Gynosphinx 5e: A Spellcasting Sphinx and the 2024 Sphinx of Lore

The gynosphinx is a CR 11 Large legendary creature with AC 17, 136 hit points, a 60-foot fly speed, truesight to 120 feet and the spell slots of a 9th-level wizard (save DC 16). Where the androsphinx is a cleric with a roar, the gynosphinx is a scholar who fights with Darkness, Greater Invisibility and Banishment. In the 2024 rules (SRD 5.2.1) it is renamed the Sphinx of Lore: still CR 11, but with 170 hit points, three claws instead of two, Legendary Resistance, and a psychic Mind-Rending Roar in place of most of its combat spells.

Table of Contents

• •Gynosphinx Stat Block (2014)
• •The Sphinx of Lore: the 2024 Gynosphinx
• •How the Gynosphinx Fights
• •Running a Gynosphinx Encounter
• •How Players Beat a Gynosphinx
• •Gynosphinx Encounter Ideas
• •Frequently Asked Questions

Gynosphinx Stat Block (2014)

The SRD 5.1 gynosphinx:

Its claws are modest for CR 11: two attacks at +8 for 13 slashing each. The threat is the spell list and how it spends legendary actions. It knows Shield, Darkness, Suggestion, Dispel Magic, Greater Invisibility and Banishment, and its Cast a Spell legendary action (3 actions) lets it cast one of them at the end of someone else's turn.

Its defenses: resistance to bludgeoning, piercing and slashing from nonmagical attacks, immunity to psychic damage, and immunity to being charmed or frightened. Inscrutable blocks spells that read its thoughts and gives Disadvantage on Insight checks about its intentions. It has no Legendary Resistance and no Magic Resistance, and it has no saving throw proficiencies at all, so every save is just its ability modifier (+2 to +4).

Riddles and guardian duties come from the Monster Manual, not the SRD. The SRD stat block gives it Arcana +12 and History +12, which make it a natural keeper of secrets, but says nothing about riddles or what it guards.

The Sphinx of Lore: the 2024 Gynosphinx

SRD 5.2.1 calls it the Sphinx of Lore; a Tiny CR 1 Sphinx of Wonder is new.

The headline: the 2014 gynosphinx is a control caster with weak claws, while the Sphinx of Lore is a bruiser with one massive area attack. The Mind-Rending Roar fills a 300-foot Emanation, hits only enemies, and on a failed DC 16 Wisdom save deals 35 (10d6) psychic damage and leaves the target Incapacitated until the start of the sphinx's next turn. A successful save takes nothing. Incapacitated breaks Concentration, so one roar can end the party's Haste, Spirit Guardians and Banishment.

Plane Shift in 2024 has no hostile use; it moves the caster and up to eight willing creatures. For the sphinx it is a way out of a losing fight, or a way to take the party somewhere they asked to go.

How the Gynosphinx Fights

2014: darkness and truesight. The gynosphinx sees through magical darkness to 120 feet. Most characters don't. Darkness cast on itself or near the party means it attacks unseen with Advantage and the party attacks it with Disadvantage. Two claws at +8 against AC 18 go from a 55% hit chance (about 14 damage a round) to about 80% (about 21). Darkness and Greater Invisibility both need concentration, so it picks one: Darkness against a group, Greater Invisibility when it wants to move freely.

2014: legendary actions as spellcasting. At the end of the wizard's turn, Cast a Spell to Banish the party's strongest melee character (DC 16 Charisma). At the end of the fighter's turn, use Teleport (2 actions) to get away from anyone who reached it. Shield uses its Reaction, so it works once per round: when an attack would hit, Shield raises its AC to 22 until its next turn, which also blunts every later attack that round.

2024: roar first, claws after. Open with Mind-Rending Roar while it's charged. Against a party whose Wisdom saves range from +1 to +8, expect two or three of four characters to fail. That is 70 to 105 damage across the party and a round where the failed characters can't act. Then three Claws (about 23 damage a round against AC 18) on the softest target, Arcane Prowl to follow anyone who runs, and Weight of Years (DC 16 Constitution, 1 Exhaustion level) once a round on a caster. Recharge 5–6 means the roar comes back on about one turn in three.

Its exit. Below about a third of its hit points, a 2014 gynosphinx teleports and flies; a 2024 Sphinx of Lore casts Plane Shift and is gone.

Running a Gynosphinx Encounter

One gynosphinx (7,200 XP) for four characters:

In its lair the Sphinx of Lore is worth 8,400 XP, which makes it Moderate for four level 11 characters. The SRD lists only the lair XP, extra Legendary Resistance and an extra legendary action use; there are no SRD lair actions. The 2014 column follows the 2014 Dungeon Master's Guide guidelines used by our encounter calculator.

A gynosphinx works best where combat is one of several ways through: a guardian the party can bargain with, answer or fight. With Inscrutable in place, players can't use magic to learn what it wants, so they have to ask.

How Players Beat a Gynosphinx

• •2014: break its sight advantage. Faerie Fire (Dexterity save, +2) cancels Greater Invisibility. Against Darkness, Dispel Magic or simply fighting outside the 15-foot sphere works; truesight doesn't help it if it isn't in the dark.
• •2014: make it save. No Legendary Resistance and no save proficiencies. Its best save is +4. Hold Monster-style spells and Banishment are real threats to it.
• •2014: magic weapons matter. It resists nonmagical bludgeoning, piercing and slashing.
• •2024: protect Concentration. The roar reaches 300 feet, so spreading out doesn't avoid it. Give the most important Concentration spell to the character with the best Wisdom save. Strip Legendary Resistance with cheap saves before the spell you need to land.
• •Psychic damage, charm and fear are useless against both versions.

Gynosphinx Encounter Ideas

The librarian of the drowned city. A gynosphinx keeps the last intact archive of a city lost to the sea. It will cast Legend Lore for the party, once, in exchange for a book it doesn't have. The party knows where one is. So does someone else.

The witness. A Sphinx of Lore saw a murder a century ago and has never told anyone. Inscrutable means no spell can pull the answer from it. The party must persuade it, and Insight checks to read whether it is telling the truth are made with Disadvantage.

The guide with conditions. The party needs to reach another plane. A Sphinx of Lore can take them with Plane Shift, but only after they lift a curse from its ward. Its one daily Remove Curse is already spent, and the curse gets worse at dawn.

Frequently Asked Questions

What CR is a gynosphinx?

The gynosphinx is CR 11 (7,200 XP). Its 2024 version, the Sphinx of Lore, is also CR 11, worth 7,200 XP or 8,400 XP in its lair.

What is the gynosphinx called in 2024?

It is the Sphinx of Lore. The androsphinx became the Sphinx of Valor, and a new Tiny Sphinx of Wonder (CR 1) was added.

Does the gynosphinx have a roar?

Not in the 2014 rules; only the androsphinx roars. The 2024 Sphinx of Lore gains Mind-Rending Roar: each enemy in a 300-foot Emanation makes a DC 16 Wisdom save or takes 35 psychic damage and is Incapacitated until the start of the sphinx's next turn. It recharges on a 5 or 6.

What spells does a gynosphinx know?

The 2014 gynosphinx prepares wizard spells as a 9th-level caster (DC 16): Mage Hand, Minor Illusion, Prestidigitation, Detect Magic, Identify, Shield, Darkness, Locate Object, Suggestion, Dispel Magic, Remove Curse, Tongues, Banishment, Greater Invisibility and Legend Lore. The 2024 Sphinx of Lore keeps the utility spells, drops the combat ones, and adds Plane Shift.

Is a gynosphinx stronger than an androsphinx?

No. The androsphinx (Sphinx of Valor) is CR 17 with 199 hit points and a three-stage roar. The gynosphinx (Sphinx of Lore) is CR 11 with 136 hit points in 2014 and 170 in 2024.

Stat blocks: System Reference Document 5.1 (2014) and 5.2.1 (2024), Wizards of the Coast, CC-BY-4.0. Tactics, encounter math and ideas are Loreify's own.