that start their turns inside.

The way a lamia kills you is by using its Change Shape ability to look like a pretty girl/boy/other and lure you into favorable ambush terrain with a convincing sob story. Once the group is packed nice and tight, it will release a psychic Pacifying Burst (close burst 5 vs. Will; recharge 5-6), which does no damage and stuns on a hit (save ends).

Once everyone is nice and stunned the lamia will cover one of the victims in part of its scarab mass in a Devouring Swarm attack (Reach 5 vs. Fortitude), which does physical damage on a hit and allows the monster to sustain the effect as a minor action to deal the same amount of automatic damage every turn. The only way to escape is to move beyond the power’s maximum range, which you can’t do if you’re stunned.

If anyone resists the initial burst, or of they recover early, the lamia can hit them with its Cursed Touch, a basic attack against Fortitude that heals the monster for the same amount of damage caused on the victim. It also dazes on a hit (save ends).

If all else fails there’s the Squeezing Swarm trait, which allows the lamia to squeeze through narrow openings as if it was a Tiny creature, likely by disassembling into a bunch of individual beetles.

Sample Encounters and Final Impressions

The book says lamias often enslave weaker creatures to serve as bodyguards. Though their stat blocks don’t have powers that allow them to dominate others in combat, it’s quite possible they know custom rituals that allow for long-term mind control, or just use good old-fashioned mundane intimidation and cruelty.

The sample encounter is level 12: a lamia, 2 mezzodemons, and 4 cyclops guards. As this shows, they might also just know enough magic to summon some demons as muscle.

Lamias are mechanically interesting, though if you dislike the “comely seductress that actually wants to kill you” trope they might not be your cup of tea. Their knowledge of magic could allow them to fulfill the same dramatic roles as hags, but as written they seem a bit too overtly hostile for that.