Ratling Chronomancer

Medium humanoid (ratfolk), chaotic evil

Physical Description

The ratling chronomancer presents a bizarre and unsettling appearance, its form seeming to exist partially out of phase with normal reality. Its fur shifts between various stages of growth and different colors in patches, as if different parts of its body are experiencing time at different rates. Crystalline growths protrude from its shoulders and spine, each containing swirling energies that occasionally display scenes from past or future events. The chronomancer's eyes are its most disturbing feature—completely white and occasionally displaying clock-like mechanisms or numeric sequences that float across their surface. It wears robes of an unusual metallic fabric that sometimes moves against the flow of air, responding to temporal distortions rather than physical forces. Multiple timepieces and strange mechanical devices hang from its belt and bandoliers, some running backward, others at impossible speeds.

The ratling steps forward—or perhaps it was already there a moment before it moved? Its movements leave brief afterimages in the air, and occasionally its actions seem to precede the decision to perform them. The very air around it distorts, sounds arriving before their causes and light bending in impossible ways. Its white eyes fix on you with terrible knowledge, as if it has already witnessed this encounter dozens of times and knows exactly how it ends.

Lore

Temporal Experimenters. Ratling chronomancers represent perhaps the most dangerous magical tradition among their kind—spellcasters who have learned to manipulate the flow of time itself. Their initial experiments typically involve accelerating the growth of cultivated fungi or breeding programs, but inevitably progress to more dangerous applications. The most powerful chronomancers can create temporal bubbles where time flows differently, age enemies to dust, or even glimpse potential futures to guide their decisions.

Fractured Existence. The power to manipulate time comes at a terrible cost. Most chronomancers exist partially out of phase with normal reality, experiencing multiple timelines simultaneously. This grants them incredible insight and combat advantages but fragments their sanity as they struggle to determine which timeline represents the "true" present. Many chronomancers eventually lose the ability to distinguish between past, present, and future entirely.

Paradox Mages. Unlike most spellcasters who carefully avoid temporal paradoxes, ratling chronomancers deliberately create and exploit them. They might kill the past version of an enemy, steal an item before it was created, or ensure the success of a plan by sending information backward through time to their past selves. The consequences of these actions often create localized temporal anomalies that other ratlings exploit for strategic advantage.

Knowledge Seekers. Chronomancers are obsessed with recovering lost knowledge, using their abilities to preserve ancient texts moments before their destruction or witness historical events firsthand. Their warrens often contain libraries of information that shouldn't exist—books recovered from burned libraries, scrolls transcribed from civilizations yet to rise, or formulas stolen from a future that may never come to pass.

Chronomantic Rituals

"Their primary ritual requires a massive crystalline timepiece that must be powered by the synchronized heartbeats of exactly one hundred sacrifices. As the victims expire in perfect sequence, the chronomancer can open a momentary window to other eras. What's truly disturbing is that we've started finding evidence that these rituals succeed—anomalous artifacts appearing in sealed tombs, witnesses describing impossible visitations, and most concerningly, historical records that seem to change between examinations." — Archmage Mordenkainen

Stats

• Armor Class: 21 (arcane-enhanced robes)
• Hit Points: 290 (25d8 + 175)
• Speed: 30 ft.

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
10 (+0)	16 (+3)	20 (+5)	24 (+7)	18 (+4)	16 (+3)

• Saving Throws: Dex +9, Con +11, Int +13, Wis +10
• Skills: Arcana +13, History +13, Insight +10, Perception +10
• Damage Resistances: force, psychic; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks
• Condition Immunities: charmed, frightened, paralyzed
• Senses: Truesight 60 ft., passive Perception 20
• Languages: Ratling, Common, Elvish, Draconic, Infernal
• Challenge: 17 (18,000 XP)

Temporal Awareness. The chronomancer cannot be surprised and has advantage on initiative rolls.

Magic Resistance. The chronomancer has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.

Chrono Shift (Recharges after a Long Rest). As a reaction when the chronomancer takes damage, it can alter its place in time. The chronomancer can move up to 60 feet to an unoccupied space it can see or return to a space it occupied at the start of its turn. This movement doesn't provoke opportunity attacks.

Temporal Duplicates (Recharge 5–6). As a bonus action, the chronomancer can momentarily pull alternate versions of itself from different timelines. The chronomancer creates 2 duplicate images of itself that last for 1 minute. The duplicates move with the chronomancer and mimic its actions, making it impossible to track which image is real. Whenever a creature targets the chronomancer with an attack during the spell's duration, it must first roll to determine whether it targets the chronomancer or one of the temporal duplicates. When a duplicate is hit by an attack, it disappears.

Multiattack. The chronomancer makes two arcane blade attacks.

Arcane Blade. Melee Weapon Attack: +13 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 28 (6d6 + 7) force damage.

Entropy Ray. Ranged Spell Attack: +13 to hit, range 120 ft., one target. Hit: 36 (8d8) force damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 21 Constitution saving throw or age 1d4 × 10 years. A creature that ages this way has its speed halved and has disadvantage on Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution saving throws for 1 minute. A creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success. The aging effect is permanent, though it can be reversed with greater restoration or similar magic.

Time Stop (1/Day). The chronomancer casts the time stop spell without expending a spell slot.

Spellcasting. The chronomancer is a 20th-level spellcaster. Its spellcasting ability is Intelligence (spell save DC 21, +13 to hit with spell attacks). The chronomancer has the following wizard spells prepared:

• Cantrips (at will): fire bolt, mage hand, prestidigitation, ray of frost, minor illusion
• 1st level (4 slots): detect magic, magic missile, shield, expeditious retreat
• 2nd level (3 slots): blur, mirror image, misty step
• 3rd level (3 slots): counterspell, haste, slow
• 4th level (3 slots): dimension door, greater invisibility, confusion
• 5th level (3 slots): hold monster, telekinesis, wall of force
• 6th level (2 slots): disintegrate, globe of invulnerability
• 7th level (2 slots): forcecage, teleport
• 8th level (1 slot): maze
• 9th level (1 slot): time stop

Tactics

The ratling chronomancer begins combat by using Temporal Duplicates to confuse enemies about its true location, then casts powerful control spells like Slow to hamper enemy movement. It uses Entropy Ray against the most physically imposing opponents, aging them to reduce their effectiveness. The chronomancer positions itself at medium range from enemies, using Misty Step and Dimension Door to maintain optimal distance. Against multiple threats, it employs Forcecage to isolate powerful enemies while dealing with weaker ones. If seriously threatened, it uses Time Stop to escape or reposition, or Chrono Shift as a reaction if directly attacked. The chronomancer fights with calculated precision, often seeming to anticipate enemy actions before they occur.

The chronomancer's movements are eerily precise, as if it knows exactly where attacks will land before they're launched. Afterimages trail its form as it phases partially between moments in time, and occasionally it seems to react to events that haven't yet occurred. The very air around it distorts, some objects moving in slow motion while others accelerate unnaturally. As it raises its hands, temporal energy coalesces around its target, who begins to age rapidly, years passing in seconds as their vitality drains away.