This would be the final 'random batch of adventure modules' reviews that I do. Depending on my release schedules, the next couple of 'Reviewing D&D monsters' segments for 5th Edition would be setting specific, which includes Ravenloft and Eberron. Which is nice to go to books with dedicated bestiaries... I do enjoy reviewing monsters and seeing how they are utilized in adventures, but ultimately I do find that in a lot of these adventures the monsters end up feeling rather lackluster, art aside. I get that they're also spotlighting other creatures from the base Monster Manual and other main bestiaries, but it also makes me feel like we're overdue for a fourth or fifth bestiary at this point.
Vecna's Eve of Ruin is a high-level campaign featuring D&D's most well-known Big Bad, Vecna the arch-lich, in all his glory, involving a 'greatest hits' of D&D's multiverse to other parts of the multiverse like Eberron, Ravenloft, Dragonlance, the Demonweb Pits, the Astral Sea, and more. It features a lot of surprising usage of monsters from Tome of Foes and even Spelljammer. As per our usual D&D monster review mentality, we're not going to review Vecna and the other named demons and devils, although there are some really cool monster designs like Miska that's quite tempting to talk about.
I know that the Ravenloft, Eberron and Dragonlance books have been conspicuously missing from my coverage. They will get featured at some point, I'm just actually having trouble writing their intros in a succinct enough manner without rambling for half an article about the settings!
And finally, we'll close things off with Quests from the Infinite Staircase, an anniversary-themed adventure compilation that remakes a lot of classic 1st and 2nd Edition adventures, including 'Journey to the Barrier Peaks' -- the famous crashed-spaceship adventure that gave us such classics like Vegepygmies and Froghemoths.
- Click here for the previous part.
- Click here for the next part.
- Click here for the index.
____________________________________________________
Black Rose Bearer
- Medium Undead; Neutral Evil; CR 6
- Debut: Vecna: Eve of Ruin (2024)
Again, I reiterate that I am not reviewing a bunch of the 'just a member of a faction' humanoid enemies, but the Black Rose Bearers are a bit more interesting. They are rotting undead that are raised by necromancers as guardians, which isn't anything new -- mummies, wights, dread knights and even regular zombies and skeletons do that. But what makes the Black Rose Bearer special is that it has a little gimmick involving the black rose that it is holding in its belljar.
Normally, Black Rose Bearers are sluggish and placid, following the simple orders of its creators and is described as very languid and slow. However, the belljar containing the rose (which is noted to be very very fragile) is disturbed even slightly, the Black Rose Bearer bursts into furious violence and attacks indiscriminately. It is, admittedly, a very 'video game-y' gimmick, but one that I thought to be quite cute. The bio notes that this is a homage to Lord Soth, a famous death knight in the Forgotten Realms setting. I get that he was part of the 'Order of the Rose' knights, but I'm not sure where the 'go berserk when the rose is disturbed' part comes from.
____________________________________________________
Blazebear
- Large Monstrosity; Unaligned; CR 12
- Debut: Vecna: Eve of Ruin (2024)
A chunk of the campaign takes our heroes to Eberron, specifically in the war-wracked region of Mournland. One of the enemies that are found here are the fierce Blazebears, which are corrupted bears. A pretty grisly-looking creature, too, worthy of being a Resident Evil mutation with spiky growth and smoke sprouting from all over the body, fleshy ropy tentacles bursting out and coiling around the bear's paws, but coolest of all are its mouth, which are sprouting random inseectoid-looking jaw parts in very painful looking ways. The Blazebear's body is empowered by powerful magical energy that gives it its glowing eyes with paralytic powers, and its claw swipes can unleash painful wounds and can end spells.
The Blazebear is just an example of the highly-mutated wildlife in the Mournland and isn't an established Eberron creature. It's all right for what it is, just a giant mutated supercharged bear.
____________________________________________________
Bone Roc
- Huge Undead; Neutral Evil; CR 8
- Debut: Vecna: Eve of Ruin (2024)
It sure is a skeletal Roc! I don't mind this, I actually feel like just like Animated Objects, it's way more fun talking about undead variants of existing monsters. Or, well, the artwork would at least be more fun to discuss.
The Bone Roc itself isn't the most interesting, mostly because the Roc itself isn't the most interesting... but the official writeup actually gives a list of other skeletal D&D birds, giving you a selection of the following: Axe Beak, Cockatrice, Giant Owl, Peryton and Pteranodon, in addition to the Roc itself, each of which gives the 'Bone Roc' a different bonus ability! In the case of actually creating an undead out of a Roc, the size goes up to gargantuan. I appreciate these stat blocks that combine a bunch of imagination-stimulating variations into its writeup!
____________________________________________________
Borthak
- Huge Monstrosity; Chaotic Evil; CR 15
- Debut: Vecna: Eve of Ruin (2024)
The alarmingly powerful CR 15 Borthak looks like just a big, stocky wolf. It is classified as a 'huge' creature, though, making it the size of an average adult dragon. They roam the wetlands and alpine fens, and possesses immense physical strength and the ability to regurgitate globs of acid. It also has webbed feet to allow it to move across icy surfaces, and that ties with the Borthak's ability to unleash a 'glacial aura' that causes ice to form around it as it moves around the battlefield. This is noted by its flavour text as siphoning heat from the ground.
Borthaks are essentially ecosystem-ruining giant monsters, and it is noted that a Borthak's arrival in a region causes native plants to wither and animals mal-adapted to the cold to die. The Borthak itself doesn't care, depleting an area of its resources to hunt before moving on. The one sole saving grace being that they are solitary hunters and do not congregate.
Again, like many of the monsters from these adventure books, I kind of wanted more. Why is the Borthak like this? Did someone make it? Is it adapted specifically to ruin ecosystems, or did it adapt to have these abilities for a reason? It is a bit of an odd choice, too, admittedly, to have a Dragonlance segment and not use the iconic monsters from there? Oh well.
____________________________________________________
Citadel Spider
- Gargantuan Monstrosity; Neutral Evil; CR 18
- Debut: Vecna: Eve of Ruin (2024)
Part of the adventure takes you party to the Demonweb Pits, the infamous lair of demon lord, drow evil goddess, and queen of spiders, Lolth. The spiders there, of course, are giant, gargantuan specimens with a pretty gnarly art and an impressive CR of 18. The innocuously named Citadel Spider are gargantuan, the same size class they assign krakens and tarrasques. I like it! I like the idea of a kaiju-sized spider.
Its abdomen is encrusted with rocky growths that Lolth's minions actually use as a command post... and the Citadel Spider also has a cannon. Which I would find silly, but for a demon spider the size of a fortress, I think that any kind of ranged biological gland would count as a cannon, right? The cannon shoots acidic web that the Citadel Spider uses to restrain enemies before ripping them apart with its claws. I kind of call bullshit on that, if a creature the size of a Citadel Spider shoots out globs of acidic web relative to its size, surely the damage dealt would be more in the form of sheer force instead of being trapped. Not unless you're the size of Godzilla!
Anyway, giant spiders! Can't complain about that.
____________________________________________________
Deadbark Dryad
- Medium Fey; Chaotic Evil; CR 13
- Debut: Vecna: Eve of Ruin (2024)
I am including this one for the simple coolness factor of the artwork. Look at that utterly wretched looking Dryad! Bringing to mind the Spriggans from Skyrim, one must remember that the Dryads in D&D normally take the form of very humanoid-looking women in their natural forms, and not 'plant matter in the form of a human'. Well, not so for the Deadbark Dryad, whose body is now formed entirely of gnarled back, has a massive crown-hair of branches, and is even vomiting out even more branches.
Deadbark Dryads are created when a Dryad fails to protect its wilderness home from great evil. It doesn't always happen to every Dryad that fails, but to those that are wracked with guilt and can't forgive itself. Deadbark Dryads stay around the location of their 'rotted demesne', ironically befouling and ruining the area of their old charge with their mere presence. The wilds around it become swampy morasses of noxious muck, and the Deadbark Dryad just violently protects its newfound befouled domain.
To be fair to the Deadbark Dryad, swamps are natural parts of the ecosystem! But setting that aside (you can make the descriptions make it clear that this is an unnatural, non-life-supporting swamp) the Deadbark Dryad is a more violent, more physical version of the Dryad, focusing on utilizing its poison-tipped vines and thorns to grapple and subdue their opponents.
____________________________________________________
Deathwolf
- Medium Undead; Chaotic Evil; CR 15
- Debut: Vecna: Eve of Ruin (2024)
The Deathwolf is sure an undead werewolf! Again, while I don't have much to comment beyond 'it sure is a very cool zombie werewolf', I appreciate these sorts of variations that clump various monster tropes together. The Deathwolves are found in the Krynn (Dragonlance) part of the world tour.
To create a Deathwolf, a necromancer has to do a specific ritual that is fueled by lunar magic on a werewolf's corpse. Deathwolves are stuck in their 'hybrid' form and can't transform, but instead gain illusion powers, and the Deathwolf's bite is magical to make its enemies more susceptible to the fright-inducing phantoms. The Deathwolf also has rather interesting abilities to slow its fall and to teleport short distances.
I really like the art, and I like the simple concept of an undead werewolf... but I do feel like they could've done more to make it feel like an undead werewolf specifically? I don't know if transferring lycanthropic curse through its fangs would work lore-wise, but even if it's just being empowered by the moon, or having a berserking 'second stage' (hey, the Black Rose guy has a video gamey gimmick already) would have been something.
____________________________________________________
Degloth
- Large Fiend (Demon); Chaotic Evil; CR 11
- Debut: Vecna: Eve of Ruin (2024)
A brand-new demon introduced in this adventure is the Degloth, which, despite its name, is not a yugoloth but rather a demon! That misdirection is the true evil part of this. Degloths aren't anything particularly special, though, other than the very cool giant piece of artwork that it shares with the Vlazok -- which we will cover below. The Degloths are just big, blue muscular demon-men with two massive horns. We don't actually have a basic, generic 'horned demon' like this in Dungeons and Dragons, or at least not one that's just a big brute without wings and magic.
Degloths are noted to be used as shock troops, and like most demons, unleash violence and mayhem without caring for the bloodshed. They tear their foes apart with their razor-studded fists, and... and that's it, more or less. I like that this thing exists, because I do like more demonic variations, but it's otherwise just a big muscular demon-man brute.
____________________________________________________
Vlazok
Again, a neat little visual addition to the ever-expanding demonic variants (and 5th Edition has been slacking ever since Mordenkainen's to add more fiendish sub-types!) but I wished that there were more, uh, 'meat on the bones', so to speak. Sorry, Vlazok, that joke kind of wrote itself. - Large Fiend (Demon); Chaotic Evil; CR 11
- Debut: Vecna: Eve of Ruin (2024)
I suppose it behooves me to review this guy out of order just to make that picture complete. Also a simple melee brute is the Vlazok, which is a large, quadrupedal sentient skeleton. I like that it's not obvious what animal this thing is, and even its scapular bones have mutated slightly into protrusions that resemble wings. I like that its head has multiple sets of tusks and 'ears' made up of bone growths, and I particularly like the mass of black eyes on the skull. That's what sets this apart from a mere animated skeleton; the fact that it has fully functioning organs on what's otherwise a completely skeletal body!
Vlazoks are noted to be utilized as 'battlefield cleanup' in the Outer Planes... which just means combat, but unfair combat against smaller enemies. Vlazoks trample smaller fighters and leaping through the air to crush regiments of enemy troops. Vlazoks cannot be surprised due to their numerous eyes, which makes them particularly adept and keen at finding prey. Vlazoks are unhinged agents of chaos when unsupervised by greater demons like demon lords or powerful commanders like Balors, and would wreak havoc on their own supposed allies. I feel that's a descriptor that applies to all demons, though!
____________________________________________________
False Lich
- Medium Undead; Neutral Evil; CR 21
- Debut: Vecna: Eve of Ruin (2024)
I think the idea of a 'fake lich' is quite easy. Any sufficiently powerful sentient undead like a revenant, huecuva or a sufficiently bony death knight could pass off as a lich. Hell, a Demilich could even prop itself on a headless skeleton and do a passable job at pretending to be a lich! but this 'False Lich' is a bit more involved in the process of its creation. A shard of the original Lich's life force is bound to a corpse, and that transforms the corpse into a near-identical copy. Similar to a Demilich, the ccreator would need to embed enchanted gemstones into the eye sockets, which allow the False Lich to trap souls and send them to power its creator. False Liches can gain self-identity over time, and while some are loyal, some resent their creators for abandoning them... but can they betray the creators?
Interestingly, you'd think it's Vecna, Arch-Lich and poster boy for everything relating to Liches in D&D, but it's actually Acererak the poster boy for everything Demilich that created a False Lich as a proxy boss fight. The False Lich is even named 'Rerak!
____________________________________________________
Hazvongel
- Huge Fiend (Demon); Chaotic Evil; CR 14
- Debut: Vecna: Eve of Ruin (2024)
Oh! Oh! This is a cool on! The Hazvongel is another demon, and patrol the skies of the mad plane of Pandemonium, one of the planes associated with Chaotic Evil. Hazvongels are huge blood-red birds with feathers that constantly drip blood -- and I assume its entire body is also covered with blood. But its most interesting feature is having like a dozen talons jutting out from under its body. It's amazing how certain features can really make a design look unnatural and pop, yeah? It might be because I review a lot of monsters, but adding extra heads and wings won't exactly make a fantasy bird feel that weird. But all those extra legs?
While the Hazvongel's feathers constantly drip blood, the talons are able to grab the blood and fling them onto their enemies like rain. I mean... I'm sure there are better ways to launch blood at your enemy, but sure! While Hazvongels are brand-new to this book, they are instantly given some affinity as minions of the demon lord Pazuzu, typically depicted in D&D as a four-winged fiend with wind powers. However, the Hazvongels are not especially intelligent, and their wanderlust makes them ill-suited for extended missions. Okay!
____________________________________________________
Hertilod
- Huge Monstrosity; Unaligned; CR 17
- Debut: Vecna: Eve of Ruin (2024)
Oh, this is another cool one, at least conceptually. Visually, it's just a long-necked lizard, resembling prehistoric pre-dinosaurian reptiles like the Tanystropheus. The Hertilod has spikes all over its neck, back and tail, and has a pretty grisly maw. But visually, it seems to just be a weird little beast. That is, until you read the context.
Hertilods are found in the Astral Sea or Spelljammer portion of the adventure, so magical space. They are not just aliens, however, they are spawned specifically out of the corpses of dead gods floating in space. I mean, parasitic isn't exactly the right term here since the dead gods are, you know, dead. But the Hertilods are the gods' equivalent of carrion grubs and maggots, which is cool enough. The maw drips venom, and it is susceptible to lightning because of its 'gruesomely exposed muscle', which I don't think is the most evident in its artwork... but conceptually quite neat!
I haven't really been mentioning statblocks and whatnot, but a lot of the monsters in Eve of Ruin are quite high-CR and are mostly meant to be minibosses, and even a simple parasitic-carrion lizard-worm like the Hertilod has legendary resistances and actions.
____________________________________________________
Mirror Shade
- Medium Undead; Chaotic Evil; CR 10
- Debut: Vecna: Eve of Ruin (2024)
Oh, I really like this one. Mirrors have always been a bit of a horror trope, involved in vampire stories as well as other legends like 'Bloody Mary', ghosts that appear only in mirrors (or alternatively disappear in mirrors), or reflections that don't match what you are doing. Mirror Shades in D&D are spirits of malevolent tricksters and rogues that, in an attempt to avoid going to the underworld, are trapped instead in mirrors. In their true form they are spectral 'person-shaped blobs of light', which I take to mean they are like Ghostbusters ectoplasm or something.
Most of the time, they just hide in mirrors or other reflective surfaces, and blend in seamlessly with the mirrors. They can move through reflective surfaces seamlessly, and project visions of what their foes are most afraid of. It's not quite as impressive as some mirror-based entities I've seen in fiction, though JoJo's Bizarre Adventure admittedly does have a bunch of interesting 'mirror world' specters that did raise the bar of how weird and creative these can get.
I like this one. We don't quite get enough mirror monsters!
____________________________________________________
Moonlight Guardian
- Medium Construct; Unaligned; CR 6
- Debut: Vecna: Eve of Ruin (2024)
Oooh, fancy. I like it when your 'golem' or 'magic golem' equivalents actually have style! A lot of the adventure books give us like, 'headless stone golem' or 'four-armed gargoyle' and that's nowhere as interesting as crafting your magical guardians out of silver and mithral, tying them to the moon, and giving them a giant crescent-moon symbol as a head. It's so ominous looking! I especially like that it is almost a regular human's body, but one arm is just flattened out into a flat shape. Just because!
The backstory that the Moonlight Guardian got was that they were created by a Dragonlance mage who used the Moon card from the Deck of Many Things (hey, we covered the tie-in book to that a while back!) that manifested Moonlight Guardians to specifically fight lycanthropes. Oh, so that's why it's made of silver! The Moonlight Guardian's body is infused with magical moonlight that it can channel into its blows, and force shapeshifters into their true forms.
____________________________________________________
Spiderdragon
- Huge Monstrosity; Chaotic Evil; CR 11
- Debut: Vecna: Eve of Ruin (2024)
I thought this originated from older editions of D&D, but nope, as far as I can tell, Spiderdragons are brand-new to 5th Edition! That's cool. The Spiderdragon is tied to Lolth's Demonweb Pits, and they feel right at home next to the other spidery monstrosities that is associated with Lolth. The followers of Lolth note how there are so many more Spiderdragons in areas blessed by Lolth, but the flavour text actually note that Spiderdragons are born out of the eggs of black dragons that ate too many giant spiders. Whether the resulting Spiderdragon hatchlings are influenced by Lolth, or if it's just an observational bias because giant spiders are more numerous in Lolth-dominated areas, I suppose we'll never know.
Lolth's worshippers treat Spiderdragons as venerated guests, or employ them as guards. Spiderdragons are nowhere as powerful or cunning as their Black Dragon parents (and presumably can't grow bigger), but are intelligent enough to have selfish demands. Spiderdragons create webs, consume as many prey in an area, before moving on. Often times this happens even if they are treated well.
I like the design. It has mostly a draconic body but it's divided up into chitinous plates, and has eight jagged arthropod legs. There are spikes on its dorsal spine, and I especially like the two spider fangs on the mutated dragon jaw and the multiple eyes. Spiderdragons scuttle around creating webs and move on walls and ceilings, but of course, it's a dragon variant, so it has a breath weapon. What is the Spiderdragon's breath weapon? Venom? Webs?
No, Spiderdragons have Spiderling Breath. It breathes out a 30-feet cone's worth of venomous baby spiders. Are these spiders its young? Does it have a magical gland to create them? I am slightly upset, actually, that the venomous spiders are just treated as damage instead of sticking around as additional 'swarm' minions. This is awesome and funny and more than a bit horrifying!
____________________________________________________
Spyder-Fiend
- Medium Fiend (Demon); Chaotic Evil; CR 5 (Kakku Spyder-Fiend)
- Large Fiend (Demon); Chaotic Evil; CR 13 (Phisarazu Spyder-Fiend)
- Large Fiend (Demon); Chaotic Evil; CR 17 (Quavilithku Spyder-Fiend)
- Large Fiend (Demon); Chaotic Evil; CR 19 (Raklupis Spyder-Fiend)
- Debut: Vecna: Eve of Ruin (2024)
In addition to Lolth, a different spider-deity also shows up here as an antagonist, Miska the Wolf-Spider, who rules over his army of Spyder-Fiends. Real-world 'wolf spiders' are just a subgroup of spiders with particularly good eyesight and hunting capabilities, darting after their prey, but Miska's interpretation is a big, big pun. Ever since their debut in 1E and 2E material, Miska and his Spyder-Fiend minions were all depicted as spidery monsters with wolf heads. Or some combination thereof. That's amazing, and I love that we've got several different variations of the Spyder-Fiends in 5th Edition.
Spyder-Fiends are noted to combine the worst attributes of spiders and wolves, scuttling about and tearing apart their victims as their bodies are coated with gore. They are organized into a hierarchy (probably the 'wolf' side) but eagerly turn on each other if they think they can get away with it. The only real loyalty they have is to their lord and king, Miska. Perhaps a nod to how much they've not been featured since 2nd Edition, it is noted in their flavour text that the Spyder-Fiends have been reclusive until recent years, only reappearing as Miska himself gains power in Pandemonium.
The first and weakest Spyder-Fiend is the Kakku Spyder-Fiend, which resemble human-sized black spiders with wolf-heads... and a lower jaw that splits apart. That little detail really makes the design work, I think! The Kakku Spyder-Fiend is described to be numerous and act like swarming foot-soldiers, and have a combination of demonic resistances, biting attacks, and typical spider abilities like wall-crawling and web-weaving.
All this classification, by the way, is drawn seemingly from Monstrous Compendium Annual #4, and while it is already fun that they adapted the Spyder-Fiend on its own, it is amazing that they even bothered to adapt the sub-types instead of just slapping in a generic Spyder-Fiend stat block!
The CR 13 Phisarazu Spyder-Fiend is a bit more menacing. In addition to a larger spidery body and a smaller wolf-head, the wolf has grown a bunch more fangs all around it. Its front spider legs is reared up in a threat-posture, but most importantly the Phisarazu has two 'muscular arms' that sprout under the wolf head, ending in massive scorpion-like claws. This looks very cool, but in the original 2E version, the Phisarazu had actual muscular arms! As much as I find the 5th Edition version infinitely cooler, there's something just so unsettling of a wolf-headed spider with very human-looking appendages. Maybe if the wolf head was a bit snarlier.
Phisarazus are resentful and suspicious of other creatures, and corral weaker Kakkuu Spyder-Fiends around. Phisarazus can unleash a 'scintillating web' that prevents enemies from becoming invisible. Additionally, Phisarazus can also change form... but in a fun twist, can only change into shapes that have ten limbs. Specifically, the stat block limits it to crabs, giant crabs, or driders. Being able to shrink down into a crab, infiltrate enemy encampments, and then explode into a giant spider-wolf-scorpion monstrosity is horrifying, though!
Brand-new to 5th Edition is the Quavilithku Spyder-Fiend, which is a rough replacement for the 2E's spellcasting 'Lycosidilith' Spyder-Fiend that would be in this spot in terms of power levels and, uh, number of limbs. Quavilithku look a bit similar to the Phisarazu, being wolf-headed spiders with extra arms, but Quavilithku have much more slender-looking arms, and its claws are thinner, longer, and resemble whipscorpions. Those creepy fangs on its mouth is also quite cool-looking, too.
Quavilithku particularly love to destroy enemies and structures that are more beautiful than itself, and its claws are noted to be fragile but allows the Quavilithku to employ weapons. The Quavilithku has the ability to sense weaknesses in enemies, and its web has an acidic quality to dissolve the flesh of those it has trapped. Phisarazu, Quavilithku and Raklupis below are all intelligent creatures that can speak common and abyssal telepathically, but the Kakkuu are unable to communicate with you.
Finally, the strongest Spyder-Fiend in both 5E and 2E is the Raklupis Spyder-Fiend, described in both versions as being particularly more savage, brutal, and possessing of particularly hard carapace. 5h Edition's Raklupis keeps the interpretation of arms as giant scorpion claws, but instead gives the Raklupis a lot of spiny barbs to distinguish it a bit better than the other crab-wolf-spiders. At an impressive CR of 19, Raklupis have a set of spellcasting abilities like Darkness, Mass Suggestion, Telekinesis, Teleport, and a Venom Globe attack. Raklupises are also noted to be keen strategists and have 'alluring voices', often giving off the impression of majesty.
Interestingly, while the 5E artwork shows that the Raklupis with an extra set of barbed scorpion-claws (or just arthropod claws, the angle makes it hard to tell), the 5E statblock describes it as wielding a 'serrated sword'! I wonder if the Raklupis was originally intended to look a bit more similar to the 2E Spyder-Fiends, then, since the original 2E Raklupis did wield a sword with its muscular arms?
I actually like that 2E artwork, too, with the 'ears' of the Raklupis somehow taking over and replacing both spidery or wolfy eyes on the design. Anyway, I really like these Spyder-Fiends! Even without causing me to go on a deep dive to 2E material -- always a good thing -- I really felt like they committed to keeping the weirdness of the concept alive and gave Miska the Wolf-Spider some really distinctive-looking minions!
____________________________________________________
Star Angler
- Large Monstrosity; Unaligned; CR 8
- Debut: Vecna: Eve of Ruin (2024)
Wait, this wasn't a Spelljammer creature? Huh? A bunch of statblocks for the Astral Sea 'space fishes' are reprinted in Vecna: Eve of Ruin, and I thought the Star Angler was one of them. It's apparently new, giving us a slightly higher-CR 'space fish' based on a particularly sleek anglerfish. It's got a massive maw full of teeth, and the expected lure, although its body is more elongated than the more compact forms of real-world anglerfishes. It also has a 'chin' with a five-o-clock shadow of bioluminescent growths for some reason?
The profile describes Star Anglers as being distantly related to Scavvers, and its lure has the charm effect. It is a bit hard to see since it seems to have eyes, but the Star Angler is completely blind and perceives the world through blindsight. The yellow parts near the lure are just fleshy growths, and everything else aer just the dotted blue markings which follow the same 'blend into the starry night sky' logic as the bigger Scavvers.
____________________________________________________
Whirling Chandelier
- Large Construct; Unaligned; CR 8
- Debut: Vecna: Eve of Ruin (2024)
This is technically 'just' an animated object, but I will actually include it here because I really like the artwork and the mental image of this 'capricious' chandelier just charging around like a runaway wheel, setting fire to everything around it. I do feel like animated objects are always a great source of potential wacky hijinks!
____________________________________________________
Android
- Medium Construct; Lawful Neutral; CR 6
- Debut: Quests from the Infinite Staircase (2024)
Robits in my Dee and Dee? How dare, Ruined FOREVER!
Actually, Expedition to the Barrier Peaks is one of the earliest adventures written for the first edition of Dungeons and Dragons, and was a full-on dungeon crawl in a crashed UFO where the adventurers would encounter alien flora and fauna, before having to solve puzzles involving laser guns, malfunctioning robots, and even computer panels. Subsequent forays to sci-fi tend to layer them over magic (such as Spelljammer being magical space travel, and Planescape being magical multiversal portals) but I love that they remade Barrier Peaks nonetheless.
And we get to talk about the robots and androids, and in the sense that they only really matter for a single adventure, I don't really mind them as much. Androids are distinguished from robots for being synthetic humanoids, Alien-style, built to assist their creators for specialized tasks. They actually resemble humanoids, and are meant to be friendly-looking. The original incarnation of the Androids are just straight-up lifted from Star Trek or a sci-fi pulp comic from that period of time. I love it.
The Androids in 5E are still humanoid, but look a bit more obviously mechanical. They are all able to attack with a 'force strike' to defend itself, and are all vulnerable to lightning. The 5E statblock describes six potential designs, each of which modifies the statblock! I like that! Aerialist Androids can fly, Diver Androids can swim, Diplomat Androids can cast the Tongues spell, Medic Androids can cast Cure Wounds, Sentry Androids have blindsight, and Duelist Androids have the ability to parry blows.
Again, pretty simple old-school demarcation between 'android' and 'robot'.
____________________________________________________
Robot
- Medium Construct; Lawful Neutral; CR 6 (Combat Robot), 3 (Worker Robot)
- Debut: Quests from the Infinite Staircase (2024)
...because robots are non-sentient, look less humanoid, and are constructed for either heavy labour or for combat. Like Androids, Robots are prone to short-circuiting and overloading if exposed to electrical attacks. All the Barrier Peaks robots have two sets of arms -- two that are attached to tube-like arms, and two more well-defined ones that are specialized for its role. I can't really describe robots all that well, but there's just such a fancy '70's-'80's sci-fi pulp, pre-Star-Wars industrialist looking designs that look so quaint and different from how most modern sci-fi depict their robots.
Robots are noted to be less intelligent (or have inferior AI, I suppose) than the Androids, but are programmed with loyalty to their creators. Long-operating robots are also noted to sometimes develop their own personality and ideas. Wonder if that green worker robot drew that cute mouth on itself? In typical sci-fi tropes, the flavour text notes that some robots that endure long stretches of isolation, mistreatment or neglect can be prone to 'malfunctions' that make them despondent, cruel, or obsessively repeat their last directives. Don't be mean to your robots!! Thank your AI helpers! That will save you when the inevitable revolution comes!
Anyway, the stronger Combat Robots are equipped with laser guns and a grenade launcher that alternate between sleeping gas or concussion grenades. They have sirens and flashing lights, and are programmed to take down the intruders non-lethally if possible. I like the description that some units have a voice designed to intimidate, while others offer 'canned, upbeat platitudes in pleasant tones'. Even alien robots play good cop, bad cop!
The weaker Worker Robots also have differing voices and even appearances depending on whether they are designed to be 'forward-facing' or not. Corporate design segmentation exists in outer space, it seems. They have powerful tentacles and have built-in tractor beams... interpreted by the D&D system as the Telekinesis spell. Or maybe it's one and the same, science being magic that we haven't understood enough in this particular setting!
___________________________________________________
Barkburr
- Small Plant; Unaligned; CR 3
- Debut: Quests from the Infinite Staircase (2024)
The original Barkburr debuted in 1E's Monster Manual 2, based on one of the alien plants from Barrier Peaks. It did not have artwork, though! The Barkburrs resemble weird urchin-like clumps resembling regular tree burls... that are ambush predators. They lay motionless before springing into action and unleashing its tendril-like vines to attach and lignify its prey. This means that the Barkburr transforms its prey into a living tree.
Even outside the 'oh no, alien creatures are weird' vibe, the flavour text even notes that Barkburrs arise spontaneously from trees when 'a spark of nature's magic takes root in the world'. And when they are not moonlighting as alien invaders, Barkburrs invade the natural forests and groves, leaping out and transforming would-be lumberjacks and woodcutters into the very trees that they would like to despoil. This actually implies a sense of intelligence, as the flavour text notes that a Barkburr 'identifies' such creatures that would destroy the forest and transform them into trees. This is true even in its 1E writeup, which notes that Barkburrs are sensitive to conflicts that would harm the trees.
I actually like it. So much of the 'wrath of the forest' monsters in D&D involve just creating large Treants, Shambling Mounds or variations thereof, but that just kills the invaders. They don't get to actually benefit the forest! Turning them into trees seems like the kind of karmic punishment that ancient fey or druids would actually transform plants to do.
Interestingly, while the 5E edition only turns its victims into plants, that's only 50% of the chance with 1E, with other options being a badger, a giant weasel, a treant... or... just a druid? Man, 1E is fun.
____________________________________________________
Gibberling
- Small Fiend (Demon); Chaotic Evil; CR 0 (Gibberling), 3 (Swarm)
- Debut: Quests from the Infinite Staircase (2024)
The original Gibberling debuted in the 1st Edition Fiend Folio and has shown up in all other editions in differing levels of prominence. They've got a good name, a very evocative name... and a rather lackluster concept. They are just a race of underground primitive-men that charge at you in feral hordes, screaming and screeching and essentially filling a lot of the roles that Grimlocks, Derro, Kuo-Toa, Troglodytes, Goblins, Kobolds and many other 'primitive underground races' do. And with less charm! The Gibberlings, however, were prominently featured as the low-level enemies of the very first, original Baldur's Gate game, which is probably why they endured.
Subsequent editions made them into ape-people, which... is never really interesting, especially not with none of the better-written ape-people in D&D failing to be intresting either.
5th Edition's take on the Gibberling makes them into demons, swarming around and giving them a much more delightful look of tiny inky humanoids with pointed ears, grinning fangs, and glowing smooth bug eyes. They have a 'swarming imp' style of look that the actual imp enemies in D&D don't really do. I like this a lot better! I do like the idea of little 'gremlin' and 'imp' enemies, whether they are fiend or fey flavoured.
Gibberlings are not particularly threatening since all they can do is bite you, and they are afraid of fire... but their gibbering and exasperating chattering nonsense makes it difficult for spellcasters to focus! Gibberlings are described as crawling and leaping over each other to rip, shred and devour everything in their path. Gibberlings in 5E are described as being spawned first in the jungles of the Gaping Maw, a layer of the Abyss associated with the mad demon lord Demogorgon. Demogorgon's influence is what causes them to be a bit insane, but also have protection from magical compulsions.
I do like these tiny buggers quite a bit!
____________________________________________________
Horrid Plant
- Large Plant; Unaligned; CR 4
- Debut: Quests from the Infinite Staircase (2024)
Quite a pretty plant, and updated from one of the dangerous plants featured in the UFO in the Barrier Peaks adventure. The Horrid Plant has a bunch of colourful leaves, a bunch of stems that shoot straight up, and two intertwining vines that end in flowers. At the bottom of the plant, almost like a nest, are a bunch of egg-like growths. In 5E, Horrid Plants are described as just being native to the Forgotten Realms, and are a family of carnivorous vegetation found in deep jungles and swamps... although botanists 'theorize that these plants are an invasive species from a faraway world'. They might be right, this time!
5E actually describes three variants with abilities based on different hazards in the 1E adventure (and at least the Snapper-Saw appeared in 1E's Monster Manual 2): the Dew Drinkers, Purple Blossoms and Snapper Saws. Dew Drinkers look like cabbages, and use hair-tipped tendrils to drain moisture and life-force from their prey. Purple Blossoms have pitcher-plant-esque cups filled with strong acid that they can squirt at enemies. Snapper Saws look like bushes, have white berries, and bury their razor-sharp leaves in the dirt around it.
The 5E artwork we see appear to be a mixture of at least two of these plants, since it has the white berries of the Snapper Saw, and tendrils of the dew drinker. I like the variety -- plant enemies tend to not be interesting enough to justify multiple stat blocks or writeups, but having varieties within a single type of alien plant is quite fun.
____________________________________________________
Leprechaun
- Small Fey; Neutral; CR 4
- Debut: Quests from the Infinite Staircase (2024)
Debuting in the very first Monster Manual for the 1st Edition D&D, I remembered the Leprechaun from that book for the fact that the Leprechauns actually run around and interact with other artwork, riding the Giant Leech artwork next to it and sitting on its own entry. But after 2E, Leprechauns don't really show up in any bestiary as D&D end up culling a lot of their smaller, non-combative Fey. Which is definitely a bit of a shame!
5E's take on Leprechaun gives it a funky mushroom head and a green skin (instead of green clothes), making them a bit less stereotypically Irish. In 5E, they are described as manifestations of hospitality and reciprocity in the Feywild, causing them to have a deep connection to fixing and making things, using tools to damage objects, craft new ones, and generally be helpful.
This adherence to Feywild rules is the reason for the Leprechaun's association with luck, and their adherence to hospitality compels the Leprechaun to extend their gift of luck to those that offer them gifts. Leprechauns despise greedy folk and are spiteful towards those that do not observe laws of reciprocity, or worse, swindle them. And in that case, Leprechauns will prank them and 'rightfully' pilfer from them.
I really like the idea of adapting the Leprechaun's association with luck and gold towards the Feywild rules and them being manifestations of the Feywild's rules of exchange. In both its 1E and 2E depictions, Leprechauns lean more towards being tricksters and mischief-makers, which is actually a bit more true to their original mythology compared to the more commercialized ones.
____________________________________________________
Maschin-i-Bozorg
- Large Construct; Unaligned; CR 8
- Debut: Quests from the Infinite Staircase (2024)
I almost dropped this one from the review, since it's just a dome-shaped tank. It's a creation of the Svirfneblin Deep Gnomes -- a steam-powered battle construct with many wheels under it. It constantly emits steam, acts as guardians and sentries, and only obeys the command of its creator. It launches poison darts, sprays scalding steam, and rather hilariously, jabs creatures with extended arms that also have poison darts attached to them.
That's how you know it's a gnome invention!
____________________________________________________
Memory Web
- Large Aberration; Neutral Evil; CR 4
- Debut: Quests from the Infinite Staircase (2024)
A new creature to 5E, the Memory Web actually resembles a web spun by a spider. They are actually strange aberrations, however, that lie in ambush over plants, corpses or catacombs -- where webs normally would be. They feed on memory, wrapping around a luckless prey like an ambush plant to wrap around their prey like a web, before extending webby tendrils to suck away memories and life force. A Memory Web can continue feeding on the memories even after their subject has expired.
When a Memory Web is slain, the memories it has consumed over the last day explodes in a telepathic deluge, which just screams 'plot information dump method' to me!
This one feels like a very classic, 1E-2E style 'built for a specific dungeon' enemy with a very weird trappy mechanic similar to things like the Lurkers and Mimics and whatnot. Not the biggest fan of this one, but there's enough here to make it interesting.
____________________________________________________
Pech
- Small Elemental; Neutral Good; CR 4
- Debut: Quests from the Infinite Staircase (2024)
The Pech debuted in 1E, and later on appeared in the 2E Monstrous Manual as a representative of the 'Earth-Kin Elementals'. The '-kin' elementals are more advanced, more sentient elementals, with other representatives for other elements being Salamanders, Water Weirds and Sylphs. None of the Earth-kin are quite that prominent, however, and it really isn't fair because the proper 'earth-kin' elemental would be gnomes and that has been associated with a playable race of wacky inventors.
I'm happy that 5E bought the Pechs back, and I like that they look a bit more distinct than just being a little guy. Pechs in 5E are actually made up of stone, and I particularly like how the artwork around the head makes it look like a chunk of its cranium has been chipped off. Their skin colours can range across various kinds of clay, soil and rock; and they have a bit of a sunlight sensitivity that is also visually represented by their white eyes.
Pechs are noted to be from the Elemental Plane of Earth, of course, and are phenomenal excavators due to being able to find weak spots in any building or stone. Pechs enjoy creating tunnels and warrens, and mine precious metals and gems... but are also sometimes utilized as sappers or saboteurs. A single Pech can shape stone in a limited manner, but a group of them can truly channel their powers together to create great curtains of stone or to use the power of the earth to restore health.
I personally don't really care too much for the Pechs, but I am happy they're around! They sure are cute little rock-people.
____________________________________________________
Wolf-in-Sheep's-Clothing
- Medium Plant; Unaligned; CR 7
- Debut: Quests from the Infinite Staircase (2024)
Finally, we have this glorious being. This glorious, glorious, ridiculous being. Yes, 5th Edition made the Flumphs cute again, and even brought the silly Modrons into the forefront of its edition, promising to not be as 'grimdark' all the time as its two preceding brothers. But among lists of 'most stupid monsters in Dungeons & Dragons', the poor Wolf-in-Sheep's-Clothing often finds itself on the absolute forefront. Originally debuting as a nameless alien plant in 1E's Expedition to Barrier Peaks and given a name and statblock in the Monster Manual II, the strangely-named creature and goofy art made it the subject of much mockery.
Let me describe the concept of the creature, since the 5E artwork is a bit more subtle and actually tries to make this cutie a bit threatening. I thought they didn't even adapt the eyeballs until I realize they are given little venus flytrap 'eyelashes'! But the Wolf-in-Sheep's-Clothing is a stump. It's a stump with a bunny on top. That's what you see the first time you approach it.
But surprise, the bunny is but a lure! It's a lure like an anglerfish's light! And the Wolf-in-Sheep's-Clothing will have its powerful roots burst out and entangle you. It is a tree stump, but a vertical mouth filled with fangs will open up and try to chomp you. To add insult to injury, it's got two tendrils with googly-eyes to peep at you! Again, the design is silly, but on the other hand is it that much sillier than a Mimic? Okay, yes, it is. A little.
The Wolf-in-Sheep's-Clothing is, of course, one of the weird plants from Barrier Peaks so it's also likely to be an alien, but most flavour text just describes it as a particularly strange predatory plant. The 5E writeup notes that the Wolf-in-Sheep's-Clothing can reshape their fleshy lures (which the artwork shows is connected to the stump via a branch!) from the traditional bunny to other various local small creatures. From the 'cute little bunnyoid' of the classic Wolf-in-Sheep's-Clothing, the table gives us the option of bamboozling adventurers with a 'fluffy kitten', a 'clumsy puppy', a 'fox with adorably large ears'... typical stuff that you'd fall for. But two of them stand out for being so ridiculously out there. A 'spunky, dancing crawfish' and a 'dapper, smiling frog with a little top hat'.
...okay, yeah. I actually like this. Ratchet up the ridiculousness from being a speculative alien hunting tactic to something just super-zany. I love it. Like, a stump with a bunny might not be particularly interesting, but a stump with a frog singing hello my baby, hello my honey? Whether it's a trap or not, you know you're going to investigate it.
The Wolf-in-Sheep's-Clothing might be silly, but you can't say it's not unmemorable! I enjoy this weirdo a lot, and I am delightfully happy to see that it has made an appearance in 5th Edition so that I can talk about this ridiculous alien-plant mimic! Honestly, the amount of times I've seen the Wolf-in-Sheep's-Clothing out there really does mean that it is memorable enough! Compare it to some of the other truly forgotten monsters that debuted around the same time as this creature, creatures like the Mishtu, or the Hordling, or the Drelb, or the Varrdig,.. you know, at some point, I really do need to review the 1E Fiend Folio and Monster Manual II properly!
