Bakasura, The Great Devourer (Hindu)

Some notes:

• The base model is the Rakshasa from the D&D 5E Monster Manual, with appropriately adjusted stats and some major changes (like Springing Leap)
• The inspiration is loosely based on the myth of Bakasura. The demon terrorised a village and was given a daily cartload food as tribute. Eventually he died while wrestling Bhima

Bakasura is a fiend with an insatiable appetite. The taste of blood, the texture of flesh and the crunch of bones is what excites this demon. He is driven to hunt constantly, for if he does not feed Bakasura will lose control and enter a feeding frenzy.

The demon appears like a muscular humanoid with long piercing spikes extending from his forearms. The tips of his fingers end in sharp claws, and his mouth is filled blood-stained fangs. His eyes have no irises, and are the colour of red-hot fire.

But by far the most curious and frightening feature is the extra mouth and it's row of fanged teeth that lie across the sternum of Bakasura. This extra mouth has caught many would-be champions unaware, as Bakasura pins them down with his spikes while his body-mouth devours them while they are alive and screaming.

Tactics

• Bakasura prefers to avoid direct conflict, instead choosing to attack when his prey is weak. He would use his magical abilities to taunt and provoke the party from a safe distance, and use suggestion to invoke doubt into his prey. He will only attack when he is sure of killing and escaping with his prey. 
• If conflict is unavoidable (and Bakasura has a devoted cult following), Bakasura will use his followers to engage the party as a distraction while Bakasura uses his invisibility to stalk the weakest members of the party. Once the toughest members are engaged and grappled, Bakasura will pounce onto his chosen prey and try to drop them and use Digestion.
• Bakasura will do everything he is able to keep himself mobile.

Bakasura "Butcher" Skin from Smite, a MOBA game by Hi-Rez studios

Bottomless hunger

Bakasura is a demon with an everlasting hunger for the flesh of the living. This vile fiend solely exists to crunch bones, tear at flesh and guzzle down the blood of his frightened victims. His otherworldly digestive system seems to have no end, and his body-mouth can contort and extend to fit any meal no matter how large. It has been rumoured that Bakasura once ate three giants whole in one sitting, before making his way to feast upon an unsuspecting nearby hamlet.

Unseen Terror

Bakasura prefers to taunt and terrorize his prey before eventually devouring them. He stalks his victims from the shadows, using stealth and illusions to confuse or scare his prey. When he finally tires of this one-sided game, Bakasura quickly immobilises the victim with his forearm spikes before feasting on them while they are still alive.

Fearsome Predator

An eternity has shaped Bakasura to be a cunning and deadly predator. His speed allows him to quickly close in on his prey. His raw strength allows him to shred his target to pieces. And his agility allows him to pounce onto his victims, or leap to escape a deadly situation unharmed.

Uncompromising Negotiator

Bakasura is cunning enough to know that he can feast without hunting. He will frequently make a deal with towns and villages whereby Bakasura agrees not to prey upon the populace if they agree to supply him with a daily cartload of meat (the cart-bearer is usually eaten as well). Bakasura is then free to hunt elsewhere to supplement the daily offerings.

Cannibal Followers

On occasion, a few deluded mortals think that their lives will be spared if they follow and worship Bakasura. The cultists seek out unwilling sacrifices and bring them to Bakasura so that he can feast upon them. They are so devoted that they become cannibals and live by the mantra that "only the weak are eaten". The leader of the cult only lasts until his successor finally kills and eats him (or Bakasura starves and eats the whole cult). Cultists of Bakasura are easily identified because they mutilate their own bodies to mimic the spikes of Bakasura.

Bakasura

Medium fiend (demon), lawful evil

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Armor Class 14 (natural armor)

Hit Points 90 (12d8+36)

Speed 40 ft.

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STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
16 (+3)	19 (+4)	17 (+3)	10 (0)	16 (+3)	20 (+5)

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Skills Intimidation +10, Insight +8, Stealth +9

Saving throws Dex +9, Wis +8

Damage Resistances bludgeoning, piercing and slashing from nonmagical weapons

Senses darkvision 60ft., passive Perception 13

Languages Abyssal, Common

Challenge 10 (5,900 XP)

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Blood Frenzy. Bakasura has advantage on melee attack rolls against any creature that doesn't have all its hit points.

Innate Spellcasting. Bakasura's innate spellcasting ability is Charasima (spell save DC 18, +10 to hit with spell attacks). Bakasura can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components:

At will: disguise self, minor illusion, thaumaturgy

3/day each: detect magic, invisibility, major image, suggestion

1/day each: dominate person, plane shift, true seeing

Keen senses. Bakasura has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on using hearing, smell or sight.

Springing Leap. Bakasura must not be grappled, restrained, paralysed, petrified, prone, stunned or otherwise incapacitated. As a bonus action Bakasura is able to perform a standing leap up to 10 ft. in the air and landing in an unoccupied location 15 ft. away. This sudden leap does not provoke opportunity attacks.

Swallow. Bakasura makes one bite attack against a medium or smaller target that it is grappling. If the attack hits, Bakasura's body-mouth distorts and extends and the target becomes swallowed, and the grapple ends. While swallowed, the target is blinded and restrained, it has total cover against attacks and other effects outside Bakasura, and it takes 21 (6d6) necrotic damage at the start of each of Bakasura's turns. Bakasura can only have one creature swallowed at a time.

If Bakasura takes 30 damage or more on a single turn from the swallowed creature, Bakasura must succeed on a DC 14 Constitution saving throw at the end of that turn or regurgitate the creature, which falls prone in a space within 10 feet of Bakasura. If Bakasura dies, a swallowed creature is no longer restrained by it and can escape from the corpse by using 15 feet of movement, exiting prone.

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Actions

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Multiattack. Bakasura makes three attacks; two with it's Spikes and one with it's Bite.

Spike. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target.
Hit: 14 (2d10+3) piercing damage.

Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target.
Hit: 10 (2d6+3) piercing damage, and the target is cursed if it is a creature. The magical curse takes effect whenever the target takes a short or long rest, filling the target's thoughts with horrible images and dreams. The cursed target gains no benefit from finishing a short or long rest. The curse lasts until it is lifted by a remove curse spell or similar magic.

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Change log:

• 20 Dec 2015.Took the Blood Frenzy feature from the Sahuagin. Changed Flesh Sense to Keen Senses. Edited Leap to be mechanically similar to Nimble Escape and renamed it to Springing Leap. Changed Digestion to Swallow from the Behir. Changed the CR to 10.