Lion's Tactical Guide to the Sirene

        Sirenes are, as the name suggests, amphibious fey creatures that dwell on coastal cliffs and who are renowned for their magical singing voices that charm the minds of sailors and supposedly lead them to their doom as they crash against the jagged rocks. What the name doesn’t necessarily suggest is that they are incredibly territorial, although not so territorial that they will immediately jump to killing intruders when non-lethal methods of removing them have not been attempted. Their highest ability score is Dexterity, followed closely by Charisma, with above-average Strength and Intelligence tied at third. This combined with their Persuasion and Stealth proficiencies let them handle parley and ambush attacks with roughly the same odds of success. They have Magic Resistance and the ability to innately cast Crown of Madness and Suggestion three times per day and Invisibility once per day. These spells, like the hamadryad’s innate spellcasting abilities, do not require any components, but unlike the hamadryad, whose spells don’t really benefit from this unique trait, the sirene benefits immensely from being able to charm intruders without them even realizing it. This is primarily how they conduct their parleys, using their above-average Intelligence and intuitive sense of who best to target with their spells to attempt to influence the three least-wise of the intruders into leaving their territory as quickly as possible by subtly casting Suggestion. If that doesn’t work, though, it’s murder time.

Sirenes come equipped with a dagger and a shortbow that they can use for two melee or ranged attacks, respectively, but while they are fully capable of engaging in straightforward skirmisher tactics, I would argue that starting with that strategy is a disservice to the sirenes’ unique magical abilities. Instead, I would hold that, as soon as their attempt at parley fails, they use Crown of Madness against the same targets that they tried to use Suggestion on earlier. Crown of Madness is an unusual enchantment spell in that it’s limited by virtue of the caster having to use their action to maintain the spell and the target having to attack in melee before moving, but beneficial in that damage doesn’t force an additional saving throw beyond the one that the target can make at the end of each of their turns. Although sirenes can cast the spell without any visible sign of doing so, a party who’s aware of the sirenes’ magical abilities can make a Perception check contested by the sirenes’ proficient Stealth check to ascertain that they’re probably the reason a jagged iron crown appeared on the party barbarian’s head before they cut up the party wizard with their greataxe. If they can manage to disguise their magic, they’re happy to rest luxuriously on the rocks while their intruders try to kill each other, but if they’re found out, their best course of action is to dive beneath the waves to a depth of 60 feet at nighttime or 120 feet during the day, so that they can use the rest of their daily uses of the spell before resurfacing and firing off ranged attacks with their shortbows. Although they certainly don’t like intruders in their territory, they don’t love being killed either, and so they will begrudgingly retreat beneath the waves as soon as they’re reduced to 14 hit points or less, casting Invisibility on themselves to cover their escape and hoping that the intruders will eventually leave their territory so that they can return to their otherwise peaceful lives. 

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