Hyakume 百目

Medium aberration, neutral

Armor Class 14 (natural armor)

Hit Points 84 (13d8 + 26)

Speed 30 ft., climb 20 ft.

STR 16 (+3) · DEX 12 (+1) · CON 14 (+2) · INT 14 (+2) · WIS 16 (+3) · CHA 12 (+1)

Saving Throws Int +5, Wis +6

Skills Insight +6, Investigation +5, Perception +9, Stealth +4

Damage Vulnerabilities radiant

Condition Immunities prone

Senses darkvision 90 ft., passive Perception 19

Languages Deep Speech, understands Common; telepathy 120 ft.

Challenge 4 (1,100 XP)

Traits

All-Around Vision. Hyakume can’t be surprised, and creatures don’t gain advantage on attack rolls against it as a result of being unseen by it.

Keen Sight. Hyakume has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight.

Light Sensitivity. While in bright light, Hyakume is blinded (PHB p. 290/ 361). If it takes radiant damage while blinded this way, it must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or be stunned until the end of its next turn.

Detachable Eye. As a bonus action, Hyakume can pop loose one of its eyes. The eye is a Tiny aberration with AC 12, 1 hit point, immunity to psychic damage, a flying speed of 30 ft. (hover), and darkvision 90 ft. The eye cannot attack. Hyakume can see and hear through the eye as long as it is on the same plane of existence and can end the link (no action). The eye melts into viscous fluid after 1 hour or when it is reduced to 0 hit points. Hyakume can have only one detached eye at a time.

Actions

Multiattack. Hyakume makes two Slam attacks.

Slam. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 10 (2d6 + 3) bludgeoning damage.

Memory Drain (Recharge 5–6). Melee Spell Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: 18 (4d8) psychic damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw or be stunned for 1 minute as fragments of its memory are siphoned away. The stunned target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on a success.

Reactions

Blink to Shadow. When Hyakume would be hit by an attack made by a creature it can see, it can impose disadvantage on that attack roll. If the attack then misses, Hyakume can move up to half its speed without provoking opportunity attacks.

Legendary Actions

Hyakume doesn’t ordinarily have legendary actions, but if encountered in its lair (an abandoned temple or lightless ruin) it can take 1 legendary action, choosing from the options below, at the end of another creature’s turn.

Detach Eye. Hyakume uses Detachable Eye.

Slam. Hyakume makes one Slam attack.

Lore

A creature covered in eyes that tracks your every move.

Hyakume—written with the kanji 百目 and literally meaning “one hundred eyes”—is a primordial observer-yokai. It has no human backstory and carries no theme of moral retribution. Here “one hundred” is an idiom for “countless,” not an exact tally of eyes. Unlike Dodomeki, whose many eyes appeared on her arms as the result of a human curse, Hyakume sprang into being as a fleshy aberration: a shapeless mass covered evenly with innumerable yellow-tinged eyes. If the creature closes all of them at once, its lumpy, pale-pink body is almost indistinguishable from a nuppeppo.

Folklore texts place Hyakume as a nocturnal resident of abandoned Buddhist temples, lightless caves, and half-ruined urban districts. The sheer number of eyes makes it hypersensitive to light, so daylight or bright flames form a natural barrier: in strong illumination it becomes disoriented, loses combat effectiveness, and retreats to shadow. Inside its territory the yokai behaves more like a watcher than a predator. It doesn’t immediately lunge at every trespasser; instead it first sends out a scouting eye. That eye detaches from the body, glides silently toward the intruder, fastens to clothing or skin, and stays there as long as the guest remains nearby, transmitting everything it sees. If the visitor does nothing harmful, the eye later returns to the main body and Hyakume melts back into the darkness.

From Yokai Bestiary 5E, Book Two, p. 40 · Fern Flower Press