Anyone remember the gentlemen from the TV show “Buffy the vampire slayer” episode hush.
How they would roll into a town use a device to basically cast a massive silence spell. Then they would go out and collect human (humanoid) hearts. They themselves were immune to everything other then a scream. Just looking at monsters to convert for horror ideas.
A session where the players can’t make a noise. Can’t hear the threat coming. To overcome the encounter. Do research and Find the artifact and shut it off. Screaming will kill the demons in canon or how I would probably so it is in areas of silence they are invincible. In areas with sound they are vulnerable but take 4x damage from sonic attacks to make fights actually still a threat vs. multiple one shot kill.
Follow on posts are going to flesh these out as well as thier minions.
Yqatuba had a similar concept some while ago. In that thread I proposed the Rovagug Censor Beast... some hideous, blind monster with a serious hatred of Bardic Performance. It had an Aura of Silence, Detect Alignment, Tremorsense, Scent, asymmetrical limbs, a constant concealment/defensive miss chance... might be worth checking out Yqatuba's Anti Music Monster thread, or whatever it is called.
In a magical world most jails and prisons have at least one dead magic cell. There you can still talk and scream. The sound may not carry out of the cell.
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I found someone made then for 5e with some research:
The gentlemen
Medium fiend (demon), Neutral evil
Armor Class 18
Hit Points 95 (10d8 + 50)
Speed Fly 30ft. (Hover)
STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA
10 (+0) 20 (+5) 21 (+5) 23 (+6) 21 (+5) 16 (+3)
Saving throws Dex (+9), Con (+9), Int (+10), Wis (+9), Cha (+7)
Skills Intimidation (+7), Investigation (+10), Medicine (+9), Perception (+9), Stealth (+9)
Damage resistances Acid, cold, damage from spells and magical effects, fire.
Damage Immunities Bludgeoning, piercing, slashing, lightning, necrotic, poison.
Condition Immunities Deafened, Charmed, Exhausted, Frightened, petrified, Poisoned, Prone, stunned, unconcious.
Senses blindsight 120ft., passive Perception 19
Languages Abyssal (Telepathy only).
Challenge 10 (5,900 XP).
Aural Hypersensitivity. The gentlemen suffer 44 (8d10) Thunder damage if they hear a humanoid voice scream.
Hush. The gentlemen exude an aura of silence out to 15ft. This area is affected as if by a permanent silence spell.
Most uncivilised. The gentlemen, as their name implies, are impeccably courteous (to one another), and despite their near invulnerability eschew violence, only attacking in self defence or if they have the advantage. If their accompanying footmen are destroyed the gentlemen will flee the fight immediately, although they will continue their search for hearts as soon as possible.
Limited flight. The gentlemen can hover, but they can not increase their altitude above 1 foot from the ground.
Magical implements. The Gentlemens' attacks are considered magical for the purposes of overcoming resistance to non-magical attacks.
Magic resistance. The gentlemen have advantage on saving throws against spells and magical effects.
Rejuvenation. If a Gentleman is reduced to 0 hit points by anything other than thunder damage or its Vox nobilis trait it dissolves into wispy black smoke, reforming in its lair at the next midnight to continue its search for the perfect heart.
Sneak attack. If a Gentleman has advantage on an attack, or there is an ally of the Gentlman within 5ft of the target, that ally is not incapacitated, and the Gentleman does not have disadvantage on the attack, the Gentleman can deal an additional 21 (6d6) damage to the target.
The tell-tale heart. The gentlemen know the direction and location of any creature with a heartbeat within 5 miles of their lair.
Voice box. When the gentlemen enter a populated area, their first act upon establishing a lair is to steal the voices of the entire populace. The stolen voices are captured in a magical box of rare wood and precious metals which is hidden at the center of their lair. Each creature that knows at least one language within five miles of the lair must make a DC 25 Intelligence saving throw. On a failure the creature loses their voice and is left unable to speak or vocalise in any way. This effect cannot be dispelled or removed by anything less than a wish spell or similar magic. This effect lasts until the gentlemen release the voices from the box or when the box is destroyed. The box has an AC of 13, and 5 hit points. When it is destroyed, the Gentlemen also lose their aura of silence trait.
Vox nobilis. The gentlemen have a single weakness. If a princess of noble birth screams, the heads of any gentlemen within 500ft explode as their souls are banished back to the abyss.
Actions
Call footmen (1/day). The Gentleman conjures 1d4 + 2 Footmen, which appear in unoccupied spaces within 60ft. of the gentleman, preferably emerging from behind cover or patches of darkness.
Scalpel. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5ft., one target. Hit 7 (1d4 + 5) slashing damage.
Steal voice (recharge 5-6). One target that the gentleman can see within 5 miles of their lair. The target must make a DC 25 Intelligence saving throw. On a failure the creature loses their voice and is left unable to speak or vocalise in any way. This effect cannot be dispelled or removed by anything less than a wish spell or similar magic. This effect lasts until the gentlemen release the voices from the box or when the box is destroyed. The box has an AC of 13, and 5 hit points. If a creature loses its voice in this way, it drifts away towards the box as a sliver of silvery cloud.
Remove Heart. One unconcious or incapacitated creature within 5ft must make a DC 17 constitution saving throw or suffer 55 (10d10) slashing damage. On a successful save the creature takes half as much damage. If a creature is reduced to 0 hit points by this attack it immediately dies as its heart is removed by the gentleman.
This is how he stated them out. I’d definitely tweek it besides converting system. Maybe have them be evil fae vs. demons (the whole nursery rhyme about them)
Hmm.
There is already an evil Fey called the Bogeyman... which is absolutely awesome with the Implacable Stalker and Nightmare Lord templates applied.
But the Gentleman does good as a demon, me-thinks. I would probably define what it takes to be of "noble birth", so you know exactly who can, and cannot, explode Gentleman heads... which is awesome, by the way.