Wrathful Wizard Monsters

By RJ on 19 December 2022. 

The wrath of a vengeful wizard is rarely matched. However, when mated with the ferocity of a monster and the skill of a thoughtful Dungeon Master, a monster imbued with the abilities of the wizard class may not only challenge a player character wizard, but an entire party.

Already on RJD20, we've explored mixing monsters with classes like the bard and barbarian, druid and paladin, and now: we move onward to D&D's most esteemed class: the wizard.

Today, we're looking at three wildly wacky wizard monsters for your next D&D session:

• A pixie arcanist with a wit as quick as her spellcasting!
• An ettin incredible armed with a barrage of magical abilities and an eerily threatening intellect!
• An efreeti pyromancer who wields the devastating elemental forces of his blistering home realm!

Each promises a unique experience for your game and your world. How can you pit a pixie arcanist against your party of three murderhobos? Where does an ettin incredible fit in your grand world of sword and sorcery? Does an efreeti pyromancer wield much power in your setting's version of the City of Brass, or is she a jester compared to the warrior-class of the legendary planar settlement?

Before we leap into these monstrous wizards, let this list of eight wizard-based foes inspire you:

1. An awakened wild boar with a wizard's spellbook stitched to him. Somehow, he's learned how to cast a few cantrips and basic spells.
2. A deep gnome School of Illusion wizard destined to branch out into the World Above.
3. A bugbear School of Evocation wizard, also known as an evocationist, who ripped a spellbook from a fallen foe's warm, dead hands and became a master of explosions. She specializes in fireballs.
4. A wise hill giant School of War wizard specially trained by a resident fire giant sage in the ways of arcane and greater warfare. He has led his tribe to many battles over far superior foes.
5. An orthon commander specialized in the School of Conjuration, capable of summoning great armies from planes other than his scarred home realm.
6. An iron giant trained in the School of Enhancement by his archmage creator.
7. A balor keen in the dark magic of the School of Necromancy, heading a horde of demons and abhorrent undead.
8. An ancient green dragon wise in the School of Lore, knowledgeable in every single aspect of the world known to mortals...and even some information kept only by those of immortal bend.

Wizard Foe Generator

For this particular strand of foes crossed with one of D&D's most iconic classes, I've crafted the Wizard Foe Generator. Try it out! It provides you with a base monster, where they can be found, and an ability/action inspired by the wizard class from D&D 5E and other editions in the game's history.

Now, let's create three wizardly foes.

Pixie Arcanist

Inherently tricky, tiny creatures, twisting a pixie with the abilities of a wizard makes quite the intimidating enemy...or powerful ally. A pixie arcanist wraps her opponents in sparkling strands of magic, rendering them helpless so her swarms of mystical friends can eliminate them in a swift and safe manner.

They're tricky foes to face

What is a Pixie Arcanist?

The wondrous woodlands of the Feywild glitter with the magic of a thousand peculiar peoples. Hags cackle away in their cursed huts and bone-filled caves. Satyr dance along forest trails singing songs of enchantment. Centaurs roam groves illuminated by the bright Feywild twilight, their hooves stomping along to primal beats that ooze magic. Even the forests themselves bubble with arcane potential: trees talk, leaves whisper, and the animals linger with even the sentience of a normal mortal man.

The stars of the Feywild, though, hold a special kind of magic. And when they fall: only a select few are capable of drawing forth that latent energy.

Feywild stars and their crash sites are dotted with powerful glyphs and words of arcane power, mysteriously written in the most elegant form of the Sylvan language. Pixies, fast-moving and inquisitive, are often the first to arrive to these craters. They scribble down the words and phrases on leaf booklets and scratch them out of the rock and ground. Afterward, they spend months and sometimes years practicing these sky-given groupings of words. Only those who remain dedicated to this practice become pixie arcanists.

The otherworldly spells available to pixie arcanists are from distant stars and often involve glittering, awe-inspiring sights of stardust and bewilderment. 

Some spells channel the energy of a burning star. 

Others freeze foes with the infinite chill of space. 

All are coveted by wizards of the Material Plane...

In Eldar, pixie arcanists quickly find their way from the Feywild into other planes of existence. Some believe the stars of other realms like the Hells or even some layers of the Abyss hide even darker "star carvings." In the Material Plane's largest settlement, Galen the City of Magic, a pixie arcanist teaches a special course on this small but unique sphere of arcana.

In Golgifell, fey crossings to Brisantha are some of the most common "magical" occurrences found and witnessed by normal mortals. Fey usually don't wander into the mortal world if they can help it, but some pixies have been known to guard these fey crossings, ordered to by their commanding Fey Court. Pixie arcanists in particular deeply enjoy gazing at the idyllic starscape of Golgifell, and wonder if "star carvings" exist in this world as they do in their own.

Sample Pixie Arcanist

Here's an example pixie arcanist using the Wizard Foe Generator to attach a new ability and action to the base pixie monster.

Base Monster: Pixie, Monster Manual page 253

Added Ability: False Self. The pixie arcanist can cast disguise self at will, but it can also shift between Tiny, Small, Medium, and Large creatures. Huge creatures can only shift to Large size.

Added Action: Student of Cantrip Excellence. The pixie arcanist can cast up to three cantrips with a single action. Each cantrip can be different or the same.

Plot Hook: Pickpocketing becomes the norm of a bustling port city when a pixie arcanist uses her starry arcana to enhance the skills of a local guild of thieves. Their weird magic perplexes the law enforcement, so they bring in those more versed in the arcane arts.

Flavor both outlined abilities as starry-themed: the creatures the pixie arcanist pretends to become have star tattoos on their body. The cantrips manifest in a burst of stardust.

Ettin Incredible

Ready to surprise your players and subvert their characters' expectations? This is the foe for you. An ettin incredible might turn a predictable, blow-for-blow blow-up with a typical ettin into a fight for survival against a creature that should never be able to handle magical abilities in a regular D&D setting. 

No one expects an ettin wizard.

What is an Ettin Incredible?

Only rarely do giantish gods allow one of their misshapen children the mental prowess to pursue a life of magic. Normal ettins are already weird folk among giant kind, pushed to the edges of society. Most times, they aren't even accepted among giants. They are forced to commandeer goblin tribes, serve the whims of orcs and hobgoblins, or become vicious rivals in troll territory. However, in the rarest of circumstances, an ettin is born with an incredible intellect. These ettins are rapidly sought after by giants at the top of the chain (called the Ordning in many worlds) and trained in the ways of arcane magic.

These very rare ettins are known as ettin incredibles.

Unlike almost any other creature, they are able to cast not one, but two spells concurrently. From one mouth and mind, an ettin incredible might spew forth words of power to conjur a fireball while the other crackles out a lightning bolt. Even more impressive, they can concentrate on two different spells at once: one mind might keep a blur around itself, while the other ensures an attacking barbarian stays affected by hold person as the ettin's fire giant allies eviscerate her.

Some ettin incredibles manage to escape servitude once they learn how to wield magic. These ettin incredibles, even solo, are formidable foes.

In Eldar, ettin incredibles originated in Nargond during Giantfall. Not products of giantish gods, these ettin incredibles manifested the wild magic latent in the air of the world during this tumultuous time. As the empire of giants fell and sent tsunamis roaring across the planet, ettin incredibles further ensured giant kind's doom. They leapt into the world and tore scattered factions apart, obliterating them with intense arcane surges and forgotten spells. As quickly as they appeared, they fragmented and wandered across the broken landmasses. Some bloodlines still exist, ettins capable of immense thought and insight, but the most common way of finding them is pure chance. If they are born into the world, they often become leaders of hill giant tribes or respected sages of frost giant jarls and fire giant citadels.

In Golgifell, ettin incredibles are the norm: regular ettins do not exist. Even though ettin incredibles take on the regular "ettin" role, they are still extremely rare alongside all other giants except hill giants. Encountering an ettin in Golgifell is an event best left unattended. The lack of magic in the rest of the world almost seems to redouble itself in ettins, overwhelming any who interact with them. In the most remote wilderlands like Res Mana, ettins boast huge armies and followers who worship them as gods-on-earth.

Sample Ettin Incredible

Below is one example of an ettin incredible created with the Wizard Foe Generator. Beware: it's powerful.

Base Monster: Ettin, Monster Manual page 132

Added Ability: Perfect Mind. The ettin incredible is able to concentrate on two spells simultaneously.

Added Action: Impossible Arcana. The ettin incredible is able to cast two spells in a single turn with a single action.

Plot Hook: Doom befalls a frontier town when a duo of ettin incredibles dominate both a tribe of orcs and a pack of gnolls. At the helm with extreme intelligence and a horde of formidable minions, the ettin incredibles intend on conquering the town and moving closer to "true" civilization.

Efreeti Pyromancer

No enemy fought by your party before has wielded fire magic quite like an efreeti pyromancer. Area domination, explosive damage, and a temper enraged by the might a thousand fires are all staples of this wizard-like wonder from the Elemental Plane of Fire. 

Did I mention she rides in a sleigh pulled by hippos made of magma?

What is an Efreeti Pyromancer?

The typical tyrannical lives of an efreeti noble bore the wisest among their kind. Those who seek unrivaled power delve into the depths of the Plane of Fire, learning the secrets of primeval pyromancy. They become masters of the most scorching element, wielders of the sacred fire, one of the vital elements of creation.

Once they master the secrets of the sacred fire, they become creators as well. A power thought only known to the gods in the hands of a mere creature. Efreeti pyromancers can breathe fiery essence into normal beasts. They can turn snakes into blazing serpents; giant eagles into phoenix-like birds; massive hippos into beasts of molten magma.

From remote studies, they perfect this craft and plot domination of the Plane of Fire and realms beyond. However, an efreeti pyromancer in a world not its own, such as the Material Plane, can easily wreak havoc. 

Entities of pure flame are not meant to exist in worlds of balance.

In Eldar, efreeti pyromancers began as solitary scholars but eventually formed the Cabal of Eternal Flame. As a unit, they've built a dominion across most the Plane of Fire that rivals the strength of the City of Brass. Some suspect they were behind the Devastation in the Material Plane, wherein a huge swath of Aelonis was elementally destroyed. All know they pay homage to Imix, the Prince of Elemental Fire, though some believe he is not their master: some think they control the archomental.

In Golgifell, there's but one tale of an efreeti who took over the Gulonde. In his reign, he turned the sands black and the rivers to lava. The rivers faded, but the black sand remained and cursed the endless desert forevermore. At times, his bellowing laughter can be heard on the wind during great storms of sand. These storms spawn beasts of pure flame, echoes of the pyromancer's initial scarring of the desert.

Example Efreeti Pyromancer

Here is an example of an efreeti pyromancer built with the Wizard Foe Generator.

Base Monster: Efreeti, Monster Manual page 145

Added Ability: Sculpt Magic. Spells that would otherwise damage the efreeti pyromancer's allies no longer do so.

Added Action: Plane Bringer. Once per day, the efreeti pyromancer can summon a creature from another plane of existence that is CR 2 or less. The summoned creature returns to its home plane when a new creature is summoned.

Plot Hook: An efreeti pyromancer enters a jungle realm, transforming it into a woodland of fiery beasts and molten magma rivers. Her spree of terror must end, else it'll spread into the nearby countryside.

In Summary

If you're stuck preparing your latest D&D NPC or encounter and really need some magical inspiration, the wizard class serves as an excellent source. Always remember:

• The Wizard Foe Generator is a rapid-fire way to form a compelling foe for your characters to face.
• Schools of wizardry work wonderfully as background information, foe motivations, and even plot devices in your world.
• Enemies based on wizards don't need to use spells, just re-flavor them as innate abilities and actions.

In last week's article, I explored why the spotlight should be shared amongst all at the table, and how it's not only the job of the Dungeon Master to ensure this. If you enjoyed this post, check out last week's post as well!

Here's to greatening your game and world: cheers!

Related Articles

• Pernicious Paladin Monsters for Your Next Session
• How to Make Holier D&D Monsters with the Cleric Class
• How to Build Fighter-Inspired D&D Monsters
• How to Make Earthier D&D Monsters with the Druid Class
• D&D Monsters Inspired by the Monk Class

Want More RPG Tips & Tales from RJD20?

• Discover more RJD20 content.
• Join the RJD20 Patreon community.
• Subscribe to RJD20's newsletter.
• Support RJD20 products.

As always, thanks for reading. Please send all inquiries to rjd20writes@gmail.com or leave a comment below.

Pernicious Paladin Monsters for Your Next Session

by RJ on 5 December 2022. 

Historically in our beloved tabletop roleplaying game hobby, paladins are the good folk. They protect the innocent. They divide loot fairly. They save the day for the righteous faction. Sometimes they even go too far, especially if their player is inexperienced, and play their "usual" alignment of lawful good as lawful stupid. 

We can love it, hate it, be cynical about it, or we as Dungeon Masters can retool paladins for our own sinister plots and schemes.

The class that many believe to be the do-no-wrong and just? It's time to use it to churn out some monsters for your next D&D session. Fellow DMs all around, I introduce to you: pernicious paladin monsters for your next session:

• A gnoll avenger
• An obsidian earth elemental
• A fire giant templar

We've done this before with other D&D 5E Player's Handbook classes like the bard, druid, and even fighter. Now, you'll be able to pepper paladin-based foes throughout your D&D adventures and campaigns. Before we dive into some fleshed out monsters, new abilities, lore and all else, let this list of six monstrous paladins ready your mind:

1. A goblin who took the Oath of Redemption after stealing, eating one too many sheep.
2. A kobold under the sway of the Oath of Vengeance thanks to the annihilation of her clan at the hands of a witty white dragon.
3. An ogre magi/oni sworn to the Oath of the Ancients on the path to becoming a conduit for a primordial force.
4. A fire giant in service to the Oath of Conquest on a crusade through the Upper Underdark, forcing drow, duergar, and darker beings under his banner.
5. A rakshasa who follows an Oath of Devotion after being smitten by an angel of the Lower Heavens.
6. An ancient gold dragon Oathbreaker who broke his powerful Oath of the Ancients to the Platinum Dragon to save a very dear loved one and continued a descent into absolute darkness.

Paladin Foe Generator

For this sampling of foes crossed with one of the classic D&D classes, I've crafted the Paladin Foe Generator. Try it out! It provides you with a base monster, where they can be found, and an ability/action inspired by the paladin class from D&D 5E and other editions gone by.

Now, let's look at some paladin-inspired foes.

Gnoll Avenger

Let's begin with a low-level monster boosted up with my second favorite paladin subclass: the Oath of Vengeance. I present to you, a gnoll avenger.

The story comes first, the "stats" arrive after.

What is a Gnoll Avenger?

Most gnolls serve in the name of Yeenoghu. They pillage, slaughter, and destroy without discrimination. In their eyes, everything is food for gnollkind and their demonic daddy, Yeenoghu. However, what if some gnolls rose above that basic level of intelligence? What if their bestial desires took the form of something concrete, something that could bind a gnoll to a set of principles they could use to enact power over other members of their society?

These calculating leaders of gnoll society are known as gnoll avengers. First established by elders in a time long passed, gnoll avengers lead roaming gnoll packs while abiding by an Oath of Vengeance brutally cut for their demonic species. Its tenets are as follows:

• Fight the Greater Foe. More formidable folk once destroyed my species' chance on this world. They'll pay for what they've done, as will all who attempt to snuff our raging torch.
• No Mercy for the Weak. No enemy, strong or weak, faltering or rampaging, is spared by my weapon.
• Single-Minded Pack. I will not fail in my ultimate duty, no matter the cost to me or my pack.

In Eldar, these gnolls appeared in direct opposition to the Hungerless, a sect of pacifistic gnolls unburdened with Yeenoghu's constant growls. Gnoll avengers blame the Hungerless for their species' complete drop from the world stage, believing they'd rule multiple realms, if not the entire continent of Aelonis if the Hungerless had stayed by Yeenogu's side. Of course this is preposterous, but many packs led by gnoll avengers think it's true.

In Golgifell, gnoll avengers are extremely rare. They are rarely found outside the Gulonde, though one has made a spree all the way into the Odgrir Northlands, at war with the minotaur warlock clans there. In the Gulonde, they uphold a slightly revised version of the tenets above inspired by the unmatched hunger of their patron deity, The Devourer.

Sample Gnoll Avenger

Using the generator provided at the beginning of this article, I rolled up this gnoll avenger's abilities/actions:

• Base Monster: Gnoll
• Added Ability: Aura of Arcane Defense. The foe naturally emanates an aura in a 10’ radius that grants resistance to all allies against spell damage.
• Added Action: Touch of Divinity. The foe may use an action to touch one creature (including itself) and end all negative and/or positive effects on it.
• Plot Hook: Roads into the vast desert are no longer safe. Bandits harry any patrols or guards who try to extinguish them. Every trade caravan trying to pass through is raided and almost nothing is left behind, save a few lives. Recent bandit viciousness comes from a gnoll avenger who has become a bandit lord of sorts. She wields the gnoll-specific Oath of Vengeance against the traders, justifying bandit cruelty against the rich, food and supply rich caravans. Will trade ever return to the region?

Go ahead and drop her into your next session. Let me know if she survives or if she falls in battle as she likely should!

Obsidian Earth Elemental

Next up is a rock-based enemy full of flair: an obsidian earth elemental. This creature is inspired more by the paladin's defensive abilities. Utilizing them, the usually stale earth elemental becomes something dark, exciting, and powerful when paired with a bruiser.

Let's roll right into the lore.

What is an Obsidian Earth Elemental?

The Elemental Planes bury many secrets. Oftentimes, only those who reach these fantastical realms of impossibility discover them, usually by chance. Invasions from these realms, however, sometimes force the hidden pieces into the eyes of the mortal world. One such invasion occurred in the distant past of many different worlds at the hands of the hardy folk known as goliaths.

They were not of the mortal world, instead they hailed from the Elemental Plane of Earth. They were masters of that place, but darker powers forced them to find a new home. The mortal world, or the Material Plane, would suffice, they thought. 

At the head of their invasion were their greatest creations: elemental begins molded not from normal earth or stone, but of crystals and wondrous ores. One of the rarest, earth elementals built entirely from obsidian, were piloted by goliath warlords. These large elementals were not only hardier than normal earth elementals, but also imbued with a touch of shadow. In the blink of an eye, they could vanish from sight, only to appear many feet away, prepared to crush their target. They could also rapidly come to the aid of goliaths, using tough shields and quick movement to absorb hits that would be taken by their creators.

Unfortunately, few survived this successful goliath invasion. The select survivors buried themselves beneath the earth, found a home in shadowy realms, or became treasures of the greediest wyrms of the world.

In Eldar, obsidian earth elementals roam the charred country of Imixia. These elementals are prized possessions of spellcasters there if they can be captured, as they are able to delve into the deep lava pools scattered across the terrain. In almost silent sects in Ogremocha, Imixia's neighboring realm, some goliaths rediscovered the art of forming these obsidian elementals. Their creations do not rival those of ancient earth molders, though.

In Golgifell, a single obsidian earth elemental from the World Below demolished the most bustling town in the Odgrir Northlands about 30 years ago. It still roams the ruins and spews forth steaming lava from its roaring mouth, keeping back any would-be heroes from recovering what remains in the ruins of Tarinbur.

Sample Obsidian Earth Elemental

Using the generator I linked at the start of this article, I rolled up this obsidian earth elemental's abilities/actions:

• Base Monster: Earth Elemental
• Added Ability: Aura of Protection. The foe emboldens the defenses of all allies within 15’ of it, increasing their armor class by 1.
• Added Action: No Escape. When the foe makes an opportunity attack against a creature, it has advantage. If it hits, the foe can make a second attack.
• Plot Hook: Arising from the bowels of the Material Plane is an ancient obsidian earth elemental, bent on destruction as it was in the earliest days of the world. Like a tarrasque, it moves from target to target without discrimination. Villages fall. Towns collapse. Cities quake. What awakened it? Who does it serve? Perhaps it's related to the Oath of the Ancients. What is its endgame? The mystery walks and brings doom. Will anyone divert or end its path?

In addition to the extra parts outlined above, it also has the following action:

• Phase Shift. The obsidian earth elemental may use its action to turn invisible and teleport to an unoccupied space within 60'. On its next turn, it can attack a target within range. It has advantage on the attack.

Fire Giant Templar

Here's my personal favorite of the fleshed out monstrous paladin batch: the support-focused fire giant templar. 

It can be a mix of defense, healing, and dominating the battlefield with offensive auras. Fire giants are also excellent foes to incorporate into any story, so here's a bit of lore based on this specific variation!

What is a Fire Giant Templar?

Fire giant society is clearly split. While forgemasters and kings may rank highest in this division, a clear third place is held by templars. These fierce warriors uphold the profound tenets of all fire giants, following the fiery Oath of the Forge, every single letter of it.

Few outside giant culture know about the existence of this sacred oath. It helped cement fire giants as masters of conquering and crafting, as well as their position in the Ordning. These are its tenets:

• For the Forge. The World Above and the Realm Below hold many people, resources, and secrets. All are food for our roaring forges.
• Sacrifice for the Forge. Not all crusades into enemy territory end in complete domination. If faced with death and loss of claimed resources for the fire giant kingdom, I will sacrifice myself so that others may take back the won treasures.
• Master the Forge. Strength in battle is second only to understanding the forge. I must comprehend what I might make the ultimate sacrifice for so that the forgemasters may continue to keep our society strong.

Are you interested in the Oath of the Forge for player characters? I'm working on it right now and will likely release it in good time. Once I do, I'll send out a quick message to everyone on my mailing list. Join it now if you'd like to receive this new paladin subclass in the near future.

In Eldar, fire giant templars are found at the head of Imixia's Burning Legion. They head all forays outside the blasted country, mostly into the Subterrane where they raid dark dwarf and drow settlements for resources, both living and inanimate.

In Golgifell, fire giants are scarcely seen. Fire giant templars, as a result are even more rare. However, in formerly giantish lands such as Odgrir or the Towerpeaks, distant descendants of fire giants who mated with other peoples are seldom found. A few of them live by a heavily revised Oath of the Forge, and a tiny subset seek out the original in dilapidated halls of stone and soot.

Sample Fire Giant Templar

Using the generator I linked at the start of this article, I rolled up this fire giant templar's actions:

• Base Monster: Fire Giant
• Added Action: Aura of Health. The foe may use a bonus action to heal all allied creatures in a 10’ radius by 2d6 hit points.
• Added Action: Voice of Redemption. The foe may use an action to raise a creature it can touch from the dead, as long as its body is intact, and it died less than 1 minute ago.
• Plot Hook: Clouds of smoke obscure the skies above a usually bustling frontier town and terrifying, fire-breathing hounds scour the countryside around it. Dwarfish veterans whisper in the streets of a potential invasion from the World Below, led by fire giants and their enslaved warriors, but the truth is far more sinister. The town's newly elected mayor is a faithful of the Oath of the Forge, a human descended from a line of half-giants. He primes the town for complete invasion and take-over, working with his great, great grandfather: a fire giant templar. Soon, the streets of his town shall be covered in soot and forges of grand flame shall work through the night...Will this plot be discovered? Will the templar be stopped?

Summarizing Monstrous Paladins

Sometimes, making monsters can be difficult. Plenty of inspiration can be mined from the various books of the current D&D edition and of those past, including from player-centric books. Particularly, the flavor and mechanics of many character classes. To summarize:

• Paladins make great foes and can be easily generated using the Paladin Foe Generator.
• Oaths provide paladin foes with excellent goals and simple ways to portray a compelling enemy. Oaths last generations and usually speak to primal pieces of the world: vengeance, conquest, redemption. You can easily base an entire villain around this.
• Almost anything can use abilities inspired by paladins. Earth elementals can gain their defensive auras or attacks. Dragons can imbue their claws with the powers of smiting. Influential dwarves can wield their force of will upon the meek.

In last week's post, I explored what you might do instead of outright canceling a D&D game when another member or two cancels. If you enjoyed this article, check it out.

Here's to greatening your game and world: cheers!

Related Articles

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• How to Make Earthier D&D Monsters with the Druid Class
• D&D Monsters Inspired by the Monk Class

Want More RPG Tips & Tales from RJD20?

• Discover more RJD20 content.
• Join the RJD20 Patreon community.
• Subscribe to RJD20's newsletter.
• Support RJD20 products.

As always, thanks for reading. Please send all inquiries to rjd20writes@gmail.com or leave a comment below.

Slaadi in Dungeons and Dragons Part 2: Batrachian Beasts From Beyond

Novel ideas for slaadi in our Dungeons and Dragons settings and games are seldom seen. The second piece done on slaadi on RJD20, this article strives to innovate a creature I dearly treasure in my own setting, providing ample opportunity for all of you to steal ideas and craft cooler slaadi for your D&D settings, one-shots, and campaigns. TSR and now Wizards of the Coast molded a firm foundation with slaadi, we must reinforce and build atop it.

Read on to darken your worlds with and add color to the multifarious monsters of chaos known as the slaadi.

Batrachian Beasts From Beyond

Horrifying outsiders often invade our D&D worlds. They pillage green earth, gather frightened prisoners, and spread corruption far and wide, slaughtering, not rankling. Planar denizens run rampant as villains in plenty of TTRPG systems: devils, demons, and elementals among countless others. One outsider entity in particular haunts far fewer D&D adventures than it should: slaadi.

Normally, slaadi are batrachian terrors who stalk the plane of chaos, Limbo, hopping from chunks of swirling stone into pits of churning tar. Their abilities are deadly and their minds alien, but their narrative presence lacks interest or depth. 

Why are slaadi rare foes? 

It is because they are relatively uninteresting villains, nothing greater than frog-like beasts from beyond who abhor order and inspire chaos. However, in our worlds, this need not be true.

Let's begin the slaadi's reinvention.

Alternative Slaadi Origins

Presently the origins of slaadi inspire boredom. 

Typical D&D canon recounts a time eons ago when Primus, the master of law on Mechanus, forged a magical gem called the Spawning Stone. With this artifact, he dared try and tame the unfettered madness and whirling soup of Limbo. Amidst the chaos he placed the Spawning Stone.

It allowed creatures of law, such as modrons and githzerai to build settlements amidst the Plane of Chaos, and build they did. The lawful denizens transformed many locales of Limbo into thriving communities, excavating valuable resources from the tumultuous terrain.

Alas, in unforeseen consequence, the geometric gem repurposed the absorbed chaos and created slaadi. Rapidly, slaadi rolled across Limbo and annihilated modron cities, githzerai enclaves, and any other semblance of civilization they could smell out.

The Slaad's Planar Portal, 2018 Michele Giorgi

Fortunately, we can radically alter their origins in our own realms, or re-flavor their current origin. Canon in our worlds as we've learned, is what we make it. Bolden these bipedal beasts with one of the following appalling origins, or mix and match them all.

1. Spawn of the First Ones. Slaadi emerged from the pools of conception, leftover matter from the creation of the progenitor species. They are primordial accidents.
2. Purposeful Horrors. A maddened archmage named Slag Distas permanently transformed a giant toad into a mixture of man and amphibian with an epic spell, then spewed it into the plane of chaos. Slaadi are its descendants and all of the batrachian beasts carry pieces of Slag Distas's insanity within them.
3. From Past the Stars. Slaadi arrived from a starless void on the edge of the known universe. Alongside appeared a prophecy detailing the sun’s imminent doom. Tales from beyond this verse frequent slaadi lips, and those interested in what lies outside the verse oft converse with slaadi sages.
4. Demonic God Born. The brackish demon lord Atod’grof birthed slaadi in the trenches of the Abyss after consuming a god of chaos. Sparked with a shred of the eaten god, the slaadi voyaged to the realm of chaos and claimed it as their birthright. Atod'grof still leads his froggish manifestations in this soupy realm, though the aleatory path of his spawn's future remains uncertain.
5. The Law Bringer's Mistake. Primus placed the Spawning Stone into Limbo, but it was destroyed by the realm's unbounded insanity. Its explosion created slaadi. Ever since, Primus and his modrons have tried to fix the Law Bringer's massive mistake.
6. The Law Bringer's Mad Genius. Primus purposely placed the Spawning Stone into Limbo, with the intent of it creating slaadi. The gems in their heads are part of an intricate plan to control these creatures and, eventually, enforce order across the verse. Only Primus and the highest ranked modron commanders know this truth.

Slag Distas

Who might this maddened archmage who made the slaadi be in your world? Let's take a look by exploring her in my D&D setting, Eldar.

As a fan of roll tables, I'm using a variety of resources to inspire the formation of Archmage Slag Distas, including the villain tables from Villain Backgrounds Volume I, the this is my life tables from Xanathar's Guide to Everything, and, due to her aberrant origins, the beholder tables from Volo's Guide to Monsters. 

The results, carefully carved by my hand, form the potential creator of slaadi in your world, for in my Eldar, the slaadi's origins are far more shrouded in strata of mystery and horror. 

In Eldar, she is a pillar of corrupted aberratology: the study of aberrations, and one of the creators of a despised faction.

Born to an aasimar and human parent during a time of great strife, Slag Distas used to be called Dislaga Nexaeus. Her father a commander, her mother a priest, she never stayed in one place for long, constantly moving from battlefield to battlefield, her parents unwilling to send her away to a guarded temple or isolated academy. As a result, Slag's early memories are littered with echoes of death cries, battered corpses, and thrilling shouts of victory. Her best friends were a quintet of frogs she found in a necessary swamp stop to a distant battleground. Alongside these amphibians, the road, death, and victory were all she knew.

Aasimar Warlock, 2018 Kevin Furr

Her father's lieutenants kept her trained and safe most of her early life, but her first true friend was a high elf who joined House Nexaeus with a goal in mind. An aberrationist posing as a planarologist, the high elf named Fynir Jaslogos wove strands of aberrant thinking into the young Slag alongside her lessons on the planes of existence. Limbo was a chaotic realm of great change and greater possibility, littered with batrachian beasts. Celestia was an unchanging paradise where only the good, wealthy...fortunate...resided. Most mortals, the high elf taught, could be greatened with pieces of other creatures: the mind of an aboleth, the arms of a slaad, the all-seeing eyes of a beholder. Of all the aberrations she learned of, slaadi fascinated her the most, reminding her of her frog pets she fancied as a child on the road of destruction.

Fynir's lessons shaped Slag's psychology as she grew more and more distant from her others teachers and her parents as their war path lengthened. Eventually, prodded by the high elf, she realized her greater purpose. The aasimar abandoned her family and left with Fynir, swept up as the latest novice of the Neverwild Cabal, a secretive organization of aberrationists and other scholars. All novices encouraged to pick a particular field of study or thesis project at the outset, Slag officially chose the origins of slaadi as her premier project. She changed her name to Slag Distas. She dyed her hair the five colors of her five frogs. She immersed herself in slaadi lore for decades, trying for their inception.

And the result was madness.

Slag Distas, a prodigy deliberately discovered by Fynir, could not finish her first fascination. She scavenged hidden libraries, interviewed captured slaadi, studied the opening moments of creation, observed creatures from beyond the stars, traced the path of slaadi from world to world, and concluded nothing. Fynir pleased, Slag Distas descended into madness and blamed the institution who helped her for her failures. Alongside other novices and a few higher-ranked members, Slag staged a revolt against the Neverwild Cabal, testing the organization.

The revolters sparred the loyal members of the cabal, in their flying archive in Xoriat, in their hidden library in the Astral Plane, above the undulating seas of the Plane of Water. Rapidly, the revolt was quashed but many of the revolters lived. They retreated to distant planes and remote locales, keeping in contact, plotting their next move. Concurrently, greater powers noticed this schism, contacted Slag Distas. At the end of it all alongside a figment of pure chaos, the aasimar formed a rival faction to the Neverwild Cabal called the Entropic Enclave. Forevermore, Slag Distas would lead the battle against the aberrationists, her former mentor silently smiling and plotting in the background of the Neverwild Cabal. The motives of those who study aberrations are ever in flux and clouded in the unknown and misunderstood...

Her parent's war path long ended, Slag Distas and her batrachian companions began a crusade that would continue for centuries and further contribute to the echoes of death the aasimar heard in her stormy mind.

Chaotic Slaadi Motives

As bland as slaadi canon origins are their motives. Terror? Okay. Reproduction? Understandable. Destruction? Of course. The most defined exultation of slaadi is the systematic hunting and annihilating of modrons and other minions of Primus, canonically. 

Presently, each of these motives is simple which contributes to their intended use as horrifying monsters from a weird world. However, as is the case with many villains and sentient monsters in D&D nowadays, imbuing them with glorious or terrible purpose usually enhances our games.

Like a tadpole undergoes metamorphosis and becomes a frog, slaadi motivations must change from inducing chaos to more varied goals. In the previous section, we altered and upgraded slaadi origins, the same can be done for their motives.

Limbo, Manual of the Planes, 2008 Wizards of the Coast

Here are six ideas for interesting slaadi motives.

1. Scouring for Divinity. The vessel for the first slaad god lurks in a mortal body. Slaadi scour the world for it, spawning hundreds of their kind in the process. Roiling rumors say the slaad who spawn's the deity will become its avatar and most powerful servant.
2. Raid to Survive. Resources grow scarce in the realm of chaos. Slaadi invade mortal lands not for blood or chaos, but survival. After eons of chaos and terror incited by slaadi, mortals find this hard to fathom.
3. Refugee Crisis. Deadly horrors chase slaadi from their soupy world. They seek refuge in a world other than their own. The batrachian beasts hop from realm to realm, from the Plane of Fire and the Nine Hells of Baator to the Seven Heavens of Mount Celestia and the Elemental Chaos.
4. Humble Prescience. Slaadi prophets foresee the destruction of their world and the mortal one. The batrachian beings need a new home outside this verse and are willing to ally with others to find it. Elf astrologists forecast the same fate of the verse and fight to welcome the slaadi to their realm.
5. Destructive Variants. The arrival of a new breed of slaadi...from a different timeline...shatters the balance of already-chaotic slaadi society. Its leaders wish to destroy the latest evolution, but many have fled to the mortal world and rapidly spread. Prescient slaadi think the only one who can help them is Primus.
6. Allies of Necessity. A powerful devil duke captures and enslaves a clutch of slaadi. They will do anything to be free of his sinister command. Yet the devil has no intentions of allowing them freedom, keen on meshing their peculiar powers with the precision and axioms of the infernal legions.

Do any of these motivations stand above the rest? Let me know in the comments below.

Variant Slaadi Abilities

Deepened with original geneses and unique motivations, our slaadi are more interesting foes to build a story around. 

Instead of chaotic creatures accidentally created by Primus who only yearn for madness and reproduction, they might be travelers from beyond the stars who arrived in your verse as harbingers of doom. 

Or they might be purposeful creations of Primus he wishes to one day wield as perplexing weapons of law, though many have been captured by a devil duke and presently become more and more infernal by the minute.

What if we went a step further and enhanced them with variant abilities? Most slaadi already possess unique abilities, from the blue slaad's Chaos Phage to the red slaad's Tadpole Injection, both inflicted via their Claw attacks, yet more abilities are never frowned upon.

The following abilities may be added to any type of slaadi your characters encounter, from the ones encountered in the Monster Manual (red, blue, green, grey, death) to the many types from old editions (black, gold, et cetera), some found in this prior article.

All Slaadi, Monster Manual, 2008 Wizards of the Coast

See the six abilities below. When your characters encounter a slaad, roll a d6. The slaad gains the ability attached to the number you rolled. Certain formidable slaad may boast two of these abilities.

1. Tongue Wrap. As an action, the slaad’s sticky tongue is immense and can be used to Grapple a target. When a target is Grappled (escape DC 13) this way, they are Restrained and take 1d4 acid damage at the beginning of their turn.
2. Force Chaos. With chaos energy, the slaad can radically alter the appearance of creatures, objects, and the environment around it. The slaad can cast the spells disguise self and polymorph at will, the former has unlimited uses, the latter has three per day. Both are actions.
3. Void Leap. As an action, the slaad can teleport up to 60’ away in a burst of chaotic magic. If the slaad teleports to an occupied space, the creature in the space must make a DC 13 Dexterity saving throw. On a failure, they take 2d6 force damage.
4. Metamorphosis. As a bonus action, the slaad can evolve to grow twice its size, gain a tail, a set of wings, and another clawed arm. All the slaad's damage rolls gain an extra damage die, it gains advantage on all Dexterity saving throws, a flying speed of 30 feet, and another claw attack. This form lasts for 1 minute and can be used once per day. Every time the slaad uses Metamorphosis, there is a 5% chance it stays in this form until it dies. Roll this result as the transformation is about to end.
5. Slime Spit. As an action, the slaad spits a ball of gooey slime that slows and corrodes its target. The target must make a DC 14 Dexterity saving throw. On a failure, the slime wraps around their body. Their movement speed is halved and they take 3d4 points of acid damage at the beginning of their turns. The target may use an action to remove the slime from their body.
6. Chaotic Croak. Immediately when the slaad reaches half life (is Bloodied), it lets out a great croak, drawing 1d4 other slaadi from the realm of chaos to its side. You may choose the type of slaadi summoned.

Gray, Red, and Green Slaadi, Monster Manual, 2003 Wizards of the Coast

Armed with these variant abilities, your slaadi are sure to threaten any party they face. Try them out and let me know what you think of them in the comments below.

A Slaad Villain: Scurtalag the Revived

It is fast-becoming tradition to include a villain in almost every article on RJD20. Further building upon this little legacy, meet Scurtalag the Revived, written in the style of the Yum DM's MAP (Motivation, Appearance, Personality) method, a depiction of NPC's that requires its own article.

Scurtalag the Revived (Slaad Male Chaotic Neutral; Motivation: Survival, Appearance: Abominable, Personality: Driven) is a permanently metamorphosed slaad whose close-knit clutch scattered after losing a battle against a plane-shifting dragon. 

Alongside six other slaadi, he walks the mortal world polymorphed into a human, desperately seeking a new home and a chance to avenge his slain batrachian companions, not because he cared for his aberrants, but because without them he can no longer pursue his ultimate goal of seizing control of the slaadi population in the wasted "city" of Yumdakanapla in Limbo. 

Whispers in his mind urge him to find the dragon who killed his companions, incapacitate it, and implant a tadpole into the dragon's dying body, creating the first slaad dragon. Scurtalag dismisses the voice as madness for now. But as the croons grow louder, it's possible the slaad will crumble and submit to whatever lurks inside him.

Blue and Death Slaadi, Monster Manual, 2003 Wizards of the Coast

Use the death slaad stat block from page 278 of the Monster Manual for Scurtalag, with the following edits.

• Sturdy. Scurtalag is beefy, he starts with max death slaad hit points: 240.
• Chaos Master. Scurtalag is an especially powerful slaad. He boasts two of the new slaadi abilities, in addition to being permanently metamorphosed: Void Leap and Slime Spit. 
• Legendary Foe. Scurtalag has three Legendary Actions, one of which is taking a regular claw attack (1 action), one is Disengage (1 action), the other is Void Leap (2 actions).
• Rebirth. Scurtalag has a second wind. When he drops to 0 hit points, he sheds his metamorphosed form and stands again as a normal death slaad with the normal stat block, slightly maddened and intent on implanting a slaad tadpole inside his dragon nemesis.

Actionable Advice

• Amalgamated, these ideas expand slaadi in our worlds, creatures who can pose a formidable threat and help tell a wacky story. 
• No longer are slaadi creatures with boring origins, combining a few of the ideas presented or simply expanding on one compounds on their worldly impact.
• Gone are the days of slaadi incurring chaos and only yearning to implant mortals with their spawn, your slaadi now have motives and unique reasons to interact with the Material Plane and other realms. 
• With their enhanced story elements as foundational pillars, our slaadi gain interesting abilities. Surely, our players will be perplexed and engaged against these interesting foes.

Implant a few of these ideas into your world the next time you run slaadi in your world, you will not regret it. Is this the last we'll see of the slaadi? Considering they are one of the primary villains of Caught in Galen, I doubt it.

Until the next encounter, stay creative!

First time reading RJD20? Begin here, subscribe to the RJD20 newsletter, and explore RJD20 videos on YouTube.

Check out my first released supplement, Villain Backgrounds Volume I.

Provide any feedback or inquiries to @rjd20writes on Twitter or rjd20writes@gmail.com.

Art in Order of Appearance

• Slaadi Set, The Plane Below: Secrets of the Elemental Chaos, 2009 Wizards of the Coast
• The Slaad's Planar Portal, 2018 Michele Giorgi
• Aasimar Warlock, 2018 Kevin Furr
• Limbo, Manual of the Planes, 2008 Wizards of the Coast
• All Slaadi, Monster Manual, 2008 Wizards of the Coast
• Grey, Red, and Green Slaadi, Monster Manual, 2008 Wizards of the Coast
• Blue and Death Slaadi, Monster Manual, 2003 Wizards of the Coast

The Fives of Volo's Guide to Monsters

Book by book, I’m retreading, reanalyzing, and relearning old ground. Ensconced with a new mindset, my Dungeons & Dragons reread is well underway. This article delves into Volo’s Guide to Monsters, explaining the Fives of the first major Dungeon Master and monster expansions of fifth edition D&D.

The Fives of Volo’s Guide to Monsters are:

• The five most interesting combatants
• The five most compelling creatures
• The five most gorgeous pieces of art
• The five best slices of the Volo’s Guide to Monsters pie
• The five worst slices of the Volo’s Guide to Monsters pie

Page numbers are present with everything I review and provide new ideas about. Monsters are bolded the first time they are mentioned, while actions and abilities are always italicized.

By this article’s conclusion, you will have a firm hold on the best pieces of Volo’s Guide to Monsters (called VGTM henceforth), and whether or not you should pick the book up. You should also step away with novel concepts developed from or alongside the book's content.

I’ll preface the Fives with this:

VGTM is well-worth the money for all Dungeon Masters and for players who want to play and immerse themselves in the lore of core “monstrous” races, but it contains a few duds that sap a small portion of its potential. More on that near this article’s end. Overall, it is an excellent addition for many D&D troves.

Onward, to the Fives!

Five Most Interesting Combatants in VGTM

These five creatures stand out as interesting combatants. Reasons vary, from wielding a plethora of actions to possessing unique traits and abilities that can be utilized to create cooler battles.

Number 1: Flail Snail (pg. 144)

Funky, somewhat comical, and surprisingly potent, the flail snail wields an array of abilities to scatter and scare parties of tier one and two play. Evolved with an Antimagic Shell, casters who don’t know this fact will consequently discover the flail snail is a devastating enemy, capable of reflecting spells and turning them into bursts of destruction.

In addition, the flail snail may attack with as many tentacles as it possesses (rules as written, the flail snail starts with five and must attack one target), which allows it to smack one PC into submission.

The powerful Antimagic Shell and interesting Flail Tentacles abilities engineer a fascinating foe, and its defensive and single-target potential elevate it to a top-five combatant in VGTM.

Consider the following to further spice up the flail snail in combat encounters:

1. Allow its Shell Defense action to be a reaction instead, allowing it to emerge as a bonus action on its turn.
2. Grant it additional tentacles depending on the size of the group and allow them to attack more than one target.
3. Pair it up with brutes and snipers like ogres and gnolls to turn the flail snail into a truly deadly encounter. A creature of elemental earth, perhaps these ogres or gnolls are under the employ of a greedy elementalist or a domineering galeb duhr.

Number 2: Orc Variants (pgs. 183-185)

Wizards of the Coast decided to vary up the action economy and orc power level with their set of orcs in VGTM. Despite their terrible chapter in the book (more on that soon), their stat blocks are inspiring and powerful in the hands of a proper tactician AND a novice DM.

There are five orc variants in VGTM (not including the tanarukk), and four of the five are interesting foes to face and craft an encounter around. Here’s the run down of why they’re great.

Three of the four variants carry the Aggressive ability, a bonus action that allows movement toward a foe. Love it, movement options are usually limited for monsters.

Orc Blades of Ilneval boast an extra damage die on longsword hits and, similar to a dragon’s breath, have a rechargeable ability called Illneval’s Command that allows them to, as an action, command up to three orcs within 120’ feet to make an attack with their reactions. Intermonster play is excellent, I use it in my games, and WOTC should use it more too, more of this, WOTC! To be fair, the original orc war chief in the Monster Manual has a similar ability, granting nearby allies advantage, but I think the addition of reactions to the orc's allies is far superior. This orc also has Aggressive.

Orc Claws of Luthic know a few powerful spells, have the Aggressive ability, but most importantly, once they are below half hit points (something I call Bloodied, a condition from fourth edition D&D), they double the number of claw attacks they make. That means if they’re below half life (usually 22 hit points), they can make four attacks on a turn. Paired with an evoker or sniper from the back and bolstered by their own spells, these orcs stand as horrifying foes on the front lines of a battlefield. The ferocity of foes increasing as a battle progresses is a killer piece of drama, and I’m glad these orcs capitalize on it.

Orc Nurtured Ones of Yurtrus are Aggressive, suicidal siege weapons capable of inflicting massive damage and the Poisoned condition upon foes with their special Corrupted Carrier/Corrupted Vengeance ability/action. Upon death or suicide, they explode and shower the battlefield in their diseased bits. Before a battle truly begins, they can be sent in to weaken enemies, a tactic any intelligent foe will gladly utilize.

Finally, Orc Red Fangs of Shargaas act as orc rogues, armed with Cunning Action, a massive sneak attack in Hand of Shargaas (two extra damage dice when it hits with a weapon), the ability to see in magical darkness, an action that allows them to cast darkness, and essentially an assassinate on the first round of combat. Carving out a space to annihilate foes from is their specialty, and in conjunction with the other orc variants, they can inflict massive harm on even a powerful tier two party.

Altogether, these orc variants, if used together with all their special abilities and actions in tow, will gormandize many unprepared groups. I’m a fan of these oft-used variants of fourth edition, and these orcs seem like a return to that concept. I’d deeply enjoy a book filled cover-to-cover with these for goblins, kobolds, orcs, gnolls, vampires, liches, dragons, kuo-toa, elementals, and more. Or a book with set archetypes that could be applied to creatures like this. Maybe that’s an idea for another day.

If you’re lacking ideas for using these orc variants in combat, I have you covered:

1. Pair an Orc Blade of Ilneval with three Orc Red Fangs of Shargaas. Using the Orc Blade’s command action, each of the Orc Red Fangs can eviscerate opponents as a reaction, and still attack again on their turn!
2. Orcs often use giant bats to their advantage, especially Orc Red Fangs of Shargaas. Arm the giant bats with Orc Nurtured Ones of Yurtrus in their stringy digits. As a battle begins, they can torpedo the poison bombs upon foes and render them Poisoned and injured.
3. Start Orc Claws of Luthic off at half hit points, Bloodied and inflicting double damage already; as a surprise, though, grant them the Relentless Endurance ability, allowing them to stand back up after they’re killed/knocked out, ensuring they’ll likely get a few sets of swipes out before they fall or are captured.

Number 3: Gauth (pg. 125)

One of the more interesting beholder variations, the gauth adds an element of foreboding danger, especially to parties rich in magic items. Its Stunning Gaze might freeze an unaware group, and its Death Throes might catch a struggling one off guard in a battle's ultimate moments. Alongside its potent Eye Rays, the gauth is truly as terrifying as it looks.

Try out these situations with the gauth:

1. The gauth targets the character with the most powerful or most used magic item, sensing its value. If the gauth thinks it cannot win the battle, it will try to steal the item with its tentacles and float away.
2. Three gazers accompany the gauth. They carry its valuables on their tiny eyestalks, mewling in the gauth’s wake. They’ll die for it, taking any projectiles sent its way and activating any magic items the gauth might be saving for safe eating when it grows hungry.
3. As suggested with other beholders, vary the gauth’s eye rays. Perhaps the gauth is angelic in appearance shoots radiant beams. Or maybe its creature of noise and deals thunder damage and deafens/stuns foes with sonic shots.

Number 4: Catoblepas (pg. 129)

An odd amalgamation of multiple beasts, the catoblepas will violently change the battlescape when they enter the fray. These monsters are terrifying mounts for your big bad evil villains, whether they are a blackguard, sinister archmage, or even a goblin warlord. Capable of launching an instakilling Death Ray from its eyes, the catoblepas can also inflict the Stunned condition on foes with a hit from its massive tail. With a plethora of deadly abilities raveled into this beast, there are many ways to use it to great effect.

Here are a few ways to insert these pyretic beasts into your D&D combats:

1. Before it charges into combat to release its Stench, always launch a long-range Death Ray. Perhaps, if the catoblepas has a rider, the rider can somehow impose disadvantage on this crucial save, weakening the party before the combat ever begins.
2. Consider granting a lone catoblepas an extra ability once it is Bloodied (below half hit points): it instantly recharges its Death Ray ability and uses it on the creature who Bloodied it, friend or enemy!
3. Death trap dungeons are excellent locales for these stinking beasts, place one or two within in a surprising vantage point, somewhere with an eye-wide slit designed by a fiendish mastermind to devastate foes. Reaching the catoblepas should be difficult, it might get off multiple Death Rays and other traps may be revealed.

Number 5: Korred (pg. 168)

Masters of stone manipulation, combat possibilities for the korred are endless. They’re peculiar, lesser known creatures who thrive in hand-crafted arenas and have the potential to seriously surprise a second or third tier adventuring party. While on the ground, they deal substantially more damage, which is quite the unique trait, and they’re able to summon a variety of earthy beasts, force foes to dance, and literally meld into stone.

Be vile when wielding korreds in combat:

1. Hide korreds in stone walls. When the party passes by, korred flank the group and approach from the front, trapping them!
2. Team up a korred with a flail snail, gorgon, or pod of earth elementals. In conjunction, these earthen masters can quake a battlefield, and the flavor is perfect!
3. Hint toward their weakness when raised off the ground, but ensure the korred do all they can to remain on stone.

Five Most Compelling Creatures in VGTM

These five monsters are the entries I found evoked the most ideas in my mind.

Number 1: Neogi (pgs. 179-180)

It’s difficult to pinpoint, but there is something evocative about alien eel-spiders out to get rich and steal away innocents across myriad realms. In VGTM, the neogi are not dissected, which leaves plenty of room to fill in the details and steal away from previous editions (like from Lords of Madness), but their art, relatively simple motivation, sinister abilities, and wicked aesthetic cement them as one of the book’s most compelling, open-ended creatures.

Did I mention they sail plane-hopping spider ships?

Unconvinced? Let me spurn your neogitivity:

1. Neogi are the sole-survivors of one of your world’s moons, bringing with them a host of alien abilities, technology, and unhuman motives.
2. An unsteady alliance of neogi and illithid form and forge a fleet of flying ships. This fleet conquers a swath of territory and gazes over even more civilized lands.
3. A semi-normalized neogi oversees a local crime syndicate, although she has a taste for poor dragonborn children, fresh from the egg. Her enslaving eyes ensure no one backstabs her, though she oft does unto others what cannot be done to her.

Number 2: Yuan-Ti (pgs. 92-102)

The entirety of the yuan-ti chapter enraptured me, even though the race is adjacent to my complete disdain for the way orcs are depicted. While yuan-ti originate from gods, those gods do not drive every action, desire, or motivation, which is key.

Yuan-ti instead are literal snakefolk attempting to slither into governments across the globe, only to manipulate and swallow these supple folk from the inside. Not to mention yuan-ti can evolve into higher forms of their kind, which is an interesting facet and path for a yuan-ti villain to take in a campaign. A villain who began as a yuan-ti malison can, by the campaign’s climax, hiss at the party as a yuan-ti anathema!

Here are a few cool ideas that sprang to mind while reading about yuan-ti in VGTM:

1. Secretly, the chiefs of every major government are yuan-ti. However, they’ve grown decadent and no longer wish to forward the agenda of yuan-ti civilization, preferring to rule their lessers from great palaces and lofty mansions.
2. A yuan-ti anathema was cursed to slowly devolve into the most basic form of yuan-ti until she enacts a prophecy passed down by Dendar the Night Serpent.
3. One of the PC’s family members falls prey to the thoughts and ideals of yuan-ti and performs the rites to become one of the snakefolk. How does the PC react?

Number 3: Alhoon (pgs. 172-173)

A mix of wizard, hag, lich, and mind flayer, the alhoon is peak monster mashing in D&D. The alhoon originated as group of nine illithids who sought immortality without the necessity of lichdom, so they crafted a ritual that turned them into timeless entities. All who followed called themselves by the cabal’s name: alhoons. This ritual involves the forging of a magic item called a periapt of mind trapping that stores the souls of those consumed by the alhoon. This item alone provides plenty of plot threads, for those who wield it can communicate with the souls of the unliving.

These select three ideas popped into my head while reading the alhoon section:

1. The original Alhoon emerge from a void, armed with a fleet of nautiloids and unhuman monstrosities.
2. A nefarious cabal of nine illithids calling themselves the Emergent Alhoon breaks into the Material Plane, each illithid practicing a different school of magic—including dunamancy.
3. A rare storm giant illithid becomes an alhoon through freakdom and chance, still from her cloud castle she terrorizes, studies, and consumes.

Number 4: Neolithid (pg. 181)

An illithid abomination spawned from a tiny tadpole consuming all others in a free-for-all that catapults the winner into a purple worm sized psionic beast? Really, need I say more? This is the pinnacle of wicked & monstrous.

This concept is incredible and conjures myriad stories and possibilities in my mind:

1. A neolithid manages to break into and destroy multiple mind flayer colonies, leading to the largest neolithid ever burrowing through the Underdark.
2. A powerful psion manages to dominate a neolithid. With the abomination, he plans to attack a nearby elder brain.
3. Some crazed mind flayer discovers a method of halting the maturing process of neolithids, allowing it to raise a small flock of medium-sized, equally psionic and terrifying neolithids.

Number 5: Vegepygmies (pgs. 196-197)

Speechless, hissing plant people who can raise the dead, including the corpses of beasts and monsters are compelling creatures in my eyes, and I use vegepygmies any time I can. From the Cursed Jungles of Yatar to my current Rise of the Giants campaign, they show up—and it’s mostly thanks to their entry in VGTM. They’re deadly and certainly mysterious. Their D&D-canonicity says they might have emerged from a crashed vessel in the Barrier Peaks. It beckons me to answer where they emerged from in Eldar.

I’ve used vegepygmies a few times, here are some of the more interesting concepts I conjured:

1. A vegepygmy chief who leads because he found, infected, and raised a thorny tyrannosaurus rex.
2. Caverns laced with russet mold that grows vegepygmies. As the party explores this dungeon, these wailing little moldfolk drop from ceilings and step from the walls. It’s creepy and maddening.
3. Vegepygmy who use blowguns and russet mold darts to harass and eventually finish off targets as their velociraptor thornies tear them apart.

Five Most Gorgeous Monsters in VGTM

Here are my five favorite art pieces in VGTM, in ascending order.

Number 1: Vegepygmy (pgs. 196-197)

The howling rictus on the vegepygmy’s unnerving face and the terrifying cuteness of its thorny companion enrapture me. How about you?

Some vegepygmy may grow thorns on their bodies as their bestial pets do, an extra bit of flair.

Number 2: Firenewts (pgs. 142-143)

The near-translucent orange slime-skin and the innocent look across the firenewt’s face: priceless.

Do you want to personalize your firenewt? Let me help:

1. Not all firenewts need to be orange, go wild. Neon green, blood red, and burning sun blue will all do!
2. Some firenewts can be larger and hulking, perhaps even crawling on the ground. Emphasize their enlarged features.
3. Some firenewts are warlocks of Imix, perhaps a spectre of smoke follows behind them in battle, clouding the field and frightening foes.

Number 3: Yuan-Ti Anathema (pg. 202)

Hissing with all its heads, the yuan-ti anathema inspires fear into any player or DM who gazes upon it.

Remember, not all yuan-ti need be fashioned after cobras. Search for spicier serpents!

Number 4: Draegloth (pg. 141)

Slightly hulked over, the draegloth’s menacing glare and rippling musculature reminds any onlooker it's a foe to be frightened of.

Number 5: Froghemoth (pg. 145)

Slightly silly, scaled way up, and horrifying in its own way, the froghemoth is my favorite piece of art from VGTM. Its prehensile tongue, sinewy eyestalk, and undulant tentacles, altogether they form a foe that sends shivers down my spine and inspiration straight to my mind.

Not every froghemoth is identical:

1. Instead of four tentacles, this froghemoth has one massive band surging from its belly.
2. Your special froghemoth is the "god" of a bullywug tribe and armored in the bones of fallen foes.
3. Twisted by a mad mage, this froghemoth has no legs. Instead, its lower body is that of a slug. All other features remain the same.

Five Best Slices of VGTM

These five pieces are my favorite parts of VGTM, again in ascending order.

Number 1: Beholder Roll Tables (pgs. 8-9)

Beholders are one of my favorite D&D creatures, with all their concomitant variations. I also love roll tables. A combination of both, stretched over multiple pages? I’m in one of the Seven Heavens, thank you, VGTM!

Canonically creatures crafted in dreamscapes, random features and flamboyant appearances fit beholders quite well. With the roll tables in VGTM, you can mold infinite combinations of beholders, each with a unique personality, appearance, motive, and, of course, name. When I first read VGTM, I crumped as I reached this chapter. The same thing occurred on my second perusing.

These roll tables highlight one of VGTM’s biggest strengths: its ability to endlessly inspire DMs while crafting their stories and worlds. I think that’s why they rank high on my list of personal favorite items in the book.

Number 2: Nautiloids (pgs. 78-79)

Described as massive, tentacled conch shells flying propelling through the sky and across the planes, nautiloids are soaring ships created by illithids. Reading about them inspired me in myriad manners. Do they exist in my world? If so, where are they now? How many are there? Do illithids still control them? Perhaps a darker force has them...How are they powered?

A nautiloid from second edition D&D.

Again, this is VGTM at its best: providing thought-provoking chunks to mull over and inspire us. A nautiloid might form the basis for an entire adventure as a dungeon, sought-after artifact, or home-base for an enemy faction. I recently introduced nautiloids into my world. When the players realized the magnitude, the scale of the enemy before them, the red slaad Arkzel perched at the bow of the huge nautiloid, they were excited and floored.

Their exultation is all thanks to VGTM.

Number 3: Yuan-Ti Society (pgs. 92-102)

Again, the portrayal of yuan-ti in VGTM oozes inspiration and compelling questions. Are the yuan-ti manipulating the governments of my world? If so, what’s the end goal? Do their gods play a role? How isolated is their culture? Are people aware of the snakefolk? If yes, why aren’t they dealt with?

The questions are endless and if you think long enough, you might end up with a world slithering with yuan-ti in every corner. Tread carefully.

Number 4: Lizardfolk Playable Race (pgs. 111-113)

After my reread, I immediately fleshed out the lizardfolk of Eldar—their entry in VGTM fulfilled its task. These are truly alien creatures in my world, creatures from a frozen moon. VGTM (and Dune) inspired me to put aliens into my world, and I cannot thank it enough for that.

Lizardfolk from the fifth edition Monster Manual.

When a book causes you to enact major change in your world because of a short passage, you know it must be a tad riveting. I think WOTC did a great job communicating the coldness, the out-of-touch nature of the lizardfolk, especially with the bit about how they speak. They don’t say “I am cold.” They say “this wind brings cold.” Minutia, but interesting.

Most of the playable races in VGTM are interesting, with strata beyond them being monstrous or bestial in appearance. I've incorporated all of them into my world and enjoy when players choose to play them. Except firbolgs, I've never liked them and their portrayal in VGTM is a tad awkward.

Number 5: NPCs Section (Appendix B)

Arguably the most versatile and useful slice of VGTM, the NPCs section in Appendix B provides a host of moldable characters to place in our games at a moment’s notice, stats fleshed out and ready to go. Being able to snatch a statted out NPC is a god-send, especially since many of them are of higher-power levels. With these blocks and a bit of imagination, you can create limitless allies, enemies, and patrons of the party.

The section includes a wizard of every core subclass, as well as warlocks of the Great Old One, Fiend, and Archfey Pacts, and a variety of martial creatures. The art of this section is also superb, notably the staves of the schools of magic.

Five Worst Slices of VGTM

Here they are, the five worst chunks of VGTM, from the best of the worst to the absolute worst.

Number 1: The Orc Section (pgs. 82-91)

In recent times, lots of folks across the TTRPG/D&D space have debated over the typical portrayal of orcs in fantasy works. This chapter in VGTM explores the lore behind the canon D&D orc in the Forgotten Realms, depicting their culture and society in exquisite detail. I hate it. After reading the chapter, I set down the book, uninspired, and had to take a walk.

The chapter can quite literally be described as “This orc god wants this type of travesty enacted, these orcs do it for them because they want to please said god.”

That’s it. That’s orcs, stereotypically. They commit evil for their gods and because it's all they've ever known.

I’m all for innately evil creatures, I don’t think they fit the bill. Gnolls? Should be fiends. Rakshasa? Already fiends. Goblins? They have more compelling reasons to act as they do. Orcs? Their gods want them to pillage, so they pillage, and continue pillaging. That's too boring and uninspiring.

I wish more Obould Many-Arrows existed, orcs who fought against type. Those are interesting stories, and blatantly evil orcs who will be evil regardless of other situations shaping their lives are utterly dreadful.

Orcs against type, like those in Eberron, are how I prefer them.

After further contemplation on this section, I diverged the orcs in my world. Thousands of years after their creation, a schism occurred between their kind. Some followed Luthic and remained true to the wilds and upholding nature and benign values. Others charged off with Gruumsh and began a war path for an unforgivable wrong against their people.

If anything, I can say VGTM's orcs gave me the inspiration to mold my orcs as a unique species, a decent, farraginous bunch of traits from many settings and my own mind.

Number 2: Xvarts (pgs. 199-200)

Ugly, unnerving, and with a strangely convoluted backstory that will not be added to the vast canon of my own world, xvarts are my least favorite monster in VGTM. Every time I near “X” in VGTM, I purposely skip straight to the yuan-ti and avoid these blue monsters. Succinctly, they are replications of a little blue devil god that steal stuff and try to please their god by giving said stuff to him.

Number 3: Animals, So Few

I adore and consistently use the animal section in the Monster Manual. When VGTM hit, I expected oodles more beasties to choose from, but unfortunately I was mistaken. VGTM only includes a few variants of cattle, nothing else. I would have loved to see more wild beasts, potential mounts, and their accompanying art (more on lack of beast art in a moment).

I understand it's possible to reflavor almost any of the animals of the Monster Manual, but I would like more D&D art and stat blocks to reflect on!

Number 4: Volo’s and Elminister’s Notes

While I enjoy the concept of the supposed authors of this adventurous work leaving scrawling throughout it, scarcely did these notes spurt a laugh, excitement, or intrigue out of me. There are a few I can remember, but none match the scraps in the Monster Manual. The longer ones seemed to drag and the short ones from Elminister carried an air of smug superiority, which I understand is how the Sage of Shadowdale sometimes acts. 

Regardless, none of the notes hooked me.

Number 5: NO DINO ART

Where’s the dinosaur art, Wizards of the Coast? Almost every other creature gets art, but not the dinosaurs? I know I can merely search “dimetrodon” on Google and receive a result, but I want to describe this sail-backed, large reptile, flip the book, and show my players a piece of art in the recognizable D&D style. 

Dino racing from Tomb of Annihilation.

With no dinosaur art in VGTM, despite seven dinos living inside, I cannot pursue this fantasy.

Actionable Advice

• Volo’s Guide to Monsters is a great book for Dungeon Masters searching to expand on the lore of certain monsters in their world, or build on their menagerie with official foes
• Volo’s Guide to Monsters is not a book written for players, though those who wish to play and learn more about certain monstrous playable races may find use in the book
• The book contains heaps of inspiration for adventures of all types
• The book showcases a few new types of abilities and explores foes that are, in general, more compelling than the base D&D monster set
• Rip the monster actions and abilities from Volo’s Guide to Monsters and layer them atop existing monsters or foes of your own design
• Volo's Guide to Monsters is at its best when providing roll tables, new abilities, and evocative plot threads for Dungeon Masters to wield in their games

Thus concludes my review of Volo’s Guide to Monsters, a monster book expansion for the world’s greatest roleplaying game: Dungeons & Dragons fifth edition.

Let me know if it helped you decide whether or not to grab the book, conjure new ideas, or inspire fascinating story beats in your world or campaign.

What’s next? Do I go back to the Player’s Handbook, take a trip to Ravenloft, or try and halt the apocalypse? We’ll see in due time.

Until the next encounter, stay creative!

Related Articles

• Vegepygmies: The Forgotten Fungi
• Slaadi: Toads of Turmoil
• Lizardfolk: Alien and Familiar
• All About Monstrous Player Characters

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All art, unless noted, is from Volo's Guide to Monsters, all rights reserved to Wizards of the Coast.