publish: true
aliases:
- Nightmare
created: 2026-03-09T12:15:33.835-04:00
modified: 2026-03-09T12:15:33.835-04:00
published: 2026-03-09T12:15:33.835-04:00
tags: - ttrpg-cli/compendium/src/5e/mm
- ttrpg-cli/monster/cr/3
- ttrpg-cli/monster/size/large
- ttrpg-cli/monster/type/fiend
cssclasses: - json5e-monster
obsidianUIMode: preview
Nightmare
Source: Monster Manual p. 235. Available in the SRD
A nightmare appears in a cloud of roiling smoke, its mane, tail, and hooves wreathed in flame. The creature’s unearthly black form moves with supernatural speed, vanishing in a cloud of brimstone as quickly as it appeared.
Dread Steed
Also called a “demon horse” or “hell horse,” the nightmare serves as a steed for creatures of exceptional evil, carrying demons, devils, death knights, liches, night hags, and other vile monsters. It resembles a fiendish horse, and a nightmare’s fiery red eyes betray its malevolent intelligence. A nightmare can be summoned from the Lower Planes, but unless a worthy sacrifice is offered to it as food upon its arrival, the nightmare displays no special loyalty to the creature it serves.
Creating a Nightmare
Nightmares don’t appear naturally in the multiverse. They must be created from pegasi. The ritual that creates a nightmare requires the torturous removal of a pegasus’s wings, driving that noble creature to evil as it is transformed by dark magic.
Statblock
title: Nightmare
*Large fiend, Neutral Evil*
- **Armor Class** 13 (natural armor)
- **Hit Points** 68 (`8d10 + 24`)
- **Speed** 60 ft., fly 90 ft.
|STR|DEX|CON|INT|WIS|CHA|
|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|
|18 (+4)|15 (+2)|16 (+3)|10 (+0)|13 (+1)|15 (+2)|
- **Proficiency Bonus** +2
- **Saving Throws** ⏤
- **Skills** ⏤
- **Senses** passive Perception 11
- **Damage Immunities** fire
- **Languages** understands Abyssal, Common, and Infernal but can't speak
- **Challenge** 3
## Traits
***Confer Fire Resistance.*** The nightmare can grant resistance to fire damage to anyone riding it.
***Illumination.*** The nightmare sheds bright light in a 10-foot radius and dim light for an additional 10 feet.
## Actions
***Hooves.*** *Melee Weapon Attack:* `+6` to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. *Hit:* 13 (`2d8 + 4`) bludgeoning damage plus 7 (`2d6`) fire damage.
***Ethereal Stride.*** The nightmare and up to three willing creatures within 5 feet of it magically enter the Ethereal Plane from the Material Plane, or vice versa.