5e Monster: Gray Jester

Gray Jester
Medium fey, neutral evil Armor Class 15 Hit Points 65 (10d8+20) Speed 50ft. STR 11 (+0) DEX 20 (+5) CON 14 (+2) INT 14 (+2) WIS 10 (+0) CHA 16 (+3) Damage Immunity bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical weapons that aren't cold iron Skills Acrobatics +7, Insight +4, Performance +5, Persuasion +7, Stealth +7 Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 10 Languages Common, Elven, and Sylvan Challenge 4 (1,100 XP)

Empathic Feeding. A gray jester can drain joyous emotions from humanoid beings. The jester must be within 30 feet of a living humanoid who is experiencing laughter, joy, or similar emotions (this includes emotions evoked by magic, such as Tasha’s hideous laughter). In a single round, a gray jester can feed on a number of people equal to its Charisma bonus (three targets for a typical gray jester). Any target who fails her DC 15 Charisma save loses 1 daily hit dice. Those drained to negative daily hit dice in this fashion might become bleak ones (see below). Gray jesters feed on emotions but are at their weakest just after feeding. For a number of rounds equal to the total number of hit dice drained, a gray jester’s damage immunity becomes damage resistance and it loses its Magic Resistance.

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

Innate Spellcasting. The gray jester's spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 13). It can innately cast the following spells, requiring only to mime somatic components: At will: minor illusion, prestidigitation

ACTIONS
Tickle Touch. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: The target falls prone laughing uncontrollably and is incapacitated. It can make a Wisdom saving throw vs DC 13 at the end of its turns to end this effect. If the target takes any hit point damage, this effect automatically ends.

BLEAK ONES
The results of a gray jester’s feeding vary depending on the target. Anyone with more max Hit Dice than the gray jester loses the ability to laugh or feel joy if reduced to negative Hit Dice. Those of fewer or equal max Hit Dice, however, become what the gray jesters call “bleak ones.” They lose all self-will as well as the capacity to feel positive emotions. Although not mindless, they undertake no actions unless the gray jester that drained them gives them orders. Bleak ones become followers and soldiers for the jester. They lose all abilities that rely on alignment, or those that require Charisma, but otherwise retain all their capabilities. A single gray jester can control up to 4 times its HD of bleak ones.