Reviewing 5E D&D Monsters - Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes, Pt 5 (Sorrowsworn to Vampiric Mist)

And finally, we enter the final stretch of monsters for Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes, which brings my coverage of Mordenkainen's Monsters of the Multiverse to a close. This has been a really fun ride, going through and rediscovering my love for Dungeons & Dragons all over again as I talk about every single monster in the main bestiaries! I'll also go through all of the non-crossover 5th Edition monsters eventually, as well as the 'appendix' monsters that are just beasts or elite versions of a previously established monster. 

This final stretch contains two huge 'sets' of monsters -- the Sorrowsworn and Star Spawn -- always nice to talk about huge sets of monsters, although they also often tend to take more time for me to go through. That's just part of the writing process, I suppose. 

I do have a fair bit of newfound appreciation for Tome of Foes, which goes for breadth instead of depth in terms of monster variety compared to Guide to Monsters. I really, really love the segments in Volo's Guide to Monsters that covers the hags and goblins and whatnot, but Tome of Foes does really bring to us a lot more variety, which is much appreciated. 

Other than that, my next project is going to be a 'read-through' of the 2nd Edition AD&D Monstrous Manual... although when that will start will depend on how much content I can get written within a timely manner. 

• Click here for the previous part.
• Click here for the next part.
• Click here for the index.

[Originally published in June 2020; revised in May 2026]

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Sorrowsworn 

• 5.5E/5E: Medium Monstrosity; Neutral Evil; CR 13 (Angry), 11 (Hungry), 9 (Lonely), 7 (Lost)
• 5.5E/5E: Small Monstrosity; Neutral Evil; CR 1/4 (Wretched)

The Sorrowsworn has had a divergent evolution over the different editions. The name was used in 3rd Edition for a type of tanar'ri demon that preyed on emotions. 4th Edition's first Monster Manual then introduced the 'Sorrowsworn' as a type of monster that lived in the Shadowfell, the dark dimension of horrid emotions, shadow and death, and acted as 'fragments of death incarnate', drawn by emotions and grief and acted like a more fiendish-looking grim reaper working for the Raven Queen. 5E interestingly keeps some of this lore... but instead of making its Sorrowsworn part of a more organized hierarchy (that part, seemingly, has been all given to the Shadar-Kai), reinvents the Sorrowsworn as just incarnations of the Shadowfell's bleak nature. 

I actually like this a lot. The previous incarnations of the Shadowfell's nature itself has been either undead (which isn't special since they show up in the Material Plane) or the Nightshades, which are shadow-monsters but lack a certain... identity. The Sorrowsworn are reinvented not just as blobs of shadow, but blobs of flesh, bringing to mind enemies from the Silent Hill franchise. They look like mutated humanoids, but are really manifestations of dark emotions of those that get lost in the Shadowfell. I'm putting the 4E and 3E incarnations of the Sorrowsworn first as comparison, and while the art is certainly cool, they are 'just' demons:

And these Sorrowsworn have abilities and behaviour that represent their respective emotion. I like this gimmick, and I like this theming on negative emotions being literally represented by a set of in-your-face monsters. Tome of Foes calls them names like 'The Angry', 'The Lonely' and so on, which I found to be really cool, but Multiverse renames them as the more descriptive 'Angry Sorrowsworn'. Rather coincidentally, the alphabetic order that they are presented is also going down from the most powerful to the least powerful type of Sorrowsworn. 

Starting off with the most powerful is the CR 13 Angry Sorrowsworn on the topmost of this segment, who looks like a lumpy, misshapen human with hook-claws for hands, and two heads groaning and attached asymmetrically. The Angry Sorrowsworn, of course, represent anger. They are quite powerful... but if their opponents do not attack it, they gain disadvantage on attack rolls and becomes weakened by its confusion. In contrast, any time the Angry is attacked, they get advantage instead. It's a nice little gimmick of 'anger feeds the monster'. The two heads also bicker at each other, which probably drives it even angrier and angrier!

We then have the CR 11 Hungry Sorrowsworn, who is a long, stretched-out humanoid with a large, yawning mouth. The giant mouth representing hunger is obvious enough, but the Hungry also has webbed hands for some reason. Hunger is a rather obvious emotion for someone lost in the Shadowfell to have. They try to feed on their prey, and of course whatever they eat will never fulfill the hunger they have in their belly. The mechanical gimmick this one has isn't as thematic, I feel, triggering off of healing. I wished that there was something about them being drawn to individuals imbibing food and drinks in the Shadowfell or something, because everyone needs to drink, right? 

The CR 9 Lonely Sorrowsworn is born out of the sorrow of isolation. They just want a hug!  I like that their mishappen heads are crying black ichor, and all its limbs end in blades. Which double as sinewy harpoon guns. Whenever they see other creatures, they want to interact and launch their harpoon-like arms to draw people closer -- as the art shows, sometimes they pierce limbs and drag them in. The Lonely has an interesting gimmick where the more creatures are around it, it 'thrives on company' and gains advantage if it's surrounded by creatures but disadvantage when it's alone. It translates well to why it's also trying to harpoon your adventurers towards it!

The CR 7 Lost Sorrowsworn probably looks the most intimidating to me, with five claw-tipped arms sprouting out of its body. I like, again, that the arms are asymmetrical and one just grows randomly out of the side of the stomach. The Lost is created out of the anxiety and fear people experience when they get lost in the Shadowfell, and they are always desperate and panicked. They try to grab and embrace those that are nearby and grip them tight, but inflict psychic damage and the frightened condition upon them. The Lost also wants a hug! Thematically, I think this one is a bit less of a direct evolution of the emotion compared to the other three we've covered, and feels like a less-thematic repeat of the Lonely. 

And finally, the weakest is the CR 1/4 Wretched Sorrowsworn. The Wretched are smaller, and they look interesting. Just lumps of flesh with chicken feet, eyes and a mouth filled with lamprey teeth. 'Wretchedness' isn't really a thematic emotion or cause of sorrow like being lonely, lost, hungry and angry; but as the weakest member of the group that's just there to swarm around and dogpile the enemy. 

I actually didn't care for these guys too much when I first saw them, but the more I look at available 5th Edition Shadowfell monsters, the more I realize that the Sorrowsworn are probably the best 'mascot' to explain what the Shadowfell is. Dark, twisted creatures born out of unpleasant emotions? They serve as a nice contrast to the other Shadowfell examples, the Shadar-Kai, who are devoid of emotions. I do still feel like the concept is better executed for the three stronger Sorrowsworns, but otherwise no real complaints here -- in an edition that is a bit infamous for sanitizing their art direction, I do like that these Sorrowsworn have a bit more 'bite' to them at least.  

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Star Spawn / Foulspawn

• 5.5E/5E: Small Aberration; Neutral Evil; CR 1/4 (Grue)
• 5.5E/5E: Large Aberration; Chaotic Evil; CR 10 (Hulk)
• 5.5E/5E: Medium Aberration; Chaotic Evil; CR 16 (Larva Mage)
• 5.5E/5E: Medium Aberration; Chaotic Evil; CR 5 (Mangler)
• 5.5E/5E: Medium Aberration; Neutral Evil; CR 13 (Seer)

Oh yes. We have these guys! Now, 4E has monsters called 'Star Spawn' as well, but they are completely different reflections and heralds of Elder Evil that take the form of stars. Hands down, one of my favourite monsters in D&D. These are all tied to specific Elder Evils, each of which are heralds and aspects of the true dread Elder Evil they represent. The Herald of Hadar, the Maw of Acamar, the Scion of Gibbeth and several more powerful aberrations exist to challenge the most powerful warriors, with the most powerful Star Spawn being Allabar, Opener of the Way -- a fully sentient planet made up of writhing eldritch flesh and eyeballs. 

But the 5th Edition 'Star Spawn' is actually an adaptation of previous editions' Foulspawn, which are humanoids that are mutated by the influence of the eldritch energies of the Far Realm; or just smaller heralds or forms taken by entities in the Far Realm. Both the 4E Star Spawn and the 5E Star Spawn/4E Foulspawn are related to the Far Realm, but very differently! For the purposes of this review, I'm going to refer to these creatures as what 5E calls them, but I want to note the difference. The picture above are the artwork for the Foulspawn from 4E.

Also notably, in the original Tome of Foes printing, only the Larva Mage got artwork -- despite five variants (that correspond to all 4E Foulspawn!) being described. Monsters of the Multiverse finally remedied this by giving all the Star Spawn new artwork, probably the most important and biggest graphical upgrade. Frankly, it was kind of silly that it's demons and Star Spawn -- unique creatures -- that were missing artwork, but every single Abishai got brand-new art!

In 5th Edition lore, Star Spawn are named such because they usually appear or are summoned by cults when an ill comet passes through, signalling a breach between the Material and Far Realms. Going in alphabetical order, we first start off with the Star Spawn Grue. Zork jokes aside, the Grue is the weakest of the Star Spawns, a CR 1/4 creature that resembles a humanoid with chalky skin. It actually looks like it might be a cultist that has been driven insane and transformed, since it still has pants. The Grue is grinning, its lips torn apart to reveal fanged teeth, and random spikes of rocks poke out of its body. The Grues just shamble and scuttle around stronger Star Spawn, making chittering and shrieking noises that confounds enemies with its 'aura of shrieks'. This is flavoured with those that hear the shrieking experiencing flashing colours, hallucinations and waves of hopelessness. It's not the most memorable design visually, but it is the weakest variant.

A bit more distinctive aberration is the CR 10 Star Spawn Hulk, a large aberration that resembles a humanoid with translucent purple skin and muscles. You see a jaw lined with way too many teeth; visible skeleton; and internal organs within the body. It's like a sinister version of Glob Herman from X-Men, if you know who that is. The Hulk is noted to mostly just appear alongside Seers, acting like mindless bodyguards. Its thoughts and location can't be discerned by magic, and if it takes psychic damage, it reflects that damage to all creatures around it. This means that in addition to being a massive psychic threat, the Hulk's use in the battlefield is to be a prism to enhance the psychic attacks that its Seer or Larva Mage masters are doing. That's cool. 

The CR 16 Star Spawn Larva Mage is kind of interesting. An analogous monster is the 'Worm That Walks' from 3.5E, a creature associated with good old Kyuss. I suppose since Kyuss has ascended to an Elder Evil, this manifestation technically counts as one? The Larva Mage is obviously my favourite of the Star Spawns in 5th Edition, and it was the only one to receive artwork in Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes. The Larva Mage is a massive mass of worms that have a roughly humanoid body shape within a cloak, holding on to a porcelain mask. Love the artwork showing worms dropping and writhing around, and how one hand has worms making 'fingers', while the 'hand' holding the staff is just a clumped mass. 

A Larva Mage is created when a warlock or cultist contacts an 'emissary of an Elder Evil', merging and transforming into a wholly new form. Of course, none of the cultist's original personality remains. Only worms. Only worms, the Age of Worms, and the Arrival of Kyuss. The Larva Mage is the 'boss' of the Star Spawn presented here, being a powerful spellcaster, having legendary actions, unleashing swarms of worms and even being able to break apart into a swarm of worms to reform elsewhere. 

In addition to the five Star Spawns, Monsters of the Multiverse also gives us five additional spells and abilities to give to cults worshipping the Elder Evils of the Forgotten Realms setting. Atropus, the World Born Dead is one of these Elder Evils that is spotlighted and I always have a soft spot for Atropus. We'll maybe talk about him if we ever delve into 4E monsters!

The Star Spawn Mangler is a very simple fighter, a CR 5 creature with stealthy abilities. Pretty cool artwork, though. It's a blue-skinned humanoid whose upper body is stretched out -- almost like a centipede. In addition to a mass of centipede claws, it's got three pairs of bestial claws, and its head is stretched out as well. The Mangler's number of arms, of course, is variable. They stick to shadows and make use of their strange anatomy, which reminds me of the Chokers we described earlier in the book. Not the most interesting creature and I really wished that it didn't have a bipedal body and could've been something more twisted-looking, but I suppose the Star Spawn's creepiness is how they resemble humans. 

The CR 13 Star Spawn Seer is often encountered as the leader of one of these cults worshipping the Elder Evil, being the one in charge of creating the insane dire rites and rituals to breach the planes and summon emissaries of the Elder Evils. The Far Realm entity that would become the Seer usually comes disembodied, then merges with the cultist and ratchets up whatever insane motivations and beliefs the cultist leader has that leads it to worship the Elder Evils. This one is perhaps the closest in adapting the 4E Foulspawn art, although a lot more 'partway-through-mutation' than the straight-up flayed-men of 4E. It makes it a bit creepier!

The Seer has almost natural-looking extremities, but you can see that bulbous tumours and tentacles, with whorled patterns, have taken over his arms, legs, and every part of his torso and abdomen up to the lower jaw. I like how the mass of patterned flesh and writhing tentacles are poking out of the center of his cloak, as if like the Larva Mage, it's just 'trying' to pretend to be a humanoid. The Seer holds a strange staff of 'flesh, bone, and star-staff', and in addition to the aforementioned strategy of using its Hulk minions to amplify its damage, Seers warp reality by existing. They can phase through objects and creatures (and deal psychic damage to them), can teleport, and the coolest ability is to 'collapse distance' and essentially 'delete' space and hurt enemies -- similar to 'The Hand' ability from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.

I really like the new artwork for these guys, which gives them a lot of personality. Eldritch monsters take the throne of my favourite type of monsters, and while I still do think that these are a bit too humanoid for the liking, I like the artwork and the theme of these guys as once being 'mere' cultists who have been taken over and mutated by the mere essences of the heralds of something even greater. I do like 5E art design compared to the 4E one, though, which could very easily be misconstrued as something like ghouls or demons .

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Steeder

• 5.5E/5E: Large Monstrosity; Unaligned; CR 1 (Female)
• 5.5E/5E: Medium Monstrosity; Unaligned; CR 1/4 (Male)

Giant underground spiders! The Steeders are domesticated by the Duergar to act as mounts both for travel and war. Just generic spiders before, 5th Edition's art direction takes one of the prettiest spiders in the world, the Spinybacked Orb Weaver (Gasteracantha cancriformis) with its distinctive, multi-spined orange abdomen as an inspiration. Pretty cool art.

There is a bit that the prose talks about, noting how female Steeders are larger than the males, which is true for many species of real-life spiders. This translates to two different stat blocks! The Duergar thus use the domesticated females as war steeds, while the males are used as draft animals. Steeders are extremely territorial and will even attack other Steeders... something that's quite true for most spider species, actually. This leads to the Duergar needing to keep the Steeders separate from one another, and place blinders on them to keep them from attacking one another. I really like this bit of worldbuilding. 

Interestingly, Steeders don't spin webs, which feels like a way to prevent the Duergar from having access to the very useful 'Web' spell. Instead, the Steeders move around by secreting a viscous substance from their legs, using this quasi-web to grapple prey instead. They are also able to leap extraordinary distances, similar to real-life jumping spiders. It's a nice little way to differentiate the Steeders from other regular giant spiders, and one that adapts different types of cool spiders from the real world. I don't have a whole ton to otherwise say about these guys, but I'm happy they exist.  

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Steel Predator 

• 5.5E/5E: Large Construct; Lawful Evil; CR 16

I think I would be more impressed with the Steel Predator if it didn't come in the same book as the Marut and the Retriever. Just like 'big monster dogs' were a bit prominent in Volo's Guide to Monsters with the Barghest, Yeth Hound and Shadow Mastiff all showing up, it's a bit strange that we've gotten three extraplanar, relentless robot hunters in Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes. And out of all of those, the Steel Predator is probably the least thematically memorable. The Marut has all the Inevitable lore tied to it, with a great motivation and a stark redesign. The Retriever is tied to the Drow and has cool lore implications with how it's powered by a fiend.

The Steel Predator... it visually is a well-drawn but a bit of a generic steel feline or canine with no eyes and made up of metal. Its 3E art has a Xenomorph-esque gait to it. Not terrible, but it's also not as memorable. The Steel Predator does have a unique bit of lore, where it was created by a rogue Modron that now lives in the multiversal hub-world of Sigil. This Modron created the Steel Predators and turned them against its kin, before being exiled. Now it opens a shop selling these things. It's a neat story, but it's neat because of the pscyho Modron shopkeeper, and less that the Steel Predators are memorable. 

Steel Predators can dimension door and plane shift, can track its prey through any small identifier, and can unleash a stunning roar. Again, it's basically the Retriever. After finishing its mission, it returns to Sigil and is recycled for parts for the next Steel Predator. If it malfunctions, is just lingers and kills anything nearby.

Again... there's a feeling that I've seen this exact concept done in a much more interesting way earlier in the book. Sorry, Steely, I am just not too impressed with you. Maybe if you had more ability or visual ties to the Modrons it'd be something, but otherwise, sadly overshadowed. 

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Stone-Cursed 

• 5.5E/5E: Medium Construct; Lawful Evil; CR 1

The Stone Cursed are... an interesting creature? As far as I can tell, it's another one that is original to 5th Edition. Stone Cursed are created when a ritual is done on people that are turned to stone -- by the likes of Medusae, Basilisks, Cockatrices, Gorgons and probably a bunch of others that's not coming to mind. The spirit of the trapped victim gets dimly animated, turning the Stone Cursed into a guardian. Essentially, it is a 'golem' style enemy with some extra steps. Their hands turn into claws that ooze gray sludge that also causes petrification.

There are a bit of extra details to the Stone Cursed that makes it a bit more interesting. A fist-sized obsidian skull apparently is formed deep within the Stone Cursed's torso, which can be recovered to extract memories of the original victim. It's something, at least. Again, this does feel more like accessories to a Medusa encounter more than anything. You could imagine some of the statues in her lair turn out to be minions with a variation of the petrification gimmick. I do like that some of the less prominent monsters get a bit of an expansion, but it's not the most interesting thing in the book, nor the most immediately the thing that jumps tom mind when you want to expand a Medusa or Basilisk or Cockatrice encounter.

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Sword Wraith 

• 5.5E/5E: Medium Undead; Lawful Evil; CR 8 (Commander), 3 (Warrior)

We've had regular Wraiths in the Monster Manual, which are the sentient incorporeal shadowy undead driven by hatred and negative emotions. Sword Wraiths are presumably a sub-type of Wraiths, then? Although you never really know with these undead spirits. The statblocks at least doesn't really have much to do with each other save for being undead. The Sword Wraith's resistances and immunities are a much simpler version of the ones afforded to other incorporeal undead like Wraiths.

The Sword Wraiths are noted to be created when warriors die in battle without honour, causing their spirits to rise up and haunt the site of death as Sword Wraiths. They will haunt battlefields, attacking anyone who questions their valour, but looking kindly at those who sing their praises. This makes it feel more like a weaker version of the Ghost than the Wraith, I suppose, if we want to be pedantic about which incorporeal undead spirit is closest to it. In older editions, Sword Wraiths will bow and follow the orders of those that are ranked higher than it in the military, having a vague sense of still being a soldier. 

Combat-wise, the Sword Wraith is a simple warrior with the undead species's resistances. The stronger Sword Wraith Commander has resistance to turning magic, and can summon the lesser Warriors. I really don't have much to say about them. There's just enough of a backstory to contextualize the origin of these undead, but there's not enough of a hook or mechanical difference from the many other types of undead that I feel like they deserve a slot in a mainline bestiary... at least other than to fill in a specific niche in a CR bracket. Not much else to say, really. 

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Tortle 

• 5.5E/5E: Medium Humanoid; Lawful Good; CR 1/4 (Tortle), 2 (Druid)

The Tortle is one of the breakout races in 5th Edition. Previously debuting as minor inhabitants of the jungle of Chult -- setting of Tomb of Annihilation -- the 'Tortle Package' introduced the Tortle as one of the first non-traditional non-human race, and became extremely popular among the fanbase. The personality of the kindly old-man turtle artwork, as well as a clear demand for more non-human races, ended up making the Tortle quite popular! While the humans and elves will always be the 'face' of Dungeons & Dragons, I feel like 5th Edition's been really nicely shoring up Tieflings, Dragonborns, Tabaxi and Tortles as a nice batch of secondary playable characters.

The design of the Tortle is quite simple -- a humanoid tortoise! The 5E redesign isn't content on going Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles like the older incarnations, which isn't bad -- but does make it seem like 'just' a tortoise on legs. The 5E Tortle goes for a more unique feel, more Kung Fu Panda's Master Oogway. With the rugged shell, the longer arms, the large feet and the kindly old-man face really pushes the Tortle over the edge in getting a distinct presonality and identity compared to the other non-traditional playable race. 

Tortles are described as being a gentle people that goes around to see how other folk live. They have their 'home' on their back, able to store items within their shell, so they don't really view their original settlements as much of a home and tends to leave for long durations of time. They have a vague sense of being connected mystically to the natural world, and happily wander the world, going through life day by day. It's a really nice combination of wanderlust and an aged perspective. I've seen the Tortles described as 'elf meets tabaxi', having the tabaxi's catlike curiousity but the elf's long life without being jaded. 

They are a culture that leans more towards druidism, hence the 'Tortle Druid' statblock being included in Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes. Tortles as playable characters have interesting abilities. They can breathe underwater, they have natural weapons in claws... and uniquely, they have 'natural armour'. A Tortle always has a very reasonable AC (a stat that measures how easy you are to be hit) of 17, at the cost of not being able to wear traditional armour. Tortles can furthermore increase this AC even more by retracting their heads and limbs into the shells... at the cost of not being able to cast spells or attack during the duration that it's hiding. 

Very cool set of abilities that really sell the fantasy of wanting to play as a tortoise person. Some of the playable races don't exactly deliver what you want when you select them, but the Tortles manage to deliver both flavour and sensible utility, while giving a drawback that makes sense and doesn't 'feel bad'. And besides... look at these guys! Can you bear to say that you don't like them? They're just old turtle folks! 

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Vampiric Mist 

• 5.5E/5E: Medium Undead; Chaotic Evil; CR 3

And we close off the unique monsters in Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes with a creature that debuted in the 1st Edition's Monster Manual II -- the Vampiric Mist, also known as the Crimson Death or Crimson Mist in some editions. The Vampiric Mists are the remnants of wretched vampires that are prevented from finding rest. It's an interesting concept -- vampires in D&D are intrinsically tied to their coffins or burial grounds. What happens if these coffins are destroyed while the vampire is escaping in the form of a polymorphed mist? The Vampire isn't exactly dead, but it can't go back to its coffin to regenerate anymore. 

The end result is this Vampiric Mist, depicted in previous editions as a roiling cloud-specter. 5E gives an interesting take of a giant blob of cloud with arteries and veins running through it like spiderwebs. Vampiric Mists are no longer sentient, driven with the sole focus of hunger. They masquerade as part of regular mists, before ambushing prey and causing blood to ooze out of its pores or spill out from its orifices. Even more creepily, this blood extraction doesn't hurt the person during the process, allowing the Mist to strike even when the victim is asleep. 

A properly sated Vampiric Mist will turn so red that it rains blood wherever it flies. The prose does compare the Vampiric Mist to sharks; being drawn immediately towards blood. Being able to surreptitiously extract blood also reminds me of ticks or mosquitoes. Interestingly, despite being reduced to such a wretched form, Vampiric Mists still observe forbiddance, unable to enter a house unless expressly invited -- which is quite funny. One can accidentally invite an immortal undead Dracula, sure, but inviting a mass of veiny mist is probably less likely to do without realizing what you are letting in.  

But more importantly, I do like that we're getting a nice little monster variation that answers an interesting 'what if' question. With so many magical and wonderful monstrous creatures running around, there inevitably arises questions about 'what will happen if this monster does that when it's using this magical ability? 

Wonder Man S01E07 Review: Secrets Revealed

Wonder Man S01E07 Review: Kathy Friedman

Yeah, again, while this isn't really a typical superhero show, I do find myself quite invested in the acting storyline for Simon Williams and Trevor Slattery. I do still think that the two episodes in the middle could've been cut with little fanfare and would've done the show wonders in terms of pacing and focus. But that's besides the point. 

After the trials and tribulations of the callbacks on the previous episode, Von Kovak has offered Simon and Trevor the roles that they want. And we do spend a chunk of this episode showing the two of them enjoying stardom and the Hollywood life, and Von Kovak's team is even receptive to Simon's extremely in-depth reading of scripts and character. It's probably an underappreciated part of this episode that I truly love, where instead of yelling at Simon for being so hyperfocused and autistic about the character that he is supposed to embody, Von Kovak instead entertains him fully and goes into a discussion about maybe rethinking the main theme of the movie. 

Trevor is also basically become Simon's sidekick, even being allowed to sit in on important business deals and making decisions for him -- with one decision in this episode turning down a Netflix role for Simon. 

The titular 'Kathy Friedman' shows up, however, and she is a harsh, biting Hollywood journalist. Friedman is a journalist that has been so scathing and biting on her pieces on other Hollywood stars that they have essentially become character assassination. For whatever reason, they decide to go through with it, and Simon bends over backwards to change his behaviour on set and learn about the crew and whatnot. That isn't super interesting, to be fair. More interesting, however, is the revelation that Kathy Friedman has interviewed Simon's family -- people who we've seen earlier in the show. Simon panics, but as we find out one by one, neither Simon's mother, his ex-girlfriend, or even the asshole brother Eric sold Simon out. Eric in fact gives nothing but glowing accounts of Simon, which actually tracks -- Eric's problem with Simon in this show has been that Simon's wasting his life, and now that he's actually doing something with his unconventional career choice, Eric's fully on his side. 

Unfortunately for Trevor, however, it is him that Kathy digs up dirt on. While Trevor has been nothing but transparent about his whole gig as the Mandarin back in the events of Iron Man 3, he has been keeping on a lid the fact that he got arrested in the airport by Damage Control. Now I feel that there is a world where Trevor could've kept his cool and tried to at least charm his way out of that, but Trevor ends up blowing up on Kathy, walks out of the interview... and this finally gets gears in Simon's brain clicking. Particularly the stuff about Kathy talking about a 'plea deal'. 

Simon confronts Trevor, and Trevor is torn between his actual initial meeting as someone sent to betray Simon and his newfound friendship with Simon. He ends up confessing and blabbering all about his deal with Damage Control, and this causes Simon to simply... walk out of the trailer. As we've seen before, Simon loses control over his ill-defined powers (in the show, at least, I know Wonder Man's deal in the comics) and blows up the thankfully empty movie set of Wonder Man. End episode. 

This is a great break-up that the show has been building up to. And I do like how it was presented to us, how everything seems to be going well. There was even a sense that Trevor has gained enough pull with his situation next to Simon that he could do what he wanted -- finish filming this movie with his new best friend -- before having to deal with Damage Control. But conflict inevitably arises, and I do like that it's Trevor that ends up being the crack between the two characters. I also love that Simon actually gets closure with so many things in his life here. His method as an actor is validated, his brother and ex-girlfriend actually sees good in him, and everything seems to be on the up-and-up until the one person he keeps closest to him ends up betraying him. Great conflict setup, and it builds things up nicely for the finale. 

Reviewing 5E D&D Monsters - Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes, Pt 4 (Kruthik to Skull Lord)

Well, I tried not to add more posts for Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes, but I guess I ended up speaking quite a bit on some of the entries here. I do think that my original coverage of the monsters in these segments of the books were absolutely unfair, with a lot of comparisons to the Monster Manual without really appreciating what the monsters are doing that are unique. Not every new addition needs to add something revolutionary like the Marut or Oblex!

Again, taking more time and words to talk about each and every entry did give me a fair amount of chance to appreciate these monsters a bit more than I had back in 2020 when I initially reviewed these monsters. I think I have made some initial judgements on my favourites and just tried to blaze through the rest of the entries. And it's not that I like each and every single monster from Dungeons & Dragons, but I feel like I really should try and give the flavour and concepts a chance, and make a good argument as to why I don't like the monster, or at least 5E's interpretation of the monster. 

Anyway, this should be the second-to-last entry for Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes, so enjoy this eclectic batch of monsters!

• Click here for the first part
• Click here for the next part
• Click here for the index.

[Originally published in May - June 2020; revised in May 2026]

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Kruthik 

• 5.5E/5E: Small Monstrosity; Unaligned; CR 1/8 (Young Kruthik)
• 5.5E/5E: Medium Monstrosity; Unaligned; CR 2 (Kruthik)
• 5.5E/5E: Large Monstrosity; Unaligned; CR 5 (Kruthik Hive Lord)

The Kruthik debuted at the tail-end of 3.5E, but was featured in the first Monster Manual for 4th Edition. The Kruthik are the ravenous lizard-insect trope that is popularized by beings such as Alien's Xenomorph, Starcraft's Zerg and Warhammer 40K's Tyranids. 3E previously had the Kythons, a similar type of monster, which was phased out of 3E due to perhaps being too derivative of the Aliens? Having the same name as the Kyton Chain Devils probably didn't help the Kythons either. 

Anyway, the Kruthik! Their 5E incarnation is a pretty cool design, feeling actually a lot more reptilian than their previous counterparts. Their main body visibly has a serpentine or lizard-like texture, but is armoured and appear to have segments almost similar to an insect. Its head has massive fangs, a tongue and reptilian eyes, but mandible-like parts to its lower jaw. And finally, the Kruthik has six very insectoid legs, exaggerated to look like blades. The front pair are particularly pronounced, and the rear two are smaller. 3E and 4E's incarnation had the middle pair of limbs be manipulator arms, and I wished that the 5E version had kept that.  

Kruthiks in 5E are noted to be 'chitin-covered reptiles', which makes them a bit less buggy and separates them a bit from other insect monsters like Ankhegs, I suppose. They create massive sprawling subterranean warrens, lairing around sources of heat such as pools of lava... or dwarven forges. Of course, Kruthik prefer live prey, impaling and grinding their foes into food. Their lairs are massive, winding, and sound perfect to be a dungeon crawl. 

Kruthiks are essentially beasts, but they are smart enough to coordinate and communicate with each other through a series of chittering noises and hisses, which is a nice environmental build-up to a Kruhtik encounter as the adventurers travel through the Kruthik hive. This also means that attempts to breach the hive will usually attract attention from the entire hive. Even if you kill the scouts and sentries, their tapping noises would be detected by the rest of the colony through the tremorsense that every single individual in the hive shares.

Interestingly, Tome of Foes's lore also notes that Kruthiks have an almost ant-like quality where they can smell an area where many Kruthiks have died, and Kruthiks will avoid and even migrate out of a location where enough of their kin has died. This might be a way to solve your Kruthik-slaying quest... but the hive might just be a problem for whoever is next down the road. It is also noted that even if you kill the Hive Lord of a hive, the surviving Kruthiks will migrate, and whichever is the largest among the Kruthiks will simply metamorphose into a larger body and become the new Hive Lord.

Tome of Foes gives us three stat blocks for the Kruthik. The 'Young', the 'Adult' (which can lob detachable spikes at enemies), and the 'Hive Lord' (which is larger and can spray acid). Tome of Foes also notes that Kruthik abide the presence of non-living creatures in their hive, like oozes, undead, constructs and elementals. I also really like the descriptions of Kruthiks barricading up tunnels, digging up new ones, and making fake tunnels for ambushes or to mislead invaders from their eggs. A pretty simple concept for a giant bug monster species, if we're being truthful, but I do like the simplicity a fair bit. I would still at one point like a more elaborate set of insectoid monsters, but the Kruthik are pretty cool on their own merits! 

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Marut

• 5.5E/5E: Large Construct (Inevitable); Lawful Neutral; CR 25

My boy, the Marut! This thing is one of the favourite things that is original from D&D. The Marut debuted with little fanfare as a golem servitor of gods in 1E. But 3E reinvented the Marut a type of 'Inevitables', which are a group of lawful interdimensional constructs whose purpose is to enforce inevitable laws of cosmic order. This included the Maruts (enforcers of mortality who really don't like the undead), the Kolyarut (enforcers of contracts) and the Zelekhut (enforcers of law). 4th Edition rolled everything together into a single 'Marut' faction, a group of cosmic enforcers created by gods who realized their gods were breaking the same contracts they expect them to enforce, and fought against the gods. 

5th Edition combined the 3E and 4E roles into one, making the Maruts a lot more grandiose and cosmic like the 4E, but keeping their allegiance to a higher power (and as a part of the Inevitables) from 3E. It's easily one of my favourite combinations of lore, and the end result makes the Marut easily one of the most interesting things in Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes. 

In 5th Edition, the Inevitables are now folded as creations of the lawful, mechanical Modron Primus. Due to their reputation and certainty as beings of law and order, they perform the robotic, mechanical arbitration of law -- heedless of morality, bias or compassion. The Marut combine all three functions of its 3E brethren into a single, impressive CR 25 unit. A cosmic police force that will abduct dealbreakers and take them to be judged by a divine court -- the Hall of Concordance in the multiversal hub of Sigil. They are cosmic lawyers and law enforcement rolled into a singular robotic being. Even if you didn't want to use the whole Primus or Kolyarut plotline, having the Maruts be logical, silent enforces of a god of law, or even the universe itself, is really cool. 

Any deal made in the presence of the Inevitables is carved by The Kolyarut (who would receive a 5E statblock in Planescape) into a golden disc that is placed within the Marut's chest. Until the contract is fulfilled, the Marut will enforce the terms of the law. It won't result to lethal force unless it is required or a contract is broken... but they will enforce the letter of the contract. Law is absolute for them, and I love this great, more sinister take on the 'True Lawful, or I suppose 'Lawful Neutral' alignment. The Marut doesn't care for nuances, or changing situations, or compassion, or free will -- all of that should have been discussed within the eyes of the Kolyarut. Justice is blind, and the Maruts will not compromise, will not stop, until the contract is done. 

I haven't talked about the Maruts' design either. In 3E and 4E, they had a relatively consistent design as a golem-like suit of armour with a vaguely Greco-Roman aesthetic... in stark contrast to the other Inevitables that debuted with it, which were very much in the 'clockpunk humanoid' aesthetic. 5th Edition reinvents everything, though, giving us a more unique and distinct look. Normally I would decry this, but I found the original Marut designs to be so underwhelming that I find the 5E version so much more impressive. A humanoid, metal robot with wide shoulders, a golden disc in its chest, and a single ominous eyeball at the center of the torso? Tiny little Modron wings complete the look, which look more sinister than comical. 

And in combat, the Marut is a simple, difficult-to-stop juggernaut. It cannot be transformed, it unleashes mighty 'blazing edicts' to stun those around it,  and it can at any time grapple its prey to plane-shift away to the cosmic court of Sigil, which would probably be game over if they did break the law... there's probably a lot of these Maruts in Sigil. Or it could use its 'Justify' attack to point and just choose to teleport a target, with them only dodging this if they can succeed a save throw. 

I find the idea of these cosmic enforcers so satisfying. Whether the Maruts are a greater threat due to a misunderstanding, or just a plot device to keep the plot going, there are so many stories to work around these unstoppable, unfeeling enforcers of a contract that cannot be negotiated with... reading between the lines, the only time that a Marut would even stop to negotiate is if someone can point out how they are not breaking the law, or if the other party is breaking it. I also like that the little plot suggestion of Yugoloths being more ready to enter contracts when Inevitables are present, which could be a double-edged sword for those fiends! It really is a nicely interesting antagonist that represents cold, unfeeling law. 

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Meazel 

• 5.5E/5E: Medium Humanoid (5E)/Monstrosity (5.5E); Lawful Evil (5E)/Neutral Evil (5.5E); CR 1

I'm not going to lie, going and re-reading my articles for Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes, there are some monsters that made me go 'oh right, this guy, I forgot about him'. But I completely and utterly forgot about the Meazels entirely. Debuting in the original 1st-Edition Fiend Folio, the Meazels are yet another 'sub-humanoid underground race that attack regular people'. They are also distinguished by their very comic-book spiky hair, which they have rather impressively consistently kept across most editions of D&D. 

5th Edition gave them the backstory of being malicious hermits to fled to Shadowfell to escape their mortal existence. That part sounds okay, seemingly either a veiled reference to suicide or to achieve a form of immortality like undeath. The latter part of their motivation to move to the Shadowfell, however, is to 'contemplate their misery'. Okay, so they are just emo. They are of course transformed by the Shadowfell's energies into twisted, cruel Meazels driven by hatred, and they want to kill any intruders. 

Monsters of the Multiverse changes the Meazel's properties from a lawful evil humanoid into a neutral evil monstrosity -- with 5.5E removing the humanoid tag from a lot of anything with innate abilities. Not sure if I agree with that, personally. 

Meazels are empowered with the ability to move through shadows, both teleporting through shadows and being far stealthier as they melt into them. As the artwork shows, their preferred method of killing is by garroting them with rope, even getting a special action to do so in the statblock. Meazels can also teleport other people through the shadows... and this causes undead, Sorrowsworn, and other beings of the Shadowfell to instantly be aware of the poor 'marked' soul. 

It's neat, I suppose, as a mechanic -- a lesser gremlin that lives in the Shadowfell that isn't really powerful enough to be anything more than a nuisance to most healthy parties, but one that can attract bigger, stronger things. It's a cool mechanic, I just wished the Meazels either looked a bit more unique than just Gollum with anime hair; or even had more to do with the emotions they are feeling or something about their motivations and culture. 

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Nagpa 

• 5.5E/5E: Medium Humanoid (5E)/Monstrosity (5.5E); Neutral Evil; CR 17

Apparently a shout-out to villains from the Dark Crystal franchise, the Nagpa has appeared sporadically throughout the different editions, with very differing origins depending on the edition. I've not really managed to read through all the different Nagpa incarnations over the years, but 5th Edition has its own spin on the creature. 

In 5E lore, the goddess of death, the Raven Queen, cursed a cabal of powerful wizards for meddling in a ritual that ended up causing a war between the gods. These wizards are transformed into the Nagpa -- vulture-headed monstrosities. The curse extends to a rather specific race-wide inability to do something, though -- they are unable to retain or acquire new lore and magical power, unless they scavenge it from the ruins of fallen civilizations. 

Being a group of wizards who dared to challenge the gods, the original cabal of thirteen Nagpa -- and any subsequent Nagpa created -- find this punishment intolerable. After all, they want their knowledge! They want their power and magical lore. But what can they do, if they can only steal them from fallen civilizations? Well, they make plots to bring destruction and calamity to these civilizations. That's such a twisted way to get around their curse, I love it. 

The Nagpas themselves are quite formidable CR 17 spellcasters, with a mixture of destructive and utility spells, some of which include methods do dominate minions or enemies mentally, but they wouldn't want to show their face in the battlefield, not unless it's absolutely necessary. The original cabal of 13 Nagpas are alive, but it's also implied that other Nagpa are out there. Whether descendants of the original 13, or if you adopt other backstories from earlier editions of the Nagpas being loner wizards cursed by gods, the backstory doesn't specify that only the original Cabal exists. 

Nagpas are manipulators, schemers that use their spellcasting or minions to influence political events and start war, or to prevent a city from evacuating in the face of an imminent natural disaster (which the Nagpas may cause). They are patient, cunning, and execute multiple schemes together. And once they deliver their final blow to a civilization, they emerge to claim their prize, plundering vaults, libraries and spellbooks. The only thing that can cause a Nagpa to panic and lose their Machiavellian composure is the Raven Queen's agents, which will reduce a Nagpa into a panicked, cringing wretch.  

That's quite a specific backstory, but one I really have grown to appreciate over the years. Admittedly, I was a bit turned off by the visual design, going 'oh, another bird-man, but a vulture this time', and even the bit about creative sterility felt similar to the Kenku. But the Nagpa's twist on causing calamity to get around their curse is a neat one. 

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Nightwalker 

• 5.5E/5E: Huge Undead; Chaotic Evil; CR 20

Debuting in 2E, the Nightwalker is actually a type of a creature called a 'Nightshade', which are undead creatures made up of solidified shadow. The Nightwalker is the humanoid version, with other variations (like the Nightcrawler, Nighthaunt, Nightwing) being based on beasts. Depending on the edition, they either come from the Negative Plane, the Plane of Shadow or the Shadowfell. They are somehow all different! 5th Edition mixes several of the origin stories together, noting that the Nightwalkers arrive when one 'reaches the Negative Plane from the Shadowfell'. That's a bit needlessly complicated, but okay.

Spellcasters that attempt to tap into the power of the Negative Plane and fail to control the power usually just die; their souls sucked into the plane of death. Those that are not destroyed are instead pulled within the Negative Plane itself and are replaced by Nightwalkers -- towering, giant humanoids made up of shadow. 5th Edition Nightwalkers have demonic horns, and a particularly cool mouth that bisects the face more than a regular mouth should. 

I don't really like super-specific origin stories, although I suppose 5E does present their Nightcrawlers as rather powerful, CR 20 bosses. This does have an interesting 'replaced by your reflection' fairy tale vibe, except instead of your reflection, your replacement from the magical plane is a giant shadow monster with an aura of death. The trapped creature can't leave unless the Nightwalker is lured back to the Negative Plane, and they would be trapped forever unless the Nightwalker is devoured. The Nightwalker itself is attracted to elements of the Material Plane that is associated with the creature responsible for its creation... to destroy. 

It's... it's a bit odd on how exactly you're meant to do this, since the Nightwalker is also noted by the Tome of Foes to be attracted to the elements of the world associated with the creature that released it, and they 'exist to make life extinct'... so I don't really think luring it to the Negative Plane would be that easy. That sounds like the setup for a proper boss fight that needs a fair amount of planning, which I suppose is all right? 

In addition to being massive shadow giant, Nightwalkers are able to unleash the 'Finger of Doom' attack that paralyzes and frightens their prey; has a passive annihilation aura that constantly damages those around it, and those killed by the Nightwalker cannot be resurrected without a Wish spell. 

My original reaction to the Nightwalker was a bit more negative because i was more familiar with the 3.5E lore and was confused that a 'weaker' creature was given such a grandiose setup. But just like how the Marut debuted ahead of its Inevitable brethren, the idea to debut the Nightwalker alone and as a 'boss' monster for the Negative Plane/Shadowfell is a fun one! It's at least memorable due to the 'trapping someone in the Negative Plane' deal, and helps to give the Shadowfell a 'boss' monster of sorts. 

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Oblex

• 5.5E/5E: Tiny Ooze; Lawful Evil; CR 1/4 (Spawn)
• 5.5E/5E: Medium Ooze; Lawful Evil; CR 5 (Adult)
• 5.5E/5E: Huge Ooze; Lawful Evil; CR 10 (Elder)

The Oblex gained a fair bit of prominence for being marketed during Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes' release for being one of the most terrifying monsters in the game, and is original to 5th Edition. I must say that they did do quite a good job at crafting this creature! The Oblex is a slime, but not just any other slime. Tome of Foes identifies them as being the results of Mind Flayer experimentation on the slimes of the Underdark, creating a sentient, cunning psychic slime. The prose (and name) also implies some interference from the slime demon god Juiblex. 

Oblexes feed on thoughts and memories -- having the same predilection towards intelligence and sharper minds that their Illithid creators have. Oblexes wrap around their prey and consume their mind instead of the flesh, leaving their victim befuddled... or dead. Most importantly, however, when an Oblex feeds on thoughts, they gain the ability to form weird copies of their prey to use as lures, allowing them to harvest even more victims. That's the lynchpin of this creature. We've got so many Mind Flayer creations that are of some variety of stealing minds, but the Oblex steals minds and identities.

The youngest Oblexes, the Oblex Spawn, is more or less just a regular ooze with a predilection for brains, but the Adult Oblex is where things get interesting. They devour memories and thoughts, twisting whatever they gain with its own 'foul nature'. These memories act as food that expands the Oblex's size, and once they become large enough, they 'shed' some of the personalities they have absorbed, or else they will become erratic. That's an interesting take on the twisted hivemind trope!

Adult Oblexes can do a 'sulfurous impersonation', extending a pseudopod that morphs into one of the creatures it has stolen. The only things that this copy is strange about is that it smells faintly of sulfur, and also connected to the original slime body with a slime tether... which would require the Oblex to hide it! Perhaps the copy is standing behind a counter, while the main slime body hides inside the counter. Perhaps the Oblex is puppeteering these humanoid copies as couriers, hiding within the package they are carrying. The Oblex is as intelligent as whatever humanoid it has consumed, so it's able to impersonate appearances perfectly. 

The Elder Oblex, shown as a glorious amorphous blob of goo with screaming faces of every mind and face it's stolen, while picking one of them to manifest, is able to impersonate more than a dozen individuals, meaning that an entire tavern or farmhouse might all just be extensions of the Elder Oblex. That is so cool, isn't it? Several Elder and Adult Oblexes might even be able to impersonate a whole creepy town! Really love that the 'true' form of the Elder and Adult Oblexes are not just slimes, but slimes formed of roiling, creepy faces. 

These slimes, by the way, are also spellcasters. Common to both Adult and Elder Oblex are the spells Detect Thoughts, Hold Person and Charm Person, a combination of spells to disable enemies or to understand their vulnerabilities. The Elder version has a bunch more powerful debilitating spells (Hypnotic Pattern, Confusion, Fear, Dominate Person), offensive ones (Telekinesis), and even Dimension Door to escape. I really find these to be a bit odd when I first read it, but then I realize that the creepy buildup to discovering an Oblex needs to lead to an interesting combat encounter, and giving the monster puppeteer slime creepy spells is a great way to do it. Some interpretations (which is not canon to 5E) is that the Oblex learns and steals the spells of whatever intelligent wizard that they have consumed, so feel free to give your Oblex a different set of spells!

I wouldn't say that this is 'the scariest thing in D&D', as even the idea of a hivemind masquerading as regular people most certainly has appeared in previous editions before... but the presentation of the creature both visually and narratively, and the theme of what's essentially an anglerfish for humanoids, is done well!

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Retriever 

• 5.5E/5E: Large Construct; Lawful Evil; CR 14

Retrievers are spider robots, but one with a bit of an odd backstory. They are designed to retrieve specific prey, but in older editions, Retrievers were created by demon lords to capture runaway targets. In 5th Edition lore, Retrievers are created by Drow worshippers of Lolth to capture demons themselves. It's an interesting change, and I suppose you could have a combination of the two lores where the original Retrievers were a demon creation that was reverse-engineered by the Drow. 

Lolth and her minions in the Abyss being demons themselves really don't want the knowledge to create the Retrievers to get out of her clutches, although I suspect it wouldn't be easy for most other civilizations to replicate the creation of the Retriever. The section for the Drow in of Tome of Foes also goes into a bit of detail on what the Retrievers are. They are powered by captured and bound spider-demons called Bebiliths... a type of demon that so far has not actually appeared in 5th Edition. 

Retrievers are spider-robots that possess a 'force beam' and a 'paralyzing beam' in addition to regular melee attacks. But the most important part of the Retriever is its 'Faultless Tracker' ability, and can immediately sense the location of both its quarry and its master. Retrievers are also able to planeshift itself and its quarry away, if needed be. I almost wished that there was something in the Retriever's statblock that actually aligned with its new 5E lore about catching demons or being powered by one, though, which I felt was a missed opportunity. 

Overall, construct enemies don't tend to always be the most interesting to me, since theoretically any 'Golem' or 'Clockwork' can be in any shape or form; so specific construct enemies need to have a twist. And I don't feel like the 'demon hunter' gimmick for the Retriever is interesting enough nor is it reflected well enough in the statblock. Cool art, though. 

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Shadar-Kai 

• 5.5E/5E: Medium Humanoid; Neutral; CR 9 (Gloom Weaver), 7 (Shadow Dancer), 11 (Soul Monger)

Oh, the Shadar-Kai. We get to talk about the Shadar-Kai, now. Introduced in 3E with the general concept of being the 'emo' race to match the Drow's gothic energy, the Shadar-Kai are always shown with chains, spikes, pale skin and leather outfits. However, what their deal is has never been solidified across the different editions. To wit: 

• 3E: The Shadar-Kai are fey, trying to curse the Material Plane into eternal twilight, but failed and cursed themselves into being bound to the Plane of Shadow and turned them xenophobic denizens of that plane. 
• 4E: The Shadar-Kai are humans, who made a pact to the Raven Queen and achieved immortality, but are transformed into her minions and bound to the Shadowfell. 
• 5E: The Shadar-Kai are elves, who were bound to the Raven Queen. During a three-way struggle between the Raven Queen and the elf gods Corellon and Lolth, the wizards who would become the Nagpa interfered, causing a chain reaction that banished the now-divine Raven Queen and her followers into the Shadowfell.

Since we are talking about 5E lore here, we'll be focusing on just that. But I would like to note that most of the times, at least there is some consistency between two or three versions of the lore. 5E kinda-sorta combined the lore of 3E and 4E while also making the Shadar-Kai a subrace of elves. But as the near-immortal beings have stayed in the Shadowfell for eons, they have been physically and mentally transformed. They exist in a limbo state between life and death now. When a Shadar-Kai dies, the Raven Queen, driven mad by her transformation, will pluck their souls back and resurrect them eventually. 

Shadar-Kai are have pale hair, wrinkled gray skin and 'swollen, corpselike joints'. That last bit tends to be ignored in all artwork I've seen of the Shadar-Kai. They interestingly look younger in planes outside the Shadowfell, although still ashen and emo. It's a reprieve for them, and they loathe going back to their dark realms in the Shadowfell where reflections and mementos remind them of their long age. The Shadar-Kai do not like their long lives, as life is suffering, and being elves, their functionally immortal lives just means immortal suffering. They are joyless, they are dour, and they seek out items tinged with sorrow. It's so emo, I like it. 

There is some discussion about the Raven Queen as well, who is both a goddess of death and memory. That 'memory' bit probably isn't something that the Shadar-Kai minions take particularly well. The Shadar-Kai technically serve the Raven Queen, although unlike 4E, not every Shadar-Kai is bound to the cryptic, mad goddess's will. Those that do serve the Raven Queen go out to gather those that the goddess asks them to, or to take trinkets and baubles, anything colourful to temporarily remind them of what they have had and lost.

Tome of Foes makes the Shadar-Kai a playable elven sub-race, explicitly noted to be the opposite side of the Eladrin. Where the Eladrin are all about acceptance of strong emotions, the Shadar-Kai hate emotion and is all about the pain and the lack of it. After all, for a Shadar-Kai, emotions are useless and even their body is just a temporary shell they'll discard. Death is temporary for a Shadar-Kai due to their bond to the Raven Queen. As a special move, playable Shadar-Kai are able to meld into the shadows to teleport, and when they do that, they gain temporary resistance to all damage. 

As enemies, all the Shadar-Kai statblocks are a combination of spellcasting and stealthy, teleporting fighters. They do have some thematic emo abilities, though. The Gloom Weaver has the 'Burden of Time' aura, described by the flavour text as 'the dark energy weighing down the heart, causing those around it to feel the approach of death'. How emo! The Shadow Dancer leap and teleport between shadows like a dance, using their spiked Hellraiser chains to bind and deal necrotic damage to their quarry. The Soul Monger is wracked by despair over the loss of her memories, and crave the vitality of others. They can unleash a 'Wave of Weariness' and the 'Weight of Ages', described as 'the aching void within the soul' that radiates outward, and the sound of this void of emotion is 'the moan of a tortured soul lost in a bottomless well of tragedy', which sticks with the victim.

It's emo, it's over-the-top, and... I actually do kind of like them. I would like to think that I've outgrown what the anime fandom would call the chuunibyou phase that all nerds go through, but whether you play the Shadar-Kai straight for horror and tragedy, or if you play up some of the descriptions, I feel that they are a really neat addition to a D&D setting. Notably, I feel like the Shadar-Kai are important for actually bringing a civilization into the Shadowfell plane, which otherwise is just filled with the undead or other shadowy abominations. The Shadar-Kai give the Shadowfell a nice 'face', and their combination of suffering, pain and twisted (or devoid) emotions are a nice distillation of 5E's version of the Shadowfell. 

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Skulk 

• 5.5E/5E: Medium Humanoid (5E) / Monstrosity (5.5E); Chaotic Neutral; CR 1/2

“Some children have imaginary friends that their parents can't see. Sometimes those invisible friends aren't imaginary.” Thus is the very cool, atmospheric line that is snuck as an in-universe description of the Skulk. I love it! That's very cool! The Skulk debuted all the way back in 1E's Fiend Folio, and has been depicted very differently over the years. They are always almost-humanoids with some kind of permanent invisibility about them. In 3E, they were even a race of human offshoots!

5E gives us a brand new spin on the Skulks, tying them again to the Shadowfell. I find these to be far more thematic than the Meazels for sure! The Skulks are the soulless shells of travelers who wander the Shadowfell too long until they 'lost all sense of self'. Due to the dark, negative-emotions energy that suffuses the Shadowfell, the travelers are now 'so devoid of identity' that they have become permanently invisible. Always love a bit of a dramatic, thematic origin story to these monsters! Originally classified as humanoids in Tome of Foes, they are reclassified as monstrosities in Multiverse. 

A Skulk always leaves behind no tracks, and they have a permanent --  but fallible -- invisibility. I love this bit, by the way, because the fallibility sets up a nice mood, and differentiates the Skulk so much from a random wizard that has cast the invisibility spell. Children can always see Skulks. A Skulk's reflection appears in the mirror. A special candle made up of corpse fat (which is in the DM's Handbook) can outline the Skulk. These specificity makes the Skulk feel a lot weirder than just 'invisible man'!

Skulks are so devoid of identity that they are all hairless, featureless humanoids with long claws even if you get to see their outline. Their personality is just vaguely chaotic, 'creating bloodshed and mayhem with no regard for their own lives'. Again, being creatures that were transformed due to being devoid of emotions, it kind of makes sense!

We get several exceptions where a Skulk's lack of features or identity is subverted, though. A summoner that does a ritual to call a Skulk from the Shadowfell will have the Skulk mimic a vague likeness of its master while it's trapped in the Material Plane for the duration of the ritual. That's a cute little puzzle feature! Skulks that are stuck in the Material Plane sometimes take up silent mimicries of their victims, and Tome of Foes details ghost towns where all the inhabitants are killed by Skulks, and the strange, invisible beings take up a mimicry and 'automate' all of the things that people normally do daily -- flavourless food is prepared, livestock is shifted from pen to pen until they starve, and colourless clothes are hung. That sounds creepy!

Whenever I complain about a creature being unmemorable, the Skulk is one of the examples that I think could be so interesting just by taking the 'invisible man' concept and crafting so much around it. Visually, there's not much about the Skulk that sets it apart, and even the gimmick of being invisible is done by a lot of other monsters. But I find the Skulk a lot more memorable than something like the Invisible Stalker because of the vibe, and the integration of themes together to inform the Skulk's properties and behaviour. 

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Skull Lord 

• 5.5E/5E: Medium Undead; Lawful Evil; CR 15

I like these guys! A lot of the 'skeletal enemies' like the Skeletons, Wights, Liches, Death Knighs, Zombies, Deathlocks, Dread Warriors, Heucuvas, Eyes of Fear and Flame, Crypt Things and many other 'reanimated corpse' undead just look like skeletons dressed in different armour or clothes. They're really missing that je ne sais quoi that differentiates them; like the worm gimmick for the Spawn of Kyuss or the fashion sense of the Mummy. 

The Skull Lord is simple... he's got three heads. That's a simple differentiator, but it makes the Skull Lord instantly recognizable from artwork as a Skull Lord instead of looking at a skeleton in a robe or armour and trying to figure out which of the dozens of skeletal undead it is. The Skull Lords are particularly associated with the Shadowfell, commanding hordes of undead and trying to establish dominance of it.

The Skull Lords are their own worst enemies, however -- as they each come with two personal Wormtongues and Starscreams, little scheming treacherous bastards lashed to their own skull. The Skull Lords arose from the treacherous minions of longtime D&D villain, the arch-lich Vecna. Vecna bound these traitors in groups of three and fused them together into the first Skull Lords, and cursed them to be lashed with their own worst enemies for eternity. Since then, other traitors would sometimes rise as Skull Lords. 

The Skull Lord itself is essentially a 'mini Lich', or a 'mini Death Knight'. It has auras that buff its undead minions, is able of creating more undead minions, and has a long list of spells that are more socerer/wizard-oriented than the Death Knight's evil paladin spell list or the Deathlock's warlock-themed one. 

I do really wish that the 'three heads' thing was highlighted a bit more in the design other than the rather situational 'evasion' trait. As it is, the Skull Lords' three squabbling heads appear to be much more of a roleplay or cosmetic choice. Nothing wrong with that, I would absolutely love to roleplay a Skull Lord with three completely differing personalities... but 3E had the mechanic of the Skull Lord starting off very strong, but slowly losing some of its resistances and abilities as each head gets progressively destroyed. That would have been so much more memorable.