New Magic Item/Monster - Strangler's Belt (OSR and 5E friendly)

Embuk stared at the third consecutive murder victim in as many days. All had been strangled to death, all with the pattern of a belt, but a different one in each instance. They were each missing their belt. "Odd," he thought. "Why would the murderer take their belts?"

Magic Item/Monster: Strangler's Belt

The magic item is sentient. Its only desire is to strangle it's owner and move on to find a new one. It is detectable as evil. After every third killing the murdering belt goes dormant during which time it is likely to have traveled some distance before needing to slay again.

Immediately after strangling its owner in their sleep, the belt slithers away, finding another belt wearer, absorbing their belt and taking its appearance.

DM's can treat this as an animated magic item, a golem, or anything in between to determine its stats should characters discover and try to destroy it. The belt will always fight back.

Give it advantage or magic resistance on saves against magic to make it tougher for higher level characters.

Experienced earned should be appropriate to the CR or monster level chosen, along with a bonus for figuring out the mystery.

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