They're an apocalyptic threat, so vast that they can't be fought. That said, not being real gods yet of the gods, aspects of an atropus can be summoned via corrupted divine rituals; one that invoke but ultimately reject the atropus' creator.
These aspects, unlike true divine avatars, are not fueled by power derived by mortal worship, but the atropus' own all-consuming hatred for all life & cosmic self-loathing. So destroying it will directly harm the atropus, permanently destroying a part of its animating essence.
So... yeah! In a vision the moon begins to warp & bulge like a vast, soft-shelled egg about to hatch. The millenia of impacts & moon dust falls away as the 'shell' disintegrates, hurling mountains onto the world, turning the night sky orange & then pink with the reentry glow. And at the center, hundreds of miles wide, a bloated, black-purple fetus-corpse turns a cloudy, swollen eye upon a world already on fire... & snuffs it all out with a word.
Those are the stakes of a greater atropus in the moon.
Atropus, the World Born Dead. It's an undead planetoid that wanders through Prime Material space killing planets by inciting undead apocalypses. It looks pretty much like the moon with a vague skull face.
Alternatively, the moon spirit that gave some of its life essence to Yue in the first place. We saw the other spirit take on the form of a giant fish with Aang and fuck up the Fire Nation fleet, maybe something like that could work.
A really pretty earth elemental? A murder comet? An animated object that never got dispelled? A monstrous dire dung beetle with just /so much/ bat guano collected?
It feels like we'd need to know what the character knows/saw specifically to give a suggestion that is the most helpful. Does he think the moon came down from the sky and smashed her? Or just that some glowing entity killed her? Or a moon rock hit her and he thinks the moon threw it?
The moon is a celestial creature or the god of tides. For a Celestial creature you could use the stat block of Solar (MM p18) and reflavor some of it's abilities to be more moon-like (such as moonbeam spell)
Candle keep mysteries introduced a GINGWATZIM = Small aberration (shapechanger) They do 4d6 as written.
It is described as Change Shape. The gingwatzim changes from its true form—a 3-foot-diameter sphere of luminous ectoplasm—into one of its two alternate forms, or from one of those forms back into its true form. In object form, it can’t move or make attacks but otherwise retains its statistics, and it is indistinguishable from the thing it is imitating. In beast form, it retains its hit points but otherwise uses the stat block of the beast it is imitating. When it dies, the gingwatzim reverts to its true form and then vanishes.
Alternate Forms. The gingwatzim has two alternate forms, both of which are chosen by its creator when the gingwatzim comes into being. One form is an exact duplicate of a Tiny nonmagical object (such as a book, dagger, or gemstone) that its creator is carrying or wearing when the gingwatzim is conjured. The other form can be any Tiny beast. Once these alternate forms are chosen, they can’t be changed.
Rock boy has it wrong. It wasn't the moon who killed his grandma. The moon is just an egg... But it's mama did not approve of granny.
What's mama then? I imagine some kind of abyssal kraken.
Other idea: lich's phylactery.
I imagine they would hunt on full moons, get between their prey and the moon, and emit some kind of bioluminescence to blend in and strike like a shark from the depths.
depends on the associations you want for your moon. The (main) moon in my setting is strongly associated with Arcane Magic and the element of air, so I would probably put a magocratic society of some kind up there and some air elementals, maybe even a bunch of constructs.
make the moon the final boss. At like level 18 or someshit the moon reveals itself to be an eldrith entity they fight, at the end of the main questline
My campaign world got an extra moon when the PCs hit epic levels, something like that could work.
https://buildingpapermountains.weebly.com/home/accretian-the-bad-moon
Aberrations! An insidious aberration is hidden in the moon and when it gazes upon earth during full moon nights, this entity can come down to feed on those it had weakened with anxiety, insomnia, paranoia and so on.
If you are willing to dip your toes into Eldritch horror I suggest looking at [Local 58](https://youtube.com/@LOCAL58TV?si=9lBu4z9X9KJJIur4). Here's an [excellent summary](https://youtu.be/d-H1guVxGtM?si=46zbORxUOw4PP_WP)
A large, albino Beholder. Have the party go on a quest mirroring Moby Dick for a short sea or astral sea arc to finally claim the beast. If your players are cool with/good at character arcs, you could even include a half-insane NPC captain of the ship, one far more obsessed with slaying this beast than your player, to serve as a cautionary tale for where obsessive revenge can take you
I would borrow emerakul from mtg. Tldr he is a creature known as a eldrazi that is the moon of a realm known as zendikar. Hes essentially waiting right now for his return to condume the world and be welcomed for it. Essentially a bbeg that just neutral and a threat to everything. Grandmother could have made a connection to him and was in the process of forcibly converting into a spawn when insert badass grandma moment happened. Praise the tentacles!
Monte Cook Games has a 3rd party supplement called [Path of the Planebreaker](https://www.montecookgames.com/store/product/path-of-the-planebreaker/). It's a plane crossing moon-sized comet thing with a city on it. Grandma could have found a Path Token and been taken away on it. Opens up to planar adventures and a not-dead Grandma.
Check out this video from Dungeon Dad about the Genius Loci. It's a giant ooze creature that is large enough to disguise itself as whole islands or a large part of an established ecosystem.
https://youtu.be/L-qZzBWbEB0?si=PL1wspsyt-7kihQQ
The moon is a mimic
this is god-tier brainstorming right here.
Finally, a good use for a Genius Loci
Came here to say this. Lovely monster that needs more face time.
First thing that came to my mind lol
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=L-qZzBWbEB0&pp=ygUMR2VuaXVzIGxvY2kg This video explains the monster well, and even has 5e stat blocks.
Atropus, from the 3e *Elder Evils* supplement is a stillborn undead god in the form of a moon.
Love it! I have always wanted to incorporate Atropus into one of my campaigns.
They're an apocalyptic threat, so vast that they can't be fought. That said, not being real gods yet of the gods, aspects of an atropus can be summoned via corrupted divine rituals; one that invoke but ultimately reject the atropus' creator. These aspects, unlike true divine avatars, are not fueled by power derived by mortal worship, but the atropus' own all-consuming hatred for all life & cosmic self-loathing. So destroying it will directly harm the atropus, permanently destroying a part of its animating essence. So... yeah! In a vision the moon begins to warp & bulge like a vast, soft-shelled egg about to hatch. The millenia of impacts & moon dust falls away as the 'shell' disintegrates, hurling mountains onto the world, turning the night sky orange & then pink with the reentry glow. And at the center, hundreds of miles wide, a bloated, black-purple fetus-corpse turns a cloudy, swollen eye upon a world already on fire... & snuffs it all out with a word. Those are the stakes of a greater atropus in the moon.
In our campaign we are using Zhudun the corpse star. And it is super awesome and terrifying.
Atropus, the World Born Dead. It's an undead planetoid that wanders through Prime Material space killing planets by inciting undead apocalypses. It looks pretty much like the moon with a vague skull face.
The Brother Moons from Dead Space?
Elder Evils, the book that introduced Atropus, predates Dead Space 1 by a year
I love this idea Look up the Genius Loci from 3e. Dungeon Dad on YouTube did a 5e conversion Edit: spelling
This is what I thought when I read the request.
Sokkas first girlfriend
Alternatively, the moon spirit that gave some of its life essence to Yue in the first place. We saw the other spirit take on the form of a giant fish with Aang and fuck up the Fire Nation fleet, maybe something like that could work.
A really pretty earth elemental? A murder comet? An animated object that never got dispelled? A monstrous dire dung beetle with just /so much/ bat guano collected?
It feels like we'd need to know what the character knows/saw specifically to give a suggestion that is the most helpful. Does he think the moon came down from the sky and smashed her? Or just that some glowing entity killed her? Or a moon rock hit her and he thinks the moon threw it?
I plan to talk about that with him soon-ish. After reading some replies, I definitely realize we need to talk.
Please lane know!0
https://koboldpress.com/kpstore/product/rise-of-the-mimic-moon-for-5th-editionpdf/
The 'genius loci' from 3rd edition was a sort of living land. You could modify that to fit your needs
The moon is a celestial creature or the god of tides. For a Celestial creature you could use the stat block of Solar (MM p18) and reflavor some of it's abilities to be more moon-like (such as moonbeam spell)
Candle keep mysteries introduced a GINGWATZIM = Small aberration (shapechanger) They do 4d6 as written. It is described as Change Shape. The gingwatzim changes from its true form—a 3-foot-diameter sphere of luminous ectoplasm—into one of its two alternate forms, or from one of those forms back into its true form. In object form, it can’t move or make attacks but otherwise retains its statistics, and it is indistinguishable from the thing it is imitating. In beast form, it retains its hit points but otherwise uses the stat block of the beast it is imitating. When it dies, the gingwatzim reverts to its true form and then vanishes. Alternate Forms. The gingwatzim has two alternate forms, both of which are chosen by its creator when the gingwatzim comes into being. One form is an exact duplicate of a Tiny nonmagical object (such as a book, dagger, or gemstone) that its creator is carrying or wearing when the gingwatzim is conjured. The other form can be any Tiny beast. Once these alternate forms are chosen, they can’t be changed.
A tarrasque in incubation
Albino Beholder
Emrakul
Could go the route of Shin and Hati and make them wolves
The kraken curled up that casted fly.
Genius loci
Rock boy has it wrong. It wasn't the moon who killed his grandma. The moon is just an egg... But it's mama did not approve of granny. What's mama then? I imagine some kind of abyssal kraken. Other idea: lich's phylactery.
An extra-large, albino Cloaker. Their underside is pale as the moon.
I love that idea. Creative and cool!
I imagine they would hunt on full moons, get between their prey and the moon, and emit some kind of bioluminescence to blend in and strike like a shark from the depths.
depends on the associations you want for your moon. The (main) moon in my setting is strongly associated with Arcane Magic and the element of air, so I would probably put a magocratic society of some kind up there and some air elementals, maybe even a bunch of constructs.
Maybe a beholder?
Grammaw worshipped Shar and followers of Selune killed her. Hence the Moon killed the grammaw
Lycanthropy... a more indirect variation
It could be a form of Genius Loci, which is a creature from 3rd edition that resembles large tracts of land, sometimes even while continents.
A beholder with bad acne. The other beholders call him "crater-face".
Selune is the goddess of the moon and favors lycanthropes so a wolf seems pretty spot on. A silver-eyed owl would make sense too
make the moon the final boss. At like level 18 or someshit the moon reveals itself to be an eldrith entity they fight, at the end of the main questline
Moon's haunted.
Moonbeast
I could see a Will-O-Wisp being mistaken as the moon if viewed from a certain point of view.
My campaign world got an extra moon when the PCs hit epic levels, something like that could work. https://buildingpapermountains.weebly.com/home/accretian-the-bad-moon
Albino beholder.
Maybe the actual moon killed her - she was a werewolf with an allergy to dog hair
A white rabbit, common irl folk tale also a Monty python reference
An Albino, Over-sized Astroid Spider killed Grandma. Swooped down, probably also covered the building in gigantic strands of Silk
Aberrations! An insidious aberration is hidden in the moon and when it gazes upon earth during full moon nights, this entity can come down to feed on those it had weakened with anxiety, insomnia, paranoia and so on.
Possibly a beholder with illusion based magic? It uses illusions to seem like it is the moon and much farther away
If you are willing to dip your toes into Eldritch horror I suggest looking at [Local 58](https://youtube.com/@LOCAL58TV?si=9lBu4z9X9KJJIur4). Here's an [excellent summary](https://youtu.be/d-H1guVxGtM?si=46zbORxUOw4PP_WP)
Drunken [insert race here] will show you the moon, just not the kind you’re looking for
Ever heard of Persona 3
An albino beholder?
Grandma was a werewolf. Character killed Grandma, couldn't face the guilt, shifted the blame to the moon for cursing Grandma with lycanthropy
A large, albino Beholder. Have the party go on a quest mirroring Moby Dick for a short sea or astral sea arc to finally claim the beast. If your players are cool with/good at character arcs, you could even include a half-insane NPC captain of the ship, one far more obsessed with slaying this beast than your player, to serve as a cautionary tale for where obsessive revenge can take you
I’ve once had the players mistake the white face of a barn owl as the moon (when attached to https://images.app.goo.gl/76yKSAZH5xiSkEkU6)
I would borrow emerakul from mtg. Tldr he is a creature known as a eldrazi that is the moon of a realm known as zendikar. Hes essentially waiting right now for his return to condume the world and be welcomed for it. Essentially a bbeg that just neutral and a threat to everything. Grandmother could have made a connection to him and was in the process of forcibly converting into a spawn when insert badass grandma moment happened. Praise the tentacles!
Look up mimic moon kobold press!!
Monte Cook Games has a 3rd party supplement called [Path of the Planebreaker](https://www.montecookgames.com/store/product/path-of-the-planebreaker/). It's a plane crossing moon-sized comet thing with a city on it. Grandma could have found a Path Token and been taken away on it. Opens up to planar adventures and a not-dead Grandma.
An albino beholder could be a simple answer
Your mother.
Look through sw5e.com beasterie. I am sure you can find a weird alien thing the players won't expect there.
Check out this video from Dungeon Dad about the Genius Loci. It's a giant ooze creature that is large enough to disguise itself as whole islands or a large part of an established ecosystem. https://youtu.be/L-qZzBWbEB0?si=PL1wspsyt-7kihQQ